Pokémon GO: Tips and Tricks for Player PvP

Pokémon GO’s Trainer PVP update is here! Announced just a week ago, the update allows players to battle each other in 3-vs-3 matches to earn daily rewards. For the basic lowdown on trainer battles in Pokémon GO, check out our last article on trainer PVP.

Now that you’ve got the basics down, here’s some tips to help you think strategically, and to prevent some easy-to-make mistakes.

• You only get 2 uses of the shield for the whole battle, so you won’t want to use it for every Charge attack that comes your way. However, you’ll get prompted with a big button in the middle of your screen each time. The button will stay up for a couple of seconds, so be careful when you’re smashing the screen with Fast attacks.
• Swapping out a pokémon mid-battle won’t delete its Charge gauge progress. When you swap back to that pokémon, you can continue right where you left off. Try to wait until your Charge gauge is full before you switch out, so that you can unleash your full fury when you send them back in!

Type Coverage is Key

Since player battles are only 3-vs-3, it’ll be a little harder than usual to cover all your team’s weaknesses. It’s important not to double up on types: 2 or more of the same type will spell bad news if your opponent gets the upper hand on you. That said, there’s a couple of strategies you could employ here:

• Limit your team to pokémon with only a single type, so there will be less weaknesses for you to worry about. Some pokémon, like Bayleef or Delicatty, have Charge moves that have a type advantage against pokémon that would usually be bad news. Play defense by surprising your opponent with an unexpected Charge move!
• Alternatively, you can stay on the offensive by making sure your pokémons’ attacks match its type, so you get that sweet STAB damage. This is especially important, because the PVP update also increased the damage multiplier for STAB attacks by 20%!

Don’t immediately reach for your Mewtwo or Tyrannitar – get creative! With the introduction of the League’s CP caps and a second Charge attack for each pokémon, you can go far with almost any pokémon. For more information about a pokémon’s charge attacks and how well they’ll go in the diffrent PVP leagues, check out Pokemon Go Hub’s extensive database.

Edith King

If it's not about video games, Edith doesn't care about it. She loves adventures and RPGs, her weakness is arcade fighters, and her favourite pokemon is Mr Mime... no, seriously.