A complete guide on how to defeat Team GO Rocket Leader Cliff in Pokémon GO. Cliff counters are Pokémon that are specialized in defeating her line-up with ease. Use this Cliff guide in combination with knowing Cliff’s Pokémon to ensure a victory. Remember that you can rematch Cliff if you lose the first time.
On this page
Cliff’s Pokémon Line-Up
Cliff uses Shadow Aerodactyl as his first Pokémon. Cliff’s second Pokémon can be Shadow Gallade, Shadow Cradily or Shadow Slowking. Cliff’s third Pokemon can be Shadow Tyranitar, Shadow Mamoswine or Shadow Dusknoir.
Countering Cliff’s Pokémon
Aerodactyl
Cliff’s Aerodactyl can be a surprising opponent given its move pool diversity – Bite, Rock Throw and Steel Wing as fast moves do complicate things significantly. In majority of cases, the counters listed below will do the work just fine.
Recommended counters
| Pokémon | Fast move | Charge move |
|---|---|---|
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Smack Down |
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Metal Claw |
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Thunder Shock |
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Waterfall |
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Charm |
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Waterfall |
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Gallade
Cliff’s Gallade is weak to Fairy, Fighting and Ghost moves. Gallade can have Low Kick, Confusion or Charm as its fast move, and Close Combat, Psychic and Leaf Blade as charge moves. Unsurprisingly, Charm is the most dangerous move to be faced against.
Recommended counters
Versus Charm
| Pokémon | Fast move | Charge move |
|---|---|---|
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Fire Spin |
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Confusion |
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Incinerate |
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Dragon Tail |
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Versus Confusion
| Pokémon | Fast move | Charge move |
|---|---|---|
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Confusion |
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Dragon Tail |
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Snarl |
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Smack Down |
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Versus Low-Kick
- Lugia, Ho-Oh and other flyers + Altered and Origin Form Giratina
Cradily
Cliff’s Cradily has a wide move pool as well, with Bullet Seed, Infestation and Acid available as fast moves, and Stone Edge, Grass Knot and Bulldoze as charge moves. Naturally, Cradily is complicated to counter due to this.
The counters below include Pokémon that are strong against Cradily, but pay attention not to get hurt by super effective damage from its fast move.
Recommended counters
| Pokémon | Fast move | Charge move |
|---|---|---|
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Incinerate |
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Fury Cutter |
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Thunder Shock |
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Mud Shot |
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Confusion |
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Shadow Claw |
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Slowking
Cliff’s Slowking has Confusion or Water Gun as fast move, and Psychic, Blizzard and Fire Blast as charge move. Luckily, it can be easily countered by strong Dark and Ghost types throughout all of its move sets.
Recommended counters
| Pokémon | Fast move | Charge move |
|---|---|---|
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Snarl |
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Bullet Punch |
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Dragon Breath |
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Shadow Claw |
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Spark |
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Snarl |
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Tyranitar
Tyranitar uses Dark and Steel quick moves, and Fire, Rock and Dark charge moves. Tyranitar is double weak to Fighting, which is a feast for Conkeldurr, Machamp and Lucario. You can use Swampert or Heracross if powering up those Pokémon is too expensive (Stardust wise).
Recommended counters
| Pokémon | Fast move | Charge move |
|---|---|---|
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Counter |
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Counter |
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Counter |
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Counter |
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Counter |
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Counter |
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Dusknoir
Cliff’s Dusknoir is really easy to counter, as the majority of its moves are Ghost moves which deal reduced damage to Normal and Dark types. TLDR: Snorlax eats it for breakfast.
Recommended counters
| Pokémon | Fast move | Charge move |
|---|---|---|
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Lick |
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Counter |
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Yawn |
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Lick |
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Lock On |
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Mamoswine
Mamoswine can have Powder Snow or Mud Slap as fast moves, and Stone Edge, Avalanche or Bulldoze as charge moves. Mamoswine is weak to Fire, Fighting, Grass, Steel and Water, meaning you can use a wide variety of Pokémon to counter it.
Depends on the fast move really. Powder Snow? Don’t use anything that dies to Ice. Mud Slap? Don’t use Steel types. Check out the table below and pick ones that work for the given fast move.
Recommended counters
| Pokémon | Fast move | Charge move |
|---|---|---|
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Waterfall |
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Waterfall |
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Waterfall |
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Ice Shard |
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Dragon Breath |
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Charm |
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