How to Beat Cliff in Pokemon GO (January 2026): Best Counters and Lineup

Team GO Rocket Leaders are the main pillars of GO Rocket. If you found the grunts challenging, then the leaders might be a bit too much. Sierra, Arlo, and Cliff in Pokemon GO are the Rocket Leaders you’ll face if you want to make your way to the boss, Giovanni.

Defeating Cliff isn’t an easy feat. If you are unaware of his lineup and counters, his shadow Pokemon can almost one-shot your team. However, if you’re able to defeat him, you can earn a handsome amount of rewards and a chance to catch his shadow Pokemon. Here’s all the information you need on beating Cliff in Pokemon GO.

Pokemon GO Cliff Lineup in January 2026

The Battle against Cliff is like a Trainer Battle in Pokemon GO. But instead, he has three different Battle Phases, and you need to complete them all to defeat him. While his Phase 1 Pokemon will be the same, he’ll use any one of the three Pokemon in Phase 2 and Phase 3. That said, here’s a list of the current Cliff lineup in January 2026:

Phase	Pokemon 1	Pokemon 2	Pokemon 3
1	Shadow Larvitar	Nil	Nil
2	Shadow Honchkrow	Shadow Skarmory	Shadow Annihilape
3	Shadow Tyranitar	Shadow Machamp	Shadow Luxray

Cliff’s lineup changes every time there is a new Team GO Rocket Takeover event. He follows the same lineup in January 2026 that was introduced during the Psychic Spectacular: Taken Over event. We can expect a new lineup to be introduced at the next Takeover event, which will be held on January 23, 2026.

How to Easily Beat Cliff in Pokemon GO

To defeat Cliff, you need a solid strategy, based on the Pokemon that he uses, and make a note of their weaknesses and resistances. Make sure that you bring some of your best Pokemon that can counter his entire team.

Cliff starts every battle using Shadow Larvitar in Pokemon GO. The second and the third Pokemon are randomly chosen from the pool of three we’ve mentioned. To make your battle with Cliff much easier, here are some tips that you should follow:

• Like other GO Rocket Leaders, Cliff uses two shields to block your first two moves. Try exhausting them as early as possible so that you can deal Charged Move damage.
• Use a Pokemon with a high Fast Move damage during the first round, and a low energy cost Charged Attack to break shields quickly.
• Once done, you can bring out your strongest Pokemon that matches the counter of the current Phase.
• Whenever you use a Charge Attack or switch out, there is a 3-second cooldown that Cliff follows. Ensure that you use the cooldowns effectively to avoid taking damage as much as possible and prevent your Pokemon from fainting.

Cliff Phase 1: Shadow Larvitar Counters

Shadow Larvitar is a Rock / Ground-type Pokemon that Cliff brings out first against you. It is weak against Water, Grass, Fighting, Steel, Ice, and Ground moves and resistant to Normal, Flying, Rock, Fire, Poison, and Electric attacks. Here are some of the best counters that you can bring against Cliff’s Larvitar:

Pokemon	Fast Move	Charged Move
Primal Kyogre	Waterfall	Origin Pulse / Surf
Primal Groudon	Mud Shot	Precipice Blades
Mega Sceptile	Bullet Seed	Leaf Blade
Mega Lucario	Counter / Force Palm	Aura Sphere / Power‑Up Punch
Mega Swampert	Mud Shot	Hydro Canon

Bringing a good Water, Fighting or Grass-type Pokemon is the main strategy to clear this phase easily.

Pro Tip:

Using a Pokemon with a low-cost Charged Attack is highly recommended to destroy Cliff’s shields. You can even consider relying only on Fast Moves to defeat Shadow Larvitar and exhaust shields in the next phase.

Cliff Phase 2: Shadow Honchkrow / Shadow Skarmory/ Shadow Annihilape Counters

The strategy for Phase 2 of Cliff’s Pokemon will be the same across the three different ones that he can use. Focus on bringing in your best Pokemon that match their weaknesses, while also generating a lot of energy. This will be useful to deal a lot of Charged Attack damage, and one-shot them.

