A complete guide to Team GO Rocket Grunts during the month of December. This page shows all Team GO Rocket Grunt lineups, the best counters for each Grunt, catchable Pokémon and shiny Shadow Pokémon you can get during December 2024, starting from the Galarian Expedition: Taken Over event in Pokémon GO.
How to know which Pokémon the Grunt has?
Every time when you go and start interacting with a Rocket Grunt, they will taunt you with a line of dialogue before the fight starts. Based on this taunt, you can know exactly which Pokémon the Grunt will have, and how to counter it.
Which Grunts can have Shiny Pokémon?
When a Pokémon has been shiny from a Team GO Rocket Leader, it can then be shiny from a Team GO Rocket grunt. The currently available shinies from Grunts is as follows:
Grunt lineups
Our grunt lineups are sorted alphabetically. Among the 21 Grunts which are currently available in the game, each with their own lineup. Below, you’ll find every type of Team GO Rocket Grunt based on their taunts and information on what their lineup will be and the best counters you can use to defeat them.
This Grunt uses Psychic type Pokémon, which are weak to Dark and Ghost-type attacks.
Catchable in this encounter are Shadow Gothita or Shadow Solosis. Origin Forme Giratina, Tyranitar, Gengar, and Hydreigon are great at defeating the Psychic-type Grunt’s entire roster.
Grunts using this taunt use primarily type Pokémon. You best counter options are Rock and Electric-type Pokémon like Smack Down Tyranitar, Rhyperior, Magnezone, Raikou.
Catchable in this encounter are Shadow Pidgey, Shadow Starly, Shadow Zubat (which can be shiny), Shadow Gligar (which can be shiny), or Shadow Staravia.
Grunts using this taunt use Shadow Fairy-type Pokémon, which are weak to Poison and Steel-type attacks.
| Slot #1 | Slot #2 | Slot #3 |
|---|---|---|
Catchable at the end of this encounter are Shadow Mawile (which can be shiny), Alolan Vulpix, or Snubbull.
Pokémon GO Grunts using this taunt use Poison type Pokémon, which are weak to Ground and Psychic-type moves.
| Slot #1 | Slot #2 | Slot #3 |
|---|---|---|
Catchable Pokémon in this encounter are Shadow Hisuian Sneasel, Croagunk, or Koffing (which can be shiny).
This Grunt has Grass type Pokémon. You can easily defeat Grass-type Grunts with Moltres, Charizard, Entei, Talonflame, or even Heatran. Fire types are your best option, with Fire and being the best.
Catchable in this encounter are Shadow Treecko or Cacnea (which can be shiny).
GO Rocket Grunts using this taunt will have Fire type Pokémon. Bring your best Rock, Ground and Water types to counter it: Kyogre, Swampert, Tyranitar, Garchomp and Rhyperior. All of them resist Fire type attacks.
| Slot #1 | Slot #2 | Slot #3 |
|---|---|---|
Catchable in this encounter are Shadow Torchic, Darumaka, or Cyndaquil.
Pokémon GO Grunt using this taunt has Electric type Pokémon, and feature a mix of different Electric-type Pokémon families. We recommend countering the Electric-type Grunt with Garchomp (3x resistance to Electric attacks makes it a solo cakewalk), or other strong Ground-types.
| Slot #1 | Slot #2 | Slot #3 |
|---|---|---|
Catchable in this encounter are Shadow Magnemite (which can be shiny), Blitzle, Joltik, Alolan Geodude, Voltorb, or Electabuzz.
Team GO Rocket Grunts using this taunt use mostly Bug type Pokémon, which are weak to Fire and Flying-type attackers.
| Slot #1 | Slot #2 | Slot #3 |
|---|---|---|
Catchable in this encounter are Shadow Scyther (which can be shiny), Anorith (which can be shiny), Caterpie, Venipede, Shelmet, or Karrablast.
Most of the Pokémon here can be countered by strong Fire types. Charizard / Moltres with Fire type moves resists most moves from all Pokémon and deal 2x Super Effective Damage to Scizor and Forretress. Bug types are easily defeated by Fire and types, but Fire types have the advantage against Bug / Steel Pokémon.
