The Ultimate Breakdown Guide To Playing Pokemon GO

Pokémon GO has been launched in Singapore for more then a week now, and though it’s super fun to try to catch em’ all, you must have realized that there’s more to the game.

If your focus is still on leveling up and catching Pokémons, get tips by reading Part 1 of our Playing Pokémon GO More Effectively.

In this article, we will focus more on Gyms and Battles, where the real fun begins!

Joining a team

You will be able to join a team when you reach level 5 in the game. First, look out for a Gym and tap on it. On doing so, the Professor will introduce you to the following 3 teams which you will need to select one to join.

Which team do I choose?

If you are playing Pokémon GO individually, it doesn’t really matter actually. You can just join the same team as the first gym you chance upon. But if you often play groups with your friends, there are advantages if you join the same group. We’ll share more on this later on.

Choosing your Pokémon for battle

Instead of just choosing the top 6 Pokémon with the highest CP, analyze your opponent’s Pokémon and decide which Pokémon to field. For example, water-type Pokémon has the advantage against fire and ground Pokémons but are not as strong when facing electric- and grass-type Pokémons. Check out this Article by Primagames for a better idea.

Battling in a Gym

When battling a gym that is level 4 and below, chances of you winning are very high as you can pit 6 Pokémons against the 4 Pokémons defending the gym.

Every time you win a battle, you’ll earn XP and the opposing gym will start to lose prestige points. To fully defeat an opposing team in a gym, you’ll need to keep winning battles and bring down its prestige points to ZERO. This is when you can start to take over the gym

Cashing In

An incentive to keep you going back to gyms is that you can earn Poké coins, and there are 3 ways you can take over a gym:
1. Defeat an opposing team and take over the gym
2. Take up an open slot in a gym that is occupied by the same team
3. Occupy an empty gym.

Upon taking over the gym, you’ll be able to proceed to the Shop to collect 10 Poké coins and subsequently, if you can hold the gym for another 21 hours, you’ll get another 10 Poké coins. But don’t keep your hopes too high if you are defending a gym that is level 4 and below.

Defending a Gym

Taking over a gym is easy, and the real challenge is defending the gym. The gym starts from Level 1 and with every level it increases, an additional slot will open up for another Pokémon to come in and defend the gym together. To mount a successful gym defense, is it important that you place Pokémons with strong defence qualities. Check out this chart by Pikasaur to see which Pokémon has the strongest defence.

Training in a Gym

When you approach a gym of the same team, you can pit one of your Pokémon to train against the existing Pokémons in the gym. Every time a battle is fought, the gym increases its prestige points.

As mentioned earlier, there are advantages of playing in groups of the same team. This is very evident when you are training together. As each trainer can only place ONE Pokémon in a gym, the benefits of playing in groups and joining the same team allow you and your buddies to each place a Pokémon in the same gym and subsequently increasing the chances of a mounting a successful gym defense. A gym with good defence would ideally consist of 6 Pokémons and above with good defence qualities.