How To Battle Team GO Rocket Leaders

Pokemon GO Guide

The Team GO Rocket Leaders are now available in Pokemon GO! We have prepared a detailed guide on how to find (and defeat) Cliff, Sierra, and Arlo. Defeating the Team Rocket Leaders gives a chance to obtain an Unova Stone!

Team GO Rocket Leader Mechanics

Defeat Team GO Rocket Grunts to collect Mysterious Components.
A Rocket Detector is created when you combine 6 Mysterious Components.
Rocket Detector can be used to track down a Team GO Rocket Leader on the map. Activating the detector will open a new map mode where the game directs you towards the location. You can enter the mode by tapping the icon that appears in the upper-right of the screen.
One Rocket Detector is removed after you defeat a Team GO Rocket Leader, meaning you'll always need to be collecting more Mysterious Components.
Team GO Rocket is only available in-game from 6 A.M. to 10 P.M. locally.

Combat Tips

Team GO Rocket Leaders use shields against your Charged Moves, but the combat is similar to how regular Grunt battles work.
They will always use their shields on your first 3 Charged Moves. It is a good idea to start off with a Pokemon that can power-up their Charged Move quickly so you can depleat the Leader's sheilds. Once you've done that, switch to a Pokemon that counters your opponent's (or one that does massive damage).
Try to burn through the Leader's shields as fast as possible, so make sure your first Pokemon you send out is a good shield breaker.
Prioritize Pokemon that will resist Fast moves rather focusing on ones that deal large amounts of damage. You can't out-DPS the Leaders!
You can re-match the Leader as many times as you like, so don't worry about losing to them the first time you battle!
The counter teams listed below are for going in "blind" to the battle. Once you know the Leader's team, you should use that to your advantage to build your team.

Team GO Rocket Leader Rewards

Once you have defeated the Team GO Rocket Leader, you will be rewarded with one of the following items at random:

Revive
Max Revive
Max Potion
Sinnoh Stone (up to 2)
Unova Stone (up to 2)

You will also be able to catch one of the Shadow Pokemon used by the Team GO Rocket Leader (which can even be shiny!):

Cliff: Meowth
Sierra: Sneasel
Arlo: Scyther

Team GO Rocket Leader Guides

The Leaders will always use Pokemon from each of the 3 lists, with it being random each time as to which ones are chosen (except for the first slot).

Cliff's Pokemon

Pokemon #1	Pokemon #2	Pokemon #3
Meowth	Snorlax	Tyranitar
	Sandslash	Infernape
	Flygon	Torterra

We recommend using a mix of both Fighting-type and Ice-type Pokemon to battle Cliff:

Lucario counters Meowth, Snorlax and Tyranitar.
Regice counters Flygon, Sandslash and Torterra.
Swampert counters Sandslash, Infernape and Tyranitar.

Best Pokemon vs Cliff

Lucario
Fighting-type

Counter

Power Up Punch
Ghost-type

Shadow Ball

Regice
Normal-type

Lock On

Blizzard

Focus Blast

Swampert
Ground-type

Mud Shot

Hydro Cannon
Ground-type

Earthquake

Sierra's Pokemon

Pokemon #1	Pokemon #2	Pokemon #3
Sneasel	Hypno	Alakazam
	Lapras	Houndoom
	Sableye	Gardevoir

We recommend using a mix of both Fighting-type and Ghost-type Pokemon to battle Sierra:

Lucario counters Sneasel, Lapras and deals damage to Hypno / Alakazam (Shadow Ball).
Melmetal counters Gardevoir, Lapras, Hypno and Alakazam.
Tyranitar counters Hypno, Sableye, Houndoom and Alakazam.

Best Pokemon vs Sierra

Lucario
Fighting-type

Counter

Power Up Punch
Ghost-type

Shadow Ball