Pokemon GO has seen Team Rocket take control several times, including in January 2025, where leaders like Sierra returned for you to defeat. Bringing the same team from Galarian Expedition: Assumed event of 2024, Sierra's team may be familiar to some coaches. However, recent events will allow you to choose new counters for this fight, providing more ways to challenge this dangerous leader.
Defeating six Team Rocket Grunts allows you to build the Rocket Radar, which opens a path towards the leader of the criminal organization. You have a 1 in 3 chance of meeting Sierra via Radar or fellow leaders Cliff and Arlo on Pokemon GO. While you don't have a guaranteed chance of meeting Sierra, you should still be prepared to fight her team, just in case.
Sierra's Team and Counters in Pokémon GO (January 2025)
Be ready for combinations of various types
Those who participated in Shadow Raids in Pokemon GO can recognize that Sierra also uses Shadow Pokémon to fight you. This should come as no surprise to anyone who has challenged Team Rocket leaders or Grunts in the past, who tend to use these variants. Shadow Pokémon are dangerous enemies, boasting more health and higher-damaging attacks than the normal Pokémon you're used to fighting.
Sierra's fight is divided into three waves, making this battle practically have multiple phases that you must persevere through. The first wave always has the same Pokémon from Sierra's team, no matter how many times you encounter her using Rocket Radar. That said, Sierra's second and third waves use one of three possible Pokémon, making it nearly impossible to predict which pocket monster will come next.
Use the table below to identify all the Pokémon Sierra can use and which creatures work best as counters:
|
Wave |
Pokemon |
Type(s) |
Weaknesses |
Best accountants |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
(Shadow) Ralts |
Fairy/Psychic |
Ghost, Poison, Steel |
|
|
2 |
(Shadow) Steelix |
Steel/Earth |
Fight, Fire, Ground, Water |
|
|
2 |
(Shadow) Sableye |
Dark/Ghost |
Fairy |
|
|
2 |
(Shadow) Milotic |
Water |
Electric, Grass |
|
|
3 |
(Shadow) Houndoom |
Dark/Fire |
Fight, Ground, Stone, Water |
|
|
3 |
(Shadow) Nidoqueen |
Poison/Earth |
Ground, Ice, Psychic, Water |
|
|
3 |
(Shadow) Gardevoir |
Fairy/Psychic |
Ghost, Poison, Steel |
|
Sierra's team is one of the hardest to prepare for among all the Team Rocket leaders, as she has more variety in types than Cliff or Arlo. Despite the lack of some vulnerable patterns, one of the best teams you can assemble for this fight would include:
- Swampert
- Magnezone
- Gengar
Gengar is your ace Pokémon for countering Sierra's Ralts and Gardevoir, whose Fairy and Psychic types are extremely weak to your Ghost/Poison Pokémon. On the other hand, having Swampert on your team sets you up for Shadow Steelix, Nidoqueen, or Sierra's Houndoom, which take super effective damage to the fully evolved Hoenn Water-type starter.
Swampert may seem like a good Pokémon to use against Sierra's Milotic, but don't let that fool you. The Ground type on Swampert causes it to take normal damage from Water-type attacks that Milotic will use, so you should consider using a Mega-Evolved Swampert to prepare for this.
Its final Pokémon, Magnezone, is the best choice to use against Sierra's team's Milotic. This group of Pokémon does not have a direct counter for Sableyebut this Pokémon is much weaker than the Milotic or Steelix you could fight in the second wave. Your team should be able to deal with Sableye with normal attack effectiveness, so try to prepare for Sierra's stronger options.
Rewards for defeating Sierra in Pokémon GO
Get item packs and a new Shadow Pokémon
You earn 1,000 Stardust for defeating Sierra, given to you the moment you claim victory. Those who take down Team Rocket's leader will also be placed in a special encounter where they can capture Shadow Ralt from Sierraand. This Ralts has a 1 in 64 chance of being a Shiny Pokémon in Pokemon GOso you might want to fight Sierra several times to see if you can find a rare variant.
Beat Sierra too grant you two item packs as rewards, which automatically include an Egg. Possible items you can collect from these packages are:
- 4x revive
- 2x Maximum Revives
- 4x Hyper Potions
- 2x maximum potions
- 1x Unova Stone
- 1x 12km Strange Egg
Beating Sierra will also help you complete the Special Rocket Research, bringing you another step closer to finding the true leader of Team Rocket - Giovanni. The rewards you receive for defeating Sierra in Pokemon GO it can be useful for this battle later or in other events such as ongoing Raids or Max Battles.