Pokemon GO’s Season of Discovery officially kicks off today, allowing trainers to face off against new Raid bosses, as well as an update to Pokemon that can be found in the wild. This didn’t do much to change the Team GO Rocket roster of Pokemon since the Luminous Legends Y event, though newer Pokemon GO trainers will definitely want to organize their roster to properly set up counters.

Arlo is undoubtedly one of the Team GO Rocket leaders to face off against. As before, he’s guaranteed to start off with one Pokemon, and his second and third-round choices are where things can switch up a bit. Specifically, he’ll always start with Venonat as his first Pokemon, with the second round between Crobat, Ursaring, or Manectric, and the third round between Vileplume, Magnezone, or Scizor.

Round 1 - Venonat

Since Arlo’s first Pokemon is Venonat, a dual Bug and Poison-type, trainers will already be aware of its natural weakness to Fire, Flying, Rock, and Psychic-type moves. Contrarily, be careful to avoid using Bug, Poison, Fairy, Fighting, and Grass-type moves if possible as Venonat resists damage from those.

Some good recommendations to tackle it head-on include:

  • Blaziken - Fire Spin & Overheat Moltres - Wing Attack & Sky Attack Gardevoir - Confusion & Synchronoise Mewtwo - Confusion & Psychic Rampardos - Zen Headbutt & Tock Slide

Round 2 - Crobat, Ursaring, or Manectric

At this point, Arlo is bound to do anything so be prepared. In the case of Crobat, a dual Poison, and Flying-type Pokemon, the best counters are Ice, Rock, Psychic, and Electric-type moves. On the other hand, it resists damage from Ground, Poison, Fairy, Fighting, Grass, and Bug-type moves. This is a great match-up if coming right off of Venonat, as both Pokemon share similar counters:

  • Mewtwo - Confusion & Psychic Rampardos - Zen Headbutt & Tock Slide Luxray - Spark & Wild Charge Glaceon - Frost Breath & Avalanche Weavile - Snarl & Avalanche

Another Pokemon that Arlo can throw out at Pokemon GO trainers is Ursaring. Frequent challengers of Team GO Rocket probably have a line-up in mind from the previous month, but, as a refresher, Ursaring is a Normal-type Pokemon. That means it is weak only to Fighting-type moves but only resists Ghost-type moves. Some counters include:

  • Machamp - Counter & Dynamic Punch Landorus (Therian) - Extrasensory & Superpower Pangoro - Low Kick & Close Combat Yveltal - Snarl & Focus Blast Thundurus (Therian) - Thunder Shock & Focus Blast

The final choice of the three could easily fall to Manectric, a pure Electric-type, meaning it’s vulnerable only to Ground-type moves. However, it resists Steel, Electric, and Flying-type moves, making for a pretty challenging second-round choice. As long as Pokemon GO trainers keep a Ground-type Pokemon or a Pokemon with Ground-type moves, this won’t be too difficult. Some good Pokemon counters include:

  • Landorus (Therian) - Mud Shot & Earthquake Excadrill - Mud-Slap & Earthquake Groudon - Mud Shot & Earthquake Garchomp - Mud Shot & Earthquake Landorus (Incarnate) - Mud Shot & Earth Power

Round 3 - Vileplune, Magnezone, or Scizor

From Arlo’s previous line-up comes the dual Grass and Poison-type Pokemon Vileplume. Its typing makes it weak to Fire, Flying, Ice, and Psychic-type moves, while resisting Fighting, Water, Electric, Fairy, and Grass-type moves. Trainers have undoubtedly noticed Arlo’s trend for using Pokemon that are weak to Fire-type moves, meaning most Fire-type users are more than prepared to counter all of them. In the case of specific counters, those include:

  • Mewtwo - Confusion & Psychic Blaziken - Fire Spin & Overheat Darmanitan (Galarian Standard) - Ice Fang & Avalanche Tornadus (Therian) - Gust & Hurricane Deoxys (Attack) - Zen Headbutt & Psycho Boost

Magnezone is another choice that Arlo brings back from before. This Pokemon is a dual Electric and Steel-type Pokemon that is weak to Ground, Fire, and Fighting-type moves. However, it comes with a crazy number of resistances - Dragon, Ice, Psychic, Electric, Normal, Grass, Bug, Rock, Fairy, Steel, Poison, and Flying-type moves, to be exact.

Magnezone can absolutely be a problem for new and unprepared Pokemon GO trainers, though keep in mind that Fire-types are the most reliable. The Ground-type choices used against Manetric also serve as great choices here:

  • Landorus (Therian) - Mud Shot & Earthquake Excadrill - Mud-Slap & Earthquake Groudon - Mud Shot & Earthquake Blaziken - Fire Spin & Overheat Landorus (Incarnate) - Mud Shot & Earth Power

Of course, the final choice for Arlo’s third Pokemon could always fall to the daunting Scizor. This Pokemon is a dual Bug and Steel-type, making it weak only to Fire-type moves. As for resistances, Scizor rivals Magnezone, resisting damage from Dragon, Ice, Psychic, Normal, Bug, Steel, Fairy, Grass, and Poison-type moves.

In combination with Scizor’s high attack power, unprepared Pokemon GO trainers can find themselves team wiped by the powerful Pokemon. As state before, Fire-type Pokemon are the way to go, especially if there’s a chance that Scizor might show up. Some choices include:

  • Blaziken - Fire Spin & Overheat Moltres - Fire Spin & Fire Blast Flareon - Fire Spin & Flamethrower Charizard - Fire Spin & Overheat Arcanine - Fire Fang & Flamethrower

Pokemon GO is available on Android and iOS.

Source: Pokemon GO Info