While "Pokemon GO" players have to collect beasts and catch them all, they also have to do gym battles which might need some tricks to master. Here's a beginners' guide to gyms, battles and win!
"Pokemon GO" tips on gyms
The gyms are battle arenas and users have to reach level 5 to enter the gym. The purpose is to take over a space by fighting other Pokemon. Once you win, you can conquer it and defend it when the others try to attack.
"Pokemon GO" tips to pick a team
Once you are on level 5 and you make the first entrance to a gym, you will be asked to choose an ally. You will notice there are three colors; yellow is Team Instinct, red is Team Valor and blue is Team Mystic. No worry since you will also be explained the differences. There is also Grey gym, an unclaimed space, which would be hard to find these days, US Gamers wrote.
Tap the gym you choose and see if there is any available space. Once you pick your team, it will be your group for the rest of the game. It will also determine which gym you can battle. One thing to note, consider picking a team based on the gym location nearby so you won't need to go far to join.
"Pokemon GO" tips to take over gyms
You will win the battle if you can reduce the gym's prestige to zero. There is a leader in the gym which when losing the battle, will have low prestige. You might need to defeat them all. However, you can also team up with the other players to attack the gym.
If one friendly gym is full, you can improve the prestige by sending Pokemon to train. You can gain your points and the prestige of the gym. This way, more slots are open for you to join.
When trying to take over a gym, you will need strong trainer and Pokemon that's ready to battle. For instance, power up your Pokemon to improve the stats. To power up requires Candy and Stardust and you can collect them all by capturing them. Or sending back Pokemon with low Combat Points to Professor Willow and exchange it for Candy.
The element types also have important role in a gym battle and you might not know which will be useful at times. Thus, try to evolve different element types, Catholic Online reported.
For instance, fire melts the ice and water removes the fire. Players should consider this element when trying to size up the competition. One thing to note, always have variety elements of fighters so that you can have better chance to win.
When you take over the gyms, you will earn 100 XP for every battle you win. It might be small compared to what you can get when catching Pokemon but this earns you Pokecoins. You can collect the coins every 21 hours and spend them on lures and upgrades.
"Pokemon GO" tips to defend a gym
If you manage to conquer the gym, you can put Pokemon as defenders up to 10 of them. You may get tempted to put all the strongest monsters but you should keep in mind that you also need some of some of them to attack other gyms.
"Pokemon GO" tips to increase the chance of winning gym battles
There are two scores you need to pay attention: Health Points (HP) and Combat Power (CP). Obviously, the higher your CP, the stronger your Pokemon. On the other hand, HP will tell you the scale of damage it can take. Pokemon with higher Individual Values (IV) will become stronger than any other with lower IV. It makes a huge difference by the time your Pokemon is evolved.
As a trainer, dodging twice to start is said to avoid a hit or two. Thus, it's necessary to choose the moves. And since you will never play against another trainer directly, and the AI takes over, it will become more predictable.
Last but not least, always make sure to have a decent WiFi connection or 4G since the battles rely on gestures. You need to make sure there is no delay or lagging.
