Giovanni Comes to Pokemon Go With a New Legendary Shadow Pokemon

The notorious Team Rocket leader Giovanni has come to Pokemon Go. Earlier today, Pokemon Go launched the next wave of Team Rocket content, which features new characters and a chance to capture a Legendary Shadow Pokemon. In order to face Giovanni, players will need to complete the Looming in the Shadows special research quest, which was added to the game today. Once completed, players can unlock a "Super Radar" that will reveal the location of Giovanni, who is using Shadow versions of the Legendary Birds Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres.

In order to face Giovanni, players will need to collect Mysterious Components by defeating Team Rocket Grunts at PokeStops and use them to Assemble Rocket Radars. These Rocket Radars will reveal the location of one of three Team Rocket Leaders - the new characters Cliff, Sierra, and Arlo. By defeating the Team Rocket Leaders, they can eventually face off against Giovanni, although several Team Rocket Grunts are also serving as body doubles to distract players. Currently, Giovanni is using a Shadow Articuno, which can be captured once he's defeated, although the other Legendary Birds will appear soon.

The new content continues Team Rocket's invasion of Pokemon Go that started earlier this year. The game initially featured Team Rocket Grunts taking over PokeStops and leaving behind Shadow Pokemon, Pokemon with artificially lowered stats and glowing red eyes. Players can "purify" these Pokemon to boost their stats and give them access to a special Charged Move. Pokemon Go teased the arrival of Team Rocket's leaders earlier this month with a series of blogposts that detailed early interactions between the leaders and Professor Willow.

We'll have more details about Team Rocket's new plans in Pokemon Go as they become available.