You can’t “get” a Gym in Pokémon Go in the sense of owning one outright from the start. Instead, you earn the ability to place a Pokémon in a Gym by reaching Level 5 and joining one of the three teams: Mystic, Instinct, or Valor. Once you’re Level 5 and have picked a team, you can claim an unoccupied Gym for your team.
Pokémon Go’s world is dotted with Gyms, those iconic structures that serve as battlegrounds for trainers. But how do you go from a novice trainer to someone who can exert Gym control? It’s a journey that involves strategy, dedication, and understanding the core Gym mechanics. This guide will walk you through everything you need to know to start building your Gym empire, one Pokémon at a time.
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The Foundation: Reaching Trainer Level 5 and Choosing Your Team
The first and most crucial step to interacting with Gyms is reaching Trainer Level 5. Before you hit this milestone, Gyms will appear on your map, but you won’t be able to interact with them beyond seeing which team controls them.
Why Level 5 Matters
- Unlocking Gym Interaction: Level 5 is the gateway. It signifies you’ve gained enough experience and familiarity with the game to participate in more advanced features, including battling at Gyms and placing your Pokémon within them.
- Team Affiliation: Upon reaching Level 5, you’ll be prompted to choose one of the three teams:
- Team Mystic (Blue): Known for their focus on Pokémon’s Wisdom and Defense.
- Team Instinct (Yellow): Believers in Pokémon’s Instincts and their power to deduce anything.
- Team Valor (Red): Champions of Pokémon’s natural strength and courage.
Your team choice is permanent, so pick the one that resonates most with you! This decision dictates which Gyms you can contribute to and which Gyms you’ll be fighting against.
Claiming a Gym: Your First Step to Control
Once you’ve reached Level 5 and joined a team, the world of Gyms opens up. The primary way to get a Gym under your team’s banner is by claiming an unoccupied one.
What Constitutes an Unoccupied Gym?
An unoccupied Gym is one that is currently gray. Gray Gyms are neutral and haven’t been claimed by any team. They are the perfect starting point for any aspiring Gym controller.
The Claiming Process
- Locate a Gray Gym: Spin your map and find a Gym that appears gray.
- Approach the Gym: Walk or travel close enough to the Gym’s location for it to register on your map.
- Tap on the Gym: Once you’re in range, tap the Gym icon.
- Place Your Pokémon: You’ll be presented with an option to place one of your Pokémon. Select a Pokémon from your collection.
- Choosing the Right Pokémon: While any Pokémon can technically claim a Gym, it’s wise to choose a Pokémon that has decent CP (Combat Power) and HP (Hit Points) to withstand initial challenges and contribute to your team’s defense.
- Confirmation: After placing your Pokémon, the Gym will change to your team’s color, and you will have successfully claimed it! Your Pokémon will now be defending the Gym.
Engaging in Gym Battles: The Art of Attack and Defense
The core of Gym interaction lies in Gym battles. These battles are how you expand your team’s territory and earn rewards.
Gym Types and Their Mechanics
There are a few different Gym types you’ll encounter, each with slightly different mechanics:
- Standard Gyms: These are the most common. They can hold up to six Pokémon.
- ** Raid Gyms:** These Gyms are currently hosting a Raid Battle. You cannot battle other trainers or place Pokémon in a Raid Gym until the Raid is over.
- ** Gyms with a Raid Egg:** These Gyms have an egg on top, indicating a Raid Battle will start soon. You cannot interact with these Gyms until the egg hatches and the Raid begins.
The fundamental Gym mechanics involve battling opposing Pokémon to lower their motivation and eventually defeat them.
Gym Attacking
When you encounter a Gym controlled by an opposing team, you can attack it.
- Tap the Opposing Gym: Select the Gym on your map.
- Initiate Battle: Tap the “Battle” button.
- Choose Your Attacking Team: You’ll be presented with a screen to select up to six Pokémon to form your attacking team. The game often suggests a good counter-team based on the defending Pokémon.
- Battle: Engage in real-time battles using your Pokémon’s fast and charged attacks.
- Fast Attacks: These charge your Charged Attack meter.
- Charged Attacks: These use your accumulated energy and deal significant damage.
- Dodging: Swipe left or right to dodge incoming attacks from the defending Pokémon. This is crucial for preserving your Pokémon’s health.
- Defeating Defenders: Each Pokémon in the Gym has a motivation level, represented by its CP. When a Pokémon’s CP drops to zero, it is defeated and returned to its trainer.
