How to beat Leader Sierra in Pokemon Go (April 2025)

One of the more formidable Team Go Rocket Leaders in Pokemon Go, Sierra, presents a challenging battle for Trainers seeking to prove their skills. To make things a little easier, here are all the details on her lineup, weaknesses, and the best counters to use as of April 2025.

Trainers can grab Mysterious Components by defeating Team Go Rocket Grunts in Pokemon Go at invaded PokeStops. Once you have six of them, you’ll be able to construct a powerful Rocket Radar, leading you straight to the Team Go Rocket Leaders.

However, unlike Grunts, who can be taken down with relative ease, the Team Go Rocket Leaders present a far more demanding challenge. Each boasts its own arsenal of unique ‘mon to engage in combat against. There are three in total: Cliff, Arlo, and Sierra, the latter of which this guide is dedicated to, detailing her current lineup and the best counters to use to secure victory.

Sierra Pokemon Go lineup (April 2025)

Sierra has long been a thorn in the side of players as a Team Go Rocket Leader, and that’s no different in April, where she’ll always send out Shadow Skorupi first, followed by two of six potential ‘mon. Here’s her current lineup in Pokemon Go:

• Phase 1: Shadow Skorupi
• Phase 2: Shadow Ninetales/ Shadow Ferrothorn / Shadow Milotic
• Phase 3: Shadow Houndoom / Shadow Nidoqueen / Shadow Drapion

As is the case with all of Team Rocket’s members and Giovanni, Sierra’s lineup changes during Team Rocket takeover events, like the most recent Fashion Week 2025: Taken Over.

However, with the Might and Mastery season kicking off on March 4, 2025, and no future Takeovers having been announced just yet, Sierra’s current lineup is correct as of April 1, 2025.

How to beat Sierra in Pokemon Go

To defeat Sierra in Pokemon Go, you’ll need to utilize a variety of different types to counter her. We’ve featured a mix of stronger Legendaries and more common alternatives, so there should be something here to meet every Trainer’s needs — and all of them are solid choices.

Let’s look at the weaknesses of all the Pokemon that Sierra could choose to send out during your battle and which counters should be used to beat her.

Sierra Pokemon Go counters phase 1

Skorupi counters

Skorupi is a Poison/Bug-type Pokemon, making it weak to Fire, Flying, Psychic, and Rock-type moves. It resists Fighting, Bug, and Poison attacks while being especially resistant to Grass.

Here are some of the best counters to defeat Shadow Skorupi:

Shadow Skorupi Counters
	Mega Rayquaza	Air Slash (Fast Move) & Dragon Ascent (Charge Move)
	Mewtwo	Confusion (Fast Move) & Psystrike (Charge Move)
	Mega Charizard Y	Fire Spin (Fast Move) & Blast Burn (Charge Move)
	Mega Blaziken	Fire Spin (Fast Move) & Blast Burn (Charge Move)
	Rhyperior	Smack Down (Fast Move) & Rock Wrecker (Charge Move)
	Metagross	Zen Headbutt (Fast Move) & Psychic (Charge Move)

Sierra Pokemon Go counters phase 2

Ninetales counters

Ninetales is a pure Fire-type Pokemon, which means it’s weak against Ground, Rock, and Water-type attacks, and resistant to Bug, Fairy, Fire, Grass, Ice, and Steel-type moves.

Here are some of the best Shadow Ninetales counters you can use:

Shadow Ninetales Counters
	Primal Kyogre	Waterfall (Fast Move) & Origin Pulse (Charge Move)
	Primal Groudon	Mud Shot (Fast Move) & Precipice Blades (Charge Move)
	Mega Garchomp	Mud Shot (Fast Move) & Earth Power (Charge Move)
	Mega Swampert	Water Gun (Fast Move) & Hydro Cannon (Charge Move)
	Rhyperior	Mud-Slap (Fast Move) & Rock Wrecker (Charge Move)
	Rampardos	Smack Down (Fast Move) & Rock Slide (Charge Move)Ferrothorn counters

Ferrothorn counters

Ferrothorn is a Grass/Steel-type Pokemon, which makes it weak against Fighting and Fire-type attacks. It’s resistant to Dragon, Grass, Electric, Fairy, Normal, Poison, Psychic, Rock, Steel, and Water-type moves.

Here are some of the best counters to use against Shadow Ferrothorn:

Shadow Ferrothorn Counters
	Mega Blaziken	Fire Spin (Fast Move) & Blast Burn (Charged Move)
	Mega Charizard Y	Fire Spin (Fast Move) & Blast Burn (Charge Move)
	Heatran	Fire Spin (Fast Move) & Magma Storm (Charged Move)
	Reshiram	Fire Fang (Fast Move) & Fusion Flare (Charged Move)
	Mega Charizard X	Fire Spin (Fast Move) & Blast Burn (Charged Move)
	Shadow Chandelure	Fire Spin (Fast Move) & Overheat (Charged Move)

Milotic counters

Milotic is a Water-type Pokemon, which means it’s weak to Electric and Grass-type attacks and resistant to Steel, Fire, Water, and Ice-type moves.

