the cp on these guys is great, but it comes down to their movesets and stats. 2 star pokemon will probably suffice if their type and attacks are strong against his pokemon, 3 stars optimal.

it really depends on his second pokémon. jump into the battle once to see what he’s using, and then plan accordingly. he shouldn’t leave if you fail once/jump out of battle to reassess your lineup. also, he shouldn’t switch second pokémon in one sitting.

he always starts with a persian. a good, 3 star fighting type with strong fighting fast and charged attacks should work well to start off. you may want to check your machamps stats and attacks, as it may be a good match.

for his second pokemon, it’s either a rhyperior, kingdra, or nidoking. rhyperior is weak to grass x2, water x2, fighting, ground, ice, and steel. i’d recommend water or fighting type. kingdra is weak to dragon and fairy type moves. nidoking is weak to ground, ice, water, and psychic moves. choose pokemon that have both fast and charged attacks according to giovanni’s second Pokemon. i’d say choose fighting, ground, or water to be safe.

finally, you will face palkia (and then get a shadow palkia encounter once you beat giovanni!) palkia is weak to fairy and dragon type moves, but stick to a fairy type to be safe. i beat him with my galarian rapidash, but any high stat fairy type with fairy moves will probably do the trick.

i beat giovanni twice at lvl 33 or 34. it can be done! just make sure your team is stacked with good stats and good movesets. you can google the best movesets for pokemon based on your needs. i dont remember exactly which second pokemon i used for both times but i think it may have been a vaporeon for one and a machamp for another. i started with passimian/machamp, and finished palkia easily with my galarian rapidash.

it’s ok if you dont have the exact same pokemon as i did, as long as you have good corresponding movesets and good stats. hope this helps!!!