Pokémon Go: How to beat Giovanni?

FInd out how to beat Giovanni in Pokemon Go.

Giovanni is the leader of the most lovable antagonist team, Team Rocket in Pokémon Go. Team Rocket strengthens as players advance. Giovanni is the hardest opponent you will face in Pokémon Go. He got Shadow Registeel after battling with the Mewtwo in the Kanto region. In order to fight Giovanni, you have to complete Team Go Rocket Special Research given by Professor Willow. These special research quests unlock after you reach level 8 in Pokémon GO.

You must defeat multiple Grunts in these Special Research tasks in addition to Cliff, Sierra, and Arlo, the individual Leaders. After completing all of these, a Super Rocket Radar will finally be given to you. Now, you have to use this Super Rocket Radar to locate Giovanni’s base in Pokémon Go. You need quite a strong team in order to defeat Giovanni.

You will face multiple phases while fighting the head of Team Rocket. Here are all the Pokémon lineups of Giovanni and how to counter each in Pokémon Go to get multiple rewards.

Everything you need to know about fighting Giovanni in Pokémon Go

First Phase

For the first phase, you will face Persian. It is Normal-type Pokémon. You can use Fighting-type Pokémon in order to defeat Persian. However, it is immune to attacks of the Ghost-type Pokémon. You can use these Pokémon to take out Persian:

Machamp
Lucario
Hariyama
Conkeldurr
Breloom

You can also use another powerful Fighting-type Pokémon from your Pokédex.

Second Phase

For the Second phase, you will face either a Cloyster, Nidoking, or Garchomp. These all are fairly powerful Pokémon. Cloyster is a Water/Ice-type Pokémon. So you can use Fighting, Rock, Grass, or Electric-type to defeat Cloyster. You use these Pokémons against Cloyster:

Lucario
Rampardos
Machamp
Conkeldurr
Terrakion

If you face Nidoking, you have to use Ground, Ice, Psychic, or Water-type Pokémon as Nidoking is a Poison/Ground-type Pokémon. These are some suggestions to counter Nidoking:

Galarian Darmanitan
Glaceon
Garchomp
Kyogre
Mewtwo

And if Giovanni uses Garchomp in the second phase you should use Dragon, Fairy, and Ice-type. Since Garchomp is Dragon/Ground-type Pokémon, you should avoid using Electric, Fire, Poison, or Rock-type. These are the great counter to Garchomp:

Mamoswine
Galarian Darmanitan
Glaceon
Weavile
Avalugg

Third Phase

Everything you need to know about fighting Giovanni — Shadow Registeel (image via Nintendo)

It is the final phase and you will face Shadow Registeel. Registeel is originally a Steel-type Golem but Giovanni has turned it into a Shadow-type. It is weaker than the Shadow Pokémon Giovanni has used earlier but is strong in its own way. Shadow Registeel is weak against Fire, Fighting, and Ground-type. Feel free to use any of these Pokémon to defeat Giovanni’s Ghost Registeel:

Blaziken
Charizard
Reshiram
Machamp
Terrarkion
Lucario
Chandelure
Conkeldurr
Garchomp

Recommended Team

To defeat Giovanni, You can use Conkeldurr, Galarian Darmanitan, and Garchomp. As you can see from the above lists, Conkeldurr is useful against Persian, Cloyster, and Shadow Registeel. Galarian Dalamanitan will be useful if you face Garchomp or Nidoking instead of Cloyster in the second phase. And finally, Garchomp is a good option as it has an advantage against Nidoking and Shadow Registeel. You can also substitute it with Machap, it totally depends on your choice.

Rewards for defeating Giovanni in Pokémon Go

After you have defeated Giovanni, you will get a number of rewards. This consists of 5000 Stardust as well as several medical supplies including Max Potions and Max Revives. Additionally, there’s a possibility that you’ll get an Unova Stone. You also have a chance to catch a Legendary Shadow Pokémon.