Here are some of the best Shadow Milotic counters you can use:

Shadow Milotic Counters
	Mega Sceptile	Fury Cutter (Fast Move) & Frenzy Plant (Charge Move)
	Kartana	Razor Leaf (Fast Move) & Leaf Blade (Charge Move)
	Raikou	Thunder Shock (Fast Move) & Wild Charge (Charge Move)
	Xurkitree	Thunder Shock (Fast Move) & Discharge (Charge Move)
	Electivire	Thunder Shock (Fast Move) & Wild Charge (Charge Move)
	Magnezone	Spark (Fast Move) & Wild Charge (Charge Move)

Sierra Pokemon Go counters phase 3

Houndoom counters

Houndoom is a dual Dark/Fire-type which means it’s weak against Fighting, Ground, Rock, and Water-type attacks. It’s resistant to Dark, Fire, Ghost, Grass, Ice, Psychic, and Steel-type moves.

These are some of the top counters for Shadow Houndoom:

Shadow Houndoom Counters
	Primal Kyogre	Waterfall (Fast Move) & Origin Pulse (Charge Move)
	Primal Groudon	Mud Shot (Fast Move) & Precipice Blades (Charge Move)
	Mega Lucario	Force Palm (Fast Move) & Aura Sphere (Charge Move)
	Rampardos	Smack Down (Fast Move) & Rock Slide (Charge Move)
	Terrakion	Double Kick (Fast Move) & Sacred Sword (Charge Move)
	Rhyperior	Mud-Slap (Fast Move) & Rock Wrecker (Charge Move)

Nidoqueen counters

Nidoqueen is a dual Poison/Ground-type Pokemon, which means it’s weak against Ground, Ice, Psychic, and Water-type attacks, and it’s resistant to Electric, Poison, Bug, Fairy, Fighting, and Rock-type moves.  

Here are some of the best counters to defeat Shadow Nidoqueen:

Shadow Nidoqueen Counters
	Mewtwo	Psycho Cut (Fast Move) & Psystrike (Charge Move)
	Primal Kyogre	Waterfall (Fast Move) & Origin Pulse (Charge Move)
	Primal Groudon	Mud Shot (Fast Move) & Precipice Blades (Charge Move)
	Mega Swampert	Water Gun (Fast Move) & Hydro Cannon (Charge Move)
	Mamoswine	Mud-Slap (Fast Move) & Avalanche (Charge Move)
	Excadrill	Mud-Slap (Fast Move) & Scorching Sands (Charge Move)

Drapion counters

Drapion is a dual Poison/Dark-type Pokemon, which means it’s weak to Ground-type attacks. It’s also resistant to Dark, Ghost, Grass, Poison, and Psychic-type moves.

Here are some of the best Shadow Drapion counters for your team:

Shadow Drapion Counters
	Primal Groudon	Mud Shot (Fast Move) & Precipice Blades (Charge Move)
	Mega Garchomp	Mud Shot (Fast Move) & Earth Power (Charge Move)
	Excadrill	Mud-Slap (Fast Move) & Scorching Sands (Charge Move)
	Rhyperior	Mud-Slap (Fast Move) & Earthquake (Charge Move)
	Mega Swampert	Mud Shot (Fast Move) & Earthquake (Charge Move)
	Mamoswine	Mud-Slap (Fast Move) & High Horsepower (Charge Move)

Best team to beat Sierra in Pokemon Go

One of the best teams you can use when battling Sierra in Pokemon Go consists of Charizard Y, Raikou, and Primal Groudon.

• The most important part of your team here is a Fire-type Pokemon like Charizard Y or Mega Blaziken, which is a helpful counter to Skorupi and Ferrothorn.
• The fastest way to take down Milotic is with an Electric Pokemon, so go with Raikou or Xurkitree.
• The rest of the team is weak to Ground types such as Primal Groudon or Mega Garchomp.
  • If you don’t have the required Mega or Primal Energy, go with their regular forms.

Overall, our best advice is to take in your strongest Pokemon to have a chance of winning through sheer force. Even if you lose, you’ll be able to understand Sierra’s lineup to plan a better team using the counters in this guide.

Every Sierra Shadow Boss ranked by difficulty

Team Go Rocket first appeared in Pokemon Go back in 2019, and since then, their teams have had plenty of lineups to challenge Trainers. Unlike the Grunts, the Team Go Rocket Leaders – Arlo, Cliff, and Sierra – can be quite tough to beat, mainly due to their final Shadow Pokemon used in phase three.

After analyzing Sierra’s team over the years, along with her final Pokemon’s stats, bulk, moveset, and other factors, here’s how tough to beat she’s been so far:

How to find Sierra

The only way to track down Sierra is to beat six Team Go Rocket Grunts and earn all six parts of the Mysterious Component. Once you have the six parts of the device, they’ll combine to assemble a Rocket Radar.

With a Rocket Radar active, when you encounter Team Go Rocket members either at Poke Stops or by clicking on a Team Go Rocket Balloon, you will encounter either Sierra, Cliff, or Arlo.

Keep tapping on these encounters until you see Sierra’s avatar. Then you can battle and defeat Sierra to earn yourself a Shadow Skorupi.

How to beat Team Go Rocket Leaders in Pokemon Go

As well as Sierra, you’ll need to go head to head with the other Team Go Rocket Leaders, so check out our guides to beat Arlo, defeat Cliff, and finally, take down Giovanni.

That’s everything you need to properly defeat Sierra in Pokemon Go. For additional help, make sure to check out how to play Pokemon Go, the Spotlight Hour schedule, events schedule, and which Pokemon are the current Raid bosses.