Pokemon Go Cliff Guide: The Best Counters For Defeating The Team Go Rocket Leader

In Pokemon Go, not only will you have to face off against powerful mythical Pokemon in challenging raids and plenty of other trainers in a Battle League, but you'll eventually also face off against the game's version of longtime Pokemon baddies, Team Rocket. Team Go Rocket grunts can be found throughout the game, but it's their four leaders that will prove to be the most troublesome. In this guide, we'll tell you how to defeat Cliff, the soft-spoken ruffian representing Team Mystic's dark side.

Cliff's Pokemon

Cliff will always use Shadow Seedot in the starting position. This will not change no matter how many times you face him. Phases 2 and 3 of the battle, however, will be a different experience every time. Each phase sees Cliff choose one of three randomized Shadow Pokemon, as listed below

• Phase 1
  • Shadow Seedot (Weaknesses: Bug, Fire, Flying, Ice, Poison)
• Phase 2
  • Shadow Hariyama (Weaknesses: Fairy, Flying, Psychic)
  • Shadow Kingler (Weaknesses: Electric, Grass)
  • Shadow Poliwrath (Weaknesses: Electric, Fairy, Flying, Grass, Psychic)
• Phase 3
  • Shadow Sharpedo (Weaknesses: Bug, Electric, Fairy, Fighting, Grass)
  • Shadow Torterra (Weaknesses: Bug, Fire, Flying, Ice)
  • Shadow Tyranitar (Weaknesses: Bug, Fairy, Fighting, Grass, Ground, Steel, Water)

Best Cliff Counters

Make sure to have Flying-type moves in your arsenal, as Seedot and two-out-of-three Phase 2 Pokemon have a weakness to high flyers. Similarly, Grass-type moves will deal big damage to 5 of the possible 7 Pokemon you'll see. To start, we'd bring two of the three listed below:

• Pidgeot (Mega Evolved), equipped with Gust as its Fast Move and Brave Bird as its Charged Move
• Unfezant, equipped with Air Slash as its Fast Move and Sky Attack as its Charged Move
• Zarude, equipped with Vine Whip as its Fast Move and Power Whip as its Charge Move

Other attack types that will affect multiple Pokemon in Cliff's arsenal are Electric, Fighting, Ice, and Psychic, so having some of these moves makes sense as well. We would suggest the following:

• Lucario, equipped with Counter as its Fast Move and Aura Sphere as its Charged Move
• Magnezone, equipped with Spark as its Fast Move and Wild Charge as its Charged Move
• Mewtwo, equipped with Psycho Cut as its Fast Move and Ice Beam as its Charged Move

Rewards for defeating Cliff

After Cliff is defeated, you will receive 1000 Stardust and two out of the six items listed below:

• 1 Max Potion, which can heal a non-fainted Pokemon to full health
• 1 Max Revive, which restores a fainted Pokemon to full health
• 1 Revive, which restores a fainted Pokemon to 50% health
• 1 Sinnoh Stone, which is used to evolve certain Pokemon from the Sinnoh region
• 1 Strange 12km egg, which will hatch a Pokemon after you activate an Incubator and walk 12 kilometers
• 1 Unova Stone, which is used to evolve certain Pokemon from the Unova region

Now that you know how to approach this tenacious Team Go Rocket trainer, make sure you check out the rest of our Pokemon Go guides on how to take on the rest of Team Go Rocket's top brass: Arlo, Sierra, and of course the boss Giovanni.