Team Go Rocket Balloons Guide

Team Go Rocket Balloons Guide

Rocket Balloons are like Pokéstops taken over by Team Go Rocket members, except the balloons come to you. Trainers have a chance to battle Grunts, Leaders, Jessie and James, or the Boss Giovani. Winning a battle during the encounter gives you the chance to catch a shadow Pokémon. The encounters are not random.

When do they appear?

The Team Go Rocket balloons appear 4 times a day, once per time window during the following 6-hour intervals:

12:00am – 6:00am

6:00am – 12:00pm

12:00pm – 6:00pm

6:00pm – 12:00am

The Grunts

Grunts are the most common of the Team Go Rocket encounters. The grunts will not use their shields to protect against a charged attack.

After beating a grunt in battle, you will receive a Mysterious Component. After beating 6 grunts you will have enough Mysterious Components that will turn into a Rocket Radar. If you do not equip the Rocket Radar, you will continue to encounter the Grunts and you will not continue to receive Mysterious Components.

The Leaders

When the Rocket Radar is equipped, Leaders will appear. There are 3 leaders you have a chance of encountering. The leaders are Arlo, Cliff, and Sierra. The Leaders will not hold onto their shields and will use them immediately when facing a charged attack. Using a charged attack that is ready to be unleashed fast can be a great aspect to include in your strategy when faces the leaders.

Jessie and James

Jessie and James are wildcards in terms of when they appear. They appear more frequently during special events but there are times when the appear when nothing too special is happening.

When the Meowth balloon appears, trainers have the chance to battle both Jessie and James.

Jessie and James will not use their shields, like grunts. After defeating Jessie, you will have a chance to catch the first Pokémon she uses. After the Jessie shadow Pokémon encounter, you will have a chance to use items before battling James. After beating James, you will encounter his first used shadow Pokémon.

The Boss, Giovanni

Giovanni comes out for special events. To have a chance of battling the boss, you must complete the required Special Research challenges which includes defeating all 3 Team Go Rocket Leaders. When all 3 leaders are defeated, you will earn a Super Rocket Radar. The Super Rocket Radar will need to be equipped to encounter Giovanni.

What Happens if the Balloon is not Engaged?

If there is no interaction with the balloon within 20 minutes of it spawning, the balloon will disappear. The balloon will not respawn until the next 6-hour window.

Sometimes this can be circumvented by clearing the Pokémon Go game cache. By going into the app’s settings and clearing the cache, the login information necessary to access your account will need to be reentered to get back into the game however since the there was no interaction with the balloon it may reappear.