Battling is done at the gyms in Pokémon GO, and while the Area 51 gyms might be totally abandoned, more popular gyms, such as the White House (or local downtown areas) are far more competitive. Gym battles are strategic, though, and there are strategies that can win you any gym battle. You can defend your gym against all comers, and earn all kinds of rewards. Read on for tips on how to win any gym battle in Pokémon GO!
You can do three things in a gym battle. You can do your standard attack by tapping, you can swipe to the left or right to dodge an attack by the enemy Pokémon, or when the bar on the screen fills, you can hold the screen for a split second to execute your special attack. Three simple moves, but the important thing is how you use them.
When you see a yellow flash on the screen during a battle, use the dodge move because the yellow flash means an attack is imminent. Swipe whenever you see the yellow flash, ignoring the animation of the rival Pokémon because it really doesn’t matter. After dodging, attack with your standard attack and then wait for the next yellow flash. Then dodge again and attack again. Your special attack should not be used at all as it leaves you vulnerable after you land it.
There is a timer in battle, so this trick won’t work if you are trying to fight a 400 CP Pokémon against a 1,000 CP Pokémon, for example – unless there is a Super Effective advantage. Generally this works best when the Pokémon are within about 300 of each other’s CP, give or take a hundred or so depending on how high their levels are. You can typically easily get one attack in in between dodges, but if you have your timing down perfectly, you could possibly attack twice between dodges.
The best time to go gym raiding is in the middle of the night (or if you are reading from somewhere other than the Americas, during the day), because the servers are your absolute worst enemy in battles. Waiting until night allows you to avoid the 1HP glitch (where you can’t finish an enemy Pokémon because the servers aren’t registering properly).
Battles happen far more quickly at night than during the day. The more Pokémon you defeat, the bigger the rewards that you will gain. You’ll earn experience and gym prestige, mainly – the farther you get at the opposing gym, the more you earn. You’ll knock down the enemy team’s gym prestige if you beat their Pokémon. If you fight at your own team’s gym, you will win prestige and experience if you win. And if you fight at a gym which your Pokémon are stationed at, you will gain experience and prestige, plus you won’t have a risk of your Pokémon losing all of their hit points.
Defending a gym is a matter of leaving behind a very strong Pokémon, and you will earn coins for each 21 hours that your Pokémon is stationed at the gym. Station your strongest Pokémon at the gym if repelling attacks is what you care about, but if you station a weaker Pokémon there, then you not only can keep your strongest one in order to smoke opposing gym leaders, but when your weak Pokémon gets beaten you can simply retake the gym again.