Facing off against Cliff in Pokemon GO this April? You'll need to know the best counters.
If you're new to Pokemon Go's dastardly Team Rocket leaders, you'll need to defeat Rocket Grunts and earn six Mysterious Components.
Once you have those, you'll be able to find the Rocket Leaders - Cliff, Sierra, Arlo, or Giovanni.
But defeating each of these Rocket Leaders is far more challenging, especially when you're not familiar with their Pokemon line-up.
Even then, a leader's lineup is randomly selected out of a small selection of possible Pokemon. Therefore, it's important to know the counters and strategies for each potential encounter to maximising your chances of beating them.
This is even more important if you want to get hold of the 12km Strange Eggs or complete the Inter-Egg-Sting Development Quest.
Need Help? Then keep reading for tips and counters on how to defeat Team Rocket Leader Cliff.
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Team Rocket Leader Cliff Line-Up & Counters
Cliff will always use Aerodactyl as his first Pokemon.
For Cliff's second Pokemon, he will either use Gallade, Cradily or Slowking.
For his Third Pokemon, it will be Dusknoir, Mamoswine or Tyranitar.
Below is a list of counters and the most effective moves against each of Cliff's potential Pokemon, as of April 2021.
Aerodactyl Counters
Aerodactyl is weak to Water, Ice, Electric, Rock and Steel Moves. Here's a list of Pokemon and their moves that counter Aerodactyl.
- Electivire - Thunder Shock (Fast Move) + Wild Charge (Charge Move)
- Blastoise - Water Gun ( Fast Move) + Hydro Cannon (Charge Move)
- Raikou - Thunder Shock (Fast Move) + Wild Charge (Charge Move)
- Mamoswine - Powder Snow (Fast Move) + Avalanche (Charge Move)
- Kyogre - Waterfall (Fast Move) + Surf (Charge Move)
Gallade Counters
Gallade is weak to Fairy, Flying and Ghost types. Here's a list of Pokemon and their moves that counter Gallade.
- Rayquaza - Air Slash (Fast Move) + Hurricane (Charge Move
- Chandelure - Hex ( Fast Move) + Shadow Ball (Charge Move)
- Moltres - Wing Attack (Fast Move) + Sky Attack (Charge Move)
- Ho-Oh - Hidden Power (Fast Move) + Brave Bird (Charge Move)
- Gengar - Shadow Claw (Fast Move) + Shadow Ball (Charge Move)
Slowking Counters
Slowking is weak against Electric, Grass, Bug, Dark and Ghost-type moves. Here's a list of Pokemon and their moves that counter Onix.
- Electivire - Thunder Shock (Fast Move) + Wild Charge (Charge Move
- Raikou - Thunder Shock ( Fast Move) + Wild Charge (Charge Move)
- Gengar - Shadow Claw (Fast Move) + Shadow Ball (Charge Move)
- Chandelure - Hex (Fast Move) + Shadow Ball (Charge Move)
Cradily Counters
Cradily is weak against Fighting, Ice, Bug and Steel types. Here's a list of Pokemon and their moves that counter Cradily.
- Mamoswine - Powder Snow (Fast Move) + Avalanche (Charge Move
- Machamp - Counter ( Fast Move) + Dynamic Punch (Charge Move)
- Lucario - Counter (Fast Move) + Aura Sphere (Charge Move)
- Conkeldurr - Counter (Fast Move) + Dynamic Punch (Charge Move)
- Breloom - Counter (Fast Move) + Dynamic Punch (Charge Move)
- Weavile - Ice Shard (Fast Move) + Avalanche (Charge Move)
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Tyranitar Counters
Tyranitar is weak to Fighting, Fairy, Ground, Bug, Steel, Water and Grass-type moves. Here's a list of Pokemon and their moves that counter Tyranitar.
- Machamp - Counter (Fast Move) + Dynamic Punch (Charge Move
- Conkeldurr - Counter ( Fast Move) + Dynamic Punch (Charge Move)
- Lucario - Counter (Fast Move) + Aura Sphere (Charge Move)
- Breloom - Counter (Fast Move) + Dynamic Punch (Charge Move)
- Sirfetch’d - Counter (Fast Move) + Close Combat (Charge Move)
Dusknoir Counters
Dusknoir is weak to Dark and Ghost-type moves. Here's a list of Pokemon and their moves that counter Dusknoir.
- Chandelure - Hex (Fast Move) + Shadow Ball (Charge Move
- Gengar - Lick ( Fast Move) + Shadow Ball (Charge Move)
- Darkrai - Snarl (Fast Move) + Shadow Ball (Charge Move)
- Weavile - Snarl (Fast Move) + Foul Play (Charge Move)
Mamoswine Counters
Mamoswine is weak to Fighting, Fire, Grass, Water and Steel-type moves. Here's a list of Pokemon and their moves that counter Mamoswine.
- Conkeldurr - Counter (Fast Move) + Dynamic Punch (Charge Move
- Lucario - Counter ( Fast Move) + Aura Sphere (Charge Move)
- Machamp - Karate Chop (Fast Move) + Dynamic Punch (Charge Move)
- Kyogre - Water Fall (Fast Move) + Surf (Charge Move)
- Blastoise - Water Gun (Fast Move) + Hydro Cannon
Hopefully, this helps you defeat and takedown Team Go Rocket Leader Cliff.