The best counters for Sierra in Pokemon GO (October 2021)

Team GO Rocket is gearing up to battle again in Pokemon GO, and Sierra has a surprisingly threatening team.

Usually, the Team GO Rocket battles aren’t too much to stress over. Some of them lead with really weak Pokemon (Venonat, for example). Sierra, though, has a balanced team with strong options and type coverage. Good preparation will be key to defeating her in October.

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Which Pokemon are good to bring against Sierra?

This month, Sierra will be leading off with Sneasel. The full breakdown of her Pokemon (who will all be in Shadow form) is as follows:

• Sneasel
• Ampharos, Granbull or Gliscor
• Kingdra, Drapion or Houndoom

At first glance, it may seem like leading with a Fighting-type is the way to go here. Sneasel is double-weak to Fighting moves, since it has a Dark and Ice-typing.

There is a pitfall to this strategy though: Granbull. It may not be the most formidable Pokemon, but it packs Charm, which is a threat to any team without a relevant counter. Granbull also has 212 Attack, which is enough to make Charm a dangerous move.

Trainers should lead with a Steel-type. Sneasel is weak to Steel and so is Granbull, so this strategy covers both options.

Any Steel-type Pokemon will do fine, but the preferred option is Excadrill. This Generation V Pokemon could potentially sweep Sierra’s team, as it beats Sneasel, Granbull, Ampharos, Drapion, and possibly Houndoom if it runs a Dark set.

In the event that a trainer doesn’t have Excadrill, then they should probably have Ground-type to complement their Steel-type. Ampharos, Drapion and Houndoom all fall victim to Ground-types.

The Ground and Steel combination covers every threat save two: Gliscor and Kingdra. There really isn’t an easy answer to this combination: Water-types beat Gliscor, but are hard countered by Kingdra.

The best bet here is to bring a strong Ice-type. However, one with weak damage output might lose to Kingdra, who only takes neutral damage from Ice.

To find the strongest Ice-types, trainers can look at the Raid counters to Dragonite, who is double-weak to ice. Several strong attackers can be seen at the top of these rankings, including Galarian Darmanitan, Glaceon and Weavile.

That being said, the best counters to Sierra might be Walrein and Lapras. This is because, both of them being Water-type, they resist Kingdra’s Water moves and can destroy Gliscor.