All Giovanni weaknesses and best Pokemon counters in Pokemon Go for August 2022

Giovanni returned to Pokémon Go in July 2022, capturing Shadow of Latios. However, you can still fight him in August 2022 if you haven’t completed the special research. You must fight him to catch this Pokémon and add it to your collection. This guide covers Giovanni’s weaknesses and the best Pokémon counters in Pokémon Go for August 2022.

How to find Giovanni in August 2022

The only way to find Giovanni is to work through the Battle Weekend event, which comes from the Field Notes: Team Go Rocket research. It was available during the event, and if you still have it you can get a Super Rocket Radar to find and fight Giovanni. You can choose to pursue Giovanni and get Shadow Latios, or you can keep it and save it for a future encounter with a Legendary Shadow Pokémon.

How to beat Giovanni – Weaknesses and best Pokemon counters

Giovanni is a tough fight, much more difficult than the other Team Rocket leaders. Giovanni’s first Pokémon stays the same each month. However, his second and third options are constantly changing.

First Pokemon

In the first Pokemon, Giovanni always uses Persian, a Normal-type Pokemon. The best Pokemon to use against this are long-lived Fighting Pokemon like Conkeldurr, Heracross, Gallade, Machamp, or Scrafty.

Second Pokemon

For his second Pokemon, Giovanni will use Rhyperior, Machamp, or Nidoking. Rhyperior is weak to Fighting, Grass, Ground, Ice, Steel, and Water-type attacks, Machamp is weak to Fairy, Flying, and Psychic-type attacks, and Nidoking is weak to Ground, Ice, Psychic, and Water-type attacks. Our best recommendation is to focus on using a Pokemon that can use Ground, Psychic, or Water-type moves to prepare to defeat any of these three.

Third Pokemon

Giovanni will be using a Shadow Latias as a last option for his squad. Latios is a Dragon and Psychic-type Pokémon. It is weak to Bug, Dark, Dragon, Fairy, Ghost, or Ice-type attacks. We highly recommend using a Fairy-type Pokemon, as Honchkrow is also weak to this typing and Ice-type attacks. However, most Ice-type Pokémon are relatively weak and not as bulky as other Pokémon, making them a risky option.

After defeating Giovanni, you have a chance to reclaim Latias, and you now have a shadow version of the Pokémon at your disposal. We strongly recommend not purifying this Pokemon, since Legendary Shadow Pokemon are even rarer than the actual versions of this Pokemon.