Defeating Cliff isn’t an easy feat. If you are unaware of his lineup and counters, his shadow Pokemon can almost one-shot your team. However, if you’re able to defeat him, you can earn a handsome amount of rewards and a chance to catch his shadow Pokemon. Here’s all the information you need on beating Cliff in Pokemon GO.
Pokemon GO Cliff Lineup in February 2026
The Battle against Cliff is like a Trainer Battle in Pokemon GO. But instead, he has three different Battle Phases, and you need to complete them all to defeat him. While his Phase 1 Pokemon will be the same, he’ll use any one of the three Pokemon in Phase 2 and Phase 3. That said, here’s a list of the current Cliff lineup in February 2026: Cliff’s lineup changes every time there is a new Team GO Rocket Takeover event. He follows the same lineup in February 2026 that was introduced during the Precious Pals event. We can expect a new lineup to be introduced at the next Takeover event.
How to Easily Beat Cliff in Pokemon GO
To defeat Cliff, you need a solid strategy, based on the Pokemon that he uses, and make a note of their weaknesses and resistances. Make sure that you bring some of your best Pokemon that can counter his entire team. Cliff starts every battle using Shadow Magikarp in Pokemon GO. The second and the third Pokemon are randomly chosen from the pool of three we’ve mentioned. To make your battle with Cliff much easier, here are some tips that you should follow:
Like other GO Rocket Leaders, Cliff uses two shields to block your first two moves. Try exhausting them as early as possible so that you can deal Charged Move damage. Use a Pokemon with a high Fast Move damage during the first round, and a low energy cost Charged Attack to break shields quickly. Once done, you can bring out your strongest Pokemon that matches the counter of the current Phase. Whenever you use a Charge Attack or switch out, there is a 3-second cooldown that Cliff follows. Ensure that you use the cooldowns effectively to avoid taking damage as much as possible and prevent your Pokemon from fainting.
Cliff Phase 1: Shadow Magikarp Counters
Shadow Magikarp is a pure Water type Pokemon that Cliff brings out first against you. It is weak against Electric, and Grass moves and resistant to Water, Fire, Ice, and Steel attacks. But, it is the easiest one to defeat, and you can bring any Pokemon you like. Here are some of the best counters that you can bring against Cliff’s Magikarp: Bringing a good Electric, Fighting or Grass-type Pokemon is the main strategy to clear this phase easily.
Cliff Phase 2: Shadow Honchkrow / Shadow Skarmory/ Shadow Annihilape Counters
The strategy for Phase 2 of Cliff’s Pokemon will be the same across the three different ones that he can use. Focus on bringing in your best Pokemon that match their weaknesses, while also generating a lot of energy. This will be useful to deal a lot of Charged Attack damage, and one-shot them.
Shadow Honchkrow Counters
Shadow Honchkrow is a Dark and Flying-type Pokemon. This makes it weaker to Rock, Electric, Ice, and Fairy moves and strong against Ghost, Grass, Dark, Ground, and Psychic moves. Consider bringing in any of the best counters we have listed below:
Shadow Annihilape Counters
Shadow Annihilape is a Fighting/Ghost-type Pokemon, making it weak against Ghost, Psychic, Fairy, and Flying moves. Aditionally, it is resistant against Poison, Rock, Bug, Normal, and Fighting.
Shadow Skarmory Counters
Shadow Skarmory can be a bit difficult to deal with due to its less weaknesses and more resistances. This pokemon is weak against Electric and Fire-type moves, and resistant to Normal, Psychic, Steel, Fairy, Bug, Grass, Ground, Dragon, Poison, and Flying. Make sure that you avoid these Pokemon, if you face Skarmory. While normal Pokemon and Mega Evolutions can tank attacks quite well, shadow Pokemon are like paper with low defence. When using them, you need to be extra cautious.
