Let's GO Gym Defender's Tier List - Gen 2

Greetings Trainers!

There's a new mon in town

This article is going to be updated as lower rungs of the tier list solidify, but I think that some Pokemon have made a very definite name for themselves in gyms since the release of Gen 2, and so today I'll be releasing this tier list with the intention of sorting the lower-tiered Pokemon later. For now, I'll just be including ideal movesets, and will work on write-ups for each Pokemon shortly. This article will be updating daily to explain some of the choices. Overall, a greater diversity of Pokemon types are now viable defenders, which is what you'd have hoped given 80 new Pokemon.

For instance, Gyarados massively improved as a defender in the latest update, but only because of new access to Dragon Tail / Crunch or Outrage. All old Gyarados are still middling, but new Gyarados with Dragon Tail make for much better defenders.

Table of Contents

*List last updated March 8th 2017

• Let's GO: Gym Defender's Tier List
• Summary Tier List
• Fast facts you should know
• Honourable Mentions
• Good, but not-yet-tiered

Summary Tier List

Nanab and Pinap, berry cool additions

Greetings trainers!

The release of generation 2 brought with it two new berries: the Pinap berry and Nanab berry. These two have unique effects that should make the catching game a lot more enjoyable. Pinap berries increase the candies you receive upon catches, while Nanab berries make Pokemon slow down and dodge less. These are both useful effects, but exactly how should trainers make the most of these two new effects? For instance, say a Snorlax shows up. Which berry do you use? Razz, to increase the catch chance? Or Pinap, to increase the candy yield? Here are some thoughts, feel free to post yours in the comments!

Pinap Berry (double candy received upon catching)

Gen 2 is live! -This post is updating with new info constantly

Greetings Trainers!

Folks weren't expecting the release of Generation 2 until some time later this week, but Niantic surprised us by releasing Generation 2 Pokemon this afternoon at approx. 3pm PST! If you hadn't heard, the Valentine's Day 6-hour Lure event was also extended until Saturday, so you have time to use your Lures to try and lure up some Gen 2 Pokemon! New berries have also been released, which includes Nanab berries, which make a Pokemon less likely to run, and Pinap berries, which grant the trainer double candies upon capture.


Be on the lookout for prevolutions of new powerful Pokemon like Larvitar, Phanpy, Teddiursa, and Mareep! Also be on the lookout for strong Pokemon like Heracross. And if you have candies available, you can now evolve new Pokemon like Blissey, Scizor, Porygon2, and many more! Maybe pop a Lucky Egg before you do and go on an evolving spree while reaping the benefits of all these new Pokedex entries!


UPDATE 3:30pm PST: Apparently moves have also been re-balanced. More on this as we learn the details, but moves like Psychic, Flamethrower, Dazzling Gleam etc... have been given new damage outputs. For now, catch everything you can and try not to transfer too much!


e.g. Confusion now has 20 base damage, and Psychic is a 100-energy 100 base damage move.




How to make the most of the Valentine's Day event

Greetings Trainers!

Pokemon GO's latest event has folks catching pink Pokemon, with a touch of sweetness; yes, it's double-candy season again! This applies to catches, hatches, and buddy candies, making now the prime time to stock up. Lure Modules also last for 6 whole hours while the event is going, to paint the town pink. Today's article will go over some basic tips to let you know how to best take advantage of this event, regardless of your goals. Maximize your EXP, get the most return on your coins, and of course, catch the most relevant seasonal Pokemon available! This includes considerations for the upcoming 2nd generation of Pokemon, which will be releasing some time in the not-so-distant future!

Table of Contents

• Event Details
• Pokemon you should stock up on right now
• Getting the most out of double candy
• Spending coins wisely
• Conclusion

A look at Gamepress' Gym Defender Tier List

Greetings trainers!

We're still waiting on Gen 2, and the gym metagame has settled since the major CP update, so I thought I'd give the current gym metagame a look-over while we wait.

When the CP update came out, the first place I'd recommend anyone look would be Gamepress' tiering system. The guys there do a great job of analyzing things thoroughly, and I always learn a lot about directions I can explore regarding effective attackers and defenders. I don't always 100% agree with their placings, but I mostly agree, and they justify themselves very well.

Their current gym defender tier list looks like this:
(as a reminder, here's our post-update Defenders Tier List)

Link here: https://pokemongo.gamepress.gg/gym-defenders-tier-list

How to re-introduce Poke-stop submissions

Greetings trainers,

Table of Contents

1. Pre-amble/explanation
2. Proposal
3. Would this really be all that helpful?
4. Conclusion

1. Pre-amble 

I've been travelling about lately and I've gotten a good bit of perspective regarding the state of Poke-stop diversity in different kinds of communities. I've been in the boonies, I've been in the big city, and I've been in-between. Back when Niantic originally populated Poke-stop submissions (i.e. portals in "Ingress"), they used geo-tagged photos of interesting works of art, culture, and then public buildings like post offices or unique landmarks. This gave them a big base of Poke-stops to work from, and previously Niantic had portal/Poke-stop submission open for Ingress and Pokemon GO. The company shut down portal submissions back in September 2015, and never had the option to submit new Poke-stops in Pokemon GO.

I imagine Niantic has a massive backlog of data about GPS co-ordinates of submitted portals/Poke-stops, and they have more than enough data to filter through already; if they re-opened submissions, I imagine most of the data they would receive would be requests for Poke-stops that are already in their database. Thus, it would be a bit redundant to re-open submissions, and would just increase the strain on human resources figuring out how to best process these requests.

Niantic has said that they wanted to work on a new and more efficient way to process portal submission requests. Given my recent travels, I think the most important thing Niantic could do to re-open submissions would be to allow users to annotate areas in the world that are incredibly sparsely populated by Poke-stops/Gyms. Below is my thought process for how to best make this happen, which hopefully isn't too redundant with what Niantic already has to consider.

2. Proposal

Gym Prestige System Fixed!

Rejoice!

Greeting trainers!

Quick update post. Gym Prestige has been fixed! You still take down enemy gyms by 1000 prestige per Pokemon defeated, +1000 for defeating the whole gym. However, you can now earn up to 1000 prestige for defeating a friendly Pokemon again!

Here's a reminder on how to battle gyms most effectively!

• 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 want a full-length article, feel free to check out the Let's GO guide to using the new gym battle system!

And be sure to check out our new Gym Defender's Tier List to know what Pokemon are top defenders in the new metagame!

Cheers,

Let's GO!