A Super Rocket Radar is required to encounter Team Go Rocket boss Giovanni in Pokémon Go.
If you have one equipped, when you interact with a Team Go Rocket PokéStop or balloon, there is a chance Giovanni may appear. If you successfully find then beat Giovanni, the Super Rocket Radar will be consumed, meaning you have to find another for the next attempt.
All fairly straightforward, except that Super Rocket Radars are rare items, and are only available during specific Team Go Rocket-themed events, as outlined in his guide for how to get a Super Rocket Radar in Pokémon Go.
How to get a Super Rocket Radar in Pokémon Go
To get a Super Rocket Radar, you have to play during a 'Taken Over' event and get one in the event's Go Pass, where it will be available as a reward in two ranks:
- Rank 1 (Premium)
- Rank 30 (Basic / Free)
This means there are a total of two Super Rocket Radars available - one for free, one paid - and are only available while the event and the associated Go Pass is active.
Each Go Pass event is only around for a week, and though the points you earn to progress through the ranks are capped each day, from the weekend onwards this lifts, allowing you to make up for time if you can only play between Saturday and Monday.
Once the 'Taken Over' event ends, you then have to wait until the next one before a Super Rocket Radar becomes available. Going by past timings, these happen once per season, meaning we can expect one between the start of June and the end of August.
It should be noted there are rare instances where Super Rocket Radars are rewards in paid tickets, such as during 2025's 'Crown Clash: Taken Over' event, but these instances are rare (and possibly no longer happening due to their availability in 'Taken Over' Go Passes).
How did Super Rocket Radars drop previously?
Super Rocket Radars dropping from Go Passes is different to how they used to work. Before April 2026, Super Rocket Radars were a reward in a reoccurring 'Taken Over' Giovanni questline, which would involve encountering Grunts and Leaders as part of its challenges. Towards the end, a Super Rocket Radar would be rewarded, allowing you to then find Giovanni and complete the questline.
Now, the 'Taken Over' Giovanni Special Research is seemingly no more, and Super Rocket Radars are now acquired through a Go Pass when a 'Taken Over' event is active.
Do you need to stack Super Rocket Radars any more?
No - through the Go Pass system, you simply keep them in your inventory until you want to use them.
Previously, to gather more than one Super Rocket Radar, you had to 'stack' Giovanni questlines by not progressing no further past the first page of each when they were added to your Special Quest inventory. Now with no questlines, this is not possible, nor needed. Instead, you can simply collect Super Rocket Radars per 'Taken Over' Go Pass, and hold onto them until you want to use them.
As for the reason why you'd want to hold onto a Super Rocket Radar in the first place, that's to wait until Giovanni's shadow legendary Pokémon - which changes with each 'Taken Over' event - is something you want encounter and catch.
If it's something you aren't interested in, then simply don't use a Super Rocket Radar.
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