RELATED: Pokemon GO: How to Beat Giovanni (September 2022)
This month, 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 September 2022 Lineup
Bulbasaur Crobat, Venusaur, or Omastar Tyranitar, Swampert, or Torterra
Bulbasaur Counters
As usual, Cliff likes to kick off the fight with Bulbasaur. This familiar Gen 1 starter is going to be weak to Fire-, Psychic-, Ice-, and Flying-types. That should give players a lot of flexibility in their counter roster selection.
Darmanitan - Incinerate/Overheat Mewtwo - Confusion/Psystrike Blaziken - Fire Spin/Blast Burn Moltres - Fire Spin/Sky Attack Espeon - Confusion/Psychic
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.
Mewtwo - Confusion/Psystrike Exeggutor - Extrasensory/Psychic Glaceon - Ice Shard/Ice Blast Zapdos - Thunder Shock/Thunder Bolt Raikou - Thunder Shock/Wild Charge
Venusaur Counters
Bulbasaur’s final evolution also has a chance to appear in the second slot for Cliff. When that comes up, keep those same weaknesses in mind: Fire-, Ice-, Psychic-, and Flying-type.
Darmanitan - Incinerate/Overheat Mewtwo - Confusion/Psystrike Blaziken - Fire Spin/Blast Burn Moltres - Fire Spin/Sky Attack Espeon - Confusion/Psychic
Omastar Counters
This Rock-/Water-type may throw players off who built a roster all around Poison-type counters. If Omastar appears, trainers will need a Ground-, Electric-, Fighting, or Grass-type to properly counter it.
Zarude - Vine Whip/Power Whip Sceptile - Bullet Seed/Leaf Blade Rhyperior - Mud-Slap/Earthquake Groudon - Mud Shot/Earthquake Torterra - Razor Leaf/Frenzy Plant
Tyranitar Counters
Tyranitar has been a popular Pokemon GO metagame choice since 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.
Blaziken - Counter/Focus Blast Kyogre - Waterfall/Surf Lucario - Counter/Aura Sphere Machamp - Counter/Dynamic Punch Conkeldurr - Counter/Dynamic Punch
Swampert Counters
This gets even trickier of Swampert makes an appearance. As a Water-/Ground-type Pokemon, Swampert’s only real weakness is going to be Grass-moves.
Zarude - Vine Whip/Power Whip Tangrowth - Vine Whip/Power Whip Bellossom Bullet Seed/Leaf Blade Torterra - Razor Leaf/Frenzy Plant Leafeon - Razor Leaf/Leaf Blade
Torterra Counters
As a Grass-/Ground-type, Torterra has a number of weaknesses that players can rely on. That pairing makes it weak to Ice-, Bug-, Fire-, and Flying-types.
Mamoswine - Powder Snow/Avalanche
Jynx - Frost Breath/Ice Punch Glaceon Frost Breath/Icy Wind Lapras - Frost Breath/Ice Beam Mewtwo - Confusion/Ice Beam
That should be just about everything trainers need to prepare for the September 2022 fight against Cliff. The fight 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.
Pokemon GO is available now on mobile devices.
