Overlooked Pokemon Go feature reveals Team Rocket counters but there’s a catch

Even with new lineups, beating Team Rocket members in Pokemon Go is as challenging as ever. While the game prompts the right counter types to use against their Shadow species, it doesn’t work against some Grunts.

When picking Pokemon to use in the Team Rocket battle, you can click the question mark located next to the search bar to find which types the opponent’s team is weak to.

The Dark-type Grunt is typically weak to Bug, Fighting, and Fairy types, the sneaky NPC often uses Stunky and Alolan Muk, two Poison/Dark-type species that are not weak to any of these types.

Although a player would tend to use the recommended counters, shockers like Stunky and two Alolan Muk would throw all strategies out of the window. Not to mention, these Pokemon are incredibly bulky, making them tougher to beat.

So, when a Reddit user named ‘SundownCaress’ shared the question mark tip to find the right counters, other players urged them to be mindful of the Grunt’s lineup.

If you don't know the counters while playing against Grunts..
byu/SundownCaress inTheSilphRoad

A player wrote, “Beware the Dark-type grunts though! At least one, and possibly all three, of their Pokemon will be Dark/Poison, rendering your normal Dark counters less effective. Always bring a good Ground-type with you for dealing with them.”

Another joked that the game should start recommending Ground types to beat the troublesome Dark-type Grunt. Counters such as Primal Groudon, Mega Garchomp, and Excadrill excel in this role.

However, the mention of Ground types prompted trainers to mention another notorious Grunt that often takes them by surprise.

“The one that annoys me is the double Skarmory steel types. I just use my Groudon with precipice blades/fire punch but it still takes longer than I’d like,” a comment read. Steel types are weak to Fighting and Ground-type attacks, Skarmory’s Flying subtype eliminates these weaknesses.

Since you can battle a Team Rocket Grunt multiple times, it is best to take them on with the recommended counters, and then switch your team based on the lineups. For instance, Skarmory can be beaten by Fire types.

After beating the Grunts in Pokemon Go, be prepared to battle Arlo, Sierra, Cliff, and their Boss, Giovanni.