Pokémon Go Mysterious Components And Rocket Radar Explained

How to use the Rocket Radar in Pokémon Go

To use the Rocket Radar, simply equip it from the Items bag. Once equipped, Team Go Rocket Leaders will spawn – if you don’t want them to spawn, simply navigate back to your bag and unequip the Rocket Radar. It’s also good to know that if you don’t have a Rocket Radar in your bag, you will be able to see the number of Mysterious Components you have in its place.

As you may have noticed from its in-game description (and indeed its name) 'You can use this to track down Team GO Rocket Hideouts!', there is slightly more to this than simply equipping it. While you can walk around and hope for the best or simply wait for your next Balloon – you are guaranteed a Team Go Rocket Leader encounter in a balloon if you have a Rocket Radar equipped – you can also use the Radar as a Radar. Well, kinda...

With the Rocket Radar quipped, return to the map screen and tap its icon in the upper right corner screen. This will bring up an overlay showing you where the nearest Team Go Rocket leader is in Pokémon Go.

When you approach an invaded PokéStop, the Rocket Leader inhabiting will appear on the map, just like a Grunt.

This trick is particularly useful if you don’t fancy fighting that particular Rocket Leader. There’s several reasons why you would want to target a particular Leader, from hunting a specific Shadow Pokémon to trying to complete the research tasks needed to take on Giovanni. Either way, which Leader is at a PokéStop is randomised. It’s also entirely possible that the same Leader will be at two nearby stops, spawning on your screen twice at the same time!

So, if you don’t like what you see, click the Radar icon and look for your next-nearest Team Go Rocket Leader.

Cliff Leader battle (Omanyte, Machamp, Tyranitar) in Pokémon Go Watch on YouTube

Rocket Radars are reusable until a Rocket Leader has been defeated. From there, you can start collecting Mysterious Components again, create another Rocket Radar, and so on.

Good luck hunting down those evil Team Go Rocket leaders!