- Lowering Gym Prestige: Successfully battling defending Pokémon lowers the Gym’s prestige. As prestige decreases, the defending Pokémon will eventually be returned to their trainers.
- Claiming the Gym: Once you defeat all defending Pokémon and the Gym’s prestige is reduced to zero, the Gym will turn gray. At this point, you can claim the Gym with one of your own Pokémon, just like claiming an unoccupied Gym.
Gym Defending
Once you’ve placed a Pokémon in a Gym, it becomes a defender.
- Motivation: Pokémon defending a Gym have a motivation meter. As they are attacked and defeated in Gym battles, their motivation decreases. When a defender’s motivation reaches zero, they are returned to their trainer.
- Berries: You can feed your defending Pokémon Berries remotely to restore their motivation and even increase their CP temporarily. Golden Razz Berries are the most effective for restoring a significant portion of motivation.
- Gym Badges: The longer your Pokémon defends a Gym, the more it contributes to your Gym badges.
- CP Decay: Pokémon in Gyms experience a slow decay in their CP over time if they are not fed Berries, representing a gradual loss of motivation.
Gym Prestige and Gym Badges: Measuring Your Influence
The concept of Gym prestige is central to Gym mechanics. It’s a numerical value that indicates the strength and loyalty of your team at that specific Gym.
Understanding Gym Prestige
- Starting Prestige: A newly claimed Gym starts with a certain amount of prestige.
- Battling and Prestige:
- Attacking: Defeating defending Pokémon in Gym battles reduces the opposing team’s Gym prestige.
- Defending: When your Pokémon successfully defend a Gym against attackers, your team’s Gym prestige can increase.
- Leveling Up Gyms: As your team’s Gym prestige increases, the Gym “levels up,” allowing more Pokémon to be placed in it. A Gym can hold a maximum of six Pokémon.
- Maxing a Gym: A Gym reaches its maximum potential when it has six Pokémon defending it, and its prestige is at its highest.
Gym Badges: Your Personal Recognition
Gym badges are a fantastic way to track your involvement and success at various Gyms.
- Levels of Badges: Gym badges have several tiers, starting from “Hiker” (for visiting) and progressing through levels like “Youngster,” “Ace Trainer,” “Elite Trainer,” and eventually “Gym Leader.”
- Earning Badge Points: You earn points towards your Gym badges by:
- Interacting with the Gym: Spinning the Gym Photo Disc (if it’s your team’s Gym).
- Defending the Gym: Having your Pokémon in a Gym.
- Battling at the Gym: Winning Gym battles against opposing teams.
- Feeding Berries: Giving berries to Pokémon defending your team’s Gyms.
- Winning Raid Battles: Participating in Raid Battles at Gyms.
- Benefits of Higher Badges: Higher Gym badge levels grant you bonuses when interacting with that Gym, such as:
- More items when spinning the Photo Disc.
- Higher chance of earning rare items.
- Increased CP for your Pokémon when you add them to a Gym of a higher badge level.
Gym Items: Essential Tools for Success
Interacting with Gyms also involves the use of various Gym items, which are crucial for both offense and defense.
Key Gym Items
- Berries:
- Razz Berry: Restores a small amount of motivation.
- Pinap Berry: Doubles the candy you get from catching a Pokémon, but can also be used on defenders to restore a small amount of motivation.
- Nanab Berry: Makes Pokémon in the wild less erratic. Can be used on defenders to restore a small amount of motivation.
- Golden Razz Berry: Restores a large amount of motivation and is the most effective for keeping your defenders strong.
- Silver Pinap Berry: Doubles the candy you get from catching Pokémon. Can be used on defenders to restore a moderate amount of motivation.
- Potions: These are used to heal your Pokémon after battles.
- Potion: Restores 10 HP.
- Super Potion: Restores 50 HP.
- Hyper Potion: Restores 100 HP.
- Max Potion: Restores all HP.
- Revives: These are used to revive fainted Pokémon.
- Revive: Revives a fainted Pokémon to half its maximum HP.
- Max Revive: Revives a fainted Pokémon to its full maximum HP.
You primarily obtain these items by spinning Photo Discs at Gyms (especially your own team’s Gyms) or from completing Raid Battles and Field Research tasks.
Strategies for Effective Gym Control
Achieving and maintaining Gym control requires more than just blindly placing Pokémon. Here are some strategic tips:
Attacking Strategies
- Know Your Counters: Understand type matchups. For example, Fire-type Pokémon are weak to Water and Ground, while strong against Grass and Bug.
