How to get a Rocket Radar and Super Rocket Radar in Pokémon Go

For the past few years, Team Go Rocket has made a habit of staking claim on various areas of the real world through their nefarious actions within Pokémon Go. From manipulating Pokémon to transforming PokéStops, players continue to fight the organization’s schemes daily.

Leading the orders of Team Go Rocket, however, are the bosses: Arlo, Sierra, and Cliff. These three order the grunts around and are the reason that Team Go Rocket can be found nearly everywhere—including in the skies in their hot air balloons. To take down these foes, players will first need to construct a Rocket Radar, then travel to their designated locations.

Yet even above the bosses is the leader of the organization, Giovanni, who players may remember from his prevalence in the Kanto, Johto, and Alola regions. But unlike his subordinates, he can not easily be located nor defeated, requiring the special Super Rocket Radar to even get a chance to know where he’s hiding.

How to get a Rocket Radar and Super Rocket Radar in Pokémon Go

To construct these mysterious devices, players will need to take down a handful of Team Go Rocket grunts, many of whom can be found near PokéStops that have turned black with a Team Go Rocket logo above them. Otherwise, grunts will appear on a regular basis above the player’s current location in a hot air balloon.

Defeating these grunts will reward players with a Mysterious Component, the key to creating a Rocket Radar. After players accumulate six Mysterious Components, it will automatically transform into a Rocket Radar that players can choose to equip immediately or from their inventories. Using the item from the map while equipped will show the locations of the nearby Team Go Rocket bosses and enable players to fight them—then it will break after successfully defeating the boss.

Should players not want to grind Team Go Rocket grunts for Mysterious Components, a complete Rocket Radar can be purchased via the in-game shop for 200 PokéCoins. Players can have multiple Rocket Radars in their inventories, but only one can be used at a time.

The true leader of Team Go Rocket, Giovanni, won’t be drawn out by a simple Rocket Radar, though. You will instead need to obtain a Super Rocket Radar by completing Special Research related to GO Rocket and Shadow Legendary Pokémon. Once you collect the item, you can weed out the decoys that will spawn and battle the real mastermind behind the operation. 

These Special Research tasks are normally tied to Team Go Rocket events held at various points of the year. With each event, the Shadow Legendary Pokémon that Giovanni uses changes, though Super Rocket Radars do not expire, so players should keep track of which powerful Pokémon Giovanni has in his possession at that time.