Team Galactic's commanders and their leader, Cyrus, will challenge you multiple times throughout your journey. Here are strategies for their key battles:
Commander Mars
- First Encounter (Valley Windworks): Purugly (Level 18, Normal). Weak to Fighting. It's fast and hits hard.
- Second Encounter (Lake Verity): Purugly (Level 38, Normal), Bronzor (Level 38, Steel/Psychic), Golbat (Level 38, Poison/Flying). Focus on Fighting for Purugly, Fire/Ground for Bronzor, and Electric/Ice/Rock/Psychic for Golbat.
Commander Jupiter
- First Encounter (Eterna City): Skuntank (Level 20, Poison/Dark). Weak to Ground. It has high Special Attack and can be dangerous.
- Second Encounter (Lake Acuity): Skuntank (Level 40, Poison/Dark), Bronzor (Level 40, Steel/Psychic), Golbat (Level 40, Poison/Flying). Similar strategy to Mars's second encounter.
Commander Saturn
- First Encounter (Lake Valor): Toxicroak (Level 40, Poison/Fighting), Bronzor (Level 40, Steel/Psychic), Golbat (Level 40, Poison/Flying). Toxicroak is weak to Psychic, Flying, and Ground.
Cyrus (Team Galactic Leader)
- First Encounter (Mt. Coronet): No battle.
- Second Encounter (Team Galactic HQ): Honchkrow (Level 44, Dark/Flying), Crobat (Level 44, Poison/Flying), Weavile (Level 46, Dark/Ice). Honchkrow is weak to Electric, Ice, Rock, Fairy. Crobat is weak to Electric, Ice, Rock, Psychic. Weavile is weak to Fighting, Fire, Bug, Rock, Steel, Fairy. This is a tough battle; bring diverse attackers.
- Third Encounter (Spear Pillar): Honchkrow (Level 45), Crobat (Level 45), Weavile (Level 47), Gyarados (Level 46, Water/Flying). Gyarados is weak to Electric, Rock. This battle is immediately followed by the Giratina encounter.
Team Galactic often uses Pokémon with good type coverage, so ensure your team is well-rounded. Status conditions like Paralysis or Sleep can be very effective against their stronger Pokémon.