Pokemon Go: How to beat the Persian Giovanni uses

Pokemon Go beat Giovanni November 2022

If you’re looking to fight Giovanni for any of the legendaries he uses in Pokemon Go at any stage, you’ll know about his opening act with Persian by now.

While it’s not usually the most threatening member of the teams Giovanni uses, it is the one major constant – and beating it soundly will set you up for a much easier time when you have more resources to use on the hard bits of the battle.

Fighting Giovanni in the first place

Giovanni in Pokemon Go tends to come and go, so both he and his Persian might not always be around to fight with – but don’t worry, they’ll be back soon enough.

He’s usually used as an event boss alongside team rocket goons to allow you to earn Shadow Legendary Pokemon by beating him – but it’s rarely a small task to do so, as his teams are usually quite powerful.

Enter Persian, his typical opener Pokemon and a great weakness to exploit in all his teams.

Beating the Persian Giovanni uses

Pokemon Anime scene showing Giovanni's Persian (pokemon go article)
Giovanni’s Persian in the anime, Credit: Pokemon Fandom Wiki

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What types are effective for fighting it?

This may seem like a silly question for those who are familiar with Persian and its typing, as it’s a normal type. This means that relatively speaking, it’s not that strong a Pokemon and has few type-interactions.

However, Giovanni fields a very strong Persian in Pokemon Go. And due to its lack of type weaknesses, there are very few ways to kill it quickly, as it takes the same amount of damage from almost anything.

The key to solving that puzzle is its singular type weakness.

Super-effective types to prioritise using:
  • Fighting – 160% damage dealt

Yes, Fighting-types. The bane of normal-type Pokemon. It’s a shame for our purposes that it isn’t a double-type weakness that would mean doing a huge amount of damage, but if Persian was a dual-type then it’d have other weaknesses too.

Resisted types to avoid using:
  • Ghost – 39% damage dealt

Meanwhile, only Ghost-type is resisted. It’s definitely a good idea to avoid wasting time with a Ghost-type here though – even if they’re your best Pokemon, the multiplier is simply always too bad to make it worthwhile.

Pokemon Mimikyu
Mimikyu wouldn’t have much luck here, so it’s probably for the best its not available in Pokemon Go right now

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General Battle Strategy versus Persian in Pokemon Go

Giovanni will virtually always lead with Persian – there may be the odd time that Niantic decides he could lead with something else, but as a general rule, expect Persian first in basically every battle with the team GO Rocket leader.

Swap out method

With this in mind, there are two options to respond with. You can do either of these:

  • a) Open with a fighting type yourself immediately to fight Persian
  • or b) place a fighting type in your team and swap to it immediately to fight Persian

The second strategy can be risky, but can also pay off big – Team Rocket Pokemon will always stall and not attack for a brief period when you swap Pokemon.

This can be used to score a few quick hits in and gain an advantage right away, but it does come at the cost of your ability to swap in the near future of the same battle.

And if you have a good fast move and a quick-building charged attack, you can be almost at your first charged attack before Persian even begins to fight back.

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Waste his barriers early

Giovanni is a team GO Rocket Leader, and unlike grunts WILL make use of the barriers to block charged attacks – this means opening with a Pokemon that uses a very slow charged attack is an awful idea.

To this end, consider taking a strong Fighting-type such as Machamp with a Fighting-type fast attack – Counter is good for this – follow this up with any Charged Attack – again, ideally Fighting-type – that can be used in rapid succession.

The Pokemon Machamp as a simple cut out image
The Pokemon Machamp makes for an excellent counter to Persian in Pokemon Go Credit: Bulbapedia

Your goal while fighting Persian should be to beat it without losing a Pokemon and ideally while removing both of Giovanni’s barriers.

To this end, use the first two charges of your charged move immediately after getting them – this has a similar effect to the swap out method earlier, where Persian will temporarily not attack while you are still able to do so – allowing you to score some more cheap hits and free damage.

READ MORE: Pokemon Go: How to earn Coins in 2021

Anything else to know?

If you’re particularly lucky, Giovanni may follow his Persian up with a Kanghaskan, which is another Normal-type, which will also be vulnerable to your Fighting-type Pokemon.

This can set you up for a scenario where Giovanni has only his shadow Legendary left versus most of your team, possibly still with barriers available – in which case you have excellent odds of winning the fight.

In any case, that’s about everything you need to know to beat Giovanni’s Persian, and a bit extra about Pokemon GO battle strategy to give you boost you’ll need to take away his shadow Legendaries, good luck Trainer!

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