- Build a Strong Attacking Team: Have a diverse team of Pokémon with good IVs (Individual Values) and high CP, with effective movesets.
- Target High-CP Pokémon: Focus on defeating the highest CP Pokémon first, as they usually have the most motivation.
- Utilize Golden Razz Berries: If you’re struggling against a particularly strong defender, consider using a Golden Razz Berry on your own Pokémon just before the battle. This provides a temporary CP boost.
- Teamwork: Coordinate with your teammates! Attacking a Gym together can make it much faster to defeat defenders and claim the Gym.
Defending Strategies
- Place High-HP, High-Defense Pokémon: Pokémon with good HP and defense stats are harder to defeat. Examples include Snorlax, Blissey, and Chansey.
- Vary Your Defenders: Don’t place the same Pokémon in every Gym. Mix it up to make it harder for attackers to predict your team composition.
- Berry Management: Keep a good stock of Golden Razz Berries. Regularly feeding your defenders keeps their motivation high and makes them more difficult to defeat.
- Location, Location, Location: Gyms in high-traffic areas are more likely to be challenged, but they also offer more opportunities for your Pokémon to earn coins when they are defeated and returned. Gyms in less frequented areas might stay under your team’s control longer.
- Gym Badge Synergy: If you have a high Gym badge level at a Gym, your Pokémon will receive a CP boost when defending it.
Earning Coins: The Reward for Gym Control
One of the primary incentives for Gym control is the ability to earn PokéCoins.
How to Earn Coins
- Defender Bonus: For every Pokémon you have defending a Gym, you earn 1 PokéCoin for every 10 minutes it remains at the Gym.
- Daily Cap: There is a daily cap of 50 PokéCoins that you can earn from Gym defenders.
- Returning Pokémon: When your Pokémon are defeated in Gym battles, they are returned to you with 0 HP. You then receive your earned coins.
- Collecting Your Bonus: You can collect your daily bonus by tapping the shield icon in the top right corner of the main map screen when your defending Pokémon have been returned.
Maximizing Coin Earnings
To maximize your coin earnings, aim to have your Pokémon defend multiple Gyms for as long as possible. When a Pokémon is returned, you can immediately place it in another Gym.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Can I have more than one Pokémon in a Gym?
Yes! Once your team controls a Gym, you can place one of your Pokémon in it. If your team members also place their Pokémon, a single Gym can hold up to six Pokémon from your team.
How many coins can I earn from Gyms per day?
You can earn a maximum of 50 PokéCoins per day from having your Pokémon defend Gyms.
What happens if I run out of items?
If you run out of Potions or Revives, you’ll need to visit PokéStops or Gyms to spin Photo Discs and collect more items.
Can I attack my own team’s Gym?
No, you cannot attack a Gym that is controlled by your own team. You can only interact with it by feeding berries or spinning the Photo Disc.
Is there a limit to how many Pokémon I can have defending Gyms at once?
Yes, the limit is set by the number of Gyms you can contribute to and the capacity of those Gyms. Each Gym can hold a maximum of six Pokémon, and you can only place one Pokémon per Gym.
How do I get rid of a Pokémon I’ve placed in a Gym?
You cannot manually remove a Pokémon you’ve placed in a Gym. It will remain there until it is defeated by an opposing team in Gym battles or until its motivation drops to zero.
What are the best Pokémon for defending Gyms?
Generally, Pokémon with high HP and high Defense stats excel at Gym defending. Consider Pokémon like Blissey, Chansey, Snorlax, and Metagross. However, variety is also key to making it harder for attackers.
How do I know which Pokémon to use for attacking?
Consider type advantages and the CP of the defending Pokémon. Pokémon with strong Fast and Charged Attacks that are super-effective against the defender’s type are ideal.
Does it matter which team I choose?
Your team choice is permanent and dictates which Gyms you can contribute to. While each team has its own lore, gameplay-wise, all three teams are equally viable for Gym control and earning rewards.
How do I increase my Gym badge level?
You increase your Gym badge level by performing actions at Gyms: spinning Photo Discs, battling, defending, feeding berries, and winning Raids.
By following these guidelines and engaging actively in Gym battles and defense, you’ll soon be a master of Gym control in Pokémon Go, earning valuable rewards and showing off your team’s dominance across the map. Happy battling!