How To Beat Giovanni In Pokémon GO (July 2026)

Published Jul 1, 2026, 5:30 PM EDT

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The "Flying Taxi: Taken Over" event changed the Pokémon that are on Giovanni's team, but not how you discover the Team Rocket leader. Defeating the other members of Team Rocket assembles the Super Rocket Radar, a device that will track Giovanni's location. After battling decoys, just like your last encounter with Giovanni in Pokémon GO, you'll get a chance to fight him and his newly captured Legendary Shadow Pokémon.

Team Rocket Boss Giovanni Lineup & Counters (July 2026)

Analyze The Team Rocket Leader's Newest Pokémon And Their Weaknesses

Custom image by Katarina Cimbaljevic

Givoanni's team always consists of three waves of Pokémon, with the first and third wave being the same creature no matter how many times you challenge the Team Rocket boss. This team consists entirely of Shadow Pokémon, or powered-up versions of normal Pokémon that deal greater damage and have higher health. The second wave of Giovanni's fight has the leader choose one of three possible Pokémon, making it hard to predict exactly who he'll choose.

Giovanni does not restrict himself to one type of Pokémon, especially with the shifting Legendary creature he saves for the third wave of his battle. Dual-type Pokémon in Pokémon GO can cover a lot of match-ups in this battle, but be careful not to expose a possible weakness to your team too. The following table shows Giovanni's type, their elemental types, and some suggested counters for defeating them:

The existence of an incredibly strong Dragon-type Legendary on Giovanni's team makes this month's battle much harder than past encounters. As a result, you should consider bringing a Legendary or strong Dragon-type of your own to counter this threat, or recruit a Pokémon resistant in some way to Dragon-type moves. Ground-types are also fairly effective against Giovanni this time around, albeit in specific circumstances.

If you're struggling to put together the right squad, here is an example team you can try to take the Team Rocket leader down:

• Garchomp
• Gallade
• Swampert

Giovanni doesn't really have a team member who can counter Ground-types, so both Garchomp and Swampert are excellent choices for certain match-ups. Although Garchomp also takes super-effective damage from Dragon-types in Pokémon GO, his Ground-type duality makes him an even match for Reshiram, especially if you have a Mega Garchomp at your disposal. Swampert can easily counter Giovanni's Rhyperior as well, while using its Ground-type moves against Reshiram too.

Gallade's Fighting-type moves make them great for countering Giovanni's Persian and Kangaskhan, but players may also use this Pokémon against Machamp should they appear in Wave 2. Gallade has both Psychic and Fighting-type affinities, giving it a super-effective option against all of Giovanni's Pokémon except Reshiram. Hopefully, this one Pokémon can fight through the Team Rocket leader's whole team before you even see the captured Legendary.

Rewards For Beating Rocket Leader Giovanni (July 2026)

Claim Several Battle Items And A Rare Pokémon Encounter

You'll be rewarded with 5,000 Stardust for beating Giovanni, but this is the first of many rewards for overcoming his new team. The biggest award for winning comes from a rare encounter with Shadow Reshiram, allowing you to capture the Pokémon once it's released from Giovanni. You even have a chance to find a Shiny Reshiram, with a 1 in 64 Shiny odds in Pokémon GO making this one of the game's rarest discoveries.

You also get several battle items delivered in bundles for defeating Giovanni, which can stack depending on the random rewards. For example, you could get a bundle of four Revives three separate times, giving you 12 Revive items. The item pools your bundles could consist of include:

• 4x Revive
• 4x Max Revive
• 4x Hyper Potion
• 4x Max Potion
• 1x Unova Stone

With Giovanni capturing more and more Pokémon from the Unova region in Team Rocket's "Taken Over" events, it's likely that Zekrom will be his next target. For now, taking down Shadow Reshiram is the fastest way to free it and recruit it to your collection instead, making the criminal leader worth targeting once more. For July 2026, capturing a Reshiram is a pretty good reward for a tough Giovanni battle in Pokémon GO, and far easier if you are prepared for the fight.

Systems

Released July 6, 2016

ESRB e

Developer(s) Niantic

Publisher(s) Niantic

Engine Unity

Multiplayer Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op

Cross-Platform Play Yes