How to beat Giovanni Pokémon GO

Pokémon GO is one of the video games that revolutionized the world of smartphone games. I guess, if you ended up on this guide, it’s because you are a huge fan of the Niantic title and I can’t blame you. I get it, after hours spent building your team now you’re going to know how to beat Giovanni on Pokémon GO , but you don’t know where to start. Don’t worry, I’m here to help you out.

First, if you haven’t already, I’ll show you how to find Giovanni – to get access to the battle against the infamous Team Rocket leader you will need to complete some special quests. In the course of the tutorial I will show you what these missions are and I will show you step by step what to do to complete them. Each mission, in fact, is made up of several steps, which will help you prepare for the fight with Giovanni through unique unlockable tools and useful fights to enhance your team.

If, on the other hand, you have already met Giovanni but you do not know how to beat him, I will help you to deal with him in the best possible way, pointing out the weaknesses of his team. Be careful though, Niantic updates Giovanni’s team periodically, so he may change his team over time. In any case, to be able to defeat his team, all you have to do is read this guide (which I will update from time to time with all the news of the case). Happy reading and good luck!

Index

• How to find Giovanni Pokémon GO
  • Mission “Threats in the Dark”
  • Mission “An Interesting New”
• How to beat Giovanni in Pokémon GO
  • How to beat Giovanni Pokémon GO: Persian
  • How to beat Giovanni Pokémon GO: Nidoking, Garchomp or Kangaskhan
  • How to beat Giovanni Pokémon GO: Mewtwo

How to find Giovanni Pokémon GO

To find Giovanni in Pokémon GO you will need the Super Radar Rocket , a tool that allows you to locate the possible hiding places of the leader of Team Rocket. This tool, however, does not directly show Giovanni’s location, as you may also find recruits disguised as a boss, who will help the latter blend in.

For this you will have to check, with the active radar, every Pokéstop in which it could hide and, with a little luck, you can find it! Beating Giovanni and the recruits found with the Super Radar Rocket, however, will give you access to catching rarer and more powerful Shadow Pokémon than usual.

But how do you get Super Radar Rocket? Follow the next chapters and I’ll show you the two missions that give you this reward upon completing all the steps: Threats in the Dark and An Interesting New .

Mission “Threats in the Dark”

First, open the Pokémon GO application and check the available missions using the orange button at the bottom right, whose icon is in the shape of a spyglass .

Then tap on the Specials item and you will see all the missions activated by Niantic: Threats in the Darkness was activated in November 2019, so, if you have not yet completed it, you will find it in the list.

To complete this special mission, there are 6 steps you need to follow. The first is very simple and consists of 3 objectives to be achieved. First you need to spin 10 Pokéstop discs , pressing on them when you are close to them.

Next, you need to defeat three Team Rocket recruits . To do this, locate the balloons belonging to Giovanni’s henchmen and tap them to start the fight.

They are very easy to recognize and will appear randomly on the screen during gaming sessions. Once the recruits are defeated, you will need to capture a Shadow Pokémon and you can move forward in the mission with the next step.

In the next step, you will therefore have to run Pokéstops for 5 consecutive days , win 5 raids , or battles against other trainers in the gyms and, above all, you will have to purify 15 Shadow Pokémon .

To do this, you will have to capture them by beating the recruits and then tap on the Purify item , within the Pokémon statistics screen. But beware, a combination of Stardust and Pokémon Candy will be used to do this.

The third step consists of three more tests. The goal is to use 6 super-effective charged attacks in Gyms , win 3 challenges with a trainer in the Mega League , which you can find by tapping on the Fight menu , after pressing the central key in the shape of a Pokéball. Finally, you must defeat 6 other Team Rocket recruits .

The fourth step is perhaps the most difficult, as you have to face and defeat 3 special members of Team Rocket: Arlo , Cliff and Sierra . First, to find them, you need to assemble a Radar Rocket . To do this, use 6 Mysterious Components , which are dropped by Team Rocket recruits upon defeat.

Each Radar Rocket is disposable, so you’ll need to assemble a new one for each Team Rocket member to find, but it won’t wear out until you find one of Arlo, Cliff, and Sierra. Activate it in the Backpack after assembling it and check the Pokéstops conquered by Team Rocket to spawn one of the three bosses.

