Team GO Rocket

Team GO Rocket GO ロケット団 GO Rocket-dan

Promotional artwork from Pokémon GO

Leader Giovanni Region Earth Admins Cliff, Arlo, and Sierra Major targets PokéStops Base locations Unknown

Team GO Rocket (Japanese: GO ロケット団 GO Rocket-dan, literally GO Rocket Gang) is a villainous team in pursuit of evil and the exploitation of Pokémon in Pokémon GO. Their objective is to invade PokéStops for their resources by using Shadow Pokémon in Trainer Battles to defend their claims.

Team GO Rocket invasions initially started on July 22, 2019, lasting for 24 hours before stopping all of a sudden. On July 25, 2019, Team GO Rocket began reappearing at even higher rates with a new Special Research, A Troubling Situation, becoming available.

On July 27, 2019, Team GO Rocket started an all-out invasion of all New York City PokéStops as part of a real-life publicity stunt organized by Niantic with continuous updates on the official Twitter channel. Later on that day, Team GO Rocket seemingly took over Pokémon GO's Twitter, Instagram and YouTube channels. Localized social media in other languages were also vandalized in the same way. Team GO Rocket then began publishing information about their worldwide domination goals and achieving Giovanni's goals. They also started giving visual hints and broadcasting a video countdown setting up for an event on July 28, 2019. On that day, claiming that the invasion in New York was nothing but a decoy, Team GO Rocket started invading every single PokéStops in each timezone from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. local time as well as globally announcing their presence by sending broadcast messages to every Trainer in-game.

On August 1, 2019, after suffering a series of defeats, Team GO Rocket expanded their pool of Shadow Pokémon species. They expanded their roster again on September 5, 2019 to include some more species.

On September 29, 2019, a suspicious folder appeared in Professor Willow's computer, which contained several corrupted files. On October 2, 2019, Professor Willow had managed to recover these corrupted files, which were revealed to be profiles of Team GO Rocket Leaders Cliff, Arlo, and Sierra.

Invaded PokéStops

A PokéStop invaded by a Team GO Rocket Grunt

Occasionally, for players level 8 and above, a PokéStop may be invaded by a Team GO Rocket Grunt attempting to steal its items and resources. From a distance, an invaded PokéStop's cube is frequently rotating and has a dark, shadowy overlay. If within range, the invaded PokéStop turns black with the red "R" logo above it, and a Team GO Rocket Grunt is standing beside it in the overworld. Invaded PokéStops turn back to normal if the Grunt is defeated or 30 minutes has passed since the PokéStop was initially invaded. If a player successfully defeats a Grunt, the affected PokéStop can immediately be spun regardless of how much time has passed since the last spin. If the player's Item Bag is full, a Team GO Rocket Battle can still be triggered, but no items will be received.

Team GO Rocket Battles

Upon interacting with an invaded PokéStop, the Grunt will challenge the player to a Trainer Battle, in which they will use three Shadow Pokémon with highly inflated CP values, which vary increasingly depending on the player's Trainer level. Unlike in other Trainer Battles, the player's Pokémon will not be healed beforehand or afterwards, requiring the use of medicine to restore any lost HP. If the player loses, their team leader will appear and give advice based on type advantages against the Grunt's Pokémon. Team GO Rocket Battles can be repeatedly attempted until either the player is victorious or the PokéStop invasion expires. Each Team GO Rocket Grunt will always send out their Pokémon in the same order and never use Protect Shields.

If the player is victorious, they will be awarded 500, and the Grunt will abandon the PokéStop along with one of their Shadow Pokémon used in battle. Similar to a Raid Battle, there is a bonus challenge afterwards to capture the abandoned Shadow Pokémon using Premier Balls. The number of Premier Balls given is based on the number of Pokémon the player has remaining at the end of the battle and the Hero and Purifier medals, ranging from 3 to potentially 11 Premier Balls.

