How to defeat Sierra in Pokemon Go (February 2020)

Sierra continues to be extremely tricky to defeat and has once again changed her Pokemon lineup for February 2020. Here’s some strategy on how to defeat Sierra in Pokemon Go.

Alongside Arlo and Cliff, Sierra has been causing havoc in Pokemon Go for a few months now. Battling the Team Rocket leaders is similar to Rocket Grunts, but with a few notable differences. The Team GO Rocket leaders have much higher CP Pokemon and can even use Protect Shields – two things which makes battling them significantly harder.

A further difference between the leaders and Grunts is the variety of Pokemon types at the leader’s disposal. This means you’ll need a varied team of your own.

Here are all of the Pokemon Sierra can use in battle and which species you should counter them with. A lot of these suggestions come from LanAkou, so credit to them.

Sierra

Beldum

Across all the Team GO Rocket leaders, Beldum might be the only ‘freebie’. Its normal type Fast and Charge Moves aren’t particularly strong.

• Read More: How to defeat Cliff in Pokemon Go

You can actually get quite creative here and use Beldum’s relative weakness to burn through Sierra’s Protect Shields. An excellent Pokemon to do this with is Scizor with Fury Cutter and X-Scissor.

Exeggutor

These saved up X-Scissors can be used very effectively against Exeggutor, should Sierra use it. It is doubly weak against bug-types and on paper there aren’t any better than Scizor. Pinsir is an alternative bug-type to use here, though.

Another Pokemon you can use is Heatran as it boasts both bug and fire-type Fast Moves. Escavalier is another choice but only has one bug Fast and Charge Move.

Lapras

Lapras has some of the best stamina stats in Pokemon Go, so it won’t be any pushover. It utilizes ice and water-type moves for the most part, and all of them are at least fairly powerful.

There are a few counter options for the popular Kanto species. It is weak against all of electric, fighting, grass and rock.

• Read More: How to defeat Arlo in Pokemon Go

As a result, the likes of Lucario, Magnezone and Venusaur all come to the forefront. While these species may not match well with a potential Exeggutor encounter, they will against Sierra’s other second Pokemon choice, Sharpedo.

Sharpedo

All of Lapras’ counters also match up well against Sharpedo. Even Scizor – a natural counter to Beldum and Exeggutor – matches well as Sharpedo is weak against bug-type moves.

The ‘Brutal’ Pokemon’s stats may not be as ferocious as its appearance but it still shouldn’t be taken lightly. Its attacking stats are ranked the 57th best in the game.

Alakazam

The Tyranitar you keep in your back pocket should be strong enough to run through Alakazam. It does have strong attacking stats but its stamina means you shouldn’t have too much of a problem with it.

Our Sierra defeating friend Scizor is once again an effective choice here. In comparison to Arlo and Cliff’s third choice Pokemon, it doesn’t get a lot better than Alakazam.

Houndoom

Obviously Scizor won’t be as effective against the fire-type Houndoom. If it uses Fire Fang or Flamethrower then the bug-type Pokemon won’t last long at all.

• Read More: How long does it take to get to Level 40 in Pokemon Go?

Water-types are naturally a good choice here but as they don’t work particularly well against Sierra’s other Pokemon, you’re better off using Tyranitar here. Terrakion is another decent option if you have the Gen 5 legend available.

Shiftry

A dual grass and dark-type Pokemon – which species could possibly effective against it? Scizor, of course. If you hadn’t noticed already Scizor is an absolute must when battling Sierra – it might even be worth having two of them.

Most trainers will have Scizor and Tyranitar among their team. The question is who the final choice should be? We’d go with Lucario, Magnezone or Venusaur just to cover the Lapras possibility.

Sierra is far from easy but, truth be told, she is a lot easier than her Team Rocket leader counterparts, Arlo and Cliff. Perhaps she will receive a buff when their lineups are next changed.