Psychic-type Male Grunt
Team GO Rocket grunt with a psychic-type lineup. Phrases below tell you it's a psychic fight — match the quote, see the lineup, pick your counter.
When you tap a Rocket balloon (or come across a takeover PokéStop) and hear one of these phrases, you're in a psychic-type fight — bring the counter listed further down.
“Are you scared of psychics that use unseen power?”
One mons per slot — Niantic rotates the exact pick, but every option shown is in the current pool. ★ marks the mons you can actually catch after winning.
Psychic-type Male Grunt
Dark OR Ghost — both SE on Psychic.
Team GO Rocket: counters, phrases, leader lineups
Rocket fights have two layers: identifying the matchup before it loads (phrase for grunts, fixed lineup for leaders), then picking counters from your collection that handle the candidate pool. The decoder + lineup tool on this page covers both, with live data pulled from LeekDuck every six hours.
Grunt phrase decoder
Tap the phrase the grunt shouted, see the specialty type, get counter recommendations. Phrases map 1:1 to types — there's no overlap, so a single correct tap fully identifies the matchup. The decoder lists every known phrase (~80 lines as of this season) plus the rotation date.
Leader lineups: per-slot strategy
Each leader fight has three slots. Slot 1 is fixed — Cliff opens Snorlax every time, so you can pre-load a Fighting counter without thinking. Slots 2 and 3 rotate within a pool of usually three options, so your counter has to cover all three. Doubly-SE attackers handle this best — Ground vs Sierra slot 3 covers Tyranitar (Rock/Dark), Camerupt (Fire/Ground), and Gallade (Psychic/Fighting) at varying efficiency.
Giovanni and the Shadow Legendary
Giovanni's slot 3 is the high-stakes encounter — a Shadow Legendary that rotates every couple of months. These are best-in-class raid attackers when caught with good IVs. Stockpile Premier Balls by clearing the leader fight with as many mons surviving as possible.
Related
For non-Rocket raid counter ranking by boss, see raid counters. For the underlying type math, the type chart covers all 18 matchups. The shadow & purified guide covers the keep-or-purify decision after a Rocket catch.
FAQ
How does the Team GO Rocket phrase decoder work?
Every grunt shouts a pre-fight line tied to a specific specialty type. "Coming in hot!" means Fire, "Don't tangle with us!" means Grass, etc. The decoder maps every shouted phrase to the matching type so you can prep counters before the fight loads. The list updates whenever Niantic adds or rotates phrases.
What's the slot structure for Cliff, Sierra, Arlo, and Giovanni?
Each leader has three slots. Slot 1 is fixed (Giovanni's Persian, Cliff's Snorlax, etc.). Slots 2 and 3 rotate through a candidate pool — usually three options each. Slot 3 is the encounter mons you can catch after winning, including Shadow Legendaries for Giovanni.
Are Shadow mons in Rocket fights worth catching?
Yes. Shadow mons get a 1.2× attack multiplier in raids — Shadow Mewtwo, Shadow Salamence, Shadow Tyranitar are top-tier raid attackers. The 0.833× defence trade-off doesn't matter for raid roles. Catch the encounter slot, evaluate IVs, decide whether to purify (clean stats) or keep Shadow (better DPS).
How many Premier Balls do I get after beating a leader?
Base 5, plus 1 for each surviving mons in your final squad. Medal bonuses (Hero / Ultra Hero / Legend) add up to 3 more. So a flawless win with a full Hero badge = 12 Premier Balls. Plan your counters for survivability, not just DPS — burning two mons to clear quickly costs you catches.
When do Rocket lineups rotate?
Roughly every 4-6 weeks. The live page pulls from LeekDuck every six hours so when Niantic swaps Cliff's slot 3 from Tyranitar to Camerupt, the change appears here within hours. The phrase decoder updates with the same cadence.