Quantifier	Premier Balls
Grunt Defeated	+2
Pokémon Remaining	+1 per Pokémon
Hero	None	Bronze	Silver	Gold
	+0	+1	+2	+3
Purifier	None	Bronze	Silver	Gold
	+0	+1	+2	+3

Pokémon

A Grunt's prebattle quote hinting at specializing in Fire-type Pokémon

The possible Shadow Pokémon used by each Team GO Rocket Grunt are based on the Grunt's gender and type specialty, which is hinted by the quote on the prebattle screen. Team GO Rocket Grunts will always send out their Pokémon in the same order, with each of their three Pokémon independently and randomly selected from separate pools.

After a Grunt is defeated, they will abandon one of their Shadow Pokémon used in battle, which can then be captured during the bonus challenge. Only certain Grunts have a 15% chance of abandoning their second Pokémon, while others are guaranteed to always abandon the first. Although the Grunt's Pokémon used in battle are fixed (with CP varying depending on Trainer level), the Shadow Pokémon encountered in the bonus challenge is random. This means that if two players battle the same Team GO Rocket Grunt who uses a team consisting of Rattata, Raticate, and Snorlax, it's possible that one player encounters Rattata during the bonus challenge while the other encounters Raticate.

The following table shows the possible Pokémon that may be used by each Team GO Rocket Grunt since October 17, 2019. Green-colored cells denote the pools of Pokémon that may possibly be encountered during the bonus challenge. For past lists of Pokémon used by Team GO Rocket, see list of Team GO Rocket Pokémon changes.

Quote	Gender	Pokémon
		1	2	3
"Normal does not mean weak."
"This buff physique isn't just for show!"
"Battle against my Flying-type Pokémon!"
"Coiled and ready to strike!"
"You'll be defeated into the ground!"
"Let's rock and roll!"
"Go, my super bug Pokémon!"
"Ke...ke...ke...ke...ke...ke!"
"Do you know how hot Pokémon fire breath can get?"
"These waters are treacherous!"
"Don't tangle with us!"
"Get ready to be shocked!"
"Are you scared of psychics that use unseen power?"
"ROAR! ...How'd that sound?"
"Don't bother—I've already won." "Get ready to be defeated!" "Winning is for winners."

Quotes

Introduction

"Wha— Hey! You’re the Trainer that’s been getting in our way all the time!"

"Hahaha!"

"Wha—?!"

"Intruder alert!"

"Halt! State your purpose for being here!"

"What’d you hope to achieve by coming here?"

"This is as far as you’ll go!"

"Welcome to this PokéStop! So good of you to join me!"

"Intruder spotted!"

"Uh-oh! I found a little troublemaker!"

"Not even a single Rattata is getting past me!"

"Who’s there? Quit listening in on us!"

"What do you want, you pest? Scram!"

"Are you lost? No, you can’t be. You don’t have that scared look."

"No way! Only authorized members are allowed. I was told to let no one else get close."

"What d’you think you’re doing running around here?! We’re Team GO Rocket, don’t you know!"

"Show Team GO Rocket a little respect!"

"We’re pulling a big job here! Get lost!"

"Hey, you! What are you wandering here for?"

"If you get in our way, then you’ll...really be in our way!"

"You snuck into Team GO Rocket’s operation? What nerve!"

"Team GO Rocket has taken control of this PokéStop!"

"We’re Team GO Rocket, and we strike fear into others with our strength!"

"Looking for more items? They’re mine now!"

"Not seeing many items? I’ve been stealing them!"

"Want more items? You’ll have to beat me."

"Stealing items from this PokéStop is fun!"

Before battle

"You’re not going any farther! I don’t show mercy to my enemies!"

"This PokéStop belongs to Team GO Rocket!"

"I’ll give you something to be scared about!"

"We won’t let you ruin our plans to take over PokéStops."

"Pokémon battle? Cool! Rumble!"

"You look gentle, so I think I can beat you. I’ll give it a GO!"

"Feeling lucky, punk? Go ahead, take another step."

"You think you’re a hero?"

"There’s nothing past here except our PokéStop. So what brings you here?"

"I’ll flick you away effortlessly!"

"Boss said he’ll take this PokéStop in the name of Team GO Rocket!"

"You don’t have any business here! Go home!"

"Pokémon are only good for making money. Why not use them? You stay out of our business!"

"Hey, Trainer! C’mon!"

