Giovanni’s Back to Wreck Your Squad in ‘Pokémon GO’ — Here’s How to Beat Him

There are some video game bosses that have become infamous throughout time: Mike Tyson in Punch Out, Magma Fire Leo in Viewtiful Joe, and M. Bison and his annoying butt chin in Street Fighter 2. But these games all share something in common: There's a specific individual you're trying to beat to a bloody pulp.

And while Pokémon follows a similar premise, except you're performing acts of virtual dog fighting, the beatdowns are more of a flex against trainers, and Giovanni, with his always powerful Lugia, is the big bad in the Poké-verse who's back to wreak havoc in GO. So what's his legendary bird weak against?

Pokémon games manage to keep people coming back for more because of how well the series has managed to combine some simple, yet addictive elements into one incredible package. You've got the quest aspect of a traditional RPG where you explore new areas and must satisfy a specific number of goals to advance through the game.

Then there are random encounters against monsters, who you must capture in order to conduct your Pokémon "research" aka filling up your log with all of the animal skulls you've proverbially taken. OK, so you're not technically killing the beasts but rather having other animals clobber them to the point of unconsciousness, but that's the point of the game.

And while that sounds brutal, the game maniacally manages to make that animal-on-animal violence addictive through a rock-paper-scissors type combat system.

It's really difficult to progress through an entire Pokémon game using just one juiced-to-the-gills stat monster Pokémon; you'll need a solid group of characters with varying attributes in order to tackle any situation head-on, because some Pokémon work well better against others.

And while Lugia's got base stats that make it an extremely powerful monster to deal with, it does have some weaknesses: Dark, Ice, Electric, Ghost, and Rock type moves.

Defeating the winged menace isn't as easy as simple as pitting one of those Poké-types against it, and Giovanni also has a bunch of other Pokémon that you're going to need to get through as well.

He will always kick off the battle with his bread and butter: a beefed-up Persian. It's a normal Pokémon, so fighting type moves, like Machamp with Counter and Dynamic Punch, or Lucario with Power-Up Punch and Counter should do the trick.

Giovanni's second Pokémon will be either one of three monsters: Nidoking, Rhyperior, or Kingler.

Kingler's a water-based Pokémon, so zapping that fool with some electricity or hitting him with some grass moves will work really well: Thunder Shock, Thunder Bolt, Wild Charge, Grass Knot, or Razor Leaf will put the hurting on that big crab.

For Rhyperior, you can use fighting type moves (see above), Grass (see above) or Ice techniques: Ice Shard and Avalanche should do the trick.

After defeating these two nerds, you'll go up against Giovanni's Lugia and you'll want to use moves like Volt Switch and Wild Charge, Powder Snow and Ice Punch, Smack Down and Stone Edge, or Rock Slide.

Your lineup should consist of the following, and the corresponding Pokémon they should be pitted against. Again, just use the specific moves his Pokémon are weak against (you already know the drill or else you wouldn't be fighting Giovanni at this point).

• Persian: Tyranitar, Shadow Machamp, Conkeldurr, Machamp, Lucario
• Nidoking: Mewtwo (psychic moves), Mega Blastoise (water moves), Kyogre (water moves), Swampert (water moves), and Empoleon (water moves)
• Kingler: Magnezone, Raikou, Torterra, Zapdos, Vileplume
• Rhyperior: Swampert (water moves), Cobalion (steel type moves), Torterra, Excadrill (Drill Run and Mud Shot work well), Kyogre (water moves)

And for Lugia you can't go wrong with a Raikou, Terrakion, Magnezone, Sandslash, or Tyranitar.

So there you have it! Good luck beating the evil G-Eazy-looking Team Rocket big baddie, but you've got this.