Giovanni, the true leader of Team Rocket, returns in January 2025 for you to challenge and beat in Pokémon GO. Sporting the same team from the Galarian Expedition: Taken Over event for Team Rocket, Giovanni has powerful Pokémon who can be hard to counter. Once you complete the Special Team Rocket Research to challenge him, you need to prepare for a tough fight that can earn you some rare rewards.

Finishing the Special Research in Pokémon GO rewards you with the Super Rocket Radar, which can be used to track Giovanni's hidden location. However, you have to defeat two decoys disguised as Giovanni first before you can find the real leader at another PokéStop. You can rematch Giovanni once if you lose against him, but if you are defeated twice, the Super Rocket Radar is consumed.

Team Rocket Boss Giovanni Lineup & Counters (January 2025)

Bring Your Strongest Pokémon Into Battle

Similar to other Team Rocket Leaders, there are three waves to Giovanni's boss fight that feature multiple Pokémon. The first and third waves of the fight always feature one Pokémon that never changes, no matter how many times you rematch Giovanni. However, there are three possible Pokémon you could encounter in the second wave, making it hard to predict which counters you need.

Every one of Giovanni's Pokémon is a Shadow variant, making them slightly stronger than the normal versions of pocket monsters you encounter. Each of the of Giovanni's team is either a Legendary Pokémon in Pokémon GO or the end of a Pokémon's evolutionary line. Since you can't know for sure which types to bring to the fight for certain counters, you need to understand the possible Pokémon Giovanni could use.

The table below outlines Giovanni's team for January 2025, what their types and weaknesses are, and the best Pokémon counters you could bring against them:

Some of the strongest Pokémon to use against Giovanni are:

• Swampert
• Garchomp
• Machamp

The Water and Ground-types of Swampert make it the perfect Pokémon to use against Giovanni since it counters most of Team Rocket leader's team. Swampert can decimate Heatran, Giovanni's strongest Pokémon, while also dealing with Rhyperior or Nidoking if they appear in the second wave. Meanwhile, Machamp can easily take out the Shadow Persian Giovanni always starts the battle with.

Machamp can also counter Shadow Heatran and Rhyperior, but Swampert has more bulk as a Water-type to survive in multiple battles against both of those Pokémon on Giovanni's team.

Garchomp also has the Ground-type to challenge many of Giovanni's potential team . At the same time, Garchomp's secondary Dragon-type allows it to challenge Giovanni's Shadow Kingdra as well. Keep in mind that Kingdra can deal super-effective damage to Garchomp too, so you can experiment with other counters if you have more powerful Dragon-type Pokémon in your arsenal.

Rewards For Beating Rocket Leader Giovanni (January 2025)

Gain A Legendary And Other Items

You get 5,000 Stardust for defeating Giovanni, as well as two item bundles from different possibilities​​​​​​. The rewards you could receive for your victory include:

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

Although there are no Shadow Eggs in Pokémon GO granted to you from this battle, you do get a chance to capture Giovanni's stolen Shadow Heatran. As soon as the battle ends, you'll be put in a normal encounter with Shadow Heatran, where you have a chance to catch it. Although it doesn't have a chance to be Shiny, it is still a powerful and rare Pokémon you likely won't find anywhere else.

Having a Shadow Heatran in your collection can help you in the future to deal with Giovanni again when he and Team Rocket inevitably return. Whether Giovanni has Heatran or another Legendary under his command, managing to beat the hidden criminal leader in Pokémon GO will always lead to fantastic rewards.