How to beat Cliff in Pokemon Go (March 2023): Best counters & weaknesses

Cliff is one of the Team Rocket Leaders in Pokemon Go and it can be a tough challenge for unprepared trainers. We’ll provide all the details of his March 2023 team, including weaknesses and the best counters to beat him.

After defeating Team Go Rocket Grunts in Pokemon Go and collecting all pieces of the Rocket Radar, players are ready to take on one of the Leaders: Cliff, Arlo, or Sierra. These characters can be sneaky and surprise unprepared players with powerful Pokemon.

In this article, we’ll cover Cliff’s March 2023 Pokemon lineup and provide all the information you need to build the best Pokemon Go team to defeat it in battle, including weaknesses and best counters.

• How to beat Cliff in Pokemon Go
• How to counter Magnemite in Pokemon Go
• How to counter Cliff’s Pinsir, Venusaur, or Omastar in Pokemon Go
  • Pinsir
  • Venusaur
  • Omastar
• How to counter Cliff’s Tyranitar, Sharpedo, or Camerupt in Pokemon Go
  • Tyranitar
  • Sharpedo
  • Camerupt
• Best team to defeat Cliff in Pokemon Go
• How to beat Team Rocket Leaders in Pokemon Go

How to beat Cliff in Pokemon Go

Cliff continues to be one of the toughest challenges in Pokemon Go and his March 2023 team composed of Shadow Pokemon will come at you with full force.

After the Team Go Rocket takeover event in February, Cliff’s lineup changed as seen below:

• First Battle: Magnemite
• Second Battle: Pinsir / Venusaur / Omastar
• Third Battle: Tyranitar / Sharpedo / Camerupt

To take down Cliff, you’ll have to make sure that you have Pokemon that can cover various typings both for defense and offense.

How to counter Magnemite in Pokemon Go

Magnemite is a dual Electric and Steel-type Pokemon, which means it’s weak against Fire, Fighting, and Ground-type attacks. When picking your Pokemon for battle, you should also consider Magnemite can resist Flying, Poison, Rock, Bug, Steel, Grass, Electric, Psychic, Ice, Dragon, and Fairy-type attacks.

Fire and Ground-type Pokemon are recommended here, but the battle strategy is up to you. Many players like to use quick openers to spam fast Charged Moves and leave Cliff without shields early in the battle.

With that said, here are some of the best counters for Magnemite:

• Excadrill with Mud-Slap and Drill Run.
• Mamoswine with Mud-Slap and Bulldoze.
• Garchomp with Mud Shot and Earth Power.
• Swampert with Mud Shot and Earthquake.
• Lucario with Counter and Power-Up Punch.

How to counter Cliff’s Pinsir, Venusaur, or Omastar in Pokemon Go

Pinsir

Pinsir is a pure Bug-type Pokemon, so it’s weak against Fire, Flying, and Rock-type moves. It’ll resist Fighting, Grass, and Ground-type attacks.

Here are some of the best counters to defeat Pinsir:

• Moltres with Fire Spin and Sky Attack.
• Darmanitan with Fire Fang and Overheat.
• Charizard with Fire Spin and Blast Burn.
• Rampardos with Smack Down and Rock Slide.

Venusaur

Venusaur is a dual Grass and Poison-type Pokemon, which means it’s weak against Fire, Flying, Ice, and Psychic-type attacks. It’s resistant to Electric, Fairy, Fighting, Grass, and Water-type moves, so you should avoid those categories here.

Since it’s similar to Pinsir, you are covered with the counters listed above, but here are some more just in case:

• Gallade with Confusion and Synchronoise.
• Reshiram with Fire Fang and Overheat.
• Hoopa with Confusion and Psychic.
• Dragonite with Dragon Breath and Superpower.

Omastar

Omastar is a dual Rock and Water-type Pokemon, so it’s weak against Electric, Fighting, Grass, and Ground-types. It’s also resistant to Fire, Flying, Ice, Normal, and Poison-type moves, so the same counters won’t work here.

To defeat Omastar you can pick one of these counters:

• Kartana with Razor Leaf and Leaf Blade.
• Terrakion with Double Kick and Sacred Sword.
• Roserade with Razor Leaf and Leaf Storm.
• Torterra with Razor Leaf and Frenzy Plant.
• Venusaur with Vine Whip and Frenzy Plant.

How to counter Cliff’s Tyranitar, Sharpedo, or Camerupt in Pokemon Go

Tyranitar

Tyranitar is a dual Rock and Dark-type Pokemon, which means it’s weak against Bug, Fairy, Fighting, Grass, Ground, Steel, and Water-type moves. Tyranitar is resistant to Flying, Poison, Ghost, Fire, Psychic, and Dark-type attacks.

With that in mind, you’ll need a very different Pokemon to beat it. Here are some of the best counters:

• Lucario with Counter and Power-Up Punch.
• Machamp with Counter and Close Combat.
• Conkeldurr with Counter and Dynamic Punch.
• Terrakion with Double Kick and Sacred Sword.
• Breloom with Counter and Dynamic Punch.

Sharpedo

Sharpedo is a dual Water and Dark-type Pokemon, meaning its weaknesses are Bug, Electric, Fairy, Fighting, and Grass-type attacks. It will resist Dark, Fire, Ghost, Ice, Psychic, Steel, and Water-type moves.

That means that the same counters listed for Tyranitar will do just fine against Sharpedo when you face Cliff in Pokemon Go.

Camerupt

Camerupt also has dual typing. As a Fire and Ground-type Pokemon, it’s weak against Ground and Water-type moves. Its list of resistances includes Bug, Electric, Fairy, Fire, Poison, and Steel-type attacks.

Water-type Pokemon are your best allies here and these are some of the best to pick:

• Kyogre with Waterfall and Surf.
• Swampert with Mud Shot and Hydro Cannon.
• Feraligatr with Water Gun and Hydro Pump.
• Empoleon with Waterfall and Hydro Cannon.
• Vaporeon with Water Gun and Hydro Pump.

Best team to defeat Cliff in Pokemon Go

Since you can only pick three Pokemon to face Team Rocket Leader Cliff in Pokemon Go, you’ll need to cover different typings to be prepared for whatever he throws at you.

We recommend having a strong Fighting or Ground-type Pokemon to cover Tyranitar, Sharpedo, and Omastar’s weaknesses. A Fire-type Pokemon can deal with Pinsir, Venusaur, and even Magnemite. A Ground-type Pokemon can also deal with Magnemite and can be essential against Camerupt.

A team composed of Terrakion, Excadrill, and Moltres should work wonders against Cliff’s lineup for March 2023.

How to beat Team Rocket Leaders in Pokemon Go

Cliff is not the only Team Rocket Leader Pokemon Go players can face, so check out our guides on how to beat Arlo, Sierra, and Giovanni for more counter recommendations.

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For more Pokemon, check out our other guides:

How to connect Pokemon Go to Pokemon Scarlet & Violet | Pokemon Go Spotlight Hour schedule | How to heal Pokemon in Pokemon Go | How many Pokemon are there? | Best Pokemon for PvP battles in Pokemon Go | How to get revives in Pokemon Go | Pokemon Go best attackers ranked | How to get Master Ball in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet | Are Pokemon Scarlet & Violet getting DLC? | How many Pokemon types are in Scarlet & Violet?

Image Credits: Niantic / The Pokemon Company