The Team GO Rocket Celebration Event is currently active for all players in Pokemon GO. With its arrival, all members of Team GO Rocket have been given new teams of Pokemon including the team's three leaders.
One of the Team GO Rocket Leaders that may give Pokemon GO players the most trouble is Cliff. He has multiple powerful Pokemon with pretty good possible type coverage that can make strategizing a bit of a pain.
There are three different Pokemon that Cliff can have as his third party member. Out of all of them, the one that's the most difficult to deal with is Gallade. This is due to the Pokemon having three different possible fast moves of different types.
Gallade is a dual Psychic and Fighting-type Pokemon, making it weak to Fairy, Flying, and Ghost-type moves. It however resists Fighting and Rock-type moves, making them unrecommended for this battle.
There are three different fast moves that Cliff's Gallade can learn. They are Charm, Confusion, and Low Kick. Since Charm is a Fairy-type move, it is super effective against Fighting, Dragon, and Dark-type Pokemon. Confusion meanwhile is a Psychic-type move, meaning that it is super effective against Fighting and Poison-type Pokemon. Finally, Low Kick is a Fighting-type move, making it super effective against Normal, Rock, Steel, Ice, and Dark-type Pokemon.
With Gallade only having three weaknesses, there is a more limited number of Pokemon that can be used against it. There are still plenty, however, that players can use.
There currently aren't too many top Fairy-type attackers in Pokemon GO, but there still are enough that can be effectively used against Gallade. The recommended Fairy-type Pokemon are:
- Gardevoir - Charm and Dazzling Gleam
- Togekiss - Charm and Dazzling Gleam
- Granbull - Charm and Play Rough
Flying-type Pokemon are far easier to find compared to Fairy-type, giving many more options for players to use of this type. Some of the better Flying-types to use against Gallade are:
- Moltres - Wing Attack and Sky Attack
- Mega Pidgeot - Gust and Brave Bird
- Ho-Oh - Hidden Power (Flying) and Brave Bird
- Rayquaza - Air Slash and Aerial Ace
- Lugia - Peck and Sky Attack
Finally, there are some very powerful Ghost-type Pokemon in Pokemon GO that players have the ability to use against Gallade. They also benefit from the additional advantage of resisting multiple of Gallade's fast moves that it can use. Some of the best Ghost-types out there are:
- Mega Gengar - Lick and Shadow Ball
- Origin Form Giratina - Shadow Claw and Shadow Ball
- Chandelure - Hex and Shadow Ball
- Gengar - Lick and Shadow Ball
- Banette - Shadow Claw and Shadow Ball
Players should note that there is no way to tell if Cliff will be using Gallade or not before the battle begins. The only way to know is if players are rematching him within the same encounter after losing.
Pokemon GO is available on Android and iOS.