Pokémon Go Giovanni counters, current line-up and rewards explained

Giovanni counters in Pokémon Go

Once you find Giovanni, prepare yourself for a fight. His Pokémon are a lot stronger than the previous Team Go Rocket Leaders you’ve fought, so make sure your team is just as powerful. Don’t be deterred if it takes two, or even three attempts to take him down!

Giovanni’s choice of legendary Shadow Pokémon and second party member rotate every few months, meaning you will often find yourself battling different Pokémon.

In March 2023, Giovanni was updated with the following line-up:

Persian will always come up first and is weak against fighting, so having a Lucario or Machamp are your best bets here. However, the secret tech is to put this fighter in the second slot, meaning the very first thing you do in battle is swap to them.

Your first Pokémon will probably take a hit or two from Persian, so simply put your tankiest Pokémon there.

The reason for this switching tactic is simple. Giovanni recieves a two-second delay every time you use a Charged move or switch Pokémon. This will give you two sweet, sweet seconds to lay into Persian as much as you can before it gets the claws back out. Giovanni also always blocks a Charged move if he has any shields remaining; if possible, you want to force him to use both of his shields with this first match-up.

Since Giovanni’s second choice can be one of several Pokémon, you may need to scout ahead to ensure your team can defeat it. Annoyingly, none of them have overlapping types.

Kingler is weak to Grass and Electric-type Pokémon, so a powerful choice from either of these categories will work wonders. Meanwhile, Kingdra is weak to both Dragon and Fairy-type Pokémon. Due to it's part Water-typing, Electric-types will still do a good amount of damage, so, for your first time facing Giovanni, we recommend choosing a strong Electric-type. Maybe you'll get lucky and defeat him on your first attempt.

Finally, Nidoking makes a return and is weak to Ground, Water, Psychic and Ice-type Pokémon. We recommend avoiding Ground-type Pokémon, because Regice will have an advantage over them. Instead, try experinmeting with either Water or Psychic-type Pokémon.

Finally, there's the ice-cold Regice. We have a dedicated Regice counters page to help with this, but in short, it is weak to Fighting, Rock, Steel and Fire-type Pokémon. While you may be tempted to go with a Fire-type Pokémon, we recommend avoiding this type, because, since Giovanni has two Water-type options for his second Pokémon, it could get knocked out if you have to use it early.

Instead, we recommend using a powerful Lucario due to it being a Fighting and Steel-type Pokémon. If you don't have a Lucario, then other Fighting-type Pokémon, like Terrakion or Machamp, are also good choices. You can also experinment with Rock-types, such as Rhyperior or Therian Landorus. Avoid Garchomp though because it's part Dragon-typing makes it weak to Ice-type Pokémon!

For Steel-type Pokémon, you may want to consider Metagross or Zacian. Dialga should be avoided, because it is also weak to Ice-type Pokémon. Though, if you defeated Giovanni in February, you could always try out your Shadow Registeel!

Of course, if you go against Giovanni and find that your team isn’t optimal, or you don't have the best counters from this page, you can try again – you don’t lose the Super Rocket Radar if you lose to Giovanni, just when you beat him! Check out our Best Pokémon page if you need help picking your strongest Pokémon of a given type.

That should cover you for this encounter. In terms of best practices, as with the Leaders Arlo, Cliff and Sierra, when it comes to building a team to fight Giovanni, try to use a Pokémon that will have an advantage over two Pokémon in his team. This will allow you to the use the same Pokémon twice, keeping your choice for the Legendary Shadow Pokémon safe from harm until it's needed.

It’s also important to remember that, like the previous Team Go Rocket Leaders, Giovanni has two Protect Shields at his disposal – this means a debut Pokémon that has two quick Charged moves and will withstand some damage will set you up nicely for the remaining encounters.

How often can you fight Giovanni in Pokémon Go?

As long as you have a Super Rocket Radar, you’ll be able to fight Giovanni.

However, these are mostly locked beyond Team Go Rocket quest rewards, which only roll out every few months, alongside a refresh for Giovanni, his Shadow Legendary and each Team Leader’s line-up.

Super Rocket Radars also drop occasionally in other quests and events, so they might be worth saving until a month where the Shadow Pokémon reward available is one you want to stock up on, such as Shadow Mewtwo.

The Season of Rising Heroes is here! Currently the A Valorous Hero event is running, bringing with it Mega Pinsir and the A Valorous Hero special research quest. The new Grass and Gratitude quest allows you to catch a mythical Shaymin! A new Team Go Rocket quest - From The Shadows - has been released, along with a shake up of the Giovanni and Team Go Rocket Leaders lineups. As you continue your Pokémon Go adventure, make sure to battle in the new Go Battle League season. Don't forget to take a look at the Remote Raid Passes changes or, if you purchased it, work on the Masterwork Research: Wish Granted quest. Elsewhere, be sure to use Daily Adventure Incense for the chance of encountering Galarian Articuno, Galarian Zapdos and Galarian Moltres. This incense may also give you encounters with other rare Pokémon in Pokémon Go.

Rewards for defeating Giovanni in Pokémon Go

You will receive a variety of rewards for defeating Giovanni. This includes 5000 Stardust and a variety of healing items, such as Max Potions and Max Revives. There’s also a chance that you’ll receive a Unova Stone.

Best of all, however, you'll be given the opportunity to catch a Legendary Shadow Pokémon.

Every month brings a new Shadow Legendary Pokémon. This means that, if there's a particular Shadow Legendary Pokémon you want to add to your collection, then you must complete the Team Go Rocket Special Research quest for that month.

Completing The Take-Over Continues in January 2020, for example, would reward you with Shadow Moltres, but, if you completed the same story-line in another month, you'll find yourself facing a different Shadow Legendary Pokémon.

Here are the Shadow Legendary Pokémon Giovanni has had in his team:

Giovanni Shadow Legendary Pokémon so far:

• Shadow Articuno – November 2019 and March 2021
• Shadow Zapdos – December 2019, April and June 2021
• Shadow Moltres- January 2020 and May 2021
• Shadow Raikou – February 2020
• Shadow Entei – March to July 2020
• Shadow Suicune – July 2020 (as part of the Go Fest Battle celebrations) and from July to October 2020
• Shadow Mewtwo – October 2020
• Shadow Ho-Oh – June 2021
• Shadow Lugia – November 2021
• Shadow Latias – April 2022
• Shadow Latios – July 2022
• Shadow Mewtwo – November 2022
• Shadow Registeel – February 2023
• Shadow Regice - March 2023

Defeating Giovanni will also help you level up the Ultra Hero medal, which records how many times you've defeated the boss of Team Go Rocket.

Thanks to Chrales from Twitter, we know what this clothing looks like:

As you level up the Ultra Hero medal, you'll unlock a variety of Giovanni themed clothing for your avatar to wear.

Here are the clothing items and medal ranks each piece unlocks at:

• Shoes – Silver Badge Level (Defeat Giovanni 5 times)
• Pants – Silver Badge Level (Defeat Giovanni 5 times)
• Shirt – Gold Badge Level (Defeat Giovanni 20 times)
• Gloves – Gold Badge Level (Defeat Giovanni 20 times)

Good luck defeating Giovanni in Pokémon Go!