How Do the New Gym Mechanics Work?

The new update has just been released. It's pretty much everything announced yesterday. If you haven't seen the announcement, click here to see the new updates. With the new update being released, the gyms will be opening up soon, and the Gym rework will be applied. Unlike the new Raid Battle that will be rolled-out slowly in beta, the new Gym mechanics will be available as soon as they re-open the gyms. Many people still don't know how the new Gym mechanics work, so this article will guide you on the new mechanics in place so you can get back to conquering the gyms and being the very best like no one ever was.

Motivation

Every Pokémon on Gyms now have a motivation meter, which measures the Pokémon’s desire to defend the Gym itself. You can defeat them in battle to reduce their motivation. Also, Pokémon in gyms gradually lose motivation over time. The Pokémon's CP will temporarily decrease as it loses motivation, effectively making it weaker in each battle, and when its motivation goes 0, the Pokémon leaves the Gym. When all the Pokémon leave the Gym, the Gym becomes open for you to claim.

To increase the motivation of your Pokémon in your own gyms, you can give Berries to any Pokémon controlled by your team. All Berries provide the same increase in motivation, with the exception of the Golden Razz Berry, which fully restores motivation. You’ll also earn Stardust and XP for giving Berries to Pokémon defending Gyms, and sometimes even the candy of the Pokémon you fed.

Getting Items in Gyms

Gyms now act like PokéStops, in which you can collect items by spinning its Photo Disc. When you collect items at Gyms, there is a greater likelihood to find items that aid in battle — like Potions and Revives. You'll earn bonus items if your team controls the gym.

Defender Bonus

This Bonus now works differently. The longer the Pokémon stay on the Gym, the more PokéCoins you earn. When your Pokémon’s motivation is reduced to zero, it will return to your collection, bringing back PokéCoins with it. You’ll receive a notification with the amount of PokéCoins earned when your Pokémon returns to you.

You redeem your PokéCoins only after your Pokémon returns from the Gym. You can redeem 1 coin per 10 mins the Pokémon stayed, with a maximum bonus of 50 PokéCoins per day. If you have more than one Pokémon return from Gyms in a single day, the maximum bonus for the day is still limited to 50 PokéCoins.

Gym Badges

If you keep battling in the Gym, defending the Gym, or by feeding Pokémon berries, you’ll receive Gym Badges. Badges have four tiers: Basic, Bronze, Silver, and Gold. You'll earn bonus items when spinning the Photo Disc in the gym if you have the badge of that gym.

Other Changes

Placement in Gyms - When battling Pokémon, you battle Pokémon in the order they were assigned to the Gym; the Pokémon on the Gym for the longest time will battle first.

One of Each Pokémon - you can't have multiple species on each gym, meaning you can only put one of each Pokémon. Only one Blissey, Only one Tyranitar, and so on.

Ace Trainer Medal - This Medal is now retiring. You can still keep the medal, but you won't be able to make further progress on it.

Push Notification on Returning Pokémon - You can toggle on and off this Notification in the Settings Menu

Raid Battles - For more information on how Raid Battles work, click here.

What Do I Do with my Gym Presigers?

UPDATE: If you have Pokémon that are specifically designed to increase Prestige, low CP Pokémon with good moves, you can go out and transfer them. Keep the ones with Good IV's.

While you're here, you can check this week's feautured post, Things Pokemon GO Got Right: The Battle System by clicking here

Things Pokemon GO Got Right: The Battle System