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Pokémon Go Giovanni counters, team line-up in August 2026

Giovanni’s team had a refresh in Pokémon Go following the arrival of the June 2026 "Flying Taxi: Taken Over" event.

As it stands in August 2026, following an update rolled out on June 25, Giovanni’s team sees several possibilities, including a finale against Reshiram, the latest legendary to see the shadow treatment.

For those who want to catch shadow Reshiram, you'll want to nab a Super Rocket Radar from the aforementioned event as soon as you can, as Giovanni's legendary swaps out periodically.

However, know that whenever you face Giovanni, he’s a tough opponent to battle, and this page will list out his current team and counters if you’re having trouble.

Update (June 26): We've updated this guide with Giovanni's new legendary Pokémon, Reshiram, as well as other changes to his line-up.

How to find Giovanni in Pokémon Go

Following the "Steeled Resolve: Taken Over" event in April 2026, Giovanni now works a tiny bit differently. Rather than getting a Special Research set every few months framed around a takeover event that rewards you with a Super Rocket Radar (and thus access to Giovanni), it appears that Super Rocket Radars are only available via the Go Pass during the event. You need to either pay $4.99 for the deluxe pass, which will unlock the Super Rocket Radar right away, or you'll need to reach rank 30 on the free pass before the event ends to fight Giovanni.

As of writing this, we're unsure if there are more ways that Super Rocket Radars will be distributed.

Just like the leaders, Giovanni at taken over PokéStops with the Super Rocket Radar equipped. He won’t often be in the first that you encounter — there will be decoy grunts along the way — but keep trying and Giovanni will appear. Notably, as of the "Flying Taxi: Taken Over" event in June 2026, Giovanni no longer appears in Team Go Rocket balloons. You have to find him at a PokéStop instead.

Once you find him and use the radar, you can battle him as many times as it takes to beat him — as long as you’re within distance of the PokéStop — which is great, because he is typically a pretty tough battle.

Prior to this change, Team Go Rocket boss Giovanni was typically only available to battle while completing Team Go Rocket Special Research. The last event to do so was in mid-January 2026, with the quest "Precious Pals: Taken Over." As part of the quest, after beating all three Team Go Rocket leaders, you’d get a Super Rocket Radar, allowing you to hunt down Giovanni.

Pokémon Go Giovanni team line-up

Currently, Giovanni will have the following team:

You’ll kind of notice that if you bring fighting-type, water-type, and ground-type Pokémon, you should be mostly set to counter Giovanni this time around due to some nicely shared counters across his team. Not too shabby!

Thanks to Leek Duck and Serebii.net for helping us confirm Giovanni's line-up.

Pokémon Go Giovanni counters

Because there are fewer potential party options for Giovanni than there are for the Rocket leaders, he’s actually easier to plan against, even if his Pokémon are much stronger. You will need to bring the strongest Pokémon you have, in addition to your A-game in order to take him down.

Opening Pokémon (Persian) counters

For Persian, bring a fighting-type Pokémon, such as:

Second possible Pokémon counters

If he uses Kangaskhan during the second encounter, consider fighting-types such as:

(Yes, these are the same Pokémon from the recommended list for Persian. You can bring two if Persian ends up taking one of them out.)

If he uses Rhyperior during the second encounter, consider grass-types or water-types such as:

If he uses Machamp as his second Pokémon, you can use psychic- or flying-types like:

Closing Pokémon (Reshiram) counters

For the final encounter against Reshiram, we recommend using a ground- or rock-type Pokémon, such as:

How to beat Giovanni in Pokémon Go

As with fighting the leaders, Giovanni will block the first two charged attacks with shields. As such, you’ll ideally want a fighting-type that can chip away at Persian’s health, while also having charged moves to destroy these two shields as fast as possible. From there, it’s a case of switching to the counters which suit the line-up that follows.

After defeating Giovanni, you will get to catch whichever Shadow legendary appears in the final encounter. It’s a guaranteed catch, so don’t forget to use a Pinap Berry to score some extra candy.

Finally, know that winning against Giovanni is an efficient way of earning Shadow Shards for Purified Gems, with each battle rewarding four Shards — enough to make one Gem.