"Tips for First Defenders: "Started at the bottom, now I'm here (still).""

#PokemonGO: TL;DR: If you're going to be at the bottom of a lvl 10 gym, pick a tricky pokemon instead of another vaporeon or snorlax.Disclaimer: it occurred to me after writing this whole thing that calling the bottom defender an "anchor" might be confusing. In my head, the gyms all look like dragonite/blissey kites, so the anchor is the bottom mon holding them to the ground. However, I realize that the last runner in a relay is also the anchor, which would mean the top of the gym. Sorry for the confusion.I'm a somewhat casual player (lvl 28) that goes through streaks of either being really into PoGo or not at all. Since the Gen II drop, I've been back to the enthusiasm I had in July. The difference, as I'm sure many will have surmised, is that I am now well behind the gym meta. What's worse is that I'm Instinct and stubbornly f2p, which makes gyms a necessarily tricky obstacle.Most players that I see in gyms in my city (mid-sized) are levels 32-36, putting my lvl 28 comfortably at the bottom of an all vaporeon gym. After weeks of trying alternate strategies, like taking 10 small gyms a day or finding rural gyms, I've decided to embrace my role as anchor. Here are my strategies in no particular order.First and foremost, get the gym to 48k XPThe whole idea of anchoring is to be a pain in the ace, so make sure to finish prestiging the gym for the stronger players, as it's ultimately their bulk that protects you. In my area, a lvl 10 gym will last 2-4 weeks, while a lvl 7 gym won't get through the night. Cap it off, because if you're anchoring properly, nobody is going to want to prestige after you.Remember that when other teams are looking at lvl 10 gyms, they're not thinking, "Let's go knock the bottom out of a bunch of big gyms." They want to find gyms they can take all the way down. The more intimidating your gym is, the less likely people are to take it on.Strategy 1: DittoI've got a 15/14/15 purple blob, and he's what I put beneath the gyms that are so far out of my reach that anything else would be embarrassing. Yes, he is defeatable, but they're likely going to have to devote 1 of their 6 to beating it, which makes the rest of the battle 5 v 9.Either that scares people away, or people just respect the gumption of it and leave him be. He's been my second best (longest lasting) defender behind dragonite since I got him over Christmas break.Strategy 2: Counter the CounterPick a pokemon with decent HP and a special that counters its counter. These are my favs:Heracross - Counter/EarthquakeNidoking - Fury Cutter/MegahornWheezing - Infestation/Shadow BallGolduck/Slowbro - Confusion/IceBeamBlastoise - Watergun/Ice Beam (I know wg isn't preferable)Poliwrath - Bubble/Ice PunchThe idea is to get the attacker to just say, "Aww hail nah!" when that first charge comes and quit before even knocking you out. I put my new Ice Beam blastoise in a high traffic gym last week to celebrate his evolution and only just got him back today, despite him only being 1445cp.Strategy 3: Cost the attacker a slotThis will vary with region, but for me the typical gym has a couple dragonites, a gyrados, a couple snorlax, a blissey, a rhydon, and then vapes. As an attacker, my usual lineup is something like Exeggutor, Heracross/Machamp, Gyrados, Vaporeon, Jolteon, Cloyster/Lapras.If I could auto set those 6 in that order, I'd almost never have to trade them out. Rarely do I encounter a level 10 gym that team can't walk through (the dreaded all Blissey gym). My mindset, as an anchor, is to disrupt that roster. Pick a pokemon that can cripple or actually substitute out one of those 6, and your gym becomes much more formidable (even if your individual pokemon is not). HP is key here, lest they just wipe you out with a Vape.Lapras - forcing them to start with jolteon/machamp gives the gyrados/blissey further up a fighting chance. If they have to devote a second roster spot to address your lapras, they probably won't make it through all 10.Slowbro - always a pain, will give your team a head start on exeggutor and jolteon.Scizzor - If you see a level 6 gym with a blissey at the bottom, put in the time to get one slot for your scizzor. A simple ponyta will prestige the crap out of him, and those other spots are sure to fill up with vaporeon and dragonite, making scizzor a slightly frustrating precursor to the blissey for opponents.Jolteon - Yea, I said it. Throw that 2000cp discharge jolt in there to stir up some trouble. Sure, exeggutor should handle him alright, but many attackers will force the type advantage by subbing in rhydon or golem, which won't be very useful against the rest of the gym.ConclusionOther than ditto, I try to look at the gym and pick an anchor that satisfies both of my other strategies. As I have 2 Lapras and a Cloyster, I usually send my spare lake monster to a gym. Then, my Earthquake Heracross goes out. After that, it depends on what kind of mood I'm in and what's already there.Right now, I've got Dragonite, Gyrados, Snorlax, and Exeggutor, all sitting off the bottom of some gyms. My anchors are Jolteon, Scizzor, Heracross, Lapras, and Ditto. My Blastoise came back to me after a good run to start his career.Remember, your relatively weak pokemon is not going to be the end-all be-all of the gym. The sooner you accept that, the quicker you can move past simply selecting the highest CP vaporeon you have left and find a genuine pain in the shelder to defeat. It's also more fun, if you ask me. via /r/TheSilphRoad http://ift.tt/2nuf50R