'Pokémon GO' Gym Battles, Rewards, Training Tips: What are Gyms and How Do They Work?
Seasoned players of "Pokémon GO" probably know the ins and outs of Gyms by now, but there are some people who are new to the game who may not know how they work. Here are some tips and tricks on Gym battles and training.
First of all, Gyms are tall landmarks with spinning tops. They differ from PokéStops, which are shorter and blue. Gyms usually fall under three colors: blue, red or yellow. These colors indicate whether they are Team Mystic, Team Valor or Team Instinct, respectively. However, Gyms can also be grey, which means that no team has claimed the area yet.
Players are required to reach level 5 before being able to join a team. Picking a team does not have to be a long process, though, since they do not really have any special rewards or abilities.
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After joining a team, players can choose to go to friendly Gyms (Gyms occupied by the same team) and train their Pokémon there. This will let players earn XP, and at the same time, increases the Prestige level of the Gym. The higher the Prestige level, the more difficult it will be for other teams to take it down.
Of course, players may also want to take over Gyms that belong to other teams. This will spark a Gym battle and will require the player to choose up to six Pokémon to fight against the defenders. If the player is successful, then the Gym is theirs to keep until another team challenges it.
Certain actions in friendly or unfriendly Gyms result in different rewards. For example, training in a friendly Gym will earn the player 50 XP points, whereas challenging a rival Gym will equal 150 XP points. When players leave a Pokémon at a friendly Gym to help defend it from other teams, they get 10 PokéCoins and 500 Stardust for approximately every 21 hours that they are able to keep the Gym under their rule.
In other news, it looks like Legendary Pokémon will be making it to "Pokémon GO" this summer. This much was teased by Niantic Global Product Marketing Lead Archit Bhagarva when he took the stage to accept an award for the game at the recent Webby Awards.