The leaders have a team of 3 very powerful Pokémon, which can vary over time. In any case, Arlo should always use Beldum first, so equip yourself with a Pokémon with Fire moves .

Cliff will start the battle with Aerodactyl , to be countered with Water moves , while Sierra will have a Carvanha , to be faced with Electric or Grass moves .

After defeating the three bosses, you will finally be awarded the Super Radar Rocket , which you can activate inside the Backpack , as done for the normal Radar. Once activated, in Pokéstops controlled by Team Rocket, you will be able to find none other than Giovanni .

But be careful: you won’t always be able to find him on the first try , as Pokéstops are also controlled by recruits who will help him blend in.

Mission “An Interesting New”

After completing the Threats in the Dark mission , you will be able to face Giovanni a second time. In fact, the second mission developed by Niantic relating to the leader of Team Rocket will be activated automatically: An Interesting New .

To find it, tap the orange button at the bottom right and then go to Specials , to view all the available missions. Be aware that this mission will only be available after completing “Threats in the Dark” and some Team Rocket research left open, so you won’t see it if you haven’t already completed the previous ones.

This special research is also divided into 6 steps . The first is very simple and to complete it you will have to: spin 5 Pokéstop discs , defeat 3 Team Rocket recruits and capture a Shadow Pokémon , which will appear after winning the battle against a recruit.

For the second step, this time you will have to defeat 5 Team Rocket recruits , after which you will have to capture 5 Shadow Pokémon and throw 3 curved balls in a row .

To do this, hold the Pokéball while catching it and swirl it with your finger for a while before throwing it. You will notice that the ball takes a bend before hitting the Pokémon to be caught.

In the third step, things will start to get a little more complicated. In fact, in addition to hatching 3 eggs and earning 5 candies by walking with your partner , you will have to defeat one of the leaders of Team Rocket 3 times : Sierra , Arlo or Cliff .

You will encounter them using the Radar Rocket, which activates in the Backpack after assembling it through 6 Mysterious Components. To get a mystery component, you’ll need to beat a Team Rocket rookie.

The leaders of Team Rocket will also be the protagonists of the fourth step, when they will all be faced and defeated . Each leader has a very strong team, so I recommend that you choose your best Pokémon to face them. Try to vary your moves and remember that Arlo always starts the battle with a Beldum , Cliff with Aerdoactyl and Sierra with Carvanha .

At the end of the first four steps you will be awarded the Super Radar Rocket , through which to find Giovanni. You will have to activate the Radar from the Backpack , then look for the leader in the Pokéstops conquered by Team Rocket.

It won’t be easy to find, but the reward will be worth the effort. In fact, at the end of the battle with Giovanni, you will be able to capture Mewtwo Shadow , a very rare version of the legendary of Kanto.

How to beat Giovanni in Pokémon GO

Giovanni is one of the strongest trainers to meet in Pokémon GO. In fact, he owns a team that almost always contains a legendary. In the past it was possible to face it with one of the legendary dogs: Entei , Raikou or Suicune , while in the latest releases it seems to have a team composed of none other than Mewtwo .

I’ll give you some tips on how to deal with his team, which always remains the same for the first two Pokémon, but changes often for the last member of the team. So let’s analyze the best methods to neutralize the Pokémon of the head of Team Rocket.

How to beat Giovanni Pokémon GO: Persian

As the first Pokémon, Giovanni will always choose his trusty Persian . The type of this Pokémon is Normal , which makes it extremely vulnerable to attacks Fight like Counterattack , DynamicPunch and Focus Blast . In this regard, I suggest you take a look at this guide, concerning the strongest moves on Pokémon GO .

The best Pokémon to deal with Persian is undoubtedly Lucario , you can learn Counterattack and, above all, Aura Sphere , a signature move that has a base damage of 90 and 50 DPS .

Persian will be present in every team of the head of Team Rocket, so my advice is to equip yourself with a Lucario to face it, since, thanks to the double type Steel / Fighting , it can resist very well even the attacks of Giovanni’s Pokémon.

A great alternative is Conkeldurr , a Fighting-type Pokémon and one of the best attackers in the game, with a base offensive stat of 243 . With Dynamic Punch and Counter Attack, he can deal some really high damage to Persian, who certainly doesn’t shine for defensive stats.

