In the ever-exciting world of Pokemon GO, trainers often come across formidable challenges, and one of the toughest of them all is Cliff, a prominent member of Team GO Rocket. Known for his array of powerful Shadow Pokemon and unpredictable line-up, taking on Cliff can be a real challenge. To help you emerge victorious in this battle, we’ve put together this comprehensive guide on how to beat Cliff in Pokemon GO.
Team GO Rocket Leader Cliff Location
Before diving into the battle, you need to locate Cliff. This isn’t as simple as it might seem. First, you’ll have to defeat several Grunts to collect six Mysterious Components. Once you have the required components, you can assemble a Rocket Radar to pinpoint the Team GO Rocket leader’s location. Cliff is a formidable adversary, and finding him is just the first step in your journey to victory.
Cliff, the Team GO Rocket leader, boasts a diverse and potent roster of seven unique Shadow Pokemon. The battle consists of three phases, each with its own set of challenges. To emerge victorious, you’ll need to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each of these Pokemon and choose your counters wisely.
Cliff’s First Phase Counters
In the initial round of battle, Cliff always starts with Shadow Aerodactyl, a fearsome Rock/Flying-type Pokemon with enhanced offensive abilities as a Shadow monster. It’s weak against Electric, Ice, Rock, Steel, and Water-type moves, but resistant to Bug, Fire, Poison, Ground, Normal, and Flying-type attacks.
To counter Shadow Aerodactyl effectively, consider the following Pokemon and their respective fast and charge attacks:
- Primal Kyogre: Waterfall / Origin Pulse
- Metagross: Bullet Punch / Meteor Mash
- Zekrom: Charge Beam / Fusion Bolt
- Kyogre: Waterfall / Origin Pulse
- Xurkitree: Thunder Shock / Discharge
Cliff’s Second Phase Counters
The second phase of the battle introduces more uncertainty. Cliff has three potential picks for this round: Shadow Slowking, Shadow Cradily, or Shadow Gallade. It’s essential to analyze the game’s meta to counter these opponents effectively.
- Shadow Slowking: A Water/Psychic-type Pokemon, weak against Bug, Dark, Electric, Ghost, and Grass-type moves, but resistant to Fighting, Fire, Ice, Psychic, Steel, and Water-type attacks. Consider using Pheromosa, Xurkitree, Kartana, Gengar, or Attack Deoxys as counters.
- Shadow Gallade: A Psychic/Fighting-type Pokemon, with weaknesses to Ghost, Flying, and Fairy-type moves, and resistances to Fighting and Rock-type attacks. Gengar, Origin Forme Giratina, Rayquaza, Moltres, and Staraptor make great counters for Shadow Gallade.
- Shadow Cradily: A Rock/Grass-type Pokemon, vulnerable to Bug, Steel, Ice, and Fighting-type moves, but resistant to Electric and Normal-type attacks. Pheromosa, Terrakion, Keldeo, Lucario, and Galarian Standard Darmanitan are solid choices to counter this Pokemon.
Cliff’s Third Phase Counters
In the final phase of the battle, you’ll face another set of unpredictable choices from Cliff. He may select Shadow Dusknoir, Shadow Mamoswine, or Shadow Tyranitar. It’s crucial to pick your counters wisely to handle any situation.
- Shadow Dusknoir: A Ghost-type Pokemon, susceptible to Dark and Ghost-type moves, but resistant to Fighting, Normal, Bug, and Poison-type attacks. Consider using Attack Deoxys, Chandelure, Gengar, Darkrai, or Hydreigon to counter Shadow Dusknoir.
- Shadow Tyranitar: A Rock/Dark-type Pokemon, with vulnerabilities to Bug, Fairy, Fighting, Ground, Water, Steel, and Grass-type moves, and resistances to Psychic, Dark, Fire, Flying, Ghost, Normal, and Poison-type attacks. To counter Shadow Tyranitar, use Terrakion, Keldeo, Conkeldurr, Lucario, or Machamp.
- Shadow Mamoswine: An Ice/Ground-type Pokemon, weak against Water, Fire, Grass, Steel, and Fighting-type moves, but resistant to Electric and Poison-type attacks. Terrakion, Kartana, Primal Kyogre, Keldeo, and Lucario are solid counters for this Pokemon.
Rewards for Defeating Team GO Rocket Leader Cliff
Once you manage to defeat Cliff or any other Team GO Rocket Leader, you’ll be rewarded with some enticing prizes. These rewards include 1,000 Stardust for defeating a Rocket Leader, two item bundles, and the opportunity to catch a Shadow Pokemon used by the Leader. The first Pokemon used by the Leader will always be a Shadow Pokemon.
Additionally, there’s a chance that the Shadow Pokemon you encounter could be shiny, with a 1 in 64 chance if they are currently shiny eligible.