Pokemon Go Team Rocket Update Adds Leaders & Giovanni; New Trailer Shows Them in Action

Pokemon Go has a new update today and it’s the one we’ve been waiting for — Team Rocket leaders Cliff, Sierra, and Arlo are finally in the game and can be encountered out in the wild along with their dastardly Shadow Pokemon. More importantly, the nefarious ringleader Giovanni is also out there, and Trainers are now tasked with finding and defeating him.

But locating Team Rocket leaders won’t be simple; Team Rocket is using special technology to keep their hideout locations invisible. Thankfully, Professor Willow, Spark, Blanche, and Candela have a counter to help us spotlight their whereabouts.

Here’s how it works:

1. Open up your Special Research: Looming in the Shadows — By helping Professor Willow, you can track down the villainous Team Rocket Leaders and even Giovanni himself.
2. Find Mysterious Components — Team Rocket Grunts may drop Mysterious Components.
3. Assemble Rocket Radars — The leaders are concealing their locations at Pokestops. By assembling six Mysterious Components, you can create a Rocket Radar. Use the Radar to scan the area around you for the hideouts of Team Rocket Leaders.
4. Battle the Team Go Rocket Leaders — Approach the hideouts that you locate with your Rocket Radar, and have your best Pokemon battle parties ready. Defeat the Team Rocket Leaders, and rescue their Shadow Pokémon, which have special qualities. Only those with Rocket Radars will be able to detect hideouts and battle Team Rocket Leaders. But Trainers can still collaborate—if one Trainer detects a hideout at a particular Pokestop, others can detect the same hideout in the same place.
5. Complete Special Research to battle Giovanni — By battling Team Rocket Grunts, defeating Team Rocket Leaders, and proving you’re an accomplished Trainer, you’ll be able to complete research to receive a Super Rocket Radar from Professor Willow. The Super Rocket Radar will help you locate Giovanni, But watch out—some Grunts have figured out what we’re up to. They may pretend to be Giovanni and get in your way. Defeating Giovanni may offer an opportunity to rescue a Legendary Shadow Pokemon.

You can read the full back story about Professor Willow’s discovered in the Willow Report.

Below are some screenshots of the new leaders.

Niantic has unveiled a new trailer that showcases the new content, which is embedded below.