Simpleton’s Guide to Gym Battles

USER GUIDE | Submitted by LarianI’m a 50 year old Pokémon Go player, so I am definitely not the target demographic. When Pokémon came out, I was already an adult and only got tangentially exposed to it through my daughter. So that means I know virtually nothing about Pokémon in general, and who is good against what. I’ve had to learn this by reading guides and experimentation.

So when you go to a gym, the game automatically presents you with a team to take into battle or training. While the game tries to assign Pokémon to your team that will be useful, it isn’t always that good. Before stepping into battle, make sure to scout out the gym. Look over all the Pokémon in the gym, and see if any of them will present a particular problem to you. If you need some help, this web page has a nice circular graphic to help you keep in mind what type is good against what type.

Of course, the attack type and Pokémon type aren’t the only factors. Sometimes having a really good CP, high HP, or a spectacular charged attack can make up for something being less than ideal for a battle. So when you build your team, keep those things in mind, and try to balance your team with a few different types. If you need to take a precedence into account, and keep it as simple as possible, go for CP value, then Charged Attack. Then consider HP for staying power. This way you don’t have to memorize all the myriad of tables on that other web page. Also, some weakness and strengths are intuitive (Fire weak against water, plants weak against fire, etc.) so keep that in mind.When you are putting things into your team for battle, try to put them in the order you will most likely use them in battle. It sort of sucks to have a plant creature in the first slot, and the first battle is against a fire creature and it puts a big hurt on you right away. And then don’t be afraid to change Pokémon throughout the battle. It does take a little time and lowers your immediate DPS, but if you are able to optimize, then it will pay off.

The thing you also want to concentrate on is the “best moveset with Same Type Attack Bonus (STAB)”. If you get a Pokémon with good IV, and the best moveset, those are the ones you’ll want to spend your stardust and candies on to level up to take into battle. As many have pointed out, Pokémon such as Dragonite, Snorlax, Rhydon, Gyrados, Vaporeon, Lapras, Golem, Exeggutor, Flareon, and Machamp are good in overall abilities of dealing damage, and hanging in during a fight.

If you are low on supplies for revive but have potions, one technique I have used is to keep fighting until I am near red HP, then switch Pokémon and continue the battle, doing that until I am through my team, and then run away. This way you can still train a gym or try to reduce an enemy gym prestige without having to burn that one supply (sorry, you’ll still use potions, but I have found those to be more common as a reward from pokestops).

So here is how this old Pokémon Go “dad” goes about his gym battles. I am a big fan of the K.I.S.S. philosophy, and that helps me at least help my team.