Niantic has announced a new update for Pokemon GO bringing raid battles and new gym features. This will be the biggest update yet for the popular mobile game. There’s no hard release date for these exciting changes but they will be rolled out gradually worldwide after gyms are temporarily disabled in order to get the update ready.
Gyms are at the center of this big summer update adding new features-minor and major-to improve trainer’s battling experience. One such new feature is the ability to spin the photo disk at gyms to get in game items just like at PokeStops. Another change to gyms is that they will each have six permanent slots to be filled by the controlling team’s Pokemon. Each of these Pokemon must be unique and will battle in the order they were assigned.
A major change to how gyms will work after the update is a new motivation system. Pokemon assigned to gyms will have a motivation meter that will ware down the longer they are defending a gym and the more they lose battles. A Pokemon’s CP will lower along with their motivation meter so it will be important to keep their spirits high. Trainers can keep their prized Pokemon’s motivation up by feeding them berries. If their motivation meter is completely depleted they will return to their trainer after losing a battle.
Another new feature being added to Pokemon GO are gym badges. Badges can be earned by interacting with gyms and can be leveled up. Increase your badge level by participating at that gym and you’ll get the opportunity to receive better items and rewards at that location.
An interesting addition to the game are raid battles. Raid battles are cooperative gameplay where up to 20 players can team up to defeat a powerful raid boss in under 5 minutes. These new battles will take place at gyms where a large egg has appeared and successfully completing them will give you a chance to catch a powerful Pokemon to add to your collection. Trainers will need a raid pass to participate, which can be obtained for free once a day. Premium raid passes can be purchased from the in game shop.
In addition to catching a powerful Pokemon players can also get special rewards from completing a raid battle. New items are being added to the game for this feature such as rare candies, golden razz berries, and two types of technical machines—fast and charged. Rare candies will automatically turn into the type of candy needed for the Pokemon you give it to. Golden razz berries will increase your chances of finding wild pokemon and can be given to Pokemon defending gyms to fully refill their motivation meter. Technical machines can be used to permanently teach a Pokemon a new fast attack or charged attack.
Pokemon Go trainers can look forward to this big new update coming soon. Once you’ve noticed gyms being disabled it will only be a short time until the changes start rolling out until eventually everyone worldwide can enjoy gym raids, badges and new items.
