Giovanni has made another return to Pokémon Go, and you will have to chance to defeat him in single combat. He will have plenty of powerful Pokémon under his control, and you will need to formulate a proper team to defeat him. This guide covers all of Giovanni’s weaknesses and the best Pokémon counters in Pokémon Go for December 2022.
How to find Giovanni in December 2022
The only way to find Giovanni is to work through the Team Rocket Takeover event in November 2022. So long as you have access to this Special Research, you can earn a Super Rocket Radar and challenge Giovanni. Without the Super Rocket Radar, you won’t be able to find him or his base. Giovanni will have shadow Mewtwo under his control, and you can save them to add them to your party.
How to beat Giovanni – Weaknesses and best Pokémon counters
Giovanni is a tough fight, far more difficult than the other Team Rocket leaders. Giovanni’s first Pokémon remains the same every month. However, his second and third options consistently change.
First Pokémon
In the first Pokémon, Giovanni always uses Persian, a Normal-type Pokémon. The best Pokémon to use against it are Fighting-types, such as Conkeldurr, Heracross, Gallade, Machamp, or Scrafty.
Second Pokémon
For his second Pokémon, Giovanni will use Steelix, Nidoqueen, or Rhyperior. Steelix will be weak against Fighting, Fire, Ground, and Water-type moves, Nidoqueen is weak against Ground, Ice, Psychic, and Water-type moves, and Rhyperior is weak against Fighting, Grass, Ground, Ice, Steel, and Water-type moves. Given these choices, we highly recommend making sure you bring a Pokémon capable of using a Fighting or Water-type move to defeat Giovanni’s second option.
Third Pokémon
Giovanni will be using a shadow Mewtwo as the final option for his roster. Latios is a Psychic-type Pokémon, making it weak against Bug, Dark, and Ghost-type moves. We recommend you use a Dark-type Pokémon as it will be difficult for Mewtwo to do reliable damage against this Pokémon.
After you’ve defeated Giovanni, you’ll have a chance to recapture Mewtwo, and you now have a shadow version of the Pokémon available to you. We highly recommend you not purify this Pokémon as legendary shadow Pokémon are even rarer than the actual versions of this Pokémon.
