How to use the new Gym Battle system

Greetings trainers!

Update (Dec. 4th 2016): Gym prestige has been re-worked. Again. But for the better! The Prestige earned for battles has been restored (max per Pokemon is 1000 again), and the prestige earned for knocking down enemy gyms is 1000 per Pokemon, plus 1000 for defeating the whole gym.

Niantic unveiled a new Gym-battling update that totally re-worked the friendly Gym battles. For better or worse, this new system is here to stay. My opinion on the system is mixed, but more on that below. For now, how can you take advantage of the new system to put yourself in friendly gyms!?

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Table of Contents

• How to earn prestige
• How to maximize prestige per battle
• Some useful Pokemon for prestige-earning
• Thoughts on the new gym battle system
• Ramblings

How to earn prestige

So you've found yourself a friendly Gym, but it's taking ages to level up and you only get ~200 prestige per Pokemon anyways. Fear not! Gym battles have some basic mechanics you can take advantage of. Some things to keep in mind:

• If the Pokemon with the highest CP in your party has a higher CP than the Defending Pokemon, you will earn 255 prestige minus a multiplier down to a minimum of 100 prestige.
• If the Pokemon with the highest CP in your party has a lower CP than the Defending Pokemon, you will earn 500 prestige plus a multiplier up to a maximum of 1000 prestige.

• The new battle mechanics will level down any Defending Pokemon to match your level (+2). So the Combat Power of the later Pokemon may be reduced from the overview.
• To get the most out of each battle, you should try to beat every Defending Pokemon with an team that's about half their Combat Power.

If you're curious how the Gym combat mechanics, there's a great in-depth guide written up on gamepress.

How to maximize prestige per battle

Featured Pokemon: Venusaur and Victreebel

I like how Venusaur's name implies
a Venus fly trap, but Victreebel is the
pitcher plant (aka fly trapper).

Greetings trainers!

Today we'll be looking at the best two Grass/Poison types in the game. With the swag of a starter, Venusaur is the envy of many trainers, and because of Pokemon GO mechanics, it's probably the best of the three starters for Gym defence. Victreebel is on the opposite end of the spectrum, boasting a massive attack stat and middling Defence and Stamina; that said, it's also a good defender! However, what unites these two is their typing and movesets. Venusaur and Victreebel are not only the same Grass/Poison types, but they also have very similar ideal movesets! What are their differences? Find out below:

Recommended movesets

Featured Pokemon: Hypno

I take solace in the fact that Hypnos have no mouths,
cannot eat, and they only live about a week. At
least... mine only live that long... Ah.... nature.

Greetings trainers!

Some areas are blessed (more like cursed) with a crapton of Drowzee. This gives players access to Hypno from very early on. What Hypno is really good for is being a capable battler for its relative CP. A low-CP Hypno can trade neutrally with a lot of Pokemon well, which means players can start attacking gyms with their Hypno early. This unfortunately also means that new players can put weak Hypno in their friendly gyms, which does very little to protect the gym, but a lot to make it difficult to level up. So, what is Hypno good for? Why is it bad? Why is it good?

Recommended movesets

Featured Pokemon: Exeggutor

My Exeggutor is named "Frondly Face."

Greetings trainers!

Eggs? Coconuts? Not sure... But if you're looking for a frondly face, look no further. What you can be sure of is that Exeggutor is one of the best Pokemon currently in the game, and one of the best defenders out there. One of the main reasons for this is because of Vaporeon's overwhelming popularity, but the other is because Exeggutor is a Psychic type. Psychic types are really good in the Generation 1 metagame. Almost nothing takes Psychic moves well except for other Psychic Pokemon. So, what else does Exeggutor have going for it? Well...

Recommended movesets