If you fail to secure one between Lucario and Conkeldurr, you can tack on Breloom , Machamp or Blaziken , equipped with excellent attacks, which must be combined in any case with the Dynamipugno or Counterattack moves . Blaziken can also learn Focus Blast , a move with a base damage of 140 , although it is quite slow.

How to beat Giovanni Pokémon GO: Nidoking, Garchomp or Kangaskhan

As the second Pokémon, Giovanni will be able to focus on one of Nidoking , Garchomp and Kangaskhan : three really tough Pokémon, for which you will need to prepare well. Unlike Persian, these three Pokémon have very high offensive and defensive stats and have access to really fearsome moves.

In case he chooses Kangaskhan first, you will be in luck. It is, in fact, a Normal- type Pokémon , vulnerable to Fighting moves , such as Counter , Dynamic Punch and Focus Strike , so the Pokémon you have deployed to face Persian will do well. Either way, it will have a much higher defense than the previous Pokémon and could give you a hard time if Persian has already weakened you.

Nidoking is a Ground / Poison- type Pokémon and makes attacking its strong point. His Earthquake move is really fearsome, but don’t be discouraged, he can easily be taken down by Water , Earth , Ice and Psychic moves .

One of the best alternatives to beat Nidoking is represented by Mamoswine , an Ice / Ground- type Pokémon that has access to moves such as Slavina , Polneve and Mud Slab , very useful for countering Nidoking.

Not to be underestimated even legendaries like Mewtwo or Latios , which can put Nidoking in very strong difficulty through Confusion , Zen Clash and Psychic . Remaining among the Psychic-type Pokémon, you can rely on Espeon , with strong defensive skills, but with very interesting moves such as Psybeam and Divination .

Finally, you can choose different type Pokémon Water , as Kyogre or Clawitzer , which through the moves Water Gun , Hydro Pump or Hammered , can make a damage of 160% in John’s Pokémon.

My advice, however, is to equip yourself with Pokémon with Ice moves such as Mamoswine and Darmanitan form Galar , as they can put even the third Pokémon that Giovanni could choose, Garchomp , in great difficulty .

Garchomp , in fact, is one of the strongest Dragon Pokémon around and can really hurt your team if you get caught by surprise. But he too has a weakness that should not be underestimated.

The second Earth gives it a weakness of 256% to type moves ice , then after you have entrusted to Fight type for Persian, what you should do is put in the team a Ice Pokémon with moves like Ice Fang and Avalanche , to cover you in in case the Team Rocket leader chooses one between Garchomp and Nidoking.

How to beat Giovanni Pokémon GO: Mewtwo

Among the Legendary Pokémon Giovanni may have on his team is Mewtwo , one of the strongest Psychic- type Pokémon in the game. If beaten, you can catch a powerful version of this Pokémon, Shadow Mewtwo .

The best Pokémon to take on Mewtwo are those that know Dark , Ghost, or Bug- type moves . In particular, the fast move Feint or Lick is particularly effective , while as regards the charges there are Shadow Ball and Black Pulse .

One of the best Pokémon to take down Mewtwo is Gengar , who through Lick and Shadow Ball can scratch the defenses of Giovanni’s Legendary Pokémon. But be very careful: being of the Ghost / Poison type , Gengar will be weak to Psychic type attacks, so choose Gengar only he is at a very high level and you have no alternative.

Among the Ghost-type Pokémon that can do serious damage to Mewtwo there is certainly Chandelure , who can rely on the quick move Misfortune and the usual Shadow Ball. Chandelure’s attack is slightly higher than Gengar’s and has the second Fire- type .

If you want to rely on a Dark- type Pokémon instead , choose Darkrai . He is perhaps the best option to cancel Mewtwo, as Psychic attacks are only 39% effective against this Pokémon. In addition, he has access to moves like Feint , Urlorabbia, and Neropulsar .

In case you don’t have a Darkrai, you can rely on valid alternatives such as Tyranitar , Hydreigon with Bite , Zoroark or Weavile , very strong and resistant Dark-type Pokémon, which can effectively counteract the attacks of Giovanni’s Pokémon.

So, you are ready to face the head of Team Rocket ! Remember, rely on a Fighting Pokémon , an Ice and a Dark Pokémon and you will finally be able to defeat the fearsome Giovanni.