Learn how to dominate fights with our Pokemon Go Gym Guide! Also included Pokemon Go hints and tips for the best catches!

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Are you a Pokémon Go fan? Then this guide is a must read! On this page, we will help you become the best trainer and catch ’em all.

The game that has taken the world by storm – Pokémon Go – also has its tips and tricks that can help you excel better and improve your play. Here we have collected some pretty smart and handy tricksб which you may apply right away. From finding and catching Pokémon to best PokéStops and game battles, here are all the tips you need, so let’s begin!

Pokemon Go Gym Guide

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Before a battle, match up Pokémon with their opposing types!

If you know one simple trick, you can still damage the opposing Gym even though you are woefully under matched. Now here it is – every Pokémon has a primary type, which normally matches up to some element. Knowing this, you can match them with the opposing element since some elements are more successful than others.

This is a handy list of each element type and beside it are the opposing types of Pokémon element, which are best-suited to defeat it:

  • Normal: Fighting
  • Fire: Water, Ground, Rock
  • Water: Electric, Grass
  • Electric: Ground
  • Grass: Fire, Ice, Poison, Flying, Bug
  • Ice: Fire, Fighting, Rock, Steel
  • Fighting: Flying, Psychic, Fairy
  • Poison: Ground, Psychic
  • Ground: Water, Grass, Ice
  • Flying: Electric, Ice, Rock
  • Psychic: Bug, Ghost
  • Bug: Fire, Flying, Rock
  • Rock: Water, Grass, Fighting, Ground, Steel
  • Ghost: Ghost
  • Dragon: Ice, Dragon, Fairy
  • Steel: Fire, Fighting, Ground
  • Fairy: Poison, Steel

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Dodge at the start of each battle

Another important aspect of our Pokemon Go Gym Guide: It is a good idea during battle to swipe left or right to dodge right at the start of the battle. This way you will often give yourself an extra attack or two before your opponent can realize what is happening. This is an especially good tip for smaller and quicker types of Pokémon, which with their quick burst attacks and dodges can take down even a big creature before they can react.

Take over a neutral gym

Now here is what to do if you don’t have a gym or you can’t fight a gym battle yourself. Simply wait until the gym is taken over. Once it turns neutral white, practically anyone can place their Pokémon there. So you just have to act fast enough and you can take over a gym of yours, which an opponent has been trying to take down. Add your most powerful Pokémon there and you will have the gym for yourself.

Add different types of Pokémon to a friendly gym

Enrich a friendly gym with various Pokémon types. It may be cool to have an All fire gym, but think again – it is quite vulnerable to a trainer with all Water and Ground Pokémon, so variety matters.

Other Pokemon Go Hints and Tips

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Go to parks with many PokéStops

It’s true that you can find Pokémon almost anywhere, but to find lots of them, it is best if you go to a crowded place. Cities are great to start with and parks are the perfect places, especially those with different terrain. This way, while hunting you will be able to catch different types of Pokémon and enrich your collection. Make sure you don’t run out of Poke Balls when you boost your Pokémon catching experience, so parks with multiple PokéStops are really a great place.

Hunt with your friends

Pokémon can be caught by everyone, and if you have a proper hunting strategy, like hunting in pairs or groups of friends, you can surely catch more of them. Besides, what is more fun than roaming around with friends? This way you can cover more ground, too.

Your radar ring can help you to discover Pokémon

Your avatar has a small pulsing ring, which glows as you are roaming around. This ring is your personal radar that indicates whether you are close to a PokéStop or Gym or whether there is a Pokémon nearby. So when the Pokémon appears on your Sightings screen, this means that it should be somewhere no more than 1000 feet away from you and your radar should reveal it.

Moving leaves may indicate a Pokémon spawn point

The green fluttering leaves sometimes may indicate a Pokémon nearby. If you are roaming around in an area for long enough, you may have the chance to see some Pokémon that are not on your radar. However, that’s just  a chance and there is no guarantee that a rare Pokémon will really appear.

Parking lots are ideal for catching lots of Pokémon quickly

You may find it funny but, it seems that Pokémon like spawning in parking lots. If they are near PokéStops, it’s even better. So, don’t miss the chance to check such places.

