Team Rocket Leader: Giovanni Guide

redworstje

Strategies and counters for taking down Team Rocket Leader Giovanni

Table of Contents

Team Rocket Boss Giovanni -

Pokemon Lineup

Catchable Pokemon

Team building recommendations

Yes, this season it's very much worth spending your Super Rocket Radar. Giovanni is currently sporting one of Pokemon GO's biggest powerhouses: Shadow Palkia. It is nothing short of fantastic, but long term players might want to think twice about spending multiple Radars as the Dragon type category offers a plethora of powerful Pokemon.
Team Rocket Boss Giovanni - "I will not tolerate your interference."
Pokemon Lineup
First SlotSecond SlotThird Slot
Shadow PersianShadow RhyperiorShadow Palkia
Shadow Kingdra
Shadow Nidoking
Catchable Pokemon
Shadow Palkia
Shadow Palkia is among the best Dragons in Pokemon Go, standing head and shoulders above most of the competition. It's an incredible attacker that can outright destroy much of the competition.
Team building recommendations
For the Team Leaders, it's important to work on strong team building a bit more, as they definitely pose more of a threat than most of the grunts. For this reason, we're going to look at our counters less on an individual basis and more based on their role within a team. This team structure isn't mandatory to win, but at least some degree of planning will help tremendously.
It's very much worth noting that Giovanni's Pokemon hit like a truck, so it can be extremely important to bring along resistances in order to keep from being taken down too quickly.
Lead
Lucario
 Lucario is an absolute must have when facing Giovanni, the gold standard if you will. Force Palm*/Counter paired with Power-Up-Punch and Shadow Ball are the way to go in order to take shields early and follow up with a good amount of damage if you can get a Shadow Ball off against the second slot.
Second Slot
Primarina
 Waterfall, along with Hydro Cannon* and Disarming Voice offer fantastic coverage against Giovannis midgame.
Third Slot
Primarina
 Deja vu? Yep, sporting two of these is definitely a way to go, as it resists every move Palkia can throw at it while firing back with super effective Fairy type moves. Either run it with Charm to rely on Fast Move damage, or with Waterfall and spam out Disarming Voice as much as you can.
Good substitutes
Terrakion
 Terrakion performs quite similar as Lucario, resisting all fast moves Persian can throw at it whilst getting rid of shields effectivly with Double Kick and Sacred Sword*. It's slightly inferior to Lucario as it doesn't offer as good coverage with against the second slot and it's not worth the investement of a second Charge Move at such a high cost.
SwampertKyogre
 These two are here for one thing only, and thats to deal with the second slot. Kyogre relies on Waterfall to deal damage, while Swampert relies on Mud Shot with Hydro Cannon and Earthquake. Though Kingdra might be a bit more annoying...
TogekissFlorgesXerneasGardevoir
 Choose your favourite Fairy to deal with Palkia!
Mega RayquazaMega GarchompDragoniteShadow DragoniteGiratina (Altered Forme)
 The commonly seen dragons are pretty risky here due to their weakness to Palkia's destructive powers. However, they CAN work in some cases!