"We’re going to steal all the items and catch all the Pokémon from this PokéStop! You want to stop us? Let’s battle!"

"Nice Pokémon! Hand it over!"

"I'm gonna rough you up!"

"Get lost! I’m bushed!"

"Let me take all the Pokémon and items from this PokéStop! Uh...pretty please?"

Upon victory

"Stop meddling in Team GO Rocket’s affairs, or else!"

"My life as a criminal makes me feel so alive!"

"It sure does feel good to have Pokémon do your evil deeds for you!"

"Keep out of our way!"

"Hahaha, is that all you’ve got?"

"Nailed it!"

"Yeah!"

Upon being defeated

"Argh! You are good!"

"Blast!"

"Gaaah!"

"It’s because of you that Team GO Rocket’s reputation was totally smashed!"

"If you were to join Team GO Rocket, you could become a Team GO Rocket Leader."

"What if the boss hears about this?!"

"Such a dreadful twerp!"

"Don’t fight us GO Rockets!"

"What’re you staring at? Get lost. Either you leave or I’ll make you leave!"

"Boy, that really makes me steam!"

"As always..."

"This is not good... I better tell the boss!"

"What? I lost? No!"

"I can’t do it!"

"Go wherever you like! Get lost! See if I care!"

"*cough cough* It’s only ’cause I’m coming down with a cold!"

"I failed in my duties... I’ll be docked pay for this..."

"I blew it!"

"So you are good..."

"Oww! We got beat bad!"

"This won’t do!"

"Why...?"

"I surrender!"

"Oof! Taken down!"

"No!"

"You’re tough!"

"Not enough grit!"

"I’m stunned!"

"Stop! I give up! I’ll leave quietly!"

"We’ll never be able to face the boss at this rate!"

"Grrr, Team GO Rocket is scarier than you know, and don’t you forget it!"

"Who needs a weak Pokémon like this? It’s all yours!"

"Forget it. Who needs your Pokémon!"

"I hate losing! Get out of my face!"

"I need to catch a few z’s!"

"Manners never get me anywhere."

Appearance

Models from Pokémon GO	Models before battle from Pokémon GO
VS models from Pokémon GO	Icons from Pokémon GO

Trivia

• At the end of the Team GO Rocket promotional video, a silhouette of Giovanni flashes, followed by a quote, "Earth is where I shall unleash my evil schemes next!" The quote is a possible reference to Giovanni's final line in Episode RR from Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, "Now...what new world shall I unleash my evil schemes upon...?"
• Team GO Rocket's appearance in Pokémon GO was first hinted at both Pokémon GO Fest 2019 Chicago and Pokémon GO Fest 2019 Dortmund where Grunts started photobombing on each day of those events after closure time. Those photobombs initiated a Meowth encounter.
• A Team GO Rocket hot air balloon was sighted at Pokémon GO Fest 2019 Dortmund for each day of the event around closure time.
• During Pokémon GO Fest 2019 Yokohama, Giovanni started photobombing on each day of the event after closure time. Each of these photobombs initiated a Meowth encounter.

In other languages

Language Title Chinese Cantonese GO 火箭隊 GO Fójin Déui Mandarin GO 火箭隊 GO Huǒjiàn Duì French Team GO Rocket German Team GO Rocket Italian Team GO Rocket Korean GO로켓단 GO Rocket-dan Brazilian Portuguese Equipe GO Rocket Spanish Team GO Rocket

Videos

English

By Pokémon GO

This video is not available on Bulbapedia; instead, you can watch the video on YouTube here.

References

Villainous teams Core series: Team Rocket • Team Magma • Team Aqua • Team Galactic • Team Plasma Team Flare • Team Skull • Team Rainbow Rocket • Team Yell • Team Star Side series: Team Snagem • Cipher Spin-off games: Team Great Rocket • Phobos Battalion • Go-Rock Squad • Team Dim Sun • Team Debonairs Pokémon Pinchers • Dark Legion • The Rogers • Team GO Rocket • Team Break • Unitas Animation only: Explorers Manga only: Neo Team Rocket (Adventures) • Team Kings (Horizon)