How to Beat Giovanni’s Shadow Registeel in Pokemon GO

Tips for fighting a robot

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Taking on Team GO Rocket in Pokémon GO gets you lots of XP and tons of other in-game rewards, but you’ll need to prepare for the big boss’s strategy. Giovanni changes up his roster periodically, but for now, his third pick is a Shadow Registeel. By preparing your team using type-advantages and a couple of other tricks, you can reap your rewards soon enough.

Type Advantages

This Steel-type Pokémon will scale its CP to yours, so while it will always be a challenge, it won’t be a static level of difficulty. As a Steel-type, it does have type-weakness to Fire, Fighting, and Ground-type Pokémon. Lean into this when choosing your champions and attacks.

By utilizing their weakness/your advantage, not just for the Pokémon but for the types of moves used, you can make some headway against the robot. For example, Machamp is a Fighting-type with moves like Cross Chop (Fighting) and Rock Slide (Rock), which are all useful against a Steel-type. Even better is Excadrill, a Ground and Steel-type. Registeel will not be very effective against the Edward Scissorhands-mole, and Excadril can use Mud Shot (Ground), Rock Slide (Rock), and Drill Run (Ground).

Charged Move Advantage

While facing off against the Team GO Rocket members, an interesting thing happens when charged attacks are utilized. Regardless of who uses the attack, you or them, the NPC’s Pokémon seems to pause for a few seconds. By using charged attacks, you add a roughly three-second delay to take advantage of. So take advantage of it! If you’re using Excadrill, the charged move is Earthquake (Ground).

Because Registeel will use a Hyper Beam to attack you, be sure to equip a shield when going into battle. The blast will do a lot of damage if taken directly!

Basically, lean into Type advantages, utilized charged moves, and be ready to block that Hyper Beam. With all of this in mind, you’re ready to take on Giovanni. While you’re leveling up your Pokémon skills, check out the news about Pokémon GO‘s support for Pokémon Scarlet & Violet.

About The Author
Sam Arthurs
Sam joined Destructoid as a Freelance Writer in December 2022. She is a fan of narrative games and creepy Metroidvanias. When she isn't playing or writing about video games, she reads and writes horror stories.
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