How to beat Cliff in Pokémon GO (January 2025)

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How to beat Cliff in Pokémon GO (January 2025)

Cliff is one of three Team Rocket leaders you can challenge Pokemon GOoffering great rewards in January 2025 for anyone who can beat it. While Cliff's team may be familiar with the start of the new year, there are even better ways to battle your Pokémon than before. By analyzing your lineup of strong pocket monsters, you can easily find a way to defeat this Team Rocket captain every time.

Along with Sierra and Arlo in Pokemon GOCliff can will only be found when you build the Rocket Radar item when defeating Team Rocket Grunts. Six mysterious components collected from Grunts make up the Radar, which leads you to a Leader once built. Unfortunately, the leader you encounter is determined randomly, so you only have a 33% chance of encountering Cliff.

Cliff Lineup and Counters (January 2025)

Bring Pokémon that exploit the type's weaknesses

Like other Team Rocket battles, the fight against Cliff is divided into three phases, or "waves", that you must pass. The first wave always faces the same Pokémon from Cliff's team, but the second and third waves can feature any of three different Pokémon. This makes it difficult to predict what counterattacks you'll need to face Cliff, as he may not use the Pokémon you'd expect.

Cliff tends to favor Dark-type PokémonBut don't let this preference fool you. The Team Rocket leader has many other options, including Pokémon that will directly counter his attempts to fight Dark-types alone. Unlike the Rocket Grunts like Team Ke Ke Ke Ke in Pokemon GOCliff is a much more cunning opponent.

Below is a table outlining all the possible Pokémon Cliff could use during his battle and which counters work best against him:

Wave

Pokemon

Type(s)

Weaknesses

Best accountants

1

(Shadow) Galarian Zigzag

Dark/Normal

Fighter, Bug, Fairy

  • Lucario

  • Machamp

  • Gardevoir

  • Heracross

  • Terrakion

2

(Shadow) Venusaur

Grass/Poison

Fire, Flying, Ice, Psychic

  • Charizard

  • Salamencia

  • Heatran

  • Metagross

  • Blaziken

2

(Shadow) Marowak

Floor

Grass, Ice, Water

  • Sceptil

  • Swampert

  • blastoise

  • Mamoswine

  • Torterra

2

(Shadow) Aerodactyl

Rocha/Voador

Electric, Ice, Stone, Steel, Water

3

(Shadow) Crobat

Poison/Flying

Electric, Ice, Psychic, Rock

  • Electivire

  • Metagross

  • Magnezone

  • Tyrannize

  • Riperior

3

(Shadow) Tyranitar

Rock/Dark

Fight, Bug, Fairy, Grass, Ground, Steel, Water

  • Lucario

  • Heracross

  • Poliira

  • Torterra

  • Gardevoir

3

(Shadow) Obstagon

Dark/Normal

Fighter, Bug, Fairy

  • Lucario

  • Machamp

  • Gardevoir

  • Heracross

  • Terrakion

Probably the best team you can put together to combat Cliff is:

  • Heracross
  • Torterra
  • Metagross

These three Pokémon deal super effective damage to each of Cliff's team members in some way, allowing you to take them down quickly. Heracross is the best example of this, as the Bug/Fighting type can easily counter Cliff's Shadow Tyranitar, Obtagoon, and Zigzagoon. Likewise, Torterra has favorable matchups against Marowak and Tyranitar, while also being a tougher Pokémon for your team.

Metagross's defensive Steel-type gives it resistance to Crobat's attacks and allows it to inflict greater punishment on Cliff's Tyranitar, Aerodactyl, and Venusaur. While you never know which of Cliff's Pokémon you'll face in the final two waves, this team gives you an option for anything the Team Rocket leader throws out.

Rewards for beating the cliff (January 2025)

Catch a Galarian Shadow Pokémon


The rewards for defeating Sierra in Pokémon GO in November 2024
Custom image by Ben Williams

Managing to take down Cliff will instantly reward you with 1,000 Stardust​​​​, giving you money to spend whenever you want. You too receive two different item packs of the six available sets, putting extra resources in your inventory to use in other battles. Some of the item packs you can get include:

  • 4x revive
  • 2x Maximum Revives
  • 4x Hyper Potions
  • 2x maximum potions
  • 1x Unova Stone
  • 1x 12km Strange Egg

The Strange Egg is one of the most valuable rewards for defeating Cliff, as you never know which Pokémon might hatch from Eggs that could be strong enough to help your team win future battles.

Another reward for defeating Cliff is the chance to capture your Shadow Galarian Zigzagoon after the fight. Once the battle is over, you will be placed in an encounter with the Shadow Pokémon, which has a 1 in 64 chance of being a Shiny variant. Challenging Cliff multiple times is the best way to increase your chances of getting a Shiny, but just the Shadow Pokémon on their own can be a great addition to your collection.

Defeating Cliff will advance your Special Rocket Research, helping you get one step closer to challenging Giovanni to a final battle. Those who beat Cliff in Pokemon GO for January 2025 you should consider using your battle rewards to participate in future events, Raids or Max battles that will be introduced during the new year.