Posted in: Games, Mobile Games, Niantic, Pokémon GO | Tagged: pokemon, pokemon go, shiny pokemon, Team GO Rocket, Team Rocket

James Guide: Counters To Defeat The Team GO Rocket Villain

Currently, the only way to obtain Shiny Shadow Pokémon in Pokémon GO is to defeat one of the three Team GO Rocket Leaders: Sierra, Arlo, and Cliff… or, to battle and beat Jessie and James, who have now been added to the game via the Meowth balloon. In this comprehensive James Battle Guide, Bleeding Cool is here to help trainers take on this iconic Team Rocket villain and hopefully obtain a Shiny Shadow Koffing.

James has three slots of Pokémon, which will currently follow this line-up:

• SLOT ONE: Koffing
• SLOT TWO: Sneasel
• SLOT THREE: Beldum

Here's the team you should have to counter them.

• SLOT ONE: Lucario with Counter and Power-Up Punch, or any Fighting-type Pokémon of your choice
• SLOT TWO: Excadrill with Mud-Slap and Drill Run, or any Ground-type Pokémon of your choice
• SLOT THREE: Reshiram with Fire Fang and Overheat, or any Fire-type Pokémon of your choice

As soon as the battle begins, you're going to switch to your second slot: Excadrill. (We'll explain why you're switching below.) Excadrill will be able to take Koffing out with no problem. Excadrill should do well with James' subsequent Pokémon and may be able to win the whole battle alone, but Lucario is the ideal counter to Sneasel and Reshiram is the ideal counter to Beldum. James is easy to defeat, though, so any of these Pokémon should be able to deal with most of the, if not the entire, team.

Switch as soon as the battle begins

The reason that switching as soon as the battle begins is recommended is because this method freezes up Team GO Rocket Grunts, Leaders, and the Boss for a very valuable beat. This allows a brief moment where you can deal damage and power up Charged attacks without taking any damage. Employ this method as soon as you begin the battle.

Defeating James currently leads to an encounter with Shadow Koffing, which can be Shiny.

Don't miss our Jessie Counters Guide.

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