A Team GO Rocket Grunt (Japanese: GOロケット団のしたっぱGO Team Rocket Underling) is a type of Pokémon Trainer introduced in Pokémon GO. They are underlings of Team GO Rocket. They invade PokéStops, use hot air balloons, and battle using Shadow Pokémon to defend their claims.
Defeating a Team GO Rocket Grunt in a Trainer Battle rewards the player with 500. The Grunt will flee the scene and leave behind one of the Shadow Pokémon used in battle, which can then be captured during the bonus challenge. Since November 5, 2019, starting in selected locations, a defeated Team GO Rocket Grunt will also leave behind a Mysterious Component needed to assemble a Rocket Radar, if the player does not already have a Rocket Radar on hand. Since March 22, 2023, a Team GO Rocket Grunt will also leave behind one Shadow Shard if the player has less than ten Purified Gems on hand.
When using a Super Rocket Radar, Decoy Grunts may be found disguised as Giovanni. Upon interacting with the PokéStop, they will reveal themselves to be Grunts and challenge the player to battle.
With the introduction of Shadow Raids on March 22, 2023, Team GO Rocket Grunts can be found at Gyms, commanding one- and three-star Shadow Raid Bosses.
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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 at 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. The odds of each Grunt appearing and which Pokémon they use are not uniformly distributed. Team GO Rocket Grunts will also never use Protect Shields.
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. Although Grunts usually abandon the first Pokémon used, some have an approximately 15% chance of abandoning the second instead. For Grunts that may abandon either the first or second Shadow Pokémon, the bonus challenge encounter is random for every player; for instance, if two players defeat a Team GO Rocket Grunt at the same PokéStop invasion, whose team consisted of Houndour, Houndoom, and Arcanine, one player may encounter Houndour while the other encounters Houndoom.
The following lists the possible Pokémon that may be used by each Team GO Rocket Grunt since March 27, 2024. Green-colored cells denote the pools of Pokémon that may be encountered during the bonus challenge; indicates a 1 in 256 chance being Shiny.
One of the introductory lines for the Decoy Grunt may be a reference to Super Mario Bros., and Toad's infamous line, “Thank you, Mario! But our princess is in another castle!”.
500. The Grunt will flee the scene and leave behind one of the Shadow Pokémon used in battle, which can then be captured during the bonus challenge. Since November 5, 2019, starting in selected locations, a defeated Team GO Rocket Grunt will also leave behind a Mysterious Component needed to assemble a Rocket Radar, if the player does not already have a Rocket Radar on hand. Since March 22, 2023, a Team GO Rocket Grunt will also leave behind one Shadow Shard if the player has less than ten Purified Gems on hand.
indicates a 1 in 256 chance being Shiny.
Team GO Rocket 
