Here’s how to track down the head of Team Go Rocket, Giovanni, in Pokémon GO
Giovanni is one of the toughest bosses to face in Pokémon GO—which makes sense since he’s the head of the notorious Team GO Rocket. Defeating him allows you to earn great rewards, including a Legendary Shadow Pokémon.
However, you’ll need to find Giovanni first, which poses a challenge for many trainers. To find him, you’ll need to complete a series of research tasks that include defeating Team GO Rocket Grunts and Leaders (Cliff, Arlo, and Sierra). The guide below has everything you need to find Giovanni and take him on in Pokémon GO.
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What You Should Know about Finding Giovanni in Pokemon GO
Giovanni’s mission is tied to Special Research, which gets refreshed every few months with the Pokémon GO event cycle. The latest Special Research to help you find Giovanni was the “Adventure Week: Taken Over” quest, featuring the Legendary Shadow Pokémon, Shadow Cresselia. It ran from August 8th, 2024, to September 3rd, 2024, so if you missed it, you’ll need to wait for the next event cycle for another chance to find him.
With that in mind, let’s walk you through the steps to find Giovanni whenever his mission becomes available.
How to Find Giovanni in Pokemon GO
You can find Giovanni in Pokémon GO using a Super Rocket Radar, which you get by completing Professor Willow’s Team GO Rocket Special Research tasks. The quest is usually split into 5 parts—though it used to be six. You’ll be able to find Giovanni in the 4th part after you get the Super Rocket Radar in part 3.
Here’s a step-by-step guide to find Giovanni in Pokemon GO:
- First off, you have to complete the “A Troubling Situation” quest at level 8 and make sure you don’t have any previous Special Research part 1 ongoing to access the currently active Team GO Rocket Special Research.
- Next, you’ll have to complete the first two parts of the Special Research, which involve catching some Pokémon, purifying Shadow Pokémon, and defeating Team GO Rocket Grunts. Each Grunt defeated gives you a Mysterious Component.
- In the 3rd part of the quest, you’ll usually need to defeat Team GO Rocket’s Leaders—Cliff, Arlo, and Sierra. You’ll only be able to find each of these Leaders after equipping the Rocket Radar you get by combining the Mysterious Components received from defeating Grunts.
- Once you have defeated one of the Leaders, the Rocket Radar will be consumed, and you’ll need to defeat six more Grunts to get another Rocket Radar—or purchase it from the Shop—and use it to find and defeat the second Leader. Then, repeat the process to find and defeat the third Leader. This is because you can’t make more than one Rocket Radar at a time, and finding each Leader requires one Rocket Radar.
- Once you complete defeating the Team GO Rocket Leaders, you will get a Super Rocket Radar, which, when equipped, will display the location to find Giovanni alongside locations of decoy Grunts disguised as Giovanni on the Map.
Finding the Team GO Rocket Boss might take a while, as you’ll need to approach each PokéStop until you find the real Giovanni. Another method to find Giovanni after equipping the Super Rocket Radar is through new Rocket Balloons that spawn above the Trainer’s avatar in the Map View. There’s a chance they may have Giovanni in them. Just tap the Rocket Balloon to find him.
Once you encounter Giovanni, you’ll need proper counters for the Pokémon in his battle team, as they are known to be tough. His first Pokémon is Persian, which is weak to Fighting-type moves and can mostly be countered by Pokémon like Machamp.
Essentially, you’ll need to use your best Pokémon when battling Giovanni and focus on the ones with moves that weaken his respective Pokémon. This will increase your chances of winning and earning the mission’s reward, including a chance at a Legendary Shadow Pokémon.
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