{"id":57131,"date":"2026-06-01T13:23:02","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T05:23:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=57131"},"modified":"2026-06-01T13:23:02","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T05:23:02","slug":"pokemon-go-giovanni-counters-team-line-up-in-june-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=57131","title":{"rendered":"Pok\u00e9mon Go Giovanni counters, team line-up in June 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/jlee_260430_1001_pogo_giosteel.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>Giovanni\u2019s<\/strong> team had a refresh in <em>Pok\u00e9mon Go<\/em> following the arrival of the late April 2026 &#8220;Steeled Resolve: Taken Over&#8221; event.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- No AdsNinja v10 Client! --><!-- No AdsNinja v10 Client! --><\/p>\n<p>As it stands in <strong>June 2026<\/strong>, following an update rolled out on April 30, Giovanni\u2019s team sees several possibilities, including a finale against <strong>Landorus<\/strong>, the latest legendary to see the shadow treatment.<\/p>\n<p>For those who want to catch shadow Landorus, you&#8217;ll want to nab a Super Rocket Radar from the aforementioned event as soon as you can, as Giovanni&#8217;s legendary swaps out periodically.<\/p>\n<p>However, know that whenever you face Giovanni, he\u2019s a tough opponent to battle, and this page will list out his <strong>current team <\/strong>and <strong>counters <\/strong>if you\u2019re having trouble.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Update (April 30)<\/strong>: We&#8217;ve updated this guide with new information about the changes to how Team Go Rocket takeovers and Giovanni works.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p><!-- No AdsNinja v10 Client! --><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"how-to-find-giovanni-in-pok-eacute-mon-go\">\n                        How to find Giovanni in Pok\u00e9mon Go<br \/>\n               <\/h2>\n<p>Following the &#8220;Steeled Resolve: Taken Over&#8221; event in April 2026, Giovanni now works a tiny bit differently. Rather than getting a Special Research set every few months framed around a takeover event that rewards you with a <strong>Super Rocket Radar <\/strong>(and thus access to Giovanni), it appears that <strong>Super Rocket Radars are only available via the Go Pass during the event<\/strong>. You need to either pay $4.99 for the deluxe pass, which will unlock the Super Rocket Radar right away, or you&#8217;ll need to reach rank 30 on the free pass before the event ends to fight Giovanni.<\/p>\n<p>As of writing this, we&#8217;re unsure if there are more ways that Super Rocket Radars will be distributed.<\/p>\n<p>Just like the leaders, <strong>Giovanni will appear in Team Go Rocket balloons or at taken over Pok\u00e9Stops with the Super Rocket Radar equipped<\/strong>. He won\u2019t often be in the first that you encounter \u2014 there will be decoy grunts along the way \u2014 but keep trying and Giovanni will appear.<\/p>\n<p>Once you find him and use the radar, you can battle him as many times as it takes to beat him \u2014 as long as you\u2019re within distance of the Pok\u00e9Stop \u2014 which is great, because he is typically a pretty tough battle.<\/p>\n<p>Prior to this change, Team Go Rocket boss Giovanni was typically only available to battle while completing Team Go Rocket Special Research. The last event to do so was in mid-January 2026, with the quest &#8220;Precious Pals: Taken Over.&#8221; As part of the quest, after beating all three Team Go Rocket leaders, you\u2019d get a Super Rocket Radar, allowing you to hunt down Giovanni.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p><!-- No AdsNinja v10 Client! --><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"PnZDd3\">\n                        Pok\u00e9mon Go Giovanni team line-up<br \/>\n               <\/h2>\n<p>Currently, Giovanni will have the following team:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n                                        <strong>Persian <\/strong>(normal)\n                        <\/li>\n<li>\n                                        <strong>Kangaskhan <\/strong>(normal), <strong>Rhyperior <\/strong>(ground\/rock), OR <strong>Nidoking <\/strong>(poison\/ground)\n                        <\/li>\n<li>\n                                        <strong>Landorus <\/strong>(ground\/flying)\n                        <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You\u2019ll kind of notice that if you bring <strong>fighting-type, water-type, and ice-type <\/strong><strong>Pok\u00e9mon<\/strong>, you should be mostly set to counter Giovanni this time around due to some nicely shared counters across his team. Not too shabby!<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p><!-- No AdsNinja v10 Client! --><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"uRO6Bx\">\n                        Pok\u00e9mon Go Giovanni counters<br \/>\n               <\/h2>\n<p>Because there are fewer potential party options for Giovanni than there are for the Rocket leaders, he\u2019s actually easier to plan against, even if his Pok\u00e9mon are much stronger. You will need to bring the strongest Pok\u00e9mon you have, in addition to your A-game in order to take him down.