Arlo is undoubtedly one of the Team GO Rocket leaders to face off against. As before, he’s guaranteed to start off with one Pokemon, and his second and third-round choices are where things can switch up a bit. Specifically, he’ll always start with Venonat as his first Pokemon, with the second round between Crobat, Ursaring, or Manectric, and the third round between Vileplume, Magnezone, or Scizor.
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Round 1 - Venonat
Since Arlo’s first Pokemon is Venonat, a dual Bug and Poison-type, trainers will already be aware of its natural weakness to Fire, Flying, Rock, and Psychic-type moves. Contrarily, be careful to avoid using Bug, Poison, Fairy, Fighting, and Grass-type moves if possible as Venonat resists damage from those.
Some good recommendations to tackle it head-on include:
Blaziken - Fire Spin & Overheat Moltres - Wing Attack & Sky Attack Gardevoir - Confusion & Synchronoise Mewtwo - Confusion & Psychic Rampardos - Zen Headbutt & Tock Slide
Round 2 - Crobat, Ursaring, or Manectric
At this point, Arlo is bound to do anything so be prepared. In the case of Crobat, a dual Poison, and Flying-type Pokemon, the best counters are Ice, Rock, Psychic, and Electric-type moves. On the other hand, it resists damage from Ground, Poison, Fairy, Fighting, Grass, and Bug-type moves. This is a great match-up if coming right off of Venonat, as both Pokemon share similar counters:
Mewtwo - Confusion & Psychic Rampardos - Zen Headbutt & Tock Slide Luxray - Spark & Wild Charge Glaceon - Frost Breath & Avalanche Weavile - Snarl & Avalanche
Another Pokemon that Arlo can throw out at Pokemon GO trainers is Ursaring. Frequent challengers of Team GO Rocket probably have a line-up in mind from the previous month, but, as a refresher, Ursaring is a Normal-type Pokemon. That means it is weak only to Fighting-type moves but only resists Ghost-type moves. Some counters include:
Machamp - Counter & Dynamic Punch Landorus (Therian) - Extrasensory & Superpower Pangoro - Low Kick & Close Combat Yveltal - Snarl & Focus Blast Thundurus (Therian) - Thunder Shock & Focus Blast
The final choice of the three could easily fall to Manectric, a pure Electric-type, meaning it’s vulnerable only to Ground-type moves. However, it resists Steel, Electric, and Flying-type moves, making for a pretty challenging second-round choice. As long as Pokemon GO trainers keep a Ground-type Pokemon or a Pokemon with Ground-type moves, this won’t be too difficult. Some good Pokemon counters include:
Landorus (Therian) - Mud Shot & Earthquake Excadrill - Mud-Slap & Earthquake Groudon - Mud Shot & Earthquake Garchomp - Mud Shot & Earthquake Landorus (Incarnate) - Mud Shot & Earth Power
Round 3 - Vileplune, Magnezone, or Scizor
From Arlo’s previous line-up comes the dual Grass and Poison-type Pokemon Vileplume. Its typing makes it weak to Fire, Flying, Ice, and Psychic-type moves, while resisting Fighting, Water, Electric, Fairy, and Grass-type moves. Trainers have undoubtedly noticed Arlo’s trend for using Pokemon that are weak to Fire-type moves, meaning most Fire-type users are more than prepared to counter all of them. In the case of specific counters, those include:
Mewtwo - Confusion & Psychic Blaziken - Fire Spin & Overheat Darmanitan (Galarian Standard) - Ice Fang & Avalanche Tornadus (Therian) - Gust & Hurricane Deoxys (Attack) - Zen Headbutt & Psycho Boost
Magnezone is another choice that Arlo brings back from before. This Pokemon is a dual Electric and Steel-type Pokemon that is weak to Ground, Fire, and Fighting-type moves. However, it comes with a crazy number of resistances - Dragon, Ice, Psychic, Electric, Normal, Grass, Bug, Rock, Fairy, Steel, Poison, and Flying-type moves, to be exact.
Magnezone can absolutely be a problem for new and unprepared Pokemon GO trainers, though keep in mind that Fire-types are the most reliable. The Ground-type choices used against Manetric also serve as great choices here:
Landorus (Therian) - Mud Shot & Earthquake Excadrill - Mud-Slap & Earthquake Groudon - Mud Shot & Earthquake Blaziken - Fire Spin & Overheat Landorus (Incarnate) - Mud Shot & Earth Power
Of course, the final choice for Arlo’s third Pokemon could always fall to the daunting Scizor. This Pokemon is a dual Bug and Steel-type, making it weak only to Fire-type moves. As for resistances, Scizor rivals Magnezone, resisting damage from Dragon, Ice, Psychic, Normal, Bug, Steel, Fairy, Grass, and Poison-type moves.
In combination with Scizor’s high attack power, unprepared Pokemon GO trainers can find themselves team wiped by the powerful Pokemon. As state before, Fire-type Pokemon are the way to go, especially if there’s a chance that Scizor might show up. Some choices include:
Blaziken - Fire Spin & Overheat Moltres - Fire Spin & Fire Blast Flareon - Fire Spin & Flamethrower Charizard - Fire Spin & Overheat Arcanine - Fire Fang & Flamethrower
Pokemon GO is available on Android and iOS.
MORE: Pokemon GO Complete Guide for General Tips, Tricks, & Strategies
Source: Pokemon GO Info
