Team GO Rocket Leader (Trainer class)

Team GO Rocket Leader GOロケット団リーダー GO Team Rocket Leader
Promotional artwork from Pokémon GO
Other names
Introduced in	Generation VII
Appears in	Pokémon GO
Gender	Both
Counterpart	{{{counterpart}}}
Notable members	Cliff, Sierra, Arlo
Animated debut
TCG debut	[[(TCG)|]]
TCG card	{{{card}}}
Manga debut	{{{manga}}}

A Team GO Rocket Leader (Japanese: GOロケット団リーダー GO Team Rocket Leader) is a type of Pokémon Trainer in Pokémon GO. They are high-ranking members of Team GO Rocket serving under Giovanni. Team GO Rocket Leaders also act as villainous counterparts to Professor Willow's assistants.

Team GO Rocket Leaders can be found at PokéStops designated as Team GO Rocket Hideouts, which can be located using a Rocket Radar. Since July 7, 2020, a random Team GO Rocket Leader can also be encountered from a Team GO Rocket balloon if the player has a Rocket Radar equipped. In battle, unlike Grunts, Leaders will always use their Protect Shield against the player's first two Charged Attacks. Once defeated, the Leader will leave and abandon one of the Shadow Pokémon used.

Since June 10, 2023, Team GO Rocket Leaders may also take over Gyms in five-star Shadow Raids on Saturdays and Sundays, using Shadow Legendary Pokémon.

In past major special events, Team GO Rocket Leaders may temporarily team up with the player as part of that event's storyline and Special Research. A Team GO Rocket Leader will also perform IV appraisals in place of the player's team leader during these events. These events include:

• Pokémon GO Tour: Hoenn – Las Vegas
• Pokémon GO Tour: Sinnoh – Global

Trainer list

Team GO Rocket Leaders use a teams of three Shadow Pokémon in Trainer Battles, each independently and randomly selected from separate pools. During battle, they will always use a Protect Shield whenever possible. Upon being defeated, a Leader will abandon one of the Shadow Pokémon used in battle.

The following lists the possible Pokémon used by Team GO Rocket Leaders since March 13, 2024.

Green-colored cells denote the Pokémon that will be encountered during the bonus challenge.

denote Shadow Pokémon have a 1 in 64 chance of being Shiny in the bonus challenge.

Leader Cliff Team GO Rocket Leader
#1	#2	#3

Leader Sierra Team GO Rocket Leader
#1	#2	#3

Leader Arlo Team GO Rocket Leader
#1	#2	#3

For a historic list of past Pokémon teams used by Team GO Rocket Leaders, see Team GO Rocket Leader (Trainer class)/Pokémon change history.

Rewards

Upon defeating a Team GO Rocket Leader, the player will receive 1,000 and two reward bundles at random; if the player has less than 10 Purified Gems on hand, 3 Shadow Shards will also be rewarded. It is possible for a player to receive two of the same bundles after one battle, except for Strange Eggs, in which the player will always receive one if there is space available. During some in-game events featuring Team GO Rocket, defeating a Leader also rewards one sticker.

Item		Quantity
	Stardust	×1,000
	Shadow Shard	×3
Two of:
	Strange Egg*	×1
	Hyper Potion	×4
	Max Potion	×2
	Revive	×4
	Max Revive	×2
	Unova Stone	×1
Event only:
		×1*

Appearance

Cliff's icon from Pokémon GO	Sierra's icon from Pokémon GO	Arlo's icon from Pokémon GO

In other languages

Language Title Mandarin Chinese GO火箭隊幹部 French Chef de la Team GO Rocket German Team GO Rocket-Boss Hindi टीम GO रॉकेट लीडर Team GO Rocket Leader Italian Leader del Team GO Rocket Korean GO로켓단 리더 Brazilian Portuguese Líder da Equipe GO Rocket Spanish Líder del Team GO Rocket

This Trainer Class article is part of Project CharacterDex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each character found in the Pokémon games.