Pokémon GO Cliff Counters (March 2023)

As experienced Pokemon Go Trainers know, defeating Team GO Rocket Leader Cliff is a tough challenge. In this article, we will provide you with the best counters and strategies to beat Cliff in Pokemon GO in March 2023.

In this guide, you’ll find Cliff’s current lineup of Pokemon, their weaknesses, and the best counters you can use on your team to defeat them. Cliff is one of the Team GO Rocket Leaders available in Pokémon GO, alongside Arlo, Sierra, and Giovanni.

💡 Note: In Trainer Battles, counters need not always be Pokémon that do super-effective damage. We include Pokémon that are more viable to defeat Cliff, rather than those who do maximum damage.

Cliff’s Shadow Pokémon Line-Up

Team GO Rocket Leader Cliff has the following Shadow Pokémon in March 2023:

• Cliff’s first Pokémon is Shadow Larvitar
• Cliff’s second Pokémon can be Shadow Sceptile, Shadow Kingdra, or Shadow Skarmory.
• Cliff’s third Pokémon can be Shadow Tyranitar, Shadow Swampert, or Shadow Gyarados.

Best team to defeat Rocket Leader Cliff’s Pokemon

To beat Cliff’s current Pokemon, you need to exploit their weaknesses and use best counters you can use to defeat each one. One of the best Teams you can use against Cliff in Pokémon GO is Tyranitar, Magnezone (*), and Torterra.

Tyranitar, as a superior Dark and Rock-type, can help defeat Skarmory, Gyarados, and even Kingdra to an extent. Your choice of charge moves should include Crunch and Stone Edge, and despite potential Water-based threats, having Tyranitar on your team will help a lot.

Torterra is an excellent choice against Cliff. Larvitar and Swampert are weak to Grass-type moves, making this a smart choice to cover your bases, and Torterra’s fast-charging moves can do a lot of damage to the rest of Cliff’s team.

Magnezone is a relatively safe choice to defeat Skarmory, Kingdra, and Gyarados, and we would recommend it as a core team member over some Fire-types. 

(*) For Sceptile you would want a Fire-type such as Heatran, and for Tyranitar you’d ideally want a Machamp, or Swampert.

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Best Pokémon to defeat Cliff’s Shadow Larvitar

Larvitar (Shadow)

Open with a strong opener that can burn shields efficiently while still having utility after rotation. Lucario, Swampert, and Torterra are excellent choices due to their high spam rate and utility against Omastar. Spam and burn shields.

Larvitar is a Rock and Ground-type Pokémon. It is weak to Grass, Water, Fighting, Ground, Ice, and Steel type moves. It takes reduced damage from Fire, Flying, Normal, Rock, Electric, and Poison type moves.

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Best Pokémon to defeat Cliff’s Shadow Sceptile, Kingdra, and Skarmory

Follow up with a Pokémon that can burn through Cliff’s second choice quickly, be it through reusing your first Pokémon and charging up, or by simply destroying his pick. Your choice will depend on whether Cliff uses Skarmory/Sceptile, or Kingdra, as both paths lead to different counters.

Sceptile counters

Sceptile (Shadow)

Sceptile is a Grass-type Pokémon. It is weak to Bug, Fire, Flying, Ice, and Poison type moves. It takes reduced damage from Electric, Grass, Ground, and Water type moves.

Kingdra counters

Kingdra (Shadow)

Kingdra is a Water and Dragon-type Pokémon. It is weak to Dragon and Fairy type moves. It takes reduced damage from Steel, Fire, and Water type moves.

Skarmory counters

Skarmory (Shadow)

Skarmory is a Steel and Flying-type Pokémon. It is weak to Electric, and Fire type moves. It takes reduced damage from Dragon, Fairy, Flying, Ground, Normal, Psychic, Steel, Bug, Grass, and Poison type moves.

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Best Pokémon to defeat Cliff’s Shadow Tyranitar, Gyarados, and Swampert

Finish by dealing large amounts of super effective damage, depending on what you are faced against. Swampert can be tricky, Tyranitar is well known, and Gyarados has a wide move pool. Be wise!

Tyranitar counters

Tyranitar (Shadow)

Shadow Tyranitar is a Rock and Dark-type Pokémon. It is weak to Fighting, Bug, Fairy, Grass, Ground, Steel, and Water type moves. It takes reduced damage from Dark, Fire, Flying, Ghost, Normal, Poison, and Psychic type moves.

Gyarados counters

Gyarados (Shadow)

Gyarados is a Water and Flying-type Pokémon. It is weak to Electric and Rock type moves. It takes reduced damage from Bug, Fighting, Fire, Steel, Water, and Ground type moves.

Swampert counters

Swampert (Shadow)

Swampert is a Water and Ground-type Pokémon. It is weak to Grass type moves. It takes reduced damage from Electric, Fire, Poison, Rock, and Steel type moves.

How to battle Cliff in Pokémon GO?

To fight with Cliff in Pokémon GO, you need to first defeat six Team GO Rocket Grunts to collect enough Mysterious Components to build a Rocket Radar.

Activate the Rocket Radar and you will be able to see the location of a Rocket Leader. The game will not tell you which Leader you are facing, but you have a 33% chance for it to be Cliff.

Fighting Cliff is more difficult than fighting Grunts, as Leaders use higher level Pokémon than Grunts. In order to defeat Cliff, we consider using good counters mandatory. 

You can rematch if you lose, and your Rocket Radar will be consumed if you win.

Rewards for defeating Team GO Rocket Leader Cliff

Trainers who manage to defeat Cliff – or any other Team GO Rocket Leader – will get a selection of rare rewards, including the chance to get a Team GO Rocket exclusive 12 km Strange Egg.

• Trainers receive 1,000 Stardust when defeating a Rocket Leaders,
• Trainers will receive two of the item bundles listed below when they defeat Team GO Rocket Leader like Cliff.
• Trainers have the opportunity to catch a Shadow Pokémon used by the Leader. It is always the first Pokemon used by the Leader.
• Shadow Pokémon from Rocket Leaders have a shiny chance of 1 in 64, if they are shiny eligible at the moment of defeating the Leader

Rewards for defeating Cliff in Pokémon GO

Defeating one of the Team GO Rocket Leader trio earns you two item bundles. If at least one of your Egg inventory slots is open, a 12km Strange Egg is guaranteed to replace one of those two bundles.

Receiving a Strange Egg does not have an effect on which item bundle drops alongside the egg.

Guaranteed

1000x Stardust

Random drop of two of these:

As an example, a typical reward drop might contain 4 Revives and 4 Hyper Potions. Similarly, a reward drop might contain 1 Strange Egg and 2 Max Revives, or 1 Unova Stone and 1 Strange Egg.

More Team GO Rocket Guides