Shadow Honchkrow Counters

Shadow Honchkrow is a Dark and Flying-type Pokemon. This makes it weaker to Rock, Electric, Ice, and Fairy moves and strong against Ghost, Grass, Dark, Ground, and Psychic moves. Consider bringing in any of the best counters we have listed below:

Pokemon	Fast Move	Charged Move
White Kyurem	Ice Fang	Ice Burn
Black Kyurem	Dragon Tail	Freeze Shock
Mega or Non-Mega Gardevoir	Charm	Triple Axel
Shadow or Non-Shadow Mamoswine	Powder Snow	Avalanche
Rhyperior	Smack Down	Rock Wrecker

Shadow Annihilape Counters

Shadow Annihilape is a Fighting/Ghost-type Pokemon, making it weak against Ghost, Psychic, Fairy, and Flying moves. Aditionally, it is resistant against Poison, Rock, Bug, Normal, and Fighting.

Pokemon	Fast Move	Charged Move
Mega Rayquaza	Air Slash	Dragon Ascent
Necrozma	Shadow Claw	Moongeist Beam
Shadow or Non-Shadow Mewtwo	Psycho Cut	Psystrike
Mega Gengar	Shadow Claw	Shadow Punch
Mega Gardevoir	Confusion	Triple Axle

Shadow Skarmory Counters

Shadow Skarmory can be a bit difficult to deal with due to its less weaknesses and more resistances. This pokemon is weak against Electric and Fire-type moves, and resistant to Normal, Psychic, Steel, Fairy, Bug, Grass, Ground, Dragon, Poison, and Flying. Make sure that you avoid these Pokemon, if you face Skarmory.

Pokemon	Fast Move	Charged Move
Mega Charizard Y	Fire Spin	Blast Burn
Xurkitree	Thunder Shock	Discharge
Reshiram	Fire Fang	Fusion Flare
Zekrom	Charge Beam	Fusion Bolt
Shadow or Non-Shadow Heatran	Fire Spin	Flamethrower

While normal Pokemon and Mega Evolutions can tank attacks quite well, shadow Pokemon are like paper with low defence. When using them, you need to be extra cautious.

Cliff Phase 3: Shadow Tyranitar, Shadow Machamp and Shadow Luxray Counters

Similar to Phase 2, Cliff will use any one of the Pokemon from the three in Phase 3. Make sure that you stick to the Pokemon that match its weaknesses or can counter them using similar moves.

Shadow Tyranitar Counters

Tyranitar is a Rock/Dark-type Pokemon. Hence, they are weak to Bug, Fairy, Fighting, Grass, Ground, Steel, and Water-type attacks. So, you can either bring in a strong Pokemon belonging to these elements or bring these Pokemon to the fight:

Counter Pokemon	Fast Move	Charged Move(s)
Non-Mega or Mega Lucario	Counter / Force Palm	Aura Sphere / Power‑Up Punch
Shadow or Non-Shadow Machamp	Counter	Close Combat / Dynamic Punch
Conkeldurr	Counter	Dynamic Punch
Mega Pinsir	Fury Cutter	X-Scissor
Terrakion	Double Kick	Sacred Sword

Shadow Machamp Counters

Shadow Machamp is a fighting type that makes it extremely vulnerable to Psychic, Fairy, and Flying-type moves, and resistant to Dark, Bug, and Rock moves. Focus on Pokemon with that can maintain consistent damage output while dealing super effective damage.

Pokemon	Fast Move	Charged Move
Mega Rayquaza	Air Slash	Dragon Ascent
Shadow or Non-shadow Mewtwo	Psycho Cut	Psystrike
Mega Gardevoir	Charm	Dazzling Gleam
Crowned Sword Zacian	Air Slash	Behemoth Blade
Mega Salamence	Dragon Tail	Fly

Shadow Luxray Counters

Luxray is an Electric-type Pokémon. This makes it weak against only Ground-type moves, and resist Flying, Electric, and Steel.

