How to find and beat Giovanni in Pokémon GO

Giovanni in Pokémon GO is the leader pulling all the strings behind Team GO Rocket. You can only fight Giovanni once a month, so you have plenty of time to pursue him when you feel ready to face him. Here's what you need to know to find and beat him.

How to find Giovanni in Pokémon GO

To work on your journey to meet him, you'll need to progress through the special research event called A Troubling Situation and then Looming in the Shadows. Progressing through these two takes you against multiple Team GO Rocket Grunts and three different GO Rocket Team Leaders. The fourth stage of Looming in the Shadows asks you to defeat the three leaders once named Arlo, Cliff, and Sierra.

After defeating them, you will receive a Super Rocket Radar, similar to the Rocket Radar you used to locate the leaders of Team GO Rocket. To use the device, you must go in your bag to equip it. You will need to use it to locate Giovanni. However, a handful of Rocket Grunts disguised themselves as fake Giovannis. You have to visit PokéStops to find out which one is the real Giovanni.

Fight Giovanni in Pokémon GO

If you were having trouble with Arlo, Cliff, or Sierra, you might end up over your head with Giovanni. He's a tough individual, and you'll have to defeat his Pokémon if you want to meet the rare Shadow Pokémon he captured.

Giovanni's first Pokémon stays the same every month. However, her second and third options change regularly with each month. If you fight him in December, he won't have the same Pokémon rotation as in January.

The first Pokémon you will have to face is Giovanni's Persian. This is a Normal-type Pokémon, so you'll need to use a Fighting-type Pokémon to counter it during the first phase of the encounter.

The next Pokémon choice for Giovanni can be one of these three options:

• Crustabri is a type of water and ice
• Kangourex is a normal type
• Carchacrok is a dragon and earth type

These three choices vary in typing, which makes your choice of Pokémon a bit trickier. Crustabri is weak on Electric, Fighting, Grass, and Rock types, Kangourex is weak on Fighting types, and Carchacrok is weak on Dragon, Fairy, and Ice types. Carchacrok is the most difficult of the three.

You might be able to escape by using your combat type from the first turn to defeat Kangourex and Crustabri, but that's a stretch if they can survive both fights. Your second Pokémon might be more dependent on the third Pokémon that Giovanni uses, which rotates monthly.

The last option Giovanni throws at you is a Rotating Legendary Pokémon, and for January it's Sulfura. Sulfura is a Fire and Flying type, which makes them weak to Electric, Rock, and Water-type Pokémon. You may want to rely on using a Rock-type for your second in Carchacrok and Kangourex, but this exposes them to potentially being trampled by Crustabri.

The general strategy for dealing with Giovanni is to take your time and rely on defensive Pokémon. Yes, you want to take his list down quickly, but relying on direct damage won't win the day. It is a battle of attrition. You need a Pokémon that can withstand a substantial amount of damage and do enough damage to test Giovanni's options.

We'll update this room every month to learn about Giovanni's new Pokémon spin and what you need to use to defeat them.