With Pokemon GO hosting the Team GO Rocket Celebration Event, the leaders of Team GO Rocket and bringing forth their newly improved teams. This might mean that some players will struggle with taking some of these powerful criminals down.
One of Team GO Rocket's leaders is Cliff, known in Pokemon GO for his use of many strong Rock-type Pokemon. He has a new team for 2021 that is no pushover, meaning that players will need to plan smartly on how to defeat him.
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If players do defeat Cliff, they will get the chance to rescue a Shadow Aerodactyl. Lucky players may even encounter one in its shiny form, but the odds of that are low. Players also have the chance to get a special Cliff sticker that they can attach to gifts.
Cliff's first Pokemon will always be Aerodactyl. This Pokemon is a dual Rock and Flying-type Pokemon, making it weak to Ice, Rock, Steel, Water, and Electric-type moves. It also resists Ground, Normal, Bug, Poison, Flying, and Fire-type moves.
With this in mind, the most effective Pokemon against Aerodactyl and their movesets are:
- Tyranitar - Smack Down and Stone Edge
- Cobalion - Metal Claw and Sacred Sword
- Melmetal - Thunder Shock and Superpower
- Empoleon - Metal Claw and Hydro Cannon
- Togekiss - Charm and Ancient Power
- Kyogre - Waterfall and Hydro Pump
Gallade is one of the three Pokemon that can possibly be Cliff's second Pokemon. It is a dual Psychic and Fighting-type Pokemon making it weak to Fairy, Flying, and Ghost-type moves. This Pokemon also resists Fighting and Rock-type moves.
What makes Gallade so dangerous is that Cliff's Gallade can have three different possible fast moves with each having a different type. This means that different Pokemon are recommended based on what this fast move is.
If Cliff's Gallade uses Charm for its fast move, players should use:
- Heatran - Fire Spin and Flamethrower
- Jirachi - Confusion and Doom Desire
- Ho-Oh - Incinerate and Brave Bird
- Lugia - Dragon Tail and Aeroblast
If the Gallade is using Confusion, players are recommended to use:
- Jirachi - Confusion and Doom Desire
- Lugia - Dragon Tail and Aeroblast
- Darkrai - Snarl and Shadow Ball
- Tyranitar - Smack Down and Stone Edge
Finally, if Gallade is using Low Kick, players should use:
- Ho-Oh - Incinerate and Brave Bird
- Lugia - Dragon Tail and Aeroblast
- Altered Giratina - Shadow Claw and Dragon Claw
- Origin Giratina - Dragon Tail and Shadow Ball
Another option for Cliff's second Pokemon is Cradily. This Pokemon is a dual Rock and Grass-type Pokemon making it weak to Fighting, Ice, Bug, and Steel-type moves. Cradily also resists Electric and Normal-type moves when in battle.
Compared to Gallade, Cradily is far more consistent. Because of this, the recommended Pokemon to bring against Cradily are:
- Ho-Oh - Incinerate and Brave Bird
- Genesect - Fury Cutter and X-Scissor
- Melmetal - Thunder Shock and Superpower
- Galarian Stunfisk - Metal Claw and Earthquake
- Jirachi - Confusion and Doom Desire
- Origin Giratina - Dragon Tail and Shadow Ball
Slowking is the final possible Pokemon for Cliff to have as his second party member. It's a dual Water and Psychic-type Pokemon making it weak to Ghost, Dark, Electric, Grass, and Bug-type moves. It however has even more resistances with it resisting Steel, Fighting, Water, Psychic, Ice, and Fire-type moves.
The best Pokemon to use against Slowking are:
- Umbreon - Snarl and Foul Play
- Altered Giratina - Shadow Claw and Dragon Claw
- Magnezone - Spark and Wild Charge
- Bisharp - Snarl and Dark Pulse
- Origin Giratina - Dragon Tail and Shadow Ball
Tyranitar is one of Cliff's possible third and final Pokemon, making it an absolute beast that can catch players off guard. This Pokemon is a dual Rock and Dark-type that is weak to Fighting, Fairy, Ground, Bug, Steel, Water, and Grass-type moves. It meanwhile also resists Dark, Normal, Poison, Ghost, Flying, Fire, and Psychic-type moves.
In order to take down this powerful Pokemon, players should bring along:
- Conkeldurr - Counter and Dynamic Punch
- Scrafty - Counter and Power-Up Punch
- Machamp - Counter and Dynamic Punch
- Heracross - Counter and Megahorn
- Sirfetch'd - Counter and Leaf Blade
- Hariyama - Counter and Dynamic Punch
Dusknoir is a pure Ghost-type Pokemon and one of Cliff's possible final Pokemon. This Pokemon's typing makes it weak to only Dark and Ghost-type moves while also resisting Bug, Poison, Fighting, and Normal-type moves.
Although players are a lot more limited when it comes to type weaknesses to exploit, the recommended Pokemon to bring against Dusknoir are:
- Snorlax - Lick and Earthquake
- Obstagoon - Lick and Night Slash
- Slaking - Yawn and Earthquake
- Lickilicky - Lick and Shadow Ball
- Porygon2 - Lock On and Zap Cannon
Cliff's final possible party member is Mamoswine. This Pokemon is a dual Ice and Ground-type Pokemon, making it weak to Fire, Fighting, Grass, Water, and Steel-type moves. It also resists Poison and Electric-type moves.
The final batch of recommended Pokemon that can take a beating from Mamoswine and come out on top are:
- Walrein - Waterfall and Blizzard
- Empoleon - Waterfall and Hydro Cannon
- Kyogre - Waterfall and Hydro Pump
- Lapras - Ice Shard and Surf
Pokemon GO is available on Android and iOS.
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Source: Pokemon GO Hub