Pokémon GO’s Team GO Rocket events have always followed a familiar rhythm, but Niantic just changed the rules without giving players much of a heads-up. Giovanni, the Team GO Rocket boss and the only path to this season’s Legendary Shadow Pokémon, no longer shows up in Rocket Balloons, and the fallout from that decision is growing fast.
What changed, and what you can actually do about it, here is the full breakdown.
- Event: Flying Taxi: Taken Over
- Event Dates: June 25 to June 29, 2026
- Shadow Legendary: Shadow Reshiram
- Giovanni Location: PokéStops only (Rocket Balloons excluded)
What Exactly Did Niantic Change?
During the Flying Taxi: Taken Over event, which kicked off on June 25, 2026, Niantic quietly introduced a significant change to how players can encounter Giovanni. As the official event description confirms, Giovanni “can now only be found at PokéStops.” That means Rocket Balloons, which previously served as a reliable and accessible way to battle the Team GO Rocket boss, no longer spawn him, even when you have a Super Rocket Radar equipped.
The change appeared in the official event page, but many players felt it was not highlighted prominently enough before the event launched, and countless trainers only discovered it after spending hours searching balloon encounters without success.
Why Rocket Balloons Were Important in Gameplay?
Rocket Balloons have been a cornerstone of Team GO Rocket events precisely because they reach players that PokéStops cannot. Rural trainers, players dealing with extreme weather, night-shift workers, parents who cannot leave the house after dark, and anyone with mobility limitations all relied on balloon encounters to engage with Giovanni during Taken Over events.
The balloons also offered one major practical advantage that PokéStops do not: availability after 9 pm. PokéStop-based Rocket Grunt encounters shut down at 9 pm, and Leader and Giovanni encounters at PokéStops stop at 10 pm. Rocket Balloons, however, ran around the clock, making them the only realistic option for players whose schedules push their gaming hours into the evening or early morning.
Worth noting: Team GO Rocket does still appear more frequently at PokéStops and in balloons during this event. However, that only applies to Grunts and Leaders. If you want to encounter Leaders in balloons specifically, you need to unequip your Super Rocket Radar first. Running both a standard Rocket Radar and a Super Rocket Radar simultaneously can cause balloons to bug out and only spawn Grunts.
How to Still Find Giovanni in Pokémon GO
With Rocket Balloons no longer an option for Giovanni, here is how you locate him under the new system.
- Collect 6 Mysterious Components by defeating Team GO Rocket Grunts to craft a Rocket Radar
- Progress through the GO Pass: Flying Taxi: Taken Over research tasks to earn a Super Rocket Radar
- Equip the Super Rocket Radar from your Item Bag
- Head to nearby PokéStops, and the Super Rocket Radar will highlight potential hideouts
- Approach each flagged PokéStop carefully, as the radar displays both decoy Grunts disguised as Giovanni and his actual hideout
- When you identify the real hideout, tap Giovanni to battle him
- You can rematch if you lose. Your Super Rocket Radar is only consumed when you win
Note that Giovanni is not available at PokéStops between 10 pm and 6 am local time, so plan your hunting window accordingly. Many players are also reporting very low Giovanni spawn rates at PokéStops, particularly in rural and suburban areas, so be prepared to cover significant ground before finding him.
Giovanni’s Current Lineup (June 2026)
| Slot | Pokémon | Type |
| Slot 1 | Shadow Persian | Normal |
| Slot 2 | Shadow Rhyperior / Shadow Machamp / Shadow Kangaskhan | Rock-Ground / Fighting / Normal |
| Slot 3 | Shadow Reshiram | Dragon-Fire |
Best Counters for Giovanni
| Giovanni’s Pokémon | Top Counters | Recommended Moves |
| Shadow Persian | Lucario, Machamp, Terrakion | Force Palm, Aura Sphere / Karate Chop, Cross Chop |
| Shadow Rhyperior | Swampert, Kyogre, Poliwrath | Mud Shot + Hydro Cannon / Waterfall + Origin Pulse |
| Shadow Machamp | Rayquaza, Mewtwo, Tapu Lele | Air Slash + Dragon Ascent / Psycho Cut + Psystrike |
| Shadow Kangaskhan | Lucario, Conkeldurr, Terrakion | Force Palm + Aura Sphere / Counter + Dynamic Punch |
| Shadow Reshiram | Origin Palkia, Eternatus, Garchomp | Dragon Tail + Spacial Rend / Dragon Tail + Dynamax Cannon |
One of the most efficient teams you can bring into this fight is Lucario, Poliwrath, and Swampert. Lucario handles Persian and Kangaskhan in Slot 1 and 2, Poliwrath covers Rhyperior with Water and Fighting coverage, and Swampert provides solid counter options for both Rhyperior and Reshiram. However, if Giovanni sends out Machamp in Slot 2, pivot to Mewtwo or Rayquaza to cover that type gap cleanly.
Be cautious when using Dragon-types against Shadow Reshiram, as it can carry Dragon Breath and Draco Meteor, which punishes Dragon-type counters hard. In that case, Rhyperior with Mud-Slap and Rock Wrecker is your safest bet.
Rewards for Defeating Giovanni
| Reward | Amount |
| Stardust | 5,000 |
| Random item bundles (Max Potions or Max Revives) | 3 bundles of 4 each |
| Shadow Reshiram encounter | 1 (with Shiny chance) |
Giovanni does not drop Strange Eggs. That reward only applies to the three Team GO Rocket Leaders: Arlo, Cliff, and Sierra.
Why Are Players So Frustrated?
The community reaction has been swift and largely negative. A viral thread on the r/pokemongo subreddit, which has gathered over 3,100 upvotes, captures exactly why this change stings for so many players. Rural trainers report driving for over five hours across multiple densely packed PokéStop areas without a single Giovanni spawn. Players in suburban Chicago report passing more than 50 stops without a sighting. Night workers and parents note that the 10pm PokéStop cutoff makes Giovanni functionally inaccessible on weekdays. Players in Europe dealing with the current heat dome are stuck choosing between braving the daytime heat or missing the 10 pm cutoff entirely.
Niantic has not given an official explanation for removing Giovanni from balloons. However, the balloon encounters were reportedly buggy, with players triggering a Giovanni encounter in a balloon only for connectivity issues to end the battle prematurely. Removing balloons may have been a bug fix of sorts, but the execution has introduced a worse problem: Giovanni’s PokéStop spawn rate appears low enough that even urban players with hundreds of stops nearby are struggling to find him consistently.
The event runs until Monday, June 29, 2026, and GO Pass rewards remain claimable until Wednesday, July 1, 2026, at 7:59 pm local time. Whether Niantic addresses the spawn rate before the event ends remains to be seen. Whether Giovanni ever returns to Rocket Balloons going forward is an even bigger open question, and one that the Pokémon GO community clearly cares about deeply.
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