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All Giovanni weaknesses and best Pokémon counters in Pokémon Go for March 2023

Giovanni has never been better.

Giovanni is back in Pokémon Go. The infamous leader of Team Rocket has returned, and he’s captured another legendary shadow Pokémon that you can add to your collection. Tracking him down won’t be easy. You need to find him using a specific in-game item, and then you will need to battle against him. Here’s what you need to know about Giovanni’s Pokémon weaknesses and the best Pokémon counters in Pokémon Go for March 2023.

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How to find Giovanni in March 2023

You can only track down Giovanni using a Super Rocket Radar. You may still have one from the previous Special Research quest that awarded you a Super Rocket Radar. If you do not, all players will receive the From the Shadows Special Research at 10 AM on March 25 in your local area. You need to follow the steps in this quest to earn a Super Rocket Radar after completing task 3, and task 4 is all about fighting against Giovanni, the Team Rocket Boss.

How to beat Giovanni – Weaknesses and best Pokémon counters

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Giovanni is a tough fight, far more difficult than the other Team Rocket leaders. Giovanni’s first Pokémon remains the same every month. However, his second and third options consistently change.

First Pokémon

In the first Pokémon, Giovanni always uses Persian, a Normal-type Pokémon. Therefore, the best Pokémon to use against it are Fighting-types, such as Conkeldurr, Heracross, Gallade, Machamp, or Scrafty.

Second Pokémon

For his second Pokémon, Giovanni will use Nidoking or Kingdra. Nidoking is a Poison and Ground-type, and Kingdra is a Water and Dragon-type. These Pokémon do not share any weaknesses. Between the two, Nidoking is weak against Ground, Ice, Psychic, and Water-type moves, while Kingdra is weak against Dragon and Fairy-type moves. Nidoking is resistant to Fairy-type attacks, so you’re better off using a Psychic, Water, or Dragon-type Pokémon, or something that can hit all of these weaknesses in a battle. Some optimal choices include Mewtwo, Swampert, Dragonite, Zekrom, Garchomp, or Palkia.

Third Pokémon

Giovanni will be using a shadow Regice as the final option for his roster. Registeel is weak against Fighting, Fire, Rock, or Steel-type attacks. We recommend using Lucario, Reshiram, Terrakion, Metagross, Chandelure, Rampardos, or Darmanitan to take it down. All of these options are ideal choices to go with when challenging Giovanni.

After you’ve defeated Giovanni, you’ll have a chance to catch the shadow Regice and you now have a shadow version of the Pokémon available to you. We highly recommend you not purify this Pokémon as legendary shadow Pokémon are even rarer than the actual versions of this Pokémon.


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Author
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Zack Palm
Zack Palm is the Senior Writer of Gamepur and has spent over five years covering video games, and earned a Bachelor's degree in Economics from Oregon State University. He spends his free time biking, running tabletop campaigns, and listening to heavy metal. His primary game beats are Pokémon Go, Destiny 2, Final Fantasy XIV, and any newly released title, and he finds it difficult to pull away from any Star Wars game.