Pokémon Go Giovanni rewards and counters for September 2025

How to beat Giovanni and capture his current Shadow Legendery.

Image credit: Niantic

Guide by Lottie Lynn Guides Editor

Updated on Sept. 1, 2025

If you're trying to bulk out your Pokédex in Pokémon Go with Legendary Shadow Pokémon, you're going to want to keep an eye out for the Team Go Rocket boss Giovanni. He's a bit fiddly to find, a tough fight, and his line-up changes every few months, but he's worth it if you're after as many rare Pokémon as possible.

As part of the Delightful Days: Taken Over event in Pokémon Go, Giovanni's line-up last got updated in August 2025, with his Legendary switching to Shadow Giratina.

With his line-up often changing, below we've put together the best Giovanni Counters, helping give you the edge against one the toughest bosses in the game. And also tips for finding him and the rewards for beating him.

On this page:

How to find Giovanni
Giovanni Line-up
Best Giovanni Counters
How to beat Giovanni
Giovanni Rewards

How to find Giovanni

Finding the Team Go boss can be a bit fiddly and firstly requires you to get hold of a Super Rocket Radar. Here's how to find Giovanni:

Complete the Delightful Days: Taken Over Special Research quest from Professor Willow. This quest will see you beating Arlo, Cliff and Sierra
By beating the Team Go Rocket Leaders, you'll get given a Super Rocket Radar.
Equip the Super Rocket Radar and head to a PokeStop, and then there's a chance you'll encounter Giovanni.

Watch out though, you might have to visit a few PokeStops before you find him. And you might also encounter a few decoy grunts along the way.

Once you've encountered him, you can fight him as many times as needed until finally capturing his Legendary Shadow Pokémon.

Giovanni Line-up

Giovanni’s choice of Pokémon rotates every few months, meaning you will often find yourself battling different Pokémon. Giovanni's current team is as follows:

First Pokémon	Second Pokémon	Third Pokémon
Persian	Nidoking	Giratina
	Kangaskhan
	Rhyperior

Best Giovanni counters

Once you find Giovanni, prepare yourself for a tough fight. His Pokémon are a lot stronger than the previous Team Go Rocket fights, so make sure your team is just as powerful. Don’t be deterred if it takes two, or even three attempts to take him down!

Here's the Giovanni Counters we recommend:

Slot 1: Primal Kyogre, Mega Garchomp, your strongest Water or Ground-type
Slot 2: Mega Lucario (Force Palm, Aura Sphere) or strongest Fighting-type
Slot 3: Crowed Sword Zacian, your strongest Fairy or Dark-type

How to beat Giovanni

Before we jump into the strategy for beating Giovanni, It’s important to remember that, like the previous Team Go Rocket Leaders, Giovanni has two Protect Shields at his disposal - this means a debut Pokémon that has two quick Charged moves, and can withstand some damage, will set you up nicely for removing his shields and for the rest of the fight.

Best Persian Counter

Persian will always come up first and is weak against Fighting, so having a Mega Lucario with Force Palm and Aura Sphere, or Terrakion with Double Kick and Sacred Sword are your best bets here. Failing that, Machamp and Lucario are cheaper, more attainable counters.

However, the secret technique to beating Persian is to put your fighter in the second slot and then immediately switch to it. This is because Giovanni experiences a two-second delay every time you switch Pokémon, giving you two sweet seconds to lay into Persian before it retaliates.

Best Rhyperior, Nidoking and Kangaskhan Counters

Giovanni's second Pokémon can be one of three, either Rhyperior, Nidoking or Kangaskhan.

The best Rhyperior counters are Primal or Shadow Kyogre, Kartana, Mega Swampert or your strongest Water-type or Grass-type as it's particularly weak against these two types. If you can, a stronger Water-type would be the better choice but if you've got a high-performing Grass-type like Kartana then that works too. Good choices include Zarude, Kyogre, and Sky Forme Shaymin. Shadow wise, you could use Shadow Swampert, Shadow Kyogre, or Shadow Venusaur.

The best Nidoking counters are Primal Kyogre, Primal Groudon and Mega Garchomp (as well as Shadow Mewtwo). However, if you don't have these then your strongest Psychic-type, Ground-type, or Water-type will do as it's weak to these. Good choices include Mewtwo, Lunala and Therian Forme Landorus. Shadow wise, you could pick Shadow Groudon, Shadow Kyogre, Shadow Garchomp or Shadow Gyarados.

The best Kangaskhan counters are Mega Lucario, Machamp or Terrakion. Though you could also try using an Annihilape if it knows Counter and Close Combat. Since Kangaskhan is a pure Normal-type Pokémon like Persian, it is only weak to Fighting-types. Due to this, you may find you're able to defeat it (or least put a good dent in its HP) with your chosen Persian counter. Still, it's a good idea to have a backup Fighting-type counter if you're facing Kangaskhan just in case it faints.

Best Giratina Counter

Giratina is weak to Ice, Ghost, Dragon, Dark and Fairy-type Pokémon. While Giratina may seem like a challenging opponent, the good news is that you're battling it's Altered Forme which is easier to defeat than its Origin Forme.

You still need to careful though! I'd recommend avoiding any Dragon or Ghost-type Pokémon as, if Giratina has moves from these types, you'll take 'Super Effective' damage. A risk not worth taking this late into the fight!

Instead, it's best to use Fairy or Dark-type Pokémon. You'll most likely only have one slot to play with for Giratina, so choose your strongest Pokémon from these two types. My recommendation for Fairy are Crowned Sword Zacian, Incarnate Forme Enamorus and Tapu Lele. For Dark-types, I'd recommennd either Tyranitar, Hydreigon or Shadow Weavile. Ideally, however, you're best choice here is Crowned Sword Zacian.

If you haven't used a Mega Evolution yet, then Mega Gardevious is your best choice for Fairy and Mega Tyranitar is the best Dark-type choice.

Giovanni Rewards

You will receive a variety of rewards for defeating Giovanni. This includes 5,000 Stardust and a variety of healing items, such as Max Potions and Max Revives. There’s also a chance that you’ll receive a Unova Stone. And each time you beat him, you'll get closer to unlocking the next stage of the Ultra Hero medal, unlocking Giovanni-themed clothing.