Grunts using this taunt will use Pokémon with Ghost typing. Ghost-type Pokémon are weak to Ghost and Dark types. Best Pokémon to counter Ghost Grunt are strong Dark type Pokémon like Darkrai, Weavile, Hydreigon, Tyranitar, and Yveltal.
Catchable in this encounter are Shadow Duskull, Drifloon, Sableye (which can be shiny), Dusclops, or Golett.
Grunts using this taunt will use Pokémon with Rock typing, which can be easily defeated by Fighting and Water-type attackers.
| Slot #1 | Slot #2 | Slot #3 |
|---|---|---|
Catchable in this encounter are Shadow Roggenrola, Archen, or Tirtouga.
Grunts that use this taunt line will primarily use Normal type Pokémon. All Normal-types are weak to Fighting types, so be sure to bring some Fighters with you!
Catchable Pokémon in this encounter are Shadow Glameow, Bidoof, Stantler (which can be shiny), Meowth (which can be shiny), Rattata, or Purugly.
Recommended Pokémon for this encounter are Machamp (or your strongest Counter user), Lucario, and Breloom. All of these Pokémon take super-effective damage from Fighting moves, so you will only need your best fighting types here.
Grunts using this taunt have Dragon type Pokémon in their lineup. The best Pokémon to use against this Dragon-type Grunt are Mamoswine, Glaceon, Walrein, Gardevoir, and Togekiss.
Catchable Pokémon in this encounter are Shadow Dratini (which can be shiny) or Gible.
GO Rocket Grunts using this taunt use Water type Pokémon. There are two version: Male and Female Water Grunt. Female Grunt has normal Pokémon, which change every once in a while. Male Water Grunt uses Magikarp and Gyarados only, and is the only way to get Shadow Gyarados.
Female Grunt
| Slot #1 | Slot #2 | Slot #3 |
|---|---|---|
Catchable in this encounter are Shadow Mudkip, Shellder, or Barboach.
Male grunt
Catchable in this encounter is Shadow Magikarp.
Rocket Grunts using this taunt use Fighting type Pokémon. Fighting-type Grunt is easily defeated by using Psychic, Fairy and Flying type Pokémon to counter them.
| Slot #1 | Slot #2 | Slot #3 |
|---|---|---|
Catchable in this encounter are Shadow Timburr, Mankey, Machop (which can be shiny), Hitmontop, Hitmonlee, or Gurdurr.
Team GO Rocket Grunts using this taunt have Ground type Pokémon, which are weak to Grass and Water-type attacks. We recommend using Pokémon like Kyogre, Swampert, and Torterra to defeat the Ground-type Grunt.
Catchable in this encounter are Shadow Rhyhorn, Wooper, Drilbur, Vibrava, or Graveler.
Grunts using this taunt use Steel type Pokémon. Steel Pokémon are weak to Fire-type attacks.
| Slot #1 | Slot #2 | Slot #3 |
|---|---|---|
Catchable Pokémon at the end of this encounter are Shadow Alolan Sandshrew or Alolan Diglett.
Grunts using this taunt use Ice type Pokémon.
| Slot #1 | Slot #2 | Slot #3 |
|---|---|---|
Catchable in this encounter are Shadow Alolan Sandshrew, Snorunt, or Sneasel (which can be shiny).
This encounter could prove tricky, so bring a variety to deal with your possible options.
Team GO Rocket Grunts using this taunt use Dark type Pokémon. Dark-types are weak to Fighting and Fairy type moves. Best counters for Dark-type Grunts are Sylveon, Gardevoir, Togekiss, Machamp, and Lucario.
| Slot #1 | Slot #2 | Slot #3 |
|---|---|---|
Catchable in this encounter are Shadow Cacnea (which can be shiny) or Alolan Rattata.
| Female grunt | ||
|---|---|---|
| Slot #1 | Slot #2 | Slot #3 |
| Male grunt | ||
| Slot #1 | Slot #2 | Slot #3 |
Female Grunts using any of these taunts use a difficult lineup that starts with Snorlax. Male Grunts using these taunts use different stages of Starter Pokémon from Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn region. Catchable at the end of this encounter: Shadow Snorlax (female grunt), and Chikorita, Cyndaquil, or Totodile (male grunt).
