Pokemon Go Cliff counters – how to beat the Team Go Rocket leader

You'll need Pokemon Go Cliff counters to help with a tough fight. The Team GO Rocket Leaders in Pokemon GO are some of the most difficult battles trainers will face. Cliff is one of three of these Team GO Rocket leaders and is arguably the toughest of them all. Like in past months, Cliff’s team has changed to include a different variety of Pokemon as well as a new Shadow Pokemon that trainers can catch. As you’ll see, the first Pokemon in Cliff’s team may not be the hardest to take down in Pokemon Go but trainers will want to use that time to prepare for Cliff’s second and third Pokemon as they can be very powerful depending on which team you’ll end up encountering. Here’s the best Pokemon to take into battle against Cliff in Pokemon GO. 

For the other two Team Go Rocket leaders, have a look at our Pokemon Go Sierra counters and Pokemon Go Arlo counters guides.

Pokemon Go Team Rocket | Pokemon Go Mysterious Components | How to purify shadow Pokemon in Pokemon Go | Pokemon Go Giovanni counters | Pokemon Go A Troubling Situation | Pokemon Go Looming in the Shadows | Pokemon Go Rocket Straight to Victory

Pokemon Go Cliff counters

1. Seedot
2. Kingler/Hariyama/Poliwrath
3. Tyranitar/Torterra/Sharpedo

Seedot

 #1: Seedot counters 

Seedot is the Pokemon Cliff currently starts with and is a pure Grass-type. Unlike his other starting Pokemon, Seedot is great for trainers to charge up their own Pokemon’s charge attacks and/or use up Cliff’s shields early. Seedot is weak to Poison, Fire, Bug and Flying-type attacks, and looking forward to Cliff’s second and third Pokemon trainers may want to bring a powerful Flying-type into battle as they are good against his Fighting and Grass types. 

Here are some examples of Pokemon trainers should consider taking into battle to take down Cliff’s Seedot:

Kingler

 #2: Kingler counters 

Cliff has three options for his second Pokemon with Kingler being the oddball of the bunch. While Cliff’s other two options for his second Pokemon share the Fighting typing, Kingler is a pure Water-type, making it weak to just Grass and Electric-type attacks. 

There are plenty of powerful Electric-type Pokemon to choose from in Pokemon GO, but we recommend trying out these:

Hariyama

#2: Hariyama counters

Hariyama is a pure Fighting-type Pokemon, which makes it weak to Flying, Psychic and Fairy-type attacks.  There are quite a few powerful Flying and Fairy-type attackers in the game already, so try one of our recommended Pokemon. We do suggest to be wary of Hariyama that carries Heavy Slam, a Steel-type attack that could deal massive damage to your Fairy Pokemon. 

Poliwrath

#2: Poliwrath counters

Poliwrath is a powerful Water and Fighting-type Pokemon and is weak to Grass, Electric, Flying, Psychic and Fairy-type attacks. There are plenty of options to take into battle against it, but considering Poliwrath’s moveset consists mostly of Water and Fighting-type attacks, a Psychic or Fairy-type Pokemon will do well against it. 

Tyranitar

#3: Tyranitar counters

Tyranitar is the one Pokemon that hasn’t changed. Tyranitar is a Rock and Dark-type Pokemon and is weak to Ground, Water, Grass, Bug, Fairy and Fighting-type attacks. Bringing Pokemon with powerful Fighting-type attacks is optimal against Tyranitar because it is four times effective. Here are some of our recommendations for Tyranitar counters:

Torterra

#3: Torterra counters

Torterra is Cliff’s second option for his final Pokemon. It’s a Grass and Ground-type Pokemon and is weak to Flying, Bug, Fire and Ice-type attacks. Trainers should bring plenty of Ice-type attacking Pokemon as Torterra is four times weak against it. Here are some recommendations: Since all of Dusknoir's possible moves are Dark-type, the best counters are all Normal or Dark-types thanks to the resistance. You could opt for other Ghost-type Pokemon because Ghost is strong against (and weak to) Ghost, but it's a dangerous game to play.

Sharpedo

 #3: Sharpedo counters 

Sharpedo is Cliff’s final option for the third Pokemon on his team. Being a Water and Dark-type, Sharpedo is weak to Grass, Electric, Bug, Fairy and Fighting-type attacks.