Pokémon Go: Gyms and Fighting
As with any Pokémon game, Pokémon Go revolves around catching, training, and fighting Pokémon—and fighting is the basically the reason for the first two steps. However, Pokémon Go handles fighting differently than the other Pokémon games, and it can be hard to get used to the way things work. Here is how to win more gym fights in Pokémon Go.
If you’re not sure what a gym is, it is the glowing pedestal with lights shining down. You have to be at least a Level 5 to fight. You can usually see them pretty easily on the map and often near lots of PokéStops and real-life meeting places.
Teams and Gyms
If your team owns the gym (blue, red, or yellow), you can choose any one of your Pokémon to fight and rais ethe gyms prestige points. Prestige points at a gym affect how many Pokémon monsters can be stationed at a particular gym. If by fighting you raise the gym’s level, you can station one of your Pokémon there. The more Pokémon you have at gyms, the more bonus points you can collect daily. I fought a few times and won, bringing our team’s gym from a Level 2 to a Level 4.
If you don’t own a gym, you want to fight to take over a gym. When this occurs, you go into battle with 6 Pokémon monsters. By default, it is your 6 strongest Pokémon monsters, and you battle against however many other Pokémon are stationed at that gym. If you defeat the Pokémon, you lower the gym’s prestige points lowering how many Pokémon can be stationed there. If you bring the Prestige Point back to zero, the gym is neutral and not owned my any team and you can station your Pokémon there and claim it.
Combat Power
A Pokémon’s strength is determined by its CP or “Combat Power.” In general, a Pokémon with a higher CP will be able to defeat a Pokémon with a lower CP, so you’ll want to pay attention to the CP stat of the Pokémon at a gym before you go into battle.
Fighting: Dodging and Attacking in Pokémon Go Gyms
There are two basic things you can do in a fight. You can dodge, by swiping left or right, and you can attack by tapping the screen. When you use your normal attack, you will notice some blue lines filling up below your health. When a bar is full, you can use a special attack by tapping and holding on the screen.
You should always remember that different Pokémon types work differently against each other. Water is strong against fire but weak against electricity, and so on. Some of it is common sense, but some of it is less obvious.
Also, know that Pokémon may have different types of attack than what their type is. For example, Growlithe is classified as a fire-type Pokémon, but his main attack is Bite, which is classified as Dark. So Growlithe is vulnerable to Water, but will only do damage to Fire-type Pokémon when using his special attack, flamethrower. His normal attack is strong against Flying- and Rock-typePokémon. You can bring six Pokémon to a gym fight, so make sure they are balanced and you know them well. Read about the various type of rare Pokémon monsters here.
Now, back to dodging. Dodging is not very good right now. It’s sticky and hard to use. Maybe Niantic will fix it sometime. What it does is allow you to swipe left or right, and you can actually avoid a lot of attacks this way.
The best way to improve your dodging skills would be to just go and fight at friendly gyms until you get the hang of it. If you can get good enough at dodging, it’s possible to win without taking a single hit.
Check out my Pokémon Go Spawn Guide and how to catch Pokémon.
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[…] There are several options for choosing a starter Pokémon monster. The professor will offer you a choice to pick a Charmander (fire type), Bulbasaur (grass type), or Squirtle (water type). Choose wisely as depending on which Pokémon you choose, it will work as a type advantage against certain other types of Pokémon later in the game when you are battling Gyms. […]