‘Pokémon GO’ Tips: How To Handle Those Intimidating Trips To The Pokémon Gym


Pokémon GO can be a bit difficult — and a bit intimidating — for those making their first trip to a Pokémon gym, but luckily there are some tips out there for those looking to master their first real experience in battle.

The Pokémon GO app has become an instant worldwide phenomenon, smashing records for downloads and for active users while dominating the discussion on social media. While the developers did their best to make it user-friendly and not too complicated for first-time Pokémon players, it can still be a bit tricky for those who never played Pokémon before or those who are having a difficult time getting started.

One of the most difficult parts to master is the experience at the Pokémon GO gym, the ones represented by giant towers with a Pokémon on top.

“The job of the team is to defend it by leaving high-level Pokémon there. If the gym is a different color team from you, that’s when you can battle there,” the Mirror noted. “The overall point of fighting, owning and defending gyms is to gain Pokécoins that can be spent in-game on items.”

Entering a Pokémon gym can be one thing — actually fighting there is a lot harder, the report noted. Players have to battle other trainers and do so by tapping the boxing glove icon and then waiting for the fight to begin.

As the Mirror noted, the fighting actually isn’t too hard to master once you get past the intimidation factor.

“You’ll notice there are blue bars underneath your Pokémon’s health. When this is full, you can press the screen for longer and unleash a more powerful attack.

“The fighting is pretty simplistic but you can also dodge attacks by swiping left or right. What’s more, Pokémon come in different types (water, fire, etc) and this can be advantageous during a fight.

“During a battle you can also access your backpack and use items like potions and revives to help out.”

There are already plenty of tips out there to help newer Pokémon GO players a bit of help starting the game and getting past the learning curve. One of those came from Polygon, which offered a roadmap for how to get past the basic Pokémon offered to players at the start of the game — Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur — and start with Pikachu instead.

The method takes a bit of persistence and a little time, but it is rewarding in the end, the report noted. To start, players have to ignore Professor Willis when he tells them to pick a starting Pokémon and walk away instead.

“If you don’t select a Pokémon, however — if you just keep walking away instead — the three will disappear, then respawn in front of you.

“This is a little tricky to work out, since the game’s camera keeps the trio on screen with you for most of the time, and its GPS still isn’t the most accurate. But if you manage to ignore Charmander, Squirtle and Bulbasaur four times, they’ll come back with another friend in tow.”

The method may not be complicated, but it is time-consuming, with Polygon noting that it took about 40 minutes to finally get Pikachu.

Another tip for getting a faster start to Pokémon GO comes from Alphr, which explains how to immediately level up. It noted that players can throw a “curveball” when first flicking their Pokéball to catch a Pokémon. To do this, they must draw a few circles around the Pokéball before throwing it, which causes the ball to spin. When they do capture the Pokémon, they will start with about 10XP more. It’s not a lot, but every bit helps, especially for players just starting out.

[Image via Pokémon/Instagram]

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