The start of Pokemon GO's Team GO Rocket Event has brought many new things to the game including new Shadow Pokemon and new Raid Bosses. Out of all of these new things, however, the most significant are the updated parties for the members of Team GO Rocket.

One of Team GO Rocket's three leaders is Arlo, a powerful foe that can take the unprepared Pokemon GO player off guard. He, like the other high ranking members of Team GO Rocket, has powerful Pokemon with good type coverage. This means that players will need to know what to expect before challenging Arlo.

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Like any battle with a trainer, Arlo will send out three Pokemon for players to fight. His first Pokemon will be the same no matter what, but his second and third Pokemon have three different possibilities for each of them. There is no way to tell what these Pokemon will be before the battle, but if players rematch Arlo after losing to him in the same encounter, his party setup will stay the same.

Party Member One - Beldum

Pokemon Beldum

Arlo's first Pokemon will always be Beldum, a dual Steel and Psychic-type Pokemon that is weak to Fire, Dark, Ground, and Ghost-type moves. It, however, also has many resistances with it resisting Dragon, Ice, Normal, Grass, Steel, Rock, Flying, Fairy, Psychic, and Poison-type moves.

Despite Beldum's typing, it is only capable of using Normal-type moves against players. To take it down quickly, some highly recommended Pokemon include:

  • Chandelure - Incinerate and Shadow Ball
  • Gengar - Lick and Shadow Ball
  • Darmanitan - Incinerate and Overheat
  • Entei - Fire Fang and Overheat
  • Typhlosion - Incinerate and Blast Burn

Party Member Two - Gardevoir

Pokemon Gardevoir

The first possible Pokemon that Arlo can send out as his second Pokemon is Gardevoir. This Pokemon is a dual Psychic and Fairy-type making it weak to Poison, Ghost, and Steel-type moves. It meanwhile resists damage from Psychic, Fighting, and Dragon-type moves.

Like with most Pokemon used by trainers, playing against Gardevoir's weaknesses is important. Some of the better Pokemon and their movesets to use against it are:

  • Metagross - Bullet Punch and Meteor Mash
  • Gengar - Lick and Shadow Ball
  • Chandelure - Hex and Shadow Ball
  • Dialga - Metal Claw and Iron Head
  • Roserade - Poison Jab and Sludge Bomb

Party Member Two - Infernape

Pokemon Infernape

Another Pokemon that Arlo can use as his second Pokemon is Infernape, a dual Fire and Fighting-type Pokemon. Infernape is weak to Flying, Ground, Psychic, and Water-type moves while also resisting Steel, Grass, Ice, Dark, Fire, and Bug-type moves.

While Water-type Pokemon may seem like the best choice, Arlo's Infernape does have the chance to know Solar Beam, a Grass-type move. It is however a charge move, meaning that fast players can take Infernape down before it uses its charge move or just use a protect shield against it.

With this in mind, Pokemon that can hold out very well against Infernape include:

  • Mewtwo - Confusion and Psystrike
  • Attack Deoxys - Zen Headbutt and Psycho Boost
  • Alakazam - Confusion and Psychic
  • Espeon - Confusion and Psychic
  • Azelf - Confusion and Future Sight

Party Member Two - Aggron

Pokemon Aggron

The last Pokemon that Arlo can have in his second party slot is Aggron, a powerful dual Steel and Rock-type Pokemon. Aggron is weak to only Ground, Fighting, and Water-type moves with it resisting Dragon, Ice, Psychic, Fairy, Bug, Rock, Flying, Normal, and Poison-type moves.

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This Pokemon is both a heavy hitter and a Pokemon that can take a beating. Like usual, playing against its weaknesses are absolutely key. Some Pokemon that are recommended for this battle are:

  • Mamoswine - Mud-Slap and Bulldoze
  • Walrein - Waterfall and Earthquake
  • Lucario - Counter and Power-Up Punch
  • Rhyperior - Mud-Slap and Rock Wrecker
  • Excadrill - Mud Shot and Drill Run

Party Member Three - Scizor

Pokemon Scizor

Scizor returns from Arlo's previous Pokemon parties and remains as powerful as ever. This Pokemon is a dual Bug and Steel-type Pokemon, giving it only a weakness to Fire-type moves. It also has the defensive benefit of resisting Dragon, Ice, Psychic, Normal, Bug Steel, Fairy, Grass, and Poison-type moves.

Fire-type Pokemon are the key to victory here, but players still need to be careful when dealing with Scizor. If Scizor is about to use a charge move, players should use a protect shield no matter what as even a not very effective charge attack can completely deplete a Pokemon's health bar.

The fire Pokemon that can help the best against Scizor are:

  • Reshiram - Fire Fang and Overheat
  • Chandelure - Fire Spin and Overheat
  • Darmanitan - Fire Fang and Overheat
  • Blaziken -Fire Spin and Blast Burn
  • Moltres - Fire Spin and Overheat

Party Member Three - Armaldo

Pokemon Armaldo

Another Pokemon that can serve as players' final challenge against Arlo is Armaldo, a dual Rock and Bug-type Pokemon. Armaldo's typing makes it weak to Water, Rock, and Steel-type moves while only being able to resist Poison and Normal-type moves.

While not nearly as much as a challenge as battling with Scizor, Armaldo is still a strong Pokemon in its own right. The better Pokemon to bring against it are:

  • Aggron - Iron Tail and Heavy Slam
  • Mamoswine - Mud-Slap and Ancient Power
  • Armaldo - Fury Cutter and Rock Blast
  • Walrein - Waterfall and Water Pulse
  • Kyogre - Waterfall and Hydro Pump

Party Member Three - Salamence

Pokemon Salamence

Arlo's final Pokemon that he can have in his third party slot is Salamence, a dual Dragon and Flying-type Pokemon. It also has the rare status of being a pseudo-legendary Pokemon, making it almost certainly a difficult battle for the majority of trainers that are unlucky enough to challenge it. Due to Salamence's typing, it is weak to Ice, Fairy, Dragon, and Rock-type moves. It also resists Fighting, Water, Bug, Fire, Grass, and Ground-type moves.

With Salamence being as strong as it is, players will need to give it their all. Something that should be noted however is that Salamence can have one of two different fast moves of different types: Bite and Dragon Tail. Since Bite is a Dark-type moves and Dragon Tail is a Dragon-type move, this can greatly affect which Pokemon trainers should be using against this Pokemon.

If players know that Salamence is using Bite as fast move, players are recommended to use:

  • Black Kyurem - Dragon Tail and Blizzard
  • White Kyurem - Dragon Breath and Blizzard
  • Salamence - Dragon Tail and Outrage
  • Dragonite - Dragon Tail and Outrafe
  • Mega Charizard X - Dragon Breath and Dragon Claw

If players know that Salamence is using Dragon Tail as its fast move, Dragon-type Pokemon are no longer safe to use in battle. Instead, these Pokemon can deal out the needed damage against this Pokemon:

  • Galarian Darmanitan - Ice Fang and Avalanche
  • Mamoswine - Powder Snow and Avalanche
  • Weavile - Ice Shard and Avalanche
  • Glaceon - Frost Breath and Avalanche
  • Tyranitar - Smack Down and Stone Edge

Pokemon GO is available on Android and iOS.

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