Giovanni Pokemon Go: I Eventually Went to Beat Him

Last updated on November 12th, 2025 at 04:30 pm

Look, I get it. You are addicted to Giovanni Pokemon Go, and it is unattainable. This is why I spent three days being literally ruined by this guy before I realized what really works.

So here is what transpired as I finally broke the code when it came to November, 2025 no BS just what had worked in my case.

Table of Contents

So What Is So Different about Giovanni Pokemon Go?

I have defeated all three of the Team GO Rocket leaders several times. Arlo? Easy. Cliff? Done. Then I met Giovanni.

The boy has different sets of rules. Giovanni Pokemon Go battles toss you curveballs. His team is rotating every month, and just in November 2025, he is packing Shadow Tornadus, his last Pokemon.

The worst part? His second Pokemon is completely incidental. You will not even know whether you are dealing with Shadow Kangaskhan, Shadow Nidoking or Shadow Rhyperior until you engage in the fight.

My Three Failed Trying (Spoiler: I Lost).

Attempt 1: I was wrecksed by Shadow Persian in approximately 30 seconds. Never even passed phase two.

Attempt 2: Got past Persian, when Shadow Rhyperior killed my team. I possessed a zero Ground type counters.

Attempt 3: At last got to Shadow Tornadus and also stood powerlessly as it cleared the rest of my Pokemon.

This is what I planned on as you cannot simply brute force Giovanni Pokemon Go battles. You need actual strategy.

Destabilizing the Team of Giovanni.

Giovanni always starts with Shadow Persian, which has a maximum of 1,910CP. It is a Normal-type which requires Fighting-type moves. Fighting types (1.6x) are the only types that are weak to Persian.

The second phase becomes tricky with Giovanni Pokemon Go. You will meet one of three Pokemon either randomly in Fighting, Water, Ice, and Psychic mode, Shadow Kangaskhan; or Ice, Water and Psychic, Shadow Nidoking; or Water, Grass and; Ice and Steel, Shadow Rhyperior.

Phase 3 introduces Shadow Tornadus, and it is weak against Electric, Rock and Ice types of attacks. Electric works best as experimented by me.

The Team That Finally Worked

My fifth attempt failed and I went back to the drawing board to reconstruct my team. Here is what ultimately outmuscled Giovanni Pokemon Go in my case:

My Winning Lineup:

Lucario (Lead) – Counter + Aura Sphere.
Swampert (Middle) – Hydro Cannon + Water Gun.
Zekrom (Anchor) – Beam Charge + Wild Charge.

The reason that this happened: Lucario kills Persian and Kangaskhan. Swampert deals with Nidoking and Rhyperior. Zekrom destroys Tornadus.

Budget Alternatives:

Rather than Lucario: Machamp Cross Chop with Counter.
Rather than Swampert: Kyogre or such Water-type.
In place of Zekrom: Electivire with Thunder Shock + Thunder Punch.

It is not about possessing good Pokemon. It is having it covered to all the combinations of his teams.

The One That Changed everything Strategy.

And this is where it became interesting. I learned strategies which are not described by the majority of guides.

The Switch Delay Trick a two-second delay works when any of the Pokemon switch or if one of them faints, Giovanni is affected. In this window, he is not able to attack.

As soon as the battle started changing my lead Pokemon. The two seconds of freedom allowed me to make more fast attacks that Giovanni could not protect.

Pugging in the Shield: Giovanni is armed with two shields. I got to know how to deploy fast-charging attacks such as Power-Up Punch and Cross Chop that could drain his shields after a few of my charged attacks, which was typically the first two.

The Scouting Technique: With the help of your Super Rocket Radar, you can intentionally miss your initial strike of scouting the second Pokemon on Giovanni. I followed this plan, spotted him had Rhyperior, and returned with Swampert and trampled him.

How To Find Giovanni Pokemon Go.

You have to have access before you can fight him. Here’s the monthly process:

Complete the Special Research event December.
In the same way, six Team GO Rocket Grunts must be defeated in order to retrieve obscured parts.
Construct a Rocket Radar combining six pieces.
Fight the three Buyers Team GO Rocket Leaders.
When all leaders are defeated receive Super Rocket Radar.
Track Giovanni with the Super Rocket Radar to PokeStops.

The annoying part? You will go through several PokeStops and see several decoy Grunts before you come to the actual Giovanni. Seven stops I checked before I searched him out.

Common Mistakes I Made

Mistake 1: I used strong attacks on the shields of Giovanni and did not focus on fast-charging attacks at the beginning.

Mistake 2: I continued to form teams that worked very well against one of the Phase 2 Pokemon and not the rest. Take Pokemon that has universal coverage, such as Swampert.

Mistake 3: It took me until the fifth attempt to learn of the existence of the two-second switch delay window. As soon as I got to exploiting it, fights were much more comfortable.

There were free sources of information that helped me.

There are also mutually responding communities in the r/pokemongo sub-reddit where actual battle discussions are shared by the trainers. I came across my winning team formation.

The breakdown of various budgets in the battle is created in YouTube channels with detailed details. The furtive videos teaching the mechanics of the switch were ground shakers.

There are community wikis such as Bulbapedia that keep record of the changes in lineups of Giovanni and his Pokemon.

Are The Rewards Worth It?

Having beaten him at last, here was my reward:

5,000 Stardust
Three bundle packages of Max Potions and Max Revives.
Possible Unova and Sinnoh Stones.
Most significantly – an opportunity to see Shadow Tornadus.

All those losses were compensated with the help of only the Shadow Tornadus. Shadow Pokemon cause 20% greater damage and thus they are a very valuable asset in raid.

Quick FAQs

Is it possible to fight Giovanni two or three times a month?

Not, just a single time per calendar month. However, when you do not take advantage of your radar, you can pile radars to use until you get an opportune legendary rotation.

What happens if I lose?

You save your Super Rocket Radar and can fight again right now. There were five occasions, when I lost, and then I won.

It is harder with Giovanni than the three Leaders?

Yes, significantly. His Pokemon have better CP range and movesets.

Final Thoughts

This is what I learned: it is not having the strongest Pokemon. It is a question of learning the patterns of his, creating intelligent coverage, and taking advantage of machismoes, such as the switch delay.

The composition in terms of team members used by Giovanni also flipped during 2025 and it is monthly rotation that makes it interesting. The same team can never be used forever.

The biggest takeaway? Losses should not discourage you. Your initial meeting should be reconnoitering to figure out his Phase.