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

Let's GO's Gym Defender Tier List

Want to jump to a Pokemon? Click on their name here:

Snorlax, Lapras, Dragonite, Exeggutor, Slowbro, Poliwrath, Venusaur, Wigglytuff, Vaporeon, Muk, Hypno, Victreebel, Vileplume, Clefable, Nidoqueen, Dewgong, Gyarados, Arcanine, Omastar, Charizard, Tentacruel, Nidoking, Blastoise, Golduck, Kangaskhan.
Honourable mentions: Rhydon, Golem, and Machamp.

Greetings trainers!

There are a number of sites out there with great quality of analysis tackling this very subject. A lot of that information is wonderful, but not everyone agrees on exactly where each Pokemon should get ranked. One great tier list can be found on pokemongo.gamepress.gg, which has a very strong list of Pokemon, and good justifications for each position. These guys are great, and you should definitely see their site for all sorts of Pokemon GO information.

However, one thing I find lacking from others' ranking systems is the logic of being an attacker vs. a defender. Obviously, very few people would attack into an Arcanine with a grass Pokemon. The folks at gamepress recognizes this, saying: "No grass shall pass." But what makes a good defender, a good defender? Is Arcanine a good defender because "no grass shall pass?" Or do Water types, which are extremely abundant, dampen Arcanine's potential? For instance, Pokemon like Vaporeon and Dragonite are likely to attack Arcanine, and Arcanine has a lot of trouble even denting these capable attackers.

Indeed, I feel that the one thing that is ignored in tier lists like these is the Pokemon's performance against its likely attackers. By taking into account the Pokemon's stats, useful moveset(s), and its performance against its likely attackers, I hope to strike a balance between simply having good stats, and being able to put those good stats to use. Most important to me is: how much relative damage does a defender do to its likely attacker(s)?

If you're interested in gym battle mechanics, you can scroll to the bottom of this page for an explanation of the main points, and any acronyms used.

S-Tier

Featured Moveset: Water Gun + Hydro Pump (aka: Golduck, Omastar, Starmie, Seadra, ... Blastoise, Vaporeon)

This is AWESOMEEEE

Greetings trainers!

Today's article is a bit of a highlight on a very special moveset. Water Gun + Hydro Pump is devestatingly powerful as Water Gun's quick cooldown (allowing you to dodge) and solid damage output make it possibly the best attacking move in the game. Water Gun also gets to hit so many things for neutral or super effective damage. Unlike its siblings Bite and Dragon Breath, Water Gun is often paired with the fantastic move Hydro Pump, which gives Vaporeon any Pokemon with this moveset the ability to really hammer it home against Water-weak Pokemon.

But this article isn't titled "Vaporeon is good" for a reason! There are a number of Pokemon in the game with this fantastic moveset, and the idea behind today's article is to highlight these Pokemon specifically for gym-building purposes. The moveset is fantastic, the only question that remains is who should you use to raise a friendly gym's prestige, and in what situation(s)? That's what we'll be discussing today.

Why should I care about this article? I have a 2000+ CP Vaporeon that wrecks everything.

Featured Pokemon: Poliwrath

Hi. Name's Bubba. S'up?

Greetings trainers!

There's no Pokemon in Pokemon GO that leaves me feeling more bubbly than Poliwrath. It's just so adorabubble! What with its bubbly fists and its bubbly swirls. Did I mention it gets Bubble? Bubble is fantastic. Seriously, Bubble is like... the best quick attack in the game for defenders. It's a full 10 base power stronger than the next strongest quick attack, but Poliwrath is the only fully-evolved Pokemon with access to Bubble's amazing damage output. Like... have you ever faced a Poliwrath with Bubble? That thing'll mess you up.

Recommended movesets