Wondering How to Find Giovanni in 'Pokémon GO'? We've Got You Covered

As an avid Pokémon fan myself, sometimes I wonder if Team Rocket will ever be defeated. The perpetual villains of almost every Pokémon game inevitably turn up to try and battle the player senseless or steal their Pokémon. Team Rocket is no different in Pokémon GO, where a part of the game allows you to battle Team Rocket members and eventually face the leader Giovanni himself.

Here's everything we know about how to find — and beat — Giovanni in Pokémon GO.

Unfortunately, finding Giovanni in Pokémon GO isn't something you can do whenever you want. You'll have to wait for Team GO Rocket special research tasks to appear in the game to be given the opportunity to defeat the team's leader.

Once you complete the necessary tasks as they appear, you can then begin hunting down Team GO Rocket grunts to battle.

Every time you defeat a Team Rocket member in-game, they'll drop a Mysterious Component. Pick the Mysterious Component up, and keep going until you've collected six. After you have collected six of these, they will transform into a Rocket Radar. This item will let you track down Leader Hideouts in Pokémon GO.

If you've previously crafted a Rocket Radar in the game, you should be able to purchase another for PokeCoins instead, if you don't feel like defeating the grunts again.

You'll then have to hunt down three other Team GO Rocket leaders: Arlo, Cliff, and Sierra. Each of these leaders can be found by using the Rocket Radar, which helps lead you to them.

Only once you've defeated all three of these leaders will you receive the Super Rocket Radar – which is the only way you can find Giovanni in the game.

You may come across many Team Rocket members disguised as Giovanni (in a format true to the traditional Pokémon games), but you can swipe the Poké Stop to reveal members' true identities without even having to battle them. It's important to note that before you go looking for Giovanni, the ability to battle him is only available for Trainers Level 8 and up!

Giovanni is arguably one of the tougher opponents to challenge in the game, so you'll need to go into your battle as prepared as possible.

Just like the three other Team Rocket leaders in-game, Giovanni can use Protect Shields, which means that not only does he possess stronger Pokémon, but he will absorb two of your charged attacks. Giovanni always starts with Persian, but he might use one of three different Pokémon for his second choice, and his final Pokémon will be Shadow Latias.

His Persian is a Normal-type Pokémon that can use any of the following type moves: Normal, Dark, Fairy, and Rock. This means the Persian is best countered with Fighting-type moves. That being said, this will be the weakest of Giovanni's Pokémon, so try to use any super-strong moves sparingly. 

Giovanni's second Pokémon will be one of three: Honchkrow, Gyarados, or Rhyperior. Honchkrow is a Dark/Flying-type Pokémon, so have Electric and Ice-type moves at the ready. Gyarados is a Water/Flying-type Pokémon, so counter this Pokémon with Electric or Rock-type moves. And Rhyperior is a Ground/Rock-type, meaning you'll want Grass and Water-type attacks to defeat this potential second Pokémon.

Lastly, you'll be up against Shadow Latias, which is weak against Bug, Ghost, Ice, Dragon, Dark, and Fairy-type moves. You'll want to have Pokémon with strong moves of these types on your team if you want to defeat Giovanni.

The Pokémon in Giovanni's lineup tend to change on occasion, so before going into any new encounter with him, be sure to do your research ahead of time.