Giovanni is the Team GO Rocket Boss in Pokémon GO. This page describes how to find Giovanni, how to defeat Giovanni and which Pokémon are the best counters for Giovanni’s Pokémon.
Use this Giovanni counters guide to easily defeat Team GO Rocket in Pokémon GO.
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Giovanni’s Pokémon Lineup
Giovanni always uses Persian as his first Pokémon. His second Pokemon can be Kangaskhan, Nidoking or Garchomp. His final Pokemon is Shadow Zapdos.
| Pokemon #1 | Pokemon #2 | Pokemon #3 |
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Countering Giovanni’s Pokémon
Persian
Weak to Fighting, resist Ghost.
Persian uses Dark and Normal fast moves, and it uses Dark, Rock or Fairy charge moves. This combination makes Melmetal, Lucario and Machamp the best counters to Persian. Melmetal needs to have Super Power Fighting to be effective.
Recommended counters for Giovanni’s Persian
| Pokémon | Fast move | Charge move |
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Thunder Shock |
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Counter |
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Mud Shot |
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Counter |
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Counter |
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Kangaskhan
Weak to Fighting. Uses a mix of Fighting and Ground fast moves, and Fighting, Ground Dark and Dragon type moves.
Recommended counters for Giovanni’s Kangaskhan
| Pokémon | Fast move | Charge move |
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Counter |
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Counter |
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Counter |
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Dragon Breath |
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Dragon Breath |
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Nidoking
Weak to Ground, Water, Psychic and Ice, double resists Electric and Poison and is not weak to Grass.
Giovanni’s Nidoking has access to Iron Tail and Poison Jab as fast moves, and Earthquake, Earth Power, Sludge Wave and Megahorn as charge moves.
Recommended counters for Giovanni’s Nidoking
| Pokémon | Fast move | Charge move |
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Mud Shot |
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Mud Shot |
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Zen Headbutt |
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Psycho Cut |
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Powder Snow |
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Garchomp
Weak to Dragon, Fairy and 2x Ice, double resists Electric moves.
Giovanni’s Garchomp is best countered by strong Fairy and Ice types. Gyarados is also an interesting option if Garchomp has double Ground moves. Garchomp has Dragon Tail and Mud Shot as fast moves, and Sand Tomb, Earthquake, Outrage and Fire Blast as charge moves.
Recommended counters for Giovanni’s Garchomp
| Pokémon | Fast move | Charge move |
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Charm |
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Ice Shard |
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Charm |
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Dragon Breath |
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Dragon Breath |
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Zapdos
Weak only to Ice and Rock type moves, while it resists Bug, Fighting, , Grass and Steel type moves.
Giovanni’s Shadow Zapdos is best countered by strong Ice and Rock types. This Zapdos has Charge Beam as its only fast move, and Thunder, Thunderbolt, Zap Cannon, Ancient Power and Drill Peck as its charge moves.
Recommended counters for Giovanni’s Mewtwo
| Pokémon | Fast move | Charge move |
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Smack Down |
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Smack Down |
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Smack Down |
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Ice Fang |
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Powder Snow |
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How to find Giovanni
In order to find Giovanni you need to complete the Looming in the Shadows Special Research or the new An Inter-egg-sting Development Special Research. In order to get this Special Research you need to have A Troubling Situation completed.
Shadow Zapdos will be returning as an encounter when you defeat Giovanni from Tuesday, June 1, at 12 AM until Thursday, June 17, at 12 AM local time.
Once you complete step 4 of Looming in the Shadows, you will get a Super Rocket Radar. It works like a regular Rocket Radar, but it tracks Giovanni, not GO Rocket leaders.
The Super Rocket Radar doesn’t immediately lead you to Giovanni; it displays locations of both decoy Grunts disguised as Giovanni and Giovanni’s actual Hideout. You’ll need to approach each PokéStop and investigate yourself to find where Giovanni’s hiding.
You can receive Giovanni Special Research once per month.
