How to beat Arlo in Pokemon Go (July 2024) – Counters & weaknesses

Beating Team Rocket Leader Arlo is quite a task for Pokemon Go players, as they need to figure out a viable strategy to beat this villainous NPC’s formidable Shadow lineup.

This is only possible by picking strong Pokemon that can exploit the biggest weaknesses of Arlo’s team and help you defeat him without much effort.

So, here are all the details on his July 2024 lineup and our recommended counters.

Arlo Pokemon Go team in July 2024

• Cacnea
• Charizard / Hypno / Golurk
• Scizor / Dragonite / Salamence

Arlo’s team is often considered the toughest among Pokemon Go players, especially due to his last combatant being powerful Pseudo Legendaries or his signature Scizor. But planning your counters well can help you get the job done stress-free.

How to defeat Arlo in Pokemon Go

You can beat Arlo by using counters that deal super-effective damage and quickly baiting shields against his Shadow Pokemon lineup.

Shadow Cacnea is guaranteed to be the first species Arlo uses, so you can always prepare for this opening fight.

For the second battle, he can choose Charizard, Hypno, or Golurk, giving Arlo some serious wiggle room and a potential headache for yourself if you’re unprepared for any of them.

Finally, the third Pokemon is yet again a random choice, this time between Scizor, Dragonite, or Salamence. As long as you know which three foes you could come up against, you have ample planning time.

Cacnea counters

• Glaceon with Ice Shard and Avalanche.
• Mamoswine with Powder Snow and Avalanche.
• Mega Blaziken with Fire Spin and Blaze Kick.
• Weavile with Snarl and Triple Axel.
• Talonflame with Incinerate and Flame Charge.

Shadow Cacnea is a pure Grass type, which means it’s weak against Fire, Flying, Ice, and Poison-type moves. Be sure to force Arlo to use his shields during this matchup itself.

Charizard counters

• Rampardos with Smack Down and Rock Slide.
• Mega Diancie with Rock Throw and Rock Slide.
• Rhyperior with Smack Down and Rock Wrecker.
• Mega Tyranitar with Smack Down and Stone Edge.
• Mega Aerodactyl with Rock Throw and Rock Slide.
• Tyrantrum with Rock Throw and Meteor Beam.

Charizard is a Fire/Flying-type Pokemon that is weak against Rock, Electric, and Water-type attacks. It will resist Bug, Grass, Fairy, Fighting, Fire, Ground, and Steel-type moves, so stay away from those categories.

Keep in mind that it is double weak to Rock-type attacks, so prioritize those counters to quickly take down this starter.

Hypno counters

• Mega Tyranitar with Bite and Brutal Swing.
• Mega Gengar with Lick and Shadow Ball.
• Chandelure with Hex and Shadow Ball.
• Mega Houndoom with Snarl and Foul Play.
• Hydreigon with Bite and Brutal Swing.

As a pure Psychic type, Hypno is weak against Bug, Dark, and Ghost-type moves. Its typing makes it resistant only to Fighting and Psychic-type attacks, so you shouldn’t have much trouble picking counters.

Golurk counters

• Primal Kyogre with Waterfall and Origin Pulse.
• Mega Tyranitar with Bite and Brutal Swing.
• Mega Gengar with Lick and Shadow Ball.
• Mega Swampert with Water Gun and Hydro Cannon.
• Mega Sceptile with Bullet Seed and Frenzy Plant.

Golurk is a dual Ground/Ghost-type weak against Dark, Ghost, Grass, Ice, and Water-type attacks. While focusing on those types, remember that it’s also resistant to Electric, Fighting, Normal, Poison, Bug, and Rock-type moves.

Dragonite counters

• Mamoswine with Powder Snow and Avalanche.
• Weavile with Ice Shard and Avalance.
• Galarian Darmanitan with Ice Fang and Avalanche.
• Baxcalibur with Ice Fang and Avalanche.
• Mega Glalie with Frost Breath and Avalanche.

As a Dragon/Flying-type, Dragonite is weak against Ice, Dragon, Fairy, and Rock-type attacks. That means it can resist Grass, Ground, Bug, Fighting, Fire, and Water-type moves.

Salamence counters

• Mamoswine with Powder Snow and Avalanche.
• Weavile with Ice Shard and Avalance.
• Galarian Darmanitan with Ice Fang and Avalanche.
• Baxcalibur with Ice Fang and Avalanche.
• Mega Glalie with Frost Breath and Avalanche.

Salamence is also a Dragon/Flying type weak against Ice, Dragon, Fairy, and Rock-type attacks. Of course, it shares resistances with Dragonite, so it can take Grass, Ground, Bug, Fighting, Fire, and Water-type moves with ease.

Both Dragonite and Salamence share a double weakness to Ice-type moves, so focus on these counters against these mighty Pseudo Legendaries.

Scizor counters

• Arcanine with Fire Fang and Flamethrower.
• Charizard with Fire Spin and Blast Burn.
• Darmanitan with Fire Fang and Overheat.
• Entei with Fire Fang and Overheat.
• Moltres with Fire Spin and Overheat.

Fire is Scizor’s biggest and only weakness, and none of its attacks are effective against that type. Poison, Grass, Steel, Bug, Dragon, Psychic, Ice, Fairy, and Normal-type attacks won’t be very effective against Scizor because it’s a dual Steel and Bug-type species.

Best team to defeat Arlo in Pokemon Go

Teams that should be able to beat Arlo’s July 2024 lineup in almost every situation should feature some of the following: Mamoswine, Mega Blaziken, and Weavile.

Along with Arlo, here’s how you can beat other Team Rocket Leaders Cliff and Sierra in Pokemon Go, as well as their Boss Giovanni.