Pokemon	Fast Move	Charged Move
Primal Groudon	Mud Shot	Precipice Blades
Mega Garchomp	Mud Shot	Earth Power
Therian Form Landorus	Mud Shot	Sandsear Storm
Mega Swampert	Mud Shot	Earthquake
Shadow or Non-Shadow Excadrill	Mud Shot	Scorching Sands

Where to Find Cliff in Pokemon GO

Finding Cliff in Pokemon GO is easier than it may seem. First, you need to collect six Mysterious Components. You can find them by defeating the regular GO Rocket Grunts that you can find. Each grunt, when defeated, gives you one component. Once you have all six, they’ll automatically combine to form a Rocket Radar.

After activating the Radar, check the mini map for the nearby PokeStops or wait for Team GO Rocket balloons. Unlike Giovanni, who uses decoys to hide, Cliff can be easily found with a 1/3 chance of encounter rate.

Losing the battle won’t consume your Rocket Radar, but if you win, then the item will disappear. Also, be mindful that you won’t get any more Mysterious Components if you already have one Rocket Radar in your bag. However, you can stack more than one Rocket Radar from different research.

Best Pokemon GO Team to Beat Cliff

Now that you know about all the best counters against Cliff’s Pokemon, it’s time for you to assemble the best team. The best team that we recommend using against Cliff in Pokemon GO comprises Primal Groudon, Rhyperior, and Mewtwo.

Primal Groudon or any other ground-type Pokemon can counter Shadow Larvitar easily. However, Phase 2 is filled with Flying Pokemon, so we don’t recommend bringing any Fighting type in your team. You can stack up your Charged attacks from Phase 1 and spam them in Phase 2 and 3 strategically. You can counter Skarmory and Annihilape, with your Primal Groudon. It can deal super-effective damage to Skarmory with Fire Punch, or Fire Blast to one-hit-KO. Annihilape is like a glass cannon, so almost any neutral hard-hitting move works on it. However, for Honchkrow, bring out your Rhyperior and smack it down with fast moves. You can do the same against Skarmory, but be aware of its steel moves.

For the final phase, Primal Groudon will be your saviour, as it can do super-effective damage to Tyranitar and Luxray, while resisting their moves. We have Mewtwo in our team to counter Machamp, with its Psychic moves. Mewtwo can also be a flexible option, with its variable moveset, which you can TM according to your needs.

All Pokemon GO Cliff Bosses Difficulty Ranked

Team GO Rocket was introduced in 2019, and since then, Cliff has had a variety of lineups, which players faced. The most difficult one to defeat was his Swampert. We looked at the stats, moveset, and other factors of Cliff’s Phase 3 past lineups and made a list, ranked based on difficulty from toughest to easiest.

• Swampert (Toughest)
• Dusknoir
• Machamp
• Gyarados
• Regice
• Articuno
• Cradily
• Mamoswine
• Infernape
• Camerupt
• Charizard
• Luxray
• Arcanine
• Crobat
• Tyranitar
• Torterra
• Sharpedo
• Aerodactyl (Easiest)

Pokemon GO Cliff Rewards

Trainers who defeated Cliff will get a selection of reward bundles, including the chance to encounter his Phase 1 Shadow Pokemon. Here’s a list of all the rewards you can get:

• 1,000 Stardust
• A chance to catch Shadow Larvitar (with a 1/64 shiny rate)
• Two random reward bundles from:
  • 4 Revives
  • 2 Max Revives
  • 4 Hyper Potions
  • 2 Max Potions
  • 1 Unova Stone
  • 1 Strange Egg (12km)

That’s everything you needed to know to beat Leader Cliff in Pokemon GO. Were you able to defeat him on the first go? Let us know in the comments.