How to beat Sierra in Pokémon GO (January 2025)

Team GO Rocket Leader Sierra is one of the three Team GO Rocket bosses in the game. The Rocket bosses are a real challenge in Pokémon GO. You'll need a strong team of the best counters in order to beat Sierra in Pokémon GO. Here's what you need to know to beat Sierra in January 2025.

We've gathered all the information you need about her most recent line-up's, their weaknesses and the best counters you can use to take them down.

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In order to find Sierra in Pokémon GO, or any of the other Team GO Rocket Leaders, you need a special item to help you track them down. That item is the Super Rocket Radar.

You can get a Super Rocket Radar in a few ways:

Once you have a Super Rocket Radar, pressing on it will bring up a map of nearby Team GO Rocket Leader hideouts. Leaders will also appear in Hot Balloons once your Radar is active too.

You cannot see which Leader is in a Stop or Balloon until you click on it. So, to find the Team GO Rocket Leader you want, you might have to check several.

Here is the current line up for Sierra in Pokémon GO as of January 2025. There are three phases.

Pokémon GO reshuffle the Team GO Rocket Leader lineups whenever there is a Team GO Rocket Takeover event in the game. This shuffle just happened as of October 8, so this will be the Sierra line-up for some time.

In order to beat Sierra in Pokémon GO, you'll need to have a Super Rocket Radar, locate Sierra at a PokéStop or a Team GO Rocket Balloon, and defeat their Pokémon.

Shadow Pokémon do a lot of damage, and Sierra's Pokémon are a lot higher CP than normal Pokémon. You'll need a finely tuned team of strong counters in order to take Sierra down.

In addition, Sierra can have a range of Pokémon, with a different set every time you fight her. Ideally, you want Pokémon that can cover multiple potential Pokémon in Sierra's lineup. Here are all the Pokémon you might face and the best counters to take them on.

For the first Pokémon, this will always be the same Pokémon no matter how many times you take on Sierra. This is also the Pokémon that you will encounter after the battle, with a 1/256 chance of being shiny.

Skorupi is a Poison and Bug-type Pokémon. That gives it a weakness to Fire, Flying Psychic and Rock-type attacks. Here are the best Shadow Skorupi counters in Pokémon GO:

The Shadow Skorupi 100% IV Hundo CP is 227 CP or 403 CP when weather boosted.

Shadow Ferrothorn is a Grass and Steel-type Pokémon. That gives it a double weakness to Fire-type attacks and a weakness to Fighting-type attacks. Here are the best Shadow Ferrothorn counters in Pokémon GO:

Shadow Milotic is a Water-type Pokémon. That gives it a weakness to Electric and Grass-type attacks. Here are the best Shadow Milotic counters in Pokémon GO:

Shadow Ninetails is a Fire-type Pokémon. That gives it a weakness to Water, Ground and Rock-type attacks. Here are the best Shadow Ninetails counters in Pokémon GO:

Shadow Drapion is a Dark and Poison-type Pokémon. That gives it a weakness to Ground-type attacks. Here are the best Shadow Drapion counters in Pokémon GO:

Shadow Nidoqueen is a Poison and Ground-type Pokémon. This makes it weak to Ground, Ice, Psychic and Water-type moves. Here are the best Shadow Nidoqueen counters in Pokémon GO:

Shadow Houndoom is a Dark and Fire-type Pokémon. That gives it a weakness to Fighting, Ground, Rock and Water-type attacks. Here are the best Shadow Houndoom counters in Pokémon GO:

With so many different Pokémon to prepare for, and lots of different combinations it can be hard to find an ideal catch all team. You want to start your battle with a broad team that covers as many of Sierra's potential Pokémon as possible in Pokémon GO.

Right now, a lot of Sierra's team have a weakness to either Fire or Ground-type moves. That makes it easier to build a team that can cover all of her Pokémon. However, the beauty of taking on Sierra in Pokémon GO is that if you lose, you can keep your Super Rocket Radar or battle Sierra again. Then, you can adjust your team.

Here is the best initial team to use when fighting Sierra in Pokémon GO:

Groudon will be an absolute must-have to take down Sierra in January 2025. So many of her Pokémon have a Ground-type weakness. Kartana is there to cover purely Milotic, as the only Pokémon without a Fire or Ground-type weakness in the entire lineup.

This should cover most of the Pokémon that Sierra can throw at you in Pokémon GO at the moment. Stay tuned to esports.gg for the latest esports news and more Pokémon GO guides.