How To Beat Arlo In Pokémon GO (June 2024)

After defeating several Team Rocket Grunts in Pokémon GO, players will eventually face off against Arlo. This boss is significantly harder to defeat than other Team Rocket Grunts and uses Shadow Pokémon. To defeat Arlo the first time around, it’s best to know which Pokémon to expect and each potential Pokémon’s counter.

Arlo has the potential to spawn during Pokéstop invasions. Defeating Team Rocket Grunts will give players Mysterious Components. Once players have gathered six Mysterious Components, one of three random Team Rocket leaders will appear, i.e., Arlo, Cliff, or Sierra. To eventually face Giovanni, you must defeat all three Team Rocket leaders. Arlo will use three total Pokémon but has a pool of seven, from which the mini-boss can draw.

Related How To Get Shiny Elgyem & Shiny Beheeyem In Pokémon GO Shiny pocket monsters in Pokemon GO are extremely hard to get, but Elgyem and its evolution Beheeyem can be found sparkling through a specific event.

Arlo’s Team In Pokémon GO (June 2024)

All Possible Pokémon Waves

Close

Arlo’s Pokémon lineup has not changed for June 2024. The Team Rocket leader’s Pokémon lineups only change every few months, so players who have already faced off against Arlo, Sierra, Cliff, and Giovanni recently should already have a good idea of what to expect.

Arlo’s roster is entirely made up of Shadow Pokémon. If you win the fight, you will have the opportunity to capture one of Arlo’s Shadow Pokémon, which can either be purified or kept as a Shadow Pokémon.

Arlo has seven Pokémon in total but only uses three in the fight. The first Pokémon will always be Cacnea. The second Pokémon players will face will be either Pokémon GO's Charizard, Hypno, or Golurk. The third Pokémon has the chance to be Dragonite, Scizor, or Salamence.

Thankfully, if you are unsure how your team will stack up against Arlo, you can exit the battle and return later with a new team. Below are all of Arlo’s potential Shadow Pokémon, their types, and their weaknesses.

Wave Pokémon Pokémon Type Weakness Counters 1 (Shadow) Canea Grass Bug, Flying, Ice, Poison, Fire Glaceon, Charizard, Blaziken, Entei, Mamoswine. 2 (Shadow) Golurk Ghost, Ground Dark, Ghost, Grass, Water, Ice Blastoise, Mega Sceptile, Swampert, Tyranitar, Mamoswine 2 (Shadow) Charizard Rock, Water, Electric Rock, Water, Electric Blastoise, Swampert, Tyranitar 2 (Shadow) Hypno Ghost, Ground Psychic, Dark, Ghost, Bug Hydreigon, Houndoom, Gengar, Tyranitar, Chandelure 3 (Shadow) Scizor Bug, Steel Fire Charizard, Blaziken, Entei, Reshiram 3 (Shadow) Dragonite Dragon, Flying Dragon, Ice, Rock, Fairy Tyranitar, Kyurem, Galarian Darmanitan, Mamoswine, Baxcalibur 3 (Shadow) Salamence Dragon, Flying Dragon, Rock, Fairy, Ice Baxcalibur, Tyranitar, Mamoswine, Galarian Darmanitan

How To Counter Arlo In Pokémon GO (June 2024)

Best Lineup To Use

Arlo’s roster spans a wide array of Pokémon types, ranging from Grass to Ghost, but several Pokémon are generally useful against Arlo’s entire lineup. Tyranitar is by far the best Pokémon to take on Arlo. This Dark- and Rock-type Pokémon has stood as one of the best Pokémon to take on most Team Rocket members.

Tyranitar directly counters most of Arlo’s Pokémon, including Charizard, Hypno, Golurk, Dragonite, and more. Tyranitar even does well against Pokémon that it doesn’t directly counter, given how few weaknesses Tyranitar has overall.

The other two Pokémon best-suited to take on this fight are Charizard and Pokémon GO's Mamoswine. The later parts of Arlo’s Pokémon roster are fragile against Fire-types, with Charizard quickly ranking among the best Fire-type.

Mamoswine does exceptionally well against the beginning part of Arlo’s team. Mamoswine can make short work on Arlo’s only constant pick, Cacnea while countering Golurk, Dragonite, and Salamence. Overall, a Tyranitar, Charizard, and Mamoswine team will make short work of Arlo, but any Fire- and Ice-type build will likely achieve the same result.

Best Alternative Pokémon To Defeat Arlo (June 2024)

Other Suitable Pokémon

Fire- and Ice-type Pokémon are the best-proven lineup builds to take down Arlo in Pokémon GO, but this certainly isn’t the only possible build. Ghost-type Pokémon, such as Gengar, Gastly, or Sableye, do well against many of Arlo’s Pokémon.

Chandelure, a Ghost- and Fire-type, does exceptionally well when fighting most of Arlo’s possible Pokémon across all waves. Against Cacnea, Hypno, Gorlurk, and Scizor, Chandelure is super effective and easily one of the best Pokémon to pick.

Mewtwo is another incredible alternative Pokémon to pick for this fight. To get Mewtwo, you need to take on a five-star Raid where the Pokémon is the boss for a chance to capture it. Mewtwo is a Psychic Pokémon that counters several of Arlo’s team, but he also uses plenty of Ice-based attacks, which can deal critical damage to many of the Pokémon you are likely to square off against.

Rewards For Defeating Arlo In Pokémon GO (June 2024)

Defeating the three mini-bosses, Cliff, Sierra, and Arlo, gives the player one of the three components necessary to eventually face the final Team Rocket boss, Giovanni. One of the best rewards for defeating Arlo is the chance to capture a Shadow Cacnea. Once you have captured the Shadow Cacnea, you can elect to either purify the Pokémon or keep it in Shadow form. If you want to take down Raid bosses in Pokémon GO, you might want to consider leaving the Pokémon in Shadow form.

Alongside the chance to catch a rare Shadow Pokémon, you can also receive several additional items if you have inventory space. Whenever you defeat Arlo, you can also receive a 12km Red Egg. You can receive Varoom, Salandit, or Pawniard from this egg. Players also have the chance to receive two regular items and up to 1,000 Stardust. Stardust is used to increase stats for the Pokémon of your choice. Overall, defeating Arlo is well worth the effort in Pokémon GO.