Pokémon Go Team Go Rocket leader counters for January 2026
Pokémon Go has its own spin on the classic troublemakers with Team Go Rocket. If you’re hunting down the trio of leaders — Sierra, Arlo, and Cliff — this guide walks you through where to find them and what to bring to beat them.
Lineups and suggestions below reflect January 2026, following the Team Go Rocket Takeover that rolled in alongside the “Psychic Spectacular: Taken Over” event in September 2025.
How to find leaders Sierra, Cliff, and Arlo in Pokémon Go
You’ll encounter Team Go Rocket leaders at black PokéStops or in hot air balloons once you equip a Rocket Radar.
To craft a Rocket Radar, collect six Mysterious Components. Each standard Team Go Rocket Grunt you defeat drops one Component. Equip the Radar from your Bag and you’ll be matched with a random leader — Sierra, Arlo, or Cliff.
Some Timed Research and Team Go Rocket Special Research steps will ask you to defeat all three leaders. Finishing the Special Research grants a Super Rocket Radar to track down Giovanni. Beating Giovanni rewards a Legendary Shadow Pokémon.
Team Go Rocket leader Sierra counters
Sierra’s lineup:
- Feebas (water)
- Ferrothorn (grass/steel), Mismagius (ghost), or Staraptor (normal/flying)
- Houndoom (dark/fire), Drapion (poison/dark), or Camerupt (fire/ground)
Her team is pretty mixed, so plan to cover multiple angles. Ground-, water-, and ice-type attacks do a lot of work here. Depending on what she rolls, dark-, fire-, or fighting-type moves can patch the rest. If Feebas is giving you trouble up front, electric- or grass-type damage will tidy that up fast.
Recommended counters and moves:
- Garchomp with Mud Shot and Earth Power
- Rhyperior with Mud-Slap and Earthquake
- Kyogre with Waterfall and Origin Pulse
- Primarina with Waterfall and Hydro Cannon
- Galarian Darmanitan with Ice Fang and Avalanche
- Mamoswine with Powder Snow and Avalanche
- Lucario with Force Palm and Aura Sphere
- Delphox with Fire Spin and Blast Burn
- Tyranitar with Bite and Brutal Swing
Team Go Rocket leader Arlo counters
Arlo’s lineup:
- Wobbuffet (psychic)
- Steelix (steel/ground), Crobat (poison/flying), or Slowbro (water/psychic)
- Scizor (bug/steel), Alolan Muk (poison/dark), or Alakazam (psychic)
This setup leans diverse. Electric-type attacks are a safe backbone, and you’ll often get strong mileage out of ghost-, ground-, and fire-type moves as well.
Suggested counters and moves:
- Electivire with Thunder Shock and Wild Charge
- Zekrom with Charge Beam and Fusion Bolt
- Garchomp with Mud Shot and Earth Power
- Rhyperior with Mud-Slap and Earthquake
- Chandelure with Hex and Shadow Ball
- Delphox with Fire Spin and Blast Burn
Team Go Rocket leader Cliff counters
Cliff’s lineup:
- Larvitar (rock/ground)
- Honchkrow (dark/flying), Skarmory (steel/flying), or Annihilape (fighting/ghost)
- Tyranitar (rock/dark), Machamp (fighting), or Luxray (electric)
Fairy-type damage pulls a lot of weight across Cliff’s possible teams. Back it up with fire and ground-type moves to handle anything fairy can’t comfortably cover.
Examples of strong counters:
- Togekiss with Charm and Dazzling Gleam
- Gardevoir with Charm and Dazzling Gleam
- Delphox with Fire Spin and Blast Burn
- Garchomp with Mud Shot and Earth Power
Team Go Rocket leader tips
- Leaders burn shields on your first two Charge Attacks. Open with a fast-charging attacker to strip those shields early.
- Expect to lose your lead. That’s fine if it clears shields — have your next two Pokémon lined up with strong type advantages.
- You can rematch the same leader as many times as you like on one Rocket Radar. Scout the lineup, then tweak your team for a clean counter-pick.
- Leader Pokémon run high CP. If you’re stuck, lean on your highest CP options with the right typings.
- Leader battles award three Shadow Shards each — a reliable way to build Purified Gems.