How to defeat Sierra in Pokémon GO (February 2023)

A complete guide on how to defeat Leader Sierra in Pokémon GO during the month of February 2023, including Sierra’s current Pokémon line-up. Sierra is one of the Team GO Rocket Leaders available in Pokémon GO, alongside Arlo, Cliff, and Giovanni.

You can rematch Sierra if you lose the first time. Use this guide in combination with knowing Sierra’s Pokémon to ensure a victory. You will notice that some Pokémon are listed more than once as counters to show which Pokémon offer the most coverage for Sierra’s potential line-ups.

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

Sierra’s Shadow Pokémon Line-Up

Sierra uses the following Shadow Pokémon:

• Shadow Beldum as her first Pokémon.
• Sierra’s second Pokémon can be Shadow Flygon, Shadow Sharpedo, or Shadow Lapras.
• Sierra’s third Pokémon can be Shadow Alakazam, Shadow Houndoom, or Shadow Shiftry.

Best team to defeat Sierra

First slot

Open with a strong opener that can burn Beldum’s shields efficiently while still having utility after rotation. Charizard, Blaziken, and even Lucario are excellent choices due to their high spam rate and potential utility against Sierra’s Lapras and Sharpedo (Lucario, the Fire-types won’t fare well there). Spam and burn shields.

Second slot

Follow up with a Pokémon that can burn through Sierra’s second Pokémon quickly, be it through reusing your first Pokémon and charging up, or by switching in a new pick.

Your choice will depend on whether Sierra uses Flygon, or Lapras/Sharpedo, as both paths lead to different counters. Flygon is countered by Ice-types, while Lapras and Sharpedo can be tackled by Fighting or Grass types.

Against Lapras and Sharpedo

Do note that if either of these Pokémon has a Water-typed fast move, you will fare better with going with strong Grass-typed attackers.

Against Flygon

If Flygon is using Mud Shot, Dragonite is also an excellent choice here.

Third slot

Finish by dealing large amounts of super effective damage, depending on what Pokémon you are faced against:

Against Houndoom

Against Shiftry

Against Alakazam

How to find Sierra in Pokémon GO?

To fight with Sierra 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 Sierra.

Fighting Sierra is more difficult than fighting Grunts, as Leaders use higher level Pokémon than Grunts. In order to defeat Sierra, 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 Sierra

Trainers who manage to defeat Sierra – 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 Sierra.
• 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

Reward mechanics

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