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"Nbf2Uq\">\n            Opening Pok\u00e9mon (Persian) counters<br \/>\n    <\/h3>\n<p>For Persian, bring a <strong>fighting-type<\/strong> Pok\u00e9mon, such as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n                                        <strong>Terrakion <\/strong>with Double Kick and Sacred Sword\n                        <\/li>\n<li>\n                                        <strong>Machamp <\/strong>with Counter and Dynamic Punch\n                        <\/li>\n<li>\n                                        <strong>Lucario <\/strong>with Counter and Aura Sphere\n                        <\/li>\n<li>\n                                        <strong>Conkeldurr <\/strong>with Counter and Dynamic Punch\n                        <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 id=\"second-possible-pok-eacute-mon-counters\">\n            Second possible Pok\u00e9mon counters<br \/>\n    <\/h3>\n<p>If he uses <strong>Kangaskhan <\/strong>during the second encounter, consider <strong>fighting-types<\/strong> such as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n                                        <strong>Terrakion <\/strong>with Double Kick and Sacred Sword\n                        <\/li>\n<li>\n                                        <strong>Machamp <\/strong>with Counter and Dynamic Punch\n                        <\/li>\n<li>\n                                        <strong>Lucario <\/strong>with Counter and Aura Sphere\n                        <\/li>\n<li>\n                                        <strong>Conkeldurr <\/strong>with Counter and Dynamic Punch\n                        <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>(Yes, these are the same Pok\u00e9mon from the recommended list for Persian. You can bring two if Persian ends up taking one of them out.)<\/p>\n<p>If he uses <strong>Rhyperior <\/strong>during the second encounter, consider <strong>grass-types<\/strong> or <strong>water-types<\/strong> such as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n                                        <strong>Decidueye <\/strong>with Leafage and Frenzy Plant\n                        <\/li>\n<li>\n                                        <strong>Venusaur <\/strong>with Vine Whip and Frenzy Plant\n                        <\/li>\n<li>\n                                        <strong>Kyogre<\/strong> with Waterfall and Origin Pulse\n                        <\/li>\n<li>\n                                        <strong>Quaquaval<\/strong> with Water Gun and Hydro Cannon\n                        <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If he uses <strong>Nidoking <\/strong>as his second Pok\u00e9mon, you can use <strong>ice<\/strong>&#8211; or <strong>water-types<\/strong> like:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n                                        <strong>Mamoswine <\/strong>with Powder Snow and Avalanche\n                        <\/li>\n<li>\n                                        <strong>Galarian Darmanitan<\/strong> with Ice Fang and Avalanche\n                        <\/li>\n<li>\n                                        <strong>Kyogre<\/strong> with Waterfall and Origin Pulse\n                        <\/li>\n<li>\n                                        <strong>Quaquaval<\/strong> with Water Gun and Hydro Cannon\n                        <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 id=\"76u4Si\">\n            Closing Pok\u00e9mon (Landorus) counters<br \/>\n    <\/h3>\n<p>For the final encounter against <strong>Landorus<\/strong>, we recommend using an <strong>ice-type<\/strong> Pok\u00e9mon, since Landorus takes quadrupled damage from it, such as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n                                        <strong>Mamoswine <\/strong>with Powder Snow and Avalanche\n                        <\/li>\n<li>\n                                        <strong>Galarian Darmanitan<\/strong> with Ice Fang and Avalanche\n                        <\/li>\n<li>\n                                        <strong>White Kyurem<\/strong> with Ice Fang and Ice Burn\n                        <\/li>\n<li>\n                                        <strong>Glaceon<\/strong> with Frost Breath and Avalanche\n                        <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr\/>\n<p><!-- No AdsNinja v10 Client! --><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"yDGK6N\">\n                        How to beat Giovanni in Pok\u00e9mon Go<br \/>\n               <\/h2>\n<p>As with fighting the leaders, Giovanni <strong>will block the first two charged attacks with shields<\/strong>. As such, you\u2019ll ideally want a fighting-type that can chip away at Persian\u2019s health, while also having charged moves to destroy these two shields as fast as possible. From there, it\u2019s a case of switching to the counters which suit the line-up that follows.<\/p>\n<p>After defeating Giovanni, you will get to catch whichever Shadow legendary appears in the final encounter. It\u2019s a guaranteed catch, so don\u2019t forget to use a Pinap Berry to score some extra candy.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, know that winning against Giovanni is an efficient way of earning Shadow Shards for Purified Gems, with each battle rewarding four Shards \u2014 enough to make one Gem.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/pokemon-go-guide\/23581491\/giovanni-counters-team-go-rocket\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><br \/>\n<center\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Giovanni\u2019s team had a refresh in Pok\u00e9mon Go following the arrival of the late April 2026 &#8220;Steeled Resolve: Taken Over&#8221; event. As it stands in&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":57132,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[12164,23905,6209,3068,2879,773],"class_list":["post-57131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-gadgets-reviews","tag-counters","tag-giovanni","tag-june","tag-lineup","tag-pokemon","tag-team","wpcat-32-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/57132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}