Pokémon GO: How to Beat Cliff (October 2022)

Published Oct 6, 2022

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Cliff is one of the leaders of Team GO Rocket that players can face off against in events in Pokémon GO for October 2022 that players can participate in. There are three leaders for Team GO Rocket, with Cliff being one of them. The other two are Sierra and Arlo. Each of the three leaders have different Pokémon they bring to the fight, so players need to get the right Pokémon leveled up to have hope of defeating them.

Players will need to get through several Team GO Rocket Grunts first before they can challenge Cliff. Trainers will occasionally come across PokéStops that have been invaded by Team GO Rocket as they look slightly different from other PokéStops, with the cube being darker and spinning oddly. When players get close, it has the red “R” logo of Team GO Rocket. The grunt fights can be difficult with a bad team composition, but players can try a rematch with a better team to counter the grunt. Once players win the fight, they get a Mysterious Component. If players collect six of these, they can combine them to make a Rocket Radar. Follow it to face off against the leaders.

Cliff is a much harder fight than the Team GO Rocket Grunts in Pokémon GO. For starters, he will use a shield to block attacks and also has some powerful Pokémon that he can bring to the fight. The challenge is that players never know exactly what to expect when facing Cliff. Still, players can persevere by knowing every Pokémon's strengths and weaknesses chart and having a good team composition.

Defeating Team GO Rocket Leader Cliff in Pokémon GO

Wave	Pokémon	Type	Elemental Weakness	Top 5 Counters
1	Bulbasaur	Grass/Poison	Flying Fire Psychic Ice	Alakazam Espeon Galarian Darmanitan Flareon Darmanitan
2	Venusaur	Grass/Poison	Flying Fire Psychic Ice	Darmanitan Metagross Chandelure Blaziken Espeon
	Omastar	Rock/Water	Grass Fighting Ground Electric	Roserade Tangrowth Breloom Sceptile Venusaur
	Crobat	Flying/Poison	Psychic Ice Rock Electric	Rampardos Rhyperior Metagross Galarian Darmanitan Alakazam
3	Tyranitar in Pokémon GO	Dark/Rock	Fighting Ground Bug Steel Water Grass Fairy	Conkeldurr Lucario Machamp Hariyama Breloom
	Swampert	Poison/Ground	Grass	Roserade Sceptile Venusaur Breloom Tangrowth
	Torterra	Grass/Ground	Ice Flying Bug Fire	Galarian Darmanitan Weavile Mamoswine Glaceon Avalugg

Though Cliff battles with different Pokémon in Pokémon GO each time, he always has a Shadow Bulbasaur, making the battle a little more predictable. His second Pokémon is chosen from a Shadow Venusaur, a Shadow Omastar, or Shadow Crobat. His third and final Pokémon will be either a Shadow Tyranitar, Shadow Swampert, or Shadow Torterra. With this knowledge, players can start to form a team to defeat him. What they choose depends mainly on what Pokémon they have managed to catch and level up, but there are certain types to look for.

Since Cliff can potentially have three grass-type Pokémon on his team, taking fire-type Pokémon like Darmanitan to counter them is a solid choice. However, players should beware of his water-type Pokémon. Be sure to switch them out for another if they show up. It may not be the strongest choice, but electric-types like Pikachu can be a good utility choice on the team, as it counters the flying-type of Crobat and the two water-type Pokémon. Players must be wary if Tyranitar shows up and likely want fighting types like Conkeldurr or Machamp to counter. A grass-type like Roserade or Venusaur could also work well, but it isn’t effective against Cliff’s grass types. Then again, Cliff suffers the same penalty, so it can be used strategically to defeat him in Pokémon GO.

Next: Pokémon GO: How to Beat Arlo (October 2022)