The player, who goes by “kk5566” on Reddit, developed this gym attack method as a way to combat players that camp out at nearby gyms. If a player notices that their team’s gym is under attack, they can bolster its defenses by feeding Pokemon Golden Razz Berries (thus returning the Pokemon to a full motivation) or by adding new defenders to the gym once ten minutes has passed after the first defender was kicked out of the gym.
A Secret Exploit
Synchronized gym attacking requires three or more players to work and uses a little known gym mechanic.
When multiple players start attacking a gym at the same time, they’re typically placed into the same gym “instance” so that their attacks all hurt the gym defender at once. When multiple players knock out a gym defender under normal circumstances, it only loses a portion of its motivation. A gym defender typically has to lose in three separate “instances” before it is kicked out of a gym, which gives its trainer (or any trainer from the defending team) a chance to feed it berries to bring it back up to full strength.
However, there are circumstances when Pokemon Go places players in multiple gym “instances.” If a player enters a gym mid-battle when a gym defender has less than 2/9 of its total HP remaining, Pokemon Go places the player into a new “instance” when the same gym defender is at full health. This is likely due to Pokemon Go‘s predictive algorithm, which predicts that the nearly dead gym defender would already be defeated by the time a new player enters the battle.
Since the new player is battling the gym defender at full strength, Pokemon Go counts it as a separate “instance” that counts towards the three needed to knock out a Pokemon from a gym permanently.
Simultaneous KOs
So, now that we’ve explained the mechanics about how synchronized gym attacks work, let’s explain how to use it in the field.
There’s four easy steps to synchronized gym attacks.
Step 1: A team of three or more players enters a gym and starts battling the first gym defender. When the gym defender is down to 2/9 health, all other players quit the gym battle. Player 1 stays in the battle and weakens the defender to the point where it can be defeated by a single charge attack. However, they do NOT FINISH THE GYM DEFENDER OFF. Basically, they’re holding down the fort and absorbing attacks while the other players re-enter the battle.
Step 2: The remaining players re-enter the gym, thus creating a second “instance” against a now fully healthy gym defender. They weaken the gym defender down to 2/9 health or less. Player 2 remains behind and whittles down the defender’s HP to the point where it can be defeated by a single charge move, while the rest of the team quits again. They then stop attacking the weakened defender before it faints.
Step 3: The remaining players re-enters the gym, thus creating a third “instance.” They weaken the defender down to the point where it can be knocked out by a single charge move.
Step 4: At the same time, Players 1, 2, and 3, all use a Charge Move at the same time, knocking the gym defender out. Because the gym defender has lost in three “instances” simultaneously, their motivation drops down to zero instantly and they’re knocked out of the battle.
Once the first gym defender is knocked out, the team of attackers have ten minutes to repeat the steps to the other defenders. Once that ten minutes are up, the defending team can start adding more Pokemon, thus rendering the entire process moot.
Although only three players are needed to make the gym synchronization work, the creator of the method recommends a 5 person team to complete the synchronization before the 99 second timer runs out on the first instance.
A Total Game-Changer
While synchronized gym attacks requires a team of three or more players to work, it’s the perfect way of taking a gym with 100% success. The defending team can only watch as their Pokemon get picked off one by one with no way to feed them berries or add more defenders.
So, when would this method be most effective? A synchronized gym attack is perfect for ensuring your team has gym control right before an EX Raid or Legendary Raid starts, thus giving you access to those few extra Premier Balls for controlling gym. It’s also handy for de-fanging gyms taken over by spoofers that run bot programs to automatically feed their Pokemon berries.
Honestly, this is the coolest Pokemon Go trick we’ve seen in a while, and we expect to see it used a TON in the coming weeks and months.
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