Cliff Phase 3: Shadow Tyranitar, Shadow Machamp and Shadow Luxray Counters
Similar to Phase 2, Cliff will use any one of the Pokemon from the three in Phase 3. Make sure that you stick to the Pokemon that match its weaknesses or can counter them using similar moves.
Shadow Tyranitar Counters
Tyranitar is a Rock/Dark-type Pokemon. Hence, they are weak to Bug, Fairy, Fighting, Grass, Ground, Steel, and Water-type attacks. So, you can either bring in a strong Pokemon belonging to these elements or bring these Pokemon to the fight:
Shadow Machamp Counters
Shadow Machamp is a fighting type that makes it extremely vulnerable to Psychic, Fairy, and Flying-type moves, and resistant to Dark, Bug, and Rock moves. Focus on Pokemon with that can maintain consistent damage output while dealing super effective damage.
Shadow Luxray Counters
Luxray is an Electric-type Pokémon. This makes it weak against only Ground-type moves, and resist Flying, Electric, and Steel.
Where to Find Cliff in Pokemon GO
Finding Cliff in Pokemon GO is easier than it may seem. First, you need to collect six Mysterious Components. You can find them by defeating the regular GO Rocket Grunts that you can find. Each grunt, when defeated, gives you one component. Once you have all six, they’ll automatically combine to form a Rocket Radar. After activating the Radar, check the mini map for the nearby PokeStops or wait for Team GO Rocket balloons. Unlike Giovanni, who uses decoys to hide, Cliff can be easily found with a 1/3 chance of encounter rate. Losing the battle won’t consume your Rocket Radar, but if you win, then the item will disappear. Also, be mindful that you won’t get any more Mysterious Components if you already have one Rocket Radar in your bag. However, you can stack more than one Rocket Radar from different research.
Best Pokemon GO Team to Beat Cliff
Now that you know about all the best counters against Cliff’s Pokemon, it’s time for you to assemble the best team. The best team that we recommend using against Cliff in Pokemon GO comprises Regieliki, Primal Groudon, and Mewtwo. Regieliki or any other Pokemon can counter Shadow Magikarp easily, as Magikarp does little to no damage. You can even use Regieliki for Phase 2, which is filled with Flying Pokemon. Stack up your Charged attacks from Phase 1 and spam them in Phase 2 and 3 strategically. You can counter Skarmory and Honchkrow with your Regieliki. It can deal super-effective damage to both of them with its electric moves and almost one-hit KO. Annihilape is like a glass cannon, so almost any neutral hard-hitting move works on it. For the final phase, Primal Groudon will be your saviour, as it can do super-effective damage to Tyranitar and Luxray, while resisting their moves. We have Mewtwo in our team to counter Machamp, with its Psychic moves. Mewtwo can also be a flexible option, with its variable moveset, which you can TM according to your needs.
All Pokemon GO Cliff Bosses Difficulty Ranked
Team GO Rocket was introduced in 2019, and since then, Cliff has had a variety of lineups, which players faced. The most difficult one to defeat was his Swampert. We looked at the stats, moveset, and other factors of Cliff’s Phase 3 past lineups and made a list, ranked based on difficulty from toughest to easiest.
Swampert (Toughest) Dusknoir Machamp Gyarados Regice Articuno Cradily Mamoswine Infernape Camerupt Charizard Luxray Arcanine Crobat Tyranitar Torterra Sharpedo Aerodactyl Magikarp (Easiest)
Trainers who defeated Cliff will get a selection of reward bundles, including the chance to encounter his Phase 1 Shadow Pokemon. Here’s a list of all the rewards you can get:
1,000 Stardust A chance to catch Shadow Magikarp (with a 1/64 shiny rate) Two random reward bundles from: 4 Revives 2 Max Revives 4 Hyper Potions 2 Max Potions 1 Unova Stone 1 Strange Egg (12km)
That’s everything you needed to know to beat Leader Cliff in Pokemon GO. Were you able to defeat him on the first go? Let us know in the comments. Name Email ID
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