Pokémon GO Cliff Counters (November 2023): Best Pokémon To Beat Team GO Rocket Leader

Team GO Rocket Leaders are enemy battles that can be challenging for Trainers to overcome in Pokémon GO; however, it can be rewarding. Defeating Arlo, Cliff, and Sierra will lead to the showdown with their boss, Giovanni, but before that, you'll need to go head-to-head with each leader.

However, preparing for the battle with Cliff can be straightforward as he uses similar types with common weaknesses. This guide details Cliff's current line-up and the best counters, including Pokémon, their typing, and attacks to use against him in Pokémon GO.

2nd November 2023 Update: This guide reflects the new Pokémon lineup and possible counters when encountering Team GO Rocket leader Cliff in battling encounters during Pokémon GO's Season of Adventures Abound. The original reporting continues below.

Pokémon GO Team GO Rocket Leader Cliff: Current Line-Up & Counters

Team GO Rocket Leader Cliff's line-up hasn't changed following the recent Rising Shadows event, which introduced Shadow Raids in-game. While he and all Team GO Rocket Leaders and their boss, Giovanni, have Shadow Pokémon included in his line-up, Trainers will need to adjust their line-up to fit the best possible counters.

Below is the current Shadow Pokémon line-up for Team GO Rocket Leader Cliff for November 2023, with all data supplied by notable Pokémon source, PokémonGOHub: 

• Cliff Battle Phase 1: Dratini
• Cliff Battle Phase 2: Cradily / Gallade / Slowking
• Cliff Battle Phase 3: Dusknoir / Mamoswine / Tyranitar

Best Dratini Counters:

Cliff will start the opening round using his Dragon-type Shadow Dratini in battle, which has plenty of weaknesses, including Dragon, Fairy, and Ice-type attacks. Trainers shouldn’t have much trouble finding suitable counters to overwhelm Dratini in the first round.

Best Cradily, Gallade & Slowking Counters:

For the second round, Cliff could bring out one of three different Shadow Pokémon: Cradily, Gallade, or Slowking. Cradily, a Rock/Grass type, is weak to attacks from Bug, Fighting, Ice, and Steel Pokémon, while Gallade is weak to Fairy, Flying, and Ghost-type Pokémon.

Lastly, Slowking is a Water/Psychic-type Pokémon, with weakness to Bug, Dark, Electric, Ghost, and Grass Pokémon. As such, Cradily and Slowking share a common weakness to Bug types, while Gallade and Slowking have common weaknesses to Ghost-type Pokémon.

Best Dusknoir, Mamoswine & Tyranitar Counters:

The final round of this brutal battle against Cliff could see potential match-ups against Dusknoir, Mamoswine, or Tyranitar. Dusknoir is a Ghost-type Pokémon that’s weak to Dark and other Ghost Pokémon, while Mamoswine is an Ice/Ground Pokémon that’s weak to Fighting, Fire, Grass, Steel, and Water Pokémon.

Lastly, Tyranitar is a Rock/Dark-type Pokémon with weaknesses to attacks from Bug, Fairy, Fighting, Grass, Ground, Steel, and Water Pokémon. Therefore, some counters may be shared among the three Pokémon, which we’ve listed below.

As we’ve provided the best counters to go toe-to-toe with Cliff’s current line-up, which can be used during the month, it should help you assemble the best possible line-up. Therefore, bring Gengar (Dusknoir, Gallade, Slowking), Lucario (Cradily, Mamoswine, Tyranitar), and Dragonite (Dratini) to battle.