Team Rocket is too large not to have a leader behind the notorious group, and no doubt everyone has heard Giovanni's name before. From the old days of playing Pokémon Red/Blue to Pokémon Go, it's been there, behind the scenes, causing mischief. Giovanni is the leader of Team Rocket, and for the Pokémon Go Strange Eggs event, you have the chance to defeat him once more, but only if you manage to complete the special research tasks given to you by the Professor Willow. Giovanni even has an ace up his sleeve with Shadow Mewtwo returning to the game, so here's a guide on how to defeat Giovanni and Shadow Mewtwo!
Where is John
In order to fight Giovanni and Shadow Mewtwo, players must have completed all previous Team Rocket Go Special research to receive Professor Willow's final tasks.
You need to defeat several Team Rocket grunts and all three bosses. Once defeated, you will receive a Super Rocket Radar; this will tell you Giovanni's location. To use it, go to your backpack and equip it, simple as that. Although finding Giovanni isn't that simple, as the Team Rocket grunts pretend to be him in disguise. To counter this deception, you must capture captured Pokéstops to find the location of the real Giovanni. He may even be hiding on a Team Rocket balloon.
Giovanni's Pokémon Weaknesses
As Giovanni is the leader of Team Rocket, he is of course an exceptionally strong opponent. Before you face him, follow this guide and equip the Pokémon tokens to easily defeat his Pokémon. His first Pokemon is always the same across all events, but his second and third Pokemon change randomly, so it's unclear what you'll be up against.
First Pokemon
Of course, his first chosen Pokemon is his trusty Persian, a Normal-type Pokemon. The most useful counter to use against the Normal type is the Fighting type. Any high CP Pokemon that fights should perform incredibly well against the Persian.
Here is a list of fantastic Fighting-type Pokémon:
- Lucario
- Competition durr
- machamp
- cobalion
- Hariyama
Second Pokemon
As we said above, the second Pokémon is one of many options:
- Garchomp – an earth and dragon type
- Kangaskan - and type normal
- Nidoking – a ground and poison type
Since Kangaskan, like the Persian, is a Normal-type, using any of the Pokemon above will do, but only if the second Pokemon Giovanni chooses is a Kangaskan. Otherwise, it's best to focus on the weakness of Ground-type Pokémon, since Garchomp and Nidoking are Ground-type. For your second Pokémon, a powerful Ice-type Pokémon is your most reliable choice.
Here is a list of Ice-type Pokémon:
- Kyurem
- Darmanitan (zen galarien)
- mamoswine
- Ice cream
- Weavel
Shadow Mewtwo
After the second Pokemon faints, Giovanni pulls out his trump card, none other than Shadow Mewtwo - which is a powerful Pokemon! Since Shadow Mewtwo is a Psychic-type Pokémon, it is weak to Bug, Ghost, and Dark-types.
To have the best chance of destroying this Pokemon, Mega Evolutions will be your best move, but otherwise a strong Pokemon hitting Shadow Mewtwo's weaknesses shouldn't work.
Here is a list of Pokémon strong against Shadow Mewtwo:
- Volcarona
- Houndoom (mega)
- Giratina (Origin)
- Beedrill (mega)
- Darkrai
- gengar
- Chandelure
As Giovanni is a powerful opponent, your best strategy is defense mixed with attack. Your team must be able to take a hit but also retaliate directly. Take your time and don't be greedy. With a trio of amazing Pokemon, we're confident you can defeat Giovanni and Shadow Mewtwo!
