Before getting to the head honcho, Giovanni, trainers will have to go through three Team GO Rocket Leaders in Pokémon GO. One of those Leaders, Arlo, is a former Team Valor member who now spends his days working with Shadow Pokémon.
Like Cliff and Sierra, Arlo uses a dynamic line-up of Shadow Pokémon. As a result, all three of them can be difficult to prepare for. Nevertheless, here’s an overview of all of the weaknesses and counters to keep in mind before challenging Arlo in Pokémon GO.
The Vengeful Aristocrat
Sly and manipulative.
Once a member of Team Valor, he mysteriously left to join Team GO Rocket and now contributes to their Shadow Pokémon program.
What caused him to leave? And what does Team GO Rocket give him that Team Valor couldn’t? pic.twitter.com/YN1BMCfwFr— Pokémon GO (@PokemonGoApp) November 8, 2019
Arlo’s line-up
Arlo will always use three Shadow Pokémon whenever you face him in Pokémon GO. While his first Pokémon doesn’t change, there are three Pokémon that could potentially appear in each of his last two slots. As a result, there are seven total Pokémon you need to be prepared to fight any time you face him, even though only three of them will show up in any given battle.
Furthermore, none of these Pokémon have predetermined movesets, meaning you’ll have to play around every move in each Pokémon’s movepool.
His lead will always be a Nidoran♂. This Pokémon can learn either Peck or Poison Sting as its Fast Attack. Meanwhile, its Charged Attack could be Horn Attack, Body Slam, Sludge Bomb or Frustration.
Here’s an overview of the remaining Pokémon that Arlo may use and what attacks they can learn:
- Second slot
- Crobat
- Fast – Air Slash or Bite
- Charged – Shadow Ball, Air Cutter, Sludge Bomb, Poison Fang, Cross Poison or Frustration
- Steelix
- Fast – Iron Tail, Dragon Tail or Thunder Fang
- Charged – Earthquake, Heavy Slam, Crunch, Psychic Fangs or Frustration
- Cradily
- Fast – Acid, Infestation or Bullet Seed
- Charged – Grass Knot, Bulldoze, Stone Edge or Frustration
- Crobat
- Third slot
- Charizard
- Fast – Fire Spin or Air Slash
- Charged – Fire Blast, Dragon Claw, Overheat or Frustration
- Scizor
- Fast – Bullet Punch or Fury Cutter
- Charged – X-Scissor, Iron Head, Night Slash or Frustration
- Armaldo
- Fast – Fury Cutter or Struggle Bug
- Charged – Cross Poison, Water Pulse, Rock Blast or Frustration
- Charizard
Pokémon GO Leader Arlo counters and weaknesses
The strongest lead against Arlo in Pokémon GO is the Legendary Pokémon Shadow Rider Calyrex. This Calyrex form can rack up massive damage against Arlo’s Nidoran♂ with Confusion as its Fast Attack. In addition, it can hit all of Arlo’s potential team members for neutral damage with Shadow Ball as its Charged Attack, making it usable in the late game as well.
However, keep in mind that Arlo could deal doubly super effective damage to Shadow Rider Calyrex if he has a Crobat with Bite and/or Shadow Ball, a Steelix with Crunch or a Scizor with Night Slash.
It’s also worth noting that Arlo has access to two Protect Shields and will always use them against your first two Charged Attacks of the battle. As a result, it’s helpful to try to build up your first two Charged Attacks and get rid of them as quickly as possible so that you can begin to actually hit him with powerful moves.
Therian Forme Landorus has the best match-up spread against the Pokémon that can appear in Arlo’s second slot. In addition, it is a powerful Legendary Pokémon in its own right, making it the ideal pick for your second team member. Landorus should run Extrasensory as its Fast Attack to hit Crobat for super effective damage and Earthquake as its Charged Attack to hit Steelix for super effective damage.
While this Landorus can’t hit the Cradily for super effective damage, it is a strong enough Pokémon to outpace it with neutral Earthquakes. Considering the great type coverage available among Arlo’s second round of Pokémon, Landorus stands out as one of the few Pokémon that none of Crobat, Steelix or Cradily can hit for super effective damage.
Finally, Gastrodon is the best pick for your third team member when you face Arlo in Pokémon GO. Gastrodon is only weak to Grass, while none of Charizard, Scizor or Armaldo can learn a Grass-type move. Meanwhile, Gastrodon can use Hidden Power Fire as its Fast Attack, which counters Scizor. It can also use Water Pulse as its Charged Attack in order to counter Charizard and Armaldo.
Related: Learn how to defeat Giovanni in Pokemon GO on Dot Esports.
