How to find and beat Sierra in Pokémon Go (February 2025)

When facing off against Team Rocket in Pokémon Go, one of the team leaders, Sierra, is a challenging encounter. She will put your Pokémon to the test, and you’ll want to bring your best choices with you to defeat her.

Like the other team leaders you can face, Sierra has a unique series of Pokémon under her command she uses during your fight. You’ll want to bring your best Pokémon to defeat her, but it helps to know what she will use. You can prepare for this using the best team you can make in Pokémon Go, so long as you properly prepare and arrange your setup—especially if you’re preparing to take on the Team Rocket boss, Giovanni.

How to find Team Rocket Leader Sierra in Pokémon Go

You won’t be able to track down Sierra immediately. You have to focus on taking down the other Team Rocket Grunts you can find at any captured Poké Stop, or when they appear in the Team Rocket Balloon. After you defeat at least six Team Rocket Grunts, they should each drop a Mysterious Component. Once you have all six, they combine into a Rocket Radar, and you can use it to find Sierra’s hideout. There’s a chance she will spawn, or the other two Team Rocket leaders in Pokémon may appear, Arlo or Cliff.

After you find Sierra, it’s time to challenge her to a fight. She always uses a primary starting Pokémon, but the two she has will be different, and you should expect to swap out your preferred Pokémon Go team to defeat her.

All Sierra Pokémon counters in Pokémon Go

How to beat Sierra’s first Pokémon

The first Pokémon Sierra will use against you is Skorupi, a Poison and Bug-type Pokémon weak against Fire, Flying, Psychic, and Rock-type moves. As you might expect for this battle, it should be the easiest of the three other Pokémon Sierra uses against you. You’ll want to eliminate Skorupi quickly to move on to the next stage, and your preferred Fire, Flying, or Psychic-type Pokémon should make short work of this fight, such as Salamence, Blaziken, Charizard, Gallade, Mewtwo, Metagross, or Moltres.

How to beat Sierra’s second Pokémon

In the second battle, Sierra uses one of three choices against you. These are the three possible Pokémon Sierra can use against you in Pokémon Go.

When taking on Sierra’s second Pokémon, it can be challenging to know what Pokémon to use. These three have different weaknesses, and narrowing down your choices depends on what you plan to do to prepare for this fight. If you used Fire-type Pokémon against Skorupi, it can likely be used against Ferrothorn. However, you want to remove this Pokémon if it is Ninetales or Milotic, as these are Fire and Water-type, and Milotic can make short work of many Fire-type Pokémon. You’ll want to stick to using a Fighting-type against Ferrothorn. Even though Fire or Ground might be better as Milotic is super effective against these Pokémon.

The best Pokémon you should consider using for any of these choices are Excadrill, Mewtwo, Garchomp, Lucario, Conkeldurr, Marshadow, Terrakion, Kartana, Xukitree, or Zekrom.

How to beat Sierra’s third Pokémon

Sierra’s final Pokémon is not guaranteed, but it will be the toughest encounter for this battle. These are the three Pokémon that Sierra can use against you in Pokémon Go.

Based on the potential choices for this encounter, it’s tough to choose a solid Pokémon. Thankfully, it’s an easier choice than the previous encounter, and thankfully, these Pokémon all share a similar weakness: Ground-type attacks Your best choice is to use a sturdier Pokémon that can withstand these Pokémon’s brutal moves. You’ll be able to exploit the Ground-type weakness of any option from Sierra, making her second choice the more challenging encounter.

The best Pokémon counters against Sierra’s third Pokémon are Groudon, Garchomp, Excadrill, Landorus, Mamoswine, Swampert, Rhyperior, or Hippowdon.

You can catch Sierra’s first Pokémon, Skorupi, after defeating her in Pokémon Go. If you’re lucky, there’s a chance the Ralts you catch could be a Shiny version of the Pokémon.