Defeating a Team GO Rocket Leader with a Standard Great League Team
2There seems to be some misconceptions about what is necessary to use a team of Pokémon with 1500 cp or less to defeat a Team GO Rocket Leader, so this example video is designed to help illustrate techniques that will help accomplish this even if you do not have any prior knowledge of what Pokémon the Team GO Rocket Leader has.
1 - Any team built properly for the GO Battle League Great League that has at least one Pokémon designed to charge its Charged Moves quickly should have a good chance of being successful.
2 - Leading with the Pokémon that can most quickly get to a Charged move, force the Team GO Rocket Leader to use up both of their shields.
3 - Once both shields are down, use Fast Moves to charge up as much Charged Move energy as possible for as many of your Pokémon as possible. Take advantage of defensive typings and your two Protect Shields to help accomplish this whenever possible. Always use Fast Moves to farm additional energy after either trainer uses a Charged Move or switches in a new Pokémon since the CPU always takes a moment before it starts attacking again after either event.
4 - Switch out Pokemon that have completely maxed their Charged Move energy or are about to run out of HP. You want them to be present to hit the Leader’s last Pokemon with as many of their hardest hitting Charged Moves as possible.
5 - Aim to finish defeating their Pokémon with your third Pokémon so that you have all 3 Pokémon ready to take on the last Pokémon, which is usually the strongest one.
6 - Unleash all your strongest attacks from all your Pokémon into the last Pokémon, again keeping in mind that you can safely charge additional Charged Move energy after any Charged Move or Pokémon switch-in has occurred.
If your team has been built well, even if you don’t know what the Team GO Rocket Leader’s Pokémon are before battling them, you stand a pretty good chance that you can take advantage of their generally weak lead Pokémon to farm Charged Energy and the mechanics of Team Go Rocket battles to defeat their big Pokémon in the back. There are exceptions (for example, Sierra’s infamous Lapras+Lapras lead from early 2020), but with a little practice in Great League, a well built Great League team and some solid strategy and tactical maneuvers, defeating a Team GO Rocket Leader is not as insurmountable a goal as one might think.