All three Team GO Rocket Leaders return to special Fashion Week: Taken Over event, they continue to cause problems, appearing at PokeStops and in Rocket Balloons.

While not as tough as Boss Giovanni, Sierra still provides one of the hardest tests in Pokemon GO. To beat her in February 2025, you must set up a team that counters her lineup by using Pokémon that are super-effective. After defeating six grunts, you can take on any of the three Team Go Rocket Leaders, including Sierra.

Sierra's Team & Counters In Pokémon GO (February 2025)

Four New Pokémon In Leader's Lineup

Four changes have been made to Sierra's lineup from January 2025, including her lead Pokémon. For February, she will always lead with Poison- and Bug-type Skorupi. It shouldn't provide too many problems for trainers, but her next two selections might. For her second and third choices, she will always randomly pick one of three Pokémon. If you do get a match-up that doesn't suit your team, you can always leave the battle and try again later, when a different trio will be used.

All of Sierra's Pokémon for February will be Shadow variants, giving them higher in battle.

Her second choice will be one out of Water-type Milotic, Fire-type Ninetales, or Steel- and Grass-type Ferrothorn. The toughest part of the battle will be her final Pokemon, regardless of which one she selects, making it imperative that you save a Pokémon for last that will be super-effective against her. Her final choice will be between Dark- and Fire-type Houndoom, Poison- and Ground-type Nidoqueen, or Poison-- and Dark-type Drapion.

Thankfully, Sierra's Team is easier to counter than in previous months due to its common weaknesses. While the opener, Skorupi, has several weaknesses, you should have a strong- Fire-type Pokémon. The best option is Heatran, one of the strongest attacking hitters in Pokémon GO. Another reason for selecting a Fire-type like Heatran is for one of Sierra's second potential Pokémon. Ferrothorn isn't the strongest Pokémon in the game, but its typing means it only has one weakness: Fire-type attacks.

Sierra's new line-up has individual Pokémon that are just as strong as in previous months, but four of her lineups are weak to Ground-type attacks, including all of her final wave options. Your two best choices are either Groudon or Garchomp. Whichever one you choose is super-effective against Ninetales if chosen second, as well as whatever Pokémon Sierra uses third, Nidoqueen, Drapion, or Houndoom.

That only leaves Milotic, whose only weaknesses are Electric- or Grass-type attacks. Electric types are the better choice as they perform better against the rest of her team if required, and Magnezone is excellent for this job.

Rewards For Beating Sierra In Pokémon GO

A Chance To Catch A Shadow Pokémon

Each time you beat Sierra or the other GO Rocket Leaders, you will receive a set of different rewards. The main bonus is the opportunity to catch her first shadow Pokémon that she is using in battle. For this month, it is Skorpui.

For every victory over Sierra, you will get 1,000 Stardust and a selection of items.

If you have space in your egg inventory, one of these will be the rare 12km red egg. These hatch Pokémon are not often found through other methods in Pokémon GO. You will then receive either one or two of the following items, which are random, depending on whether you have space for the egg. These are 4x Revives, 2x Max Revives, 4x Hyper Potions, 2x Max Potions, or a Unova Stone, which is used to evolve select Pokémon from the Unova Region.

The other reward for beating Sierra is that you need to defeat her, Cliff and Arlo to have the opportunity to face GO Rocket and Boss Giovanni. Sierra remains one of the toughest battles for trainers in Pokémon GO, but you can cover her team with three Pokémon this month by selecting a Fire-type, a Ground-type, and an Electric-type.