Team Rocket has invaded Pokémon Go, and it’s up to you, the trainers, to take them down—with slightly different challenges every time. This time, you’ll need to figure out the best team to counter Cliff.
As players take on Team Go Rocket grunts in Pokémon Go, they’ll receive items called Mysterious Components that can be pieced together to make a tracker used to hunt down the evil team’s three leaders: Arlo, Cliff, and Sierra. This requires six of the Mysterious Components to craft an item called the Rocket Radar, which can be equipped from your bag and will lead you to the Go Rocket leaders.
You will need to defeat all of the leaders before you can take on the true boss. With that in mind, here is how you can counter the brute force of Go Rocket leader Cliff.
Best counters for Cliff in Pokémon Go
First Pokémon
Dratini
Unlike Arlo and Sierra, Cliff has opted to enshroud a rather rare Pokémon in the shadows: Dratini. This small yet mighty Dragon-type Pokémon is rather elusive in the world of Pokémon Go, oftentimes not appearing too commonly in the overworld outside of specific events or near bodies of water.
In Cliff’s clutches, it acts as the first Pokémon players will need to overcome before facing the remaining members of the Team Go Rocket leader’s team. Like its evolutions, Shadow Dratini has access to not only Dragon-type moves, but a handful of coverage moves like Iron Tail and Aqua Tail that can deal major damage to unsuspecting opponents.
Dratini’s only weaknesses are Dragon, Ice, and Fairy-type moves. Taking the other members of his party into account, it may be wise to bring Fairy-type Pokémon like Xerneas, Sylveon, Gardevoir, or Diancie, which can quickly take down Dratini while charging powerful Fairy-type Charge Attacks to force Cliff to use his Protect Shields.
Successfully defeating Cliff will allow players to catch Shadow Dratini—with a slight possibility for it to be Shiny.
Second Pokémon
Once you break into the second and third sets of Pokémon, the Go Rocket Leaders get more dangerous. Cliff will have one of three different Pokémon he can use in the second stage of the battle, all of which are formidable in their own way.
Gallade
Cliff’s Gallade acts as a compliment to Sierra’s Gardevoir and an equally oppressive option for his second Pokémon slot. This Psychic/Fighting-type Pokémon has rather well-rounded stats in Pokémon Go, making it not only capable of dealing a decent chunk of damage to most opponents, but it can also tank a portion of incoming damage as well.
Answering Gallade with Flying-type Pokémon such as Staraptor, Pidgeot, Lugia, and Charizard is a great option to exploit its Flying-type weakness. Bringing Fairy-types like Azumarill, Gardevoir, Togekiss, Tapu Lele, and Sylveon can not only allow players to deal super-effective damage, but take less damage in return due to the resistances they possess to many of Gallade’s attacks.
Cradily
Various members of Cliff’s previous team have been switched around between his second and third party slot, but Cradily remains an option players may face as soon as they take care of Shadow Dratini. As both a Rock/Grass-type Pokémon, Cradily is capable of withstanding attacks from numerous other types, as well as attacking opponents with moves outside of its own types.
Fortunately for players, Cradily is a tank, and its attack stat is subpar compared to the other Pokémon that Cliff has in his party. Therefore, players should be able to safely bring Steel-type Pokémon to answer Cradily’s bulk, such as Metagross, Lucario, Excadrill, Scizor, and Empoleon—though they should keep an eye out for Bulldoze.
Fighting-type Pokémon like Machamp, Hariyama, Breloom, Mienshao, Hitmontop, and Sirfetch’d also deal super-effective damage to Cradily while resisting its Rock-type attacks.
Slowking
Another second-slot option for Cliff is Slowking, a Water/Psychic-type Pokémon and a final-evolved form of Slowpoke. Yet despite this typing, Slowking possesses the unique capability of using moves of various other types, such as Fire and Ice. Therefore, it’s not always the best idea to bring Grass or Bug-type Pokémon into battle here.
Instead, opt for Ghost, Dark, or Electric-type Pokémon that don’t have secondary types with weaknesses to the types of moves Slowking has access to. Some good options here are Absol, Alolan Raichu, Skuntank, Drifblim, Ampharos, and Manectric.
Third Pokémon
Now it’s time to take on Cliff’s final Pokémon. It can be one of these three randomly chosen options, starting with his signature Tyranitar, which is always featured in the rotation.
Tyranitar
The Rock/Dark-type monster that is Tyranitar can lay waste to your entire team if you aren’t careful, and covers for many of the weaknesses Cliff’s other Pokémon have. You can’t bring a Grass-type unless you want to risk taking a Fire Blast, but strong Water and Fighting-type Pokémon should be fine as long as they can shoulder a few heavy Dark or Rock-type hits.
Your best option going into this battle would be to bring something like Machamp, which shouldn’t fear any of the Armor Pokémon’s moves. Otherwise nearly all of the options that countered Mamoswine can be used here efficiently as well.
Dusknoir
For the second rotation in a row, Cliff can surprise opponents with a Dusknoir—perfect for the spooky Halloween season. This tank of a Pokémon may be a tough final challenge for players to overcome, but if it is answered with Dark-type Pokémon, then taking down the last member of Cliff’s team should not be too much of an issue.
Nearly any Dark-type Pokémon with a decent attack stat, like Tyranitar, Weavile, Hydreigon, Shiftry, Drapion, or Absol, can chip away at Dusknoir while taking very little damage in return, as Dusknoir only has access to Ghost, Dark, and Psychic-type attacks.
Mamoswine
Cliff welcomes back Mamoswine to his party, an equally-ancient Pokémon compared to Cradily but one that continues to roam the Pokémon world without facing extinction. This massive Ground/Ice-type Pokémon is the final evolution of the loveable Swinub, who players may have encountered in the Johto region’s Ice Path while traveling to Blackthorn City.
Avoid bringing Grass-type Pokémon into this battle, as they’ll be frozen in place—much like most Steel and Fire-type Pokémon will simply be trampled by Mamoswine’s Ground-type moves. Instead, bring Water-type Pokémon like Swampert, Azumarill, Slowbro, Blastoise, Poliwrath, and Kingdra to exploit its part Ground-typing.