Plenty of challenges await in Pokemon GO for those who choose to pursue them. One of these challenges is taking on the various grunts and leaders of Team GO Rocket in order to rescue their Shadow Pokemon and get helpful items. There are three main leaders that players can find with one of them being Sierra.

As one of Team GO Rocket's leaders in Pokemon GO, Sierra can be a very tough battle for players who aren't prepared. Her team is filled with powerful Pokemon that can wipe out teams that aren't suited for the fight. Like all Pokemon though, Sierra's Pokemon still have weaknesses that can be exploited.

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During the battle, Sierra will use a team of three Pokemon. While her first team member will always be the same in each encounter, her second and third Pokemon are far more unpredictable. Her second Pokemon could be one of three different Pokemon with her third Pokemon being one of three more different Pokemon.

Sierra's First Pokemon - Sneasel

The first Pokemon Sierra will send out in the battle is Sneasel. This Pokemon is a dual Dark and Ice-type, making it weak to Fighting, Rock, Bug, Steel, Fire, and Fairy-type moves. On the flip side, Sneasel resists damage from Ghost, Ice, Dark, and Psychic-type moves.

Being Sierra's first Pokemon, Sneasel is the weakest of her party. This makes it easy to take care of compared to what comes after it, making it a good target for charge moves. Players can use this part of the battle to force Sierra to waste her Protect Shields early. If players want to get through this Pokemon quickly though, the best counters against it are:

Sierra's Second Pokemon - Ampharos, Granbull, or Gliscor

Moving on to Sierra's second Pokemon, she can use either Ampharos, Granbull, or Gliscor. These Pokemon will provide a much bigger challenge than Sneasel, but they can all still be countered with their weaknesses.

Ampharos is a pure Electric-type Pokemon, so it is only weak to Ground-type moves. It also resists damage from Flying, Steel, and Electric-type moves. Because of this, the best Pokemon to counter this member of Sierra's team are:

Next is Sierra's Granbull, which is pure Fairy-type Pokemon. It is weak to Poison and Steel-type moves while resisting Fighting, Bug, Dark, and Dragon-type moves. With this in mind, the best counters for this opponent are:

The last of Sierra's possible second party members is Gliscor. This Pokemon is a dual Ground and Flying-type, so it is vulnerable to Ice and Water-type moves. It also resists damage from Electric, Fighting, Poison, Bug, and Ground-type moves. Gliscor can be a bit tricky to fight with all of its type resistances, so the best counters to use against it are:

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Sierra's Final Pokemon - Houndoom, Kingdra, or Drapion

Finishing off with Sierra's final Pokemon, this is where the true challenge really begins. She can send out either Houndoom, Kingdra, or Drapion. All of these Pokemon are capable of completely wiping players' teams if they don't take this final step seriously, so it's important to prepare for the most difficult part of the battle.

Houndoom is a dual Dark and Fire-type Pokemon that is weak to Fighting, Ground, Rock, and Water-type moves. What some players may not expect though is its massive amount of type resistances. These resistances are Ghost, Steel, Fire, Grass, Ice, Dark, and Psychic-type moves. If players want to make this battle go as smoothly as possible, the best Pokemon for the job are:

Continuing forward, Sierra's next possible final Pokemon is Kingdra. This Pokemon is dual Water and Dragon-type, so it is only weak to Dragon and Fairy-type moves. It also resists damage from Steel, Fire, and Water-type moves.

If players want to risk it, they can use their own Dragon-type Pokemon to battle Kingdra. These Pokemon, however, will also have to face Kingdra's own Dragon-type moves. If players are comfortable doing this, the best Dragon-types to bring along are:

If players don't want to risk their Dragon-type Pokemon and their own weaknesses for this battle, players can also use a few other options. The best non-Dragon-type Pokemon to use in this case against Kingdra are:

Sierra's last possible Pokemon is her Drapion, which is a dual Poison and Dark-type Pokemon. It is only vulnerable to Ground-type moves and resists damage from Psychic, Poison, Ghost, Grass, and Dark-type moves.

This luckily means that if Sierra is using Ampharos in the battle, players can use the same exact Pokemon they used against it in order to fight Drapion. The best counters of course are:

Battle Aftermath

After defeating Sierra, players will get the chance to rescue her Shadow Sneasel. Players will be locked out of their normal collection of PokeBalls and will have to rely on the Premier Balls earned from how well they did in the battle beforehand. Other battle rewards include a 12km Egg and a collection of item drops.

Pokemon GO is available on Android and iOS.

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