With Fall 2021 on its way in, Pokemon GO is still very alive with content and challenges. One of the things that players can undertake at any time of year is challenging the grunts and leaders of Team GO Rocket. This can earn players Shadow Pokemon, Eggs, and plenty of items.

One of the leaders of Team GO Rocket that players can battle in Pokemon GO is Cliff. He has a team filled with a variety of powerful Pokemon that can catch newer players off guard. Luckily, his Pokemon still have weaknesses that can be used when countering them.

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When challenging Cliff, he will send out a team of three Pokemon that players need to defeat one at a time. While his first Pokemon will always remain the same between encounters, his second and third Pokemon cannot be known before the fight. Both of these party slots have the option between three different Pokemon each, so this can make preperation without losing to Cliff beforehand difficult. Luckily, players are free to heal and revive their Pokemon if they lose to Cliff and have a rematch right away.

Cliff's First Pokemon - Seedot

The first of Cliff's Pokemon that players have to take down is his Seedot. It is a pure Grass-type Pokemon, so it is weak to Flying, Poison, Bug, Fire, and Ice-type moves. Meanwhile, Seedot also resists damage from Ground, Water, Grass, and Electric-type moves.

Being the first opponent in the battle against Cliff, Seedot is the weakest of Cliff's Pokemon. This makes it a good target for charge moves in order to force Cliff to waste his Protect Shields before he can use them on more powerful Pokemon later on. If players want to just get through Seedot quickly though, the best Pokemon for the job are:

Cliff's Second Pokemon - Hariyama, Poliwrath, or Kingler

With Cliff's second Pokemon, it has the option of being either Hariyama, Poliwrath, or Kingler. All of the Pokemon have the potential to cause some trouble for players' own teams of Pokemon, but all of these Pokemon can still be countered with the right party member.

Starting off, Hariyama is a pure Fighting-type Pokemon that is weak to Flying, Psychic, and Fairy-type moves. It additionally resists damage from Rock, Bug, and Dark-type moves. With this in mind, the best Pokemon that can be brought along against Hariyama are:

The next Pokemon that Cliff can use in his second party slot is Poliwrath. This Pokemon is a dual Water and Fighting-type, making it vulnerable to Flying, Grass, Electric, Psychic, and Fairy-type moves. On the other hand, Poliwrath is resistant to Rock, Bug, Steel, Fire, Water, Ice, and Dark-type moves. Because of this, the best counter Pokemon for this fight are:

Kingler is the last of the Pokemon that Cliff can send out second. It is a pure Water-type Pokemon with Grass and Electric-type move weaknesses. For resistances, Kingler is strong against Steel, Fire, Water, and Ice-type moves. As a basic type, it is easy to find Pokemon that can use type advantages to counter Kingler, but some of the better Pokemon in this case are:

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Cliff's Final Pokemon - Torterra, Sharpedo, or Tyranitar

Cliff's final Pokemon will provide the last challenge of the battle. These Pokemon all have the potential to take down multiple Pokemon if they aren't dealt with quickly and efficiently. Because of this, it is important to know each possible Pokemon that Cliff can use as his final stand.

The first of these Pokemon is Torterra. This Pokemon is a dual Grass and Ground-type, making it weak to Ice, Flying, Bug, and Fire-type moves. It also resists damage from Ground, Rock, and Electric-type moves. Of Torterra's weaknesses, the best one to take advantage of is its Ice-type weakness. This is due to it dealing 256% the normal amount of damage rather than the normal 160% of the other weaknesses. If this is the Pokemon that Cliff uses as his last one, the best Pokemon that can counter it in battle are:

The next Pokemon is Sharpedo, a dual Water and Dark-type Pokemon. It is weak to Fighting, Bug, Grass, Electric, and Fairy-type moves while also resisting damage from Ghost, Steel, Fire, Water, Ice, Dark, and Psychic-type moves. Despite the intimidating amount of resistances, the weaknesses are still just are useful as with any other Pokemon. Because of this, the best counter Pokemon against Sharpedo are:

Cliff's last possible Pokemon is Tyranitar. This pseudo-legendary Pokemon is a dual Rock and Dark-type, making it vulnerable to Fighting, Ground, Bug, Steel, Water, Grass, and Fairy-type moves. It also resists damage from Normal, Flying, Poison, Ghost, Fire, Dark, and Psychic-type moves. With this Pokemon potentially being the biggest challenge of all of Cliff's Pokemon, using counters is very important. The best ones to use are:

Battle Aftermath

After defeating Cliff, players will get the chance to rescue and capture Cliff's Shadow Seedot. They will be limited to the Premier Balls earned from the battle performance, but players will still be able to use their berries to make the catch much easier. Players will additionally get a 12km Egg and other items by completing the battle.

Pokemon GO is available on Android and iOS.

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