"GO Battle League Tips and Strategy for Beginners (with video examples!)"

#PokemonGO: 1. Choose pokemon that are close to the CP limit of the leagueThis may seem like common sense to some of you, but I’ve had many great-league battles against people who have chosen 1300 CP pokemon. Unfortunately, these pokemon just can’t compete with 1490 CP pokemon.2. Look for a high PVP IV, not just a high IVYou can use apps like Poke Genie that will calculate this for you, but in case you can’t be bothered, a good PVP IV means having high defense and high HP, but low attack. This is because attack over-inflates a pokemon’s CP and will make their CP higher. The higher CP is good for things like raids and gym battles, but in a league where you have to stay under a certain CP, it is not ideal.That said, don’t get too hung up on IV. It’s really not as important as 3.👇🏻3. Choose poke types that complement each otherI’ll use my own go-to team as an example. My best GBL pokemon is a dark type. Since dark type is weak to fairy type and fighting type, i choose my other two pokemon to be strong against those two types. In other words:Poke 1 (dark): susceptible to fighting and fairyPoke 2 (poison): strong vs fairyPoke 3 (fairy): strong vs fightingThat way, if I start with my dark type, and my opponent pops out a granbull, I can quickly switch to my poison type instead, and now I have the upper hand with type effectiveness.Another example:Poke 1 (fire): weak vs water and ground/rockPoke 2 (grass): strong vs water and ground/rockPoke 3 (water): strong vs fire and ground/rockYou can find a chart explaining the type-effectiveness of different pokemon here: https://ift.tt/2S4d4qg. The highest damage-per-second charge attack won’t necessarily output the most damageWith the way the charge attacks and shields are used in GBL, damage per second is not the most important thing for charge attacks. Actually, having an attack that charges quicker but does less damage is usually better than a more-damaging attack that takes a longer time to charge.This is due to two features of GBL:A) Protect shields. The protect shield is an incredibly valuable tool in GBL, and your usage of your shields is often the make-it or break-it factor in battles (more details later). So, it’s only logical that you want to make your opponent use their shields poorly. Having an attack that charges quickly will face your opponent with the difficult decision of either using up one of their shields to block it or risking it doing serious damage to their pokemon. This is also why it’s important to have a strong type-effective team. Even low-output attacks can do a ton of damage if they’re typed correctly.B) Battles are fast-paced. Meaning, if you’re using a massive attack that takes forever to charge, there’s a good chance that you won’t even get to use it before your pokemon is taken out. And, even if you do get to use it, your opponent may block it anyway.My best tip for choosing a good charge attack is to Google to find out what different move sets are available for your chosen pokemon. Then, play around with different ones in the practice battles against the team leaders. Find one that charges quickly and deals a reasonable amount of damage.NOTE: when selecting a charge attack, be sure to check the attack’s damage for “trainer battles” in the pokemon’s info screen. Some attacks do different damage vs gyms/raids than vs other trainers. Example: the charge attack “Solar Beam” does 180 damage in gyms/raids but only 150 in trainer battles.5. Use your shields strategicallyAs I previously mentioned, shields are often a make-it or break-it factor in GBL, so you really don’t want to be using them haphazardly. Here’s some questions for determining whether your need to use a shield or not for a specific attack:A. Is the pokemon type strong against yours? It’s very valuable to take a few minutes to study the type-effectiveness chart. If the pokemon that is attacking you is a strong type vs yours, it is probably a good idea to use a shield. But also consider other attacks that your opponent’s pokemon could have.For example: If I’m using vaporeon, and an jolteon is attacking me, you best believe that I’m going to use that shield because jolteon’s attack is going to do massive damage. On the other hand, if I’m using vaporeon, and a flareon is attacking me, I probably don’t need to worry about it too much since it has poor type-effectiveness.B. How tanky is your pokemon? And how much HP does your pokemon have. If you have a low HP pokemon, it might be best to use the shield. On the other hand, if you’re using a super tanky pokemon like umbreon, you can probably withstand most charge attacks without the shield.C. How long did it take for their attack to charge? If their attack charged very quickly, there’s a good chance that it is a weak attack and you might not need to block. On the other hand, if they have been charging this attack for a long time, it might be wise to use the shield.D. How did their charge attack affect your previous shields? In GBL, you can get a rough estimate of how much damage an attack would have done based on how it affected your shield. Ie, if the attack hits your shield and it turns red, it would have done massive damage. If it turns blue, it would have done moderate damage. If it doesn’t change color, it probably wouldn’t have done that much damage.Here is a video example of me using these questions to strategically determine whether or not I need to block. Notice: my opponent’s type is weak vs mine, their attack charged quickly, and my pokemon is very tanky: https://youtu.be/G_YXR6Ta5OEHere is also an example of me blocking an attack and the shield turning red. I then didn’t block the next one so you can see how much damage it would have done: https://youtu.be/-kxMa7y-BL86. Swap pokemon strategicallySince there is a cool-down time for swapping pokemon, you want to be sure that you choose the right time to swap and the right pokemon. You don’t want to end up with a pokemon that is weak vs your opponent being stuck in the battle because you’re waiting for the button to become available again. I recently made this mistake and it cost me the battle (ended a 19-win streak too 😢).The best reason to swap pokemon is that your current poke is weak vs the type of your opponent’s pokemon. Another valid reason is if you are trying to save a charge attack for when your opponent no longer has a shield.Here’s a video example of me swapping out a type that is weak vs my opponent for a type that is strong. I left each in the battle for a moment so you could see the massive difference in how much damage it is taking, but ideally, you’ll want to swap right away: https://youtu.be/9CLaKt3TQLMDon’t forget that your opponent can swap too! Don’t be too surprised if your opponent swaps pokemon right after you do. There’s some different ways you can deal with this, but that’s getting into some pretty advanced strategy. For the average person, it doesn’t really matter too much.7. Charge attacks can stackMeaning, if you have a charge attack that is all charged up and ready to go, you will keep charging the next one, even if you don’t use it right away.This can be very valuable if your opponent has low health and the attack would be better used on their next pokemon instead. Here’s a video example of this in action: https://youtu.be/ZxK8HCrriygSo, hopefully all of this gives you a better idea of some basic strategy in the GO Battle League. Best of luck battling! via /r/pokemongo https://ift.tt/2vOtFFV