How to beat Sierra in Pokemon Go – Best counters (July 2020)
NianticSierra has returned to Pokemon Go and she’s causing trainers more problems than ever. But we have all the info on how to finally beat the Team GO Rocket leader.
Similar to Giovanni in Pokemon Go, and other Team Rocket leaders, Sierra uses an array of Pokemon. How difficult she is to beat largely depends on her given selection.
Sierra will appear randomly at PokeStops and in hot air balloons when you have a Rocket Radar equipped. As most trainers will know you’ll need to defeat five Team GO Rocket Grunts in order to get one of the devices.
Defeat Sierra
The first Pokemon Sierra selects will depend on if you’re battling her at a PokeStop or the hot air balloon. The former will result in Beldum being selected first and the latter Lapras.
Interestingly the popular Kanto ‘mon can be selected twice – her first and second choices. On paper, Lapras may not appear too much of a threat but you’ll soon find that not to be true.
To clarify Beldum or Lapras can be her first choice. This is followed by either Lapras (potentially twice in a row), Exeggutor or Sharpedo. Finally, her third choice will be Shiftry, Houndoom or Alakazam.
Beldum
Firstly though, let’s take a look at Beldum. This is the Pokemon you want to come up against, as it is far easier to defeat than Lapras.
Not only is Beldum relatively weak and east to defeat, but it’s also an excellent opportunity to set yourself up for Sierra’s trickier foes. Beldum may be a dual psychic and steel-type but it only has access to normal-type moves.
This makes a ghost-type Pokemon the perfect choice here as you won’t need to worry too much about damage taken. Of course, dark and fire-types are also ideal, but a ghost Pokemon will allow you to easily bait her Protect Shields – which is very important.
Altered Forme Giratina is the perfect option here. Its typing will prevent excessive damage, it has an excellent ghost-type Fast Move in Shadow Claw, and has the quick charging Dragon Claw. Yes, Dragon Claw will be ineffective but we’re using it to remove the Protect Shields so its dragon typing is irrelevant here.
Also, Scizor utilizing Fury Cutter and X-Scissor can also be used in a similar vein.
BulbapediaLapras
This is where things get awkward. Lapras is strong – really strong. It may not have astounding stats but with such a high CP and top-level stamina, you can see why this Pokemon is currently so troublesome.
Dealing with the dual ice and water-type is only made more difficult by its weaknesses. It is weak to electric, fighting, grass, and rock.
So, Torterra and Venusaur must be good counters to Lapras, right? Wrong. They are weak against ice-type attacks and Torterra actually receives 256% damage from them. These two can be used if Lapras is using Water Gun as opposed to Frost Breath, though.
So what about Golem and Rhyperior? Same problem – ice attacks will destroy them both.
That brings us to electric – the perfect foil for Lapras. The likes of Zekrom, Zapdos, Electivire and Jolteon are either weak to ice or too weak in general. That leaves us with Magnezone which is the best electric counter to use.
Melmetal is also a great choice due to its typing (steel) and moveset. It will resist ice attacks and remains indifferent to the preferred water attacks. The Hex Nut Pokemon only has Thunder Shock as a Fast Move which is ideal and also has Thunderbolt and Rock Slide as some its Charge Moves.
Other good counters include Dialga because of its typing and general strength – especially if using Thunder. Lucario will also get rid of Lapras, but you’ll do well to avoid taking a lot of damage.
Exeggutor
If you chose Scizor to defeat Beldum, this is where it will pay dividends. You may even have an X-Scissor or two saved up, too.
Exeggutor is doubly weak to bug attacks which means Scizor will easily defeat it. Fire-types will also beat Exeggutor which is another carryover from the potential Beldum encounter.
Unfortunately, the crossover between Lapras and Exeggutor isn’t as good. The Coconut Pokemon is resistant to electric, fighting, and grass-type attacks.
However, it does have a host of weaknesses including dark, flying, ghost, ice, and poison. This naturally leaves plenty of counters. Instead of specifically preparing or Exeggutor it becomes a question of which of its counters will leave you best equipped for Beldum/Lapras and Sierra’s third choice.
Sharpedo
Fortunately, Scizor aligns well with Sharpedo, too. It is neutral to Sharpedo’s dark and water attacks but providing you have the bug-type attacks attached to Scizor (you should) then it’s another ideal match up.
One thing to note though is that Scizor isn’t the bulkiest of species and Sharpedo has great attack stats. This means despite the type advantage Sharpedo will deal a lot of damage.
Other counters for the Shark Pokemon are Lucario and Machamp – their fighting typing obviously sets them up well. Elsewhere, electric types such as Raikou and Zapdos will also work.
The options don’t stop there either as fairy-type attacks are also effective. Togekiss is the front runner in this respect but Clefable will work as well. The latter is a little weak in comparison to the CP of the Pokemon Sierra uses – so make sure you note that!
BulbapediaShiftry
Now we move on to Sierra’s third choice. First up is Shiftry, the dual dark and grass-type.
It is doubly weak to bug-types – yet another Pokemon in Sierra’s arsenal that is! At this point Scizor is almost becoming a must-have.
Other bug-types should also be considered as they are clearly stacking up well against these choices. Scizor is readily available for a lot of trainers but alternatives include Volcarona and Yanmega.
The seemingly impervious Togekiss works well again here, also. Shiftry’s grass typing also leaves it weak to fire which overlaps nicely with the Beldum encounter.
Houndoom
Being a fire-type (and dark), Houndoom has an obvious weakness in water. However, this isn’t the best route to go purely due to covering Sierra’s other Pokemon.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a great amount of crossover between Houndoom and the other selections. Fighting types are one of them but you’ll do well to find one strong enough to be able to beat two different Pokemon.
Nevertheless, going with a fighting-type such as Lucario and Machamp (who else) is probably the best bet. Rock-types such as Rhyperior and even Terrakion can be used too. Houndoom may be one of those species you have to hope to beat by brute force rather than having a dedicated counter.
Alakazam
The iconic psychic-type Pokemon will use a psychic-type Fast Move. This obviously makes preparing for it a lot easier.
A dark-type Pokemon matches up best as it only receives 51% damage from either Confusion or Psycho Cut. You should be wary of Alakazam using Focus Blast, however, as this super powerful move will one-hit you. That means it is wise to have a Protect Shield spare just in case.
Darkrai is the first counter that comes to mind. There is also Tyranitar which is also fantastic against psychic-type moves. The dual dark and rock-type also works well against Houndoom but can be susceptible to Shiftry’s grass attacks.
Lapras is seemingly the hardest part of the Sierra equation. Beyond that, having Scizor (or another bug-type) will give you a big advantage.
Mix this with a combination of fighting, fire, and rock and Sierra should be sent packing.