Late last night, Niantic dropped the long-awaited PvP feature into Pokémon GO. Though it was said to be in the works for quite a while, this somewhat stealthy launch seems to have caught some people off-guard. If you’re one of these people, or just someone looking for some PvP info and tips, here’s what we know so far, and what you should focus on in PvP.
The Basics
-After opening the “nearby/raids” tab at the bottom left of your screen, you can find “Battle” as a subheading beside the “POKéMON” and “RAID” headings.
-You can challenge nearby Trainers by scanning their battle QR code, or by having them scan yours. Once you reach “Ultra Friend” status with someone, you can remotely battle them from any distance by clicking “Battle” under their avatar on their “Friend” profile.
-You take three Pokémon into each battle. KO’d or injured Pokémon are revived/healed automatically after a battle, so it won’t cost you any items to keep battling.
-There are three “Leagues” to battle in. They are as follows:
Great League: Battles using only Pokémon that are 1,500 CP or lower. A good way to quickly battle using weaker Pokémon.
Ultra League: Battles using only Pokémon that are 2,500 CP or lower. Longer battles with pretty decent Pokémon.
Master League: Unrestricted battles using Pokémon of any CP. All-out battles with the best of the best.
-You can make preset parties for each League under the “Pokémon” tab on the main menu.
-The three Team Leaders, Blanche, Candela, and Spark, are A.I. opponents that can be fought at any time. Fighting them counts as “Training”, meaning each battle counts towards the previously defunct “Ace Trainer” badge.
-Ditto and Shedinja cannot be used in battle, likely due to their attacks or abilities. Shedinja doesn’t have its famous “Wonder Guard” attack in PoGo though, so its exclusion is strange. Either way, these two Pokémon will not be on the list of your selectable Pokémon before a battle.
New Moves
-Pokémon can now learn a second charge move, which is a major game changer.
-It costs a lot of Stardust for fully evolved or Legendary/Mythical Pokémon to learn a new move. Mewtwo requires 100,000 Stardust and 100 candies, which seems pretty ridiculous.
-The Stardust costs seem to only come in four variations: 10,000 Stardust, 50,000 Stardust, 75,000 Stardust, and the aforementioned 100,000 Stardust. Candy is required for each Pokémon on top of that, so choose your top attackers wisely.
-New moves for Baby Pokémon (Elekid, Togepi, Pichu, etc.) and Starters (Charmander, Totodile, Treeko, etc.) only cost 10,000 Stardust, but moves are rerolled upon evolution. The Pokémon still keeps the second move slot, it may just become a different move.
Rewards
-Win or lose, you still get a reward. Some people on the r/silphroad subreddit have said that they received a Sinnoh Stone for losing, and some got one for winning. Some people have even said they received more than one Sinnoh Stone. I’ve only gotten Stardust so far, so I’m incredibly salty.
-The prize pool includes Stardust (seemingly in increments of 300 for Team Leaders and 500 for friends), and Sinnoh Stones.
-You will NOT get rewards if your bag is full. You can’t claim them after emptying your bag, so make sure you go into battle with some bag space.
-You get a reward for fighting one of the Team Leaders only once per day. You can fight them as many times as you want, but you’ll only be rewarded for the first match each day.
-You get a reward for fighting a friend or multiple friends three times a day. Again, both the winner and loser get a reward.
-This seems to be the most viable way to get Sinnoh Stones at the moment, as they are now only a “possible” drop in your 7-day research package.
Issues
-You can seemingly continue to attack your opponent as they swap Pokémon, meaning you’ll do damage to their new Pokémon as it is being sent out. I’m sure this will be patched at some point, but it’s worth keeping in mind.
-Again, you don’t get rewards with a full bag, so clear your bag until this issue is (hopefully) rectified.
And that’s it for now. The PvP meta is still being figured out, but keep these simple tips in mind as you battle your way to the top. Feel free to leave any questions in the comments below, and we’ll try to answer them.