Turn off AR when catching Pokémon

AR (augmented reality) may sometimes make it more difficult to catch Pokémon and it can drain your battery faster. So, save up a few extra drops of battery and turn AR on just when you find a Pokémon in a particularly hilarious location.

Get bonuses when throwing Poké Balls

The way you throw your Poké Balls when trying to catch a Pokémon may also give you great bonuses. Normally, when you throw the ball, your goal is to throw it inside the shrinking ring and land it on the Pokémon’s nose or head. However, you can get special catch bonuses if you land the Poke Ball in a specific way. This may help you keep the Pokémon locked inside the ball and reduce its chances of escaping.

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And regardless of the bonuses you are aiming for, it’s a good trick to tap and hold on the Poke Ball to start the ring cycle and then wait to throw your ball until the ring is at the correct location. This way, even if your Pokémon tries to move back or break the circle, you keep holding your Poke Ball because it eventually will return and you won’t lose your ball as well.

Better Poké Balls and Razz Berries can help you capture Pokémon

Rare Pokémon or those with very high CP found in the wild may be hard to capture. Usually, your issues may be that your Poke Balls may not be good enough to hold them or even worse, they can send them running. Here is a tip for that. Once you reach level 6, you can use Razz Berries to lift your chances of catching wild Pokémon. Later on, Great and Ultra Balls can do the job.

What to do if your game crashes just while you are catching a Pokémon?

Ok, so that’s a really frustrating issue and it is mostly because the game developer’s servers are frequently overloaded. So, it may happen that your game will freeze after you catch a Pokémon or even crash. Don’t panic though – your Pokémon won’t be lost. You just have to force quit the game and open it again. After you restart it, check your Pokedex where your Pokémon has been automatically caught, or it may still be spawned and waiting for you to catch it.

More tricks about PokéStops

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Avoid playing during the busy hours and play during off-hours instead.

Lunchtime and afternoons are usually the busiest times when most people play. Indeed it can be fun to play a bit with your colleagues or during the lunch break, but if you try playing during less busy hours, such as early mornings or late evenings, you may have the chance to catch more creatures.

Find PokéStops with Ingress

Within its previous game, the developers Niantic used many of the maps, Ingress, to populate PokéStops and Gyms in the Pokémon Go world. That’s why a smart tip to find more Pokémon is if you use Ingress’s map system. This will help you figure out where exactly you should search for creatures the most. Usually, Portals on Ingress’s map indicate PokéStops.

If you don’t want to go hunting, Lures are a lazy way to catch Pokémon

Now here is another tricky tactic. You can attach Lures in various places such as your favorite cafe, mall, shop or bar where you like to hang out and just sit back and wait while Pokémon appear. Usually, it takes some 3-5 minutes for a new Pokémon to appear inside the Lure and this way you will have the chance to catch some rare ones.

Choose your Stardust and Candy wisely

Here is another strategy – when you catch your first Pokémon, don’t rush with evolving it, even though it can be tempting. Instead, go up with the levels and you will find many more higher-level creatures, which when evolved will become much more powerful.

Choose the higher-level creatures to evolve

Evolving the more powerful creatures will boost your Pokémon much more.

Use Lucky Eggs before an XP spree or evolving Pokémon

To double your personal Trainer XP, you can use Lucky Eggs, which can be bought from the Shop or can be received as level rewards. This can also be used pretty effectively to bring up your level while catching multiple Pokémon. However, the best time to use Lucky eggs is when you’re evolving Pokémon. Usually, you can get 500XP for evolving Pokémon. The Lucky Egg can boost it up to 1000XP every time. For example, if you have a ton of Pidgeys, evolving them into Pigeottos with just 12 Pidgey Candy can bring you a ton of experience.

Move your eggs around your room to get them hatched.

This is a tip that can help you trick the game into thinking that you are walking. If you really don’t have the time to walk to get your 10 km egg to hatch, just move your phone in circles or back and forth around your room or desk. This may eventually get your egg hatched. However, you won’t be able to trick the game if you’re driving. The game doesn’t count your distance if you move with a speed more than 10.5 km/h.

Found something good worth sharing? We’d love to hear from you in our comment section below!