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 for Pokemon GO players 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.
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During December 2022, 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
Spot 1: Machop Spot 2: Crobat or Pinsir or Amoonguss Spot 3: Tyranitaror or Aerodactyl or Camerput
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.
Mewtwo - Confusion/Psystrike Alakazam - Confusion/Psychic 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
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.
Darmanitan - Incinerate/Overheat Mewtwo - Confusion/Psystrike Blaziken - Fire Spin/Blast Burn Moltres - Fire Spin/Sky Attack Espeon - Confusion/Psychic
Amoongus Counters
Amoongus is a Grass-/Poison-type, which means that is is weak to Psychic-, Flying-, Fire-, and Ice-type moves.
Mewtwo - Confusion/Psystrike Reshiram - Fire Fang/Overheat Moltres - Fire Spin/Sky Attack
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
Aerodactyl Counters
Aerodactyl is back this month and is weak to electric-, ice-, rock-, steel- and water-type moves.
Xurkitree - Spark/Discharge Metagross - Bullet Punch/Meteor Mash Zekrom - Charge Beam/Wild Charge
Camerupt Counters
As a Fire-/Ground-type, Camerupt is going to be weak to Ground- and Water-type moves.
Kyogre - Waterfall/Surf Kingler - Bubble/Crabhammer Samurott - Waterfall/Hydro Cannon
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.
Pokemon GO is available now on mobile devices.
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