A new month has arrived and once againPokemon GOtrainers who wanted to battle enemies have the opportunity to face off against some Team GO Rocket Grunts and Leaders. That means it’s time for players to take a quick break from this month’s exciting events (like this week’s Twinkling Fantasy activities) and start taking down Team Rocket leaders if they want to work their way towards an encounter withGiovanni and his Shadow Mewtwoencounter reward.
As always, in addition to taking down Arlo and Sierra, trainers also need to face off against Cliff during this series of leader battles. Each boss has their own tactics and strategies, so it’s pretty essential forPokemon GOplayers to take a bit of time and study this month’s lineup and think about which counters can be used against a handful of the various Pokemon Cliff might toss into the fight against trainers.
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Throughout January 2023, Cliff is bringing a pretty familiar lineup, so trainers who battled the boss in recent weeks will find that some of the same counter strategies will go a long way. Before entering the battle, take some time to study these counters for each of the possible challengers and spend any resources (including Elite TMs) needed to get them ready for an epic battle.
Cliff’s January 2023 Lineup
Machop Counters
This time around Cliff is guaranteed to start the fight with Machop. That means players will want to have some kind of Psychic-, Flying-, or Fairy-type moves ready to rock.
Crobat Counters
Crobat is a Flying-/Poison-type, which means trainers will have the best luck if they stick to Electric-, Ice-, Psychic-, and Rock-type counters.
Pinsir Counters
Pinsir can also appear in the second linup slot, which means that trainers should have some Flying-, Rock-, Electric-, or Fire-type counters ready to go.
Amoongus Counters
Amoongus is a Grass-/Poison-type, which means that is is weak to Psychic-, Flying-, Fire-, and Ice-type moves.
Tyranitar Counters
Tyranitar has been a popularPokemon GOmetagame choicesince the earliest days of the mobile AR Battle Raid scene, so many trainers have a lot of practice countering this Rock-/Dark-type. The best strategy is to stick to Bug-, Fairy-, Fighting-, Grass-, Ground-, Steel-, or Water-types.
Aerodactyl Counters
Aerodactyl is back this month and is weak to electric-, ice-, rock-, steel- and water-type moves.
Camerupt Counters
As a Fire-/Ground-type, Camerupt is going to be weak to Ground- and Water-type moves.
This Team GO Rocket leader battle can be pretty tricky to plan for due to the random element of the second and third lineup slots, but players may need to treat their first attempt as a learning opportunity and then immediately re-enter the fight with a better-customized counter roster in place.
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