Team GO Rocket
Team GO Rocket Details |
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Team GO Rocket are an offshoot of the Team Rocket from the main series games. In Pokémon GO, Team GO Rocket will appear at PokéStops at times. When a PokéStop is darker blue and the cube on it is spinning, that means a member of Team GO Rocket is there. When you spin the stop, they will appear and challenge you. The battles are standard Trainer Battles, but you have to use a team while they use two Pokémon at CP of around 2200-2500 and a final one of CP around 3200 for Great League, 3300-3500 for the first two and ~4500 for the final one for Ultra League and exceeeding that with Master League and higher making the battle very tough. |
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Shadow Pokémon |
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After defeating the Team GO Rocket grunt, you'll get the chance to capture their Pokémon. This Pokémon is a strange Pokémon known as a Shadow Pokémon. You will have only a few Premier Balls to capture the Pokémon in, with the Ball Bonus increasing as you Purify Shadow Pokémon and defeat Team GO Rocket Grunts. Each Shadow Pokémon has only a base 5% chance of capture and they attack far more often than their standard counterparts. Once you have captured the Pokémon or failed to capture the Pokémon, the stop returns to normal. |
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Team GO Rocket Balloon |
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After July 7th 2020, the Team GO Rocket balloon started to appear. Sometimes, while you have the game open, a balloon will drop down above you, only for you, and will off you a Team GO Rocket battle. If you have no Rocket Radars, you will face a grunt. If you have a Rocket Radar, you will get a Team GO Rocket Leader and if you have a Super Rocket Radar you will encounter Giovanni or his decoys. The balloons will appear once in every 6 hour period from 12am to 6am, 6am to 12pm, 12pm to 6pm and 6pm to 12am. |  |
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Team Rocket Meowth Balloon |
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For some events, a Meowth Balloon will also appear in place of the standard Team GO Rocket Balloon. This balloon is unique in that it brings Jessie & James of the Pokémon anime for a battle. You battle both of them and they both count as grunts so you will get 2 Mysterious Components. They will give Shadow Ekans and Shadow Koffing and both have the capability of being shiny.
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Choosing Teams |
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As you have to choose your team before you battle Team GO Rocket, you'll typically not be able to know what Pokémon to bring which can put you at a disadvantage. There is, however, a trick with this. When you're about to battle, the Grunt will provide a sentence that gives you details on what you should expect so you can plan your team out accordingly.
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Finding Team GO Rocket Leaders |
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As of November 5th 2019, Team GO Rocket Leaders are available to fight. Sometimes, when you beat a grunt at the Team GO Rocket Poké Stops, you will receive a Mysterious Component. If you collect 6 of these, you can make the Rocket Radar item. This item allows you to find special PokéStops that feature the Team GO Rocket Leaders of Cliff, Sierra or Arlo which you have to battle to defeat. These bosses are harder than usual GO Grunts in that they use Shields. However, they also produce Shadow Pokémon as well as various rewards including the Unova Stone for defeating them. As of October 2020, you will also get a rare 12km Egg. The Shadow Pokémon they give can also be shiny >
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Team GO Rocket Boss - Giovanni |
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As of November 5th 2019, the special research Looming in the Shadows was released. As you complete this Research, you'll be able to obtain a Super Rocket Radar. This item will allow you to hunt down and find Giovanni, the boss of Team GO Rocket. This will allow you to battle him and get an encounter with a Shadow Legendary Pokémon. This research is the only way to face Giovanni, but will be repeated and reactivated once per calendar month, so if you get it in November and finish in December, as soon as you finish in December, it will reactivate but if you finish it in November when you got it in November, you'd have to wait for December 1st for it to reactivate.
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