- Snorlax is always tough and Fighting types like Machamp or Lucario are the way to go. Bring a Metagross to deal with Gardevoir which is also solid for Snorlax.
- Having an Electric type like Magnezone or Electivire (with added Ice Punch) can also help you arrest the incoming Dragonite or Gyarados in the last slot.
- This is definitely the most tricky of all the grunts, so be prepared!
About Grunts
Team GO Rocket Grunts are one of the most common enemies you will fight in Pokémon GO, as they tend to take over PokéStops, steal items, and convert Pokémon into Shadow Pokémon. You can find them at PokéStops and flying in the Team GO Rocket Hot Air Ballon.
Grunts are a common enemy, but they still can be difficult to defeat unless you know which counters to use. Luckily, each type of Grunt has a recognisable taunt which gives you a hint at which Pokémon they will use.
Don’t forget to check out our Team GO Rocket Leaders guides for Sierra, Arlo, Cliff, and Giovanni – we’ve got the perfect strategy guides to help you win against Rocket Leaders as well.
Recommended team for defeating Team GO Rocket Grunts
3kkology here, updating this guide for everyone to use to take down Go Rocket invasions. I wanted to provide my dedicated Go Rocket team that I use for efficiency when taking down large invasion of Go Rocket grunts.
It can be annoying to look at this guide for every grunt and remember what Pokémon is best for each encounter. This is the team that I use for every Go Rocket encounter and it has yet to fail me. Feel free to copy and try for yourself.
| Pokémon | Fast Move | Charge Moves |
|---|---|---|
Rhyperior
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Charizard
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Lucario
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The lead is Rhyperior. Lucario Power-up Punch is very powerful because of the delay in attacking by grunt Pokémon after using charge moves. Charizard is great for similar reason because of Dragon Claw and the fire type attacks over good coverage. You can really limit the amount of fast moves the Go Rocket grunt can get off. This team is very well rounded for all grunt encounters. With a lack of Gyarados and Dragonites in this round of grunt encounters, this team is great against all grunts.
Shiny Shadow Pokémon from Team GO Rocket Grunts
Shadow Pokémon caught from Grunts are shiny eligible in Pokémon GO. Since the Team GO Rocket Takeover Event event, select Pokémon caught from Team GO Rocket Grunts have a chance to be Shiny, allowing Trainers to collect Shiny Shadow Pokémon much easier than before.
Team GO Rocket Grunt mechanics
Grunts will randomly select one 1 Pokémon from each of the 3 columns (#1 – 3) to build a team. Before starting the Team Rocket Battle encounter in Pokémon GO, the Grunt will taunt you. We use this taunt line to figure out which type of Pokémon he / she will use in the fight.
Team Rocket Grunts do not use shields, which gives you an additional edge in these battles. You should shield against every Charge move they use (the charged attack the Shadow Pokémon use in battle is not Frustration, but a regular move from their move pool).
Every Pokémon that faints on your team reduces the number of Premier Balls you will get for the Shadow Pokémon catch encounter. It’s in your best interest to switch low HP Pokémon before they faint. There is a slight delay in Rocket Grunts attacking after charge moves are used or Pokémon are switched, which you can take advantage of to make your victory that much easier.
Your Pokémon are not automatically healed after the battle. If you lose, you can re-match and the Grunt will have the same Pokémon again. There’s no penalty for rejoining.
You can walk away from the Poke Stop once the encounter starts. There’s no distance limit on how far you can move (or at least we never reached it). We tested this up to almost 500 meters (0.31 miles).
These taunts indicate the strongest Pokémon you will face, not the one you can catch. The Team Rocket grunt gives hints on the type of their third Pokémon. You will always be catching either the first or the second Pokémon that they used
Credits and thank you
We wish to say thank you to everyone that contributed their data to our Team Rocket Battles research project. This guide is made possible solely on the merit of the data you provided! Thank you! If you want to join our Discord server, please do so, we are planning to hold more research projects in near future.
