Niantic Announces New Gym System and Raid Battles for Pokémon Go

Niantic has provided detailed information about the upcoming major update for Pokémon Go. The update changes the way players must conquer and maintain Gyms. Later there will be Raid Battles, in which players from multiple teams can fight together against a strong Pokémon.

Niantic detailed the upcoming changes in a blog post. On Monday, the Pokémon Go developer will begin implementing the changes by being the first to clear all current Gyms. Then the update will start to be released and if all players on Android and iOS have it, the new system can be implemented. That will probably take about a week.

The first change is a complete makeover of the Gym system. Currently, Gyms have ten seats and players of the same team can place a Pokémon of their choice in them. To free up a spot, they must first train by fighting the Pokémon in the gym. Gyms training and prestige will disappear after the update. Also, Gyms only contain six spaces and it is no longer possible for two Pokémon of the same kind to be in them.

Also, placed Pokémon are no longer ranked by their Combat Power value, but by placement order. In addition, placed Pokémon face a new motivation factor, which decreases when an opponent fights against that Pokémon. If motivation drops, the Pokémon’s Combat Power will drop and eventually it will be defeated from the Gym. However, players can re-motivate their Pokémon by feeding them certain Berries. Niantic is not yet making clear whether players must also be physically present at the Gym location in order to do so.

After the update, players at Gyms will also receive items by spinning the Photo Disc, similar to PokéStops. Niantic also introduces Gym Badges, which should keep track of players’ contributions to the Gyms. Fighting, giving Berries to Pokémon in Gyms, and spinning the Gym’s Photo Disc earns points toward the new medals.

At a later stage, Niantic will add a new Raid Battle feature. This is a co-op mode where players from different teams can fight together against one extremely strong Pokémon. Up to twenty players can team up in such a battle and the goal is to defeat the Raid Boss in five minutes.

Raid Battles take place at Gyms and before such a battle starts, all Pokémon are returned to their owners. A large egg becomes visible and after a timer counts down the Raid Boss is revealed. To start the big battles an item is needed; players can find it by spinning the Gyms, but it is not possible to keep more than one such item. However, additional Premium Raid Passes can be purchased. At what price is not yet known.

If they manage to defeat the Raid Boss in five minutes, players will have the “chance to catch an extra strong Pokémon of their own.” Players also earn new items by beating the bosses. These are Rare Candies, Golden Razz Berries and Technical Machines. The former can be fed to a Pokémon of your choice to get more Candy of that type of Pokémon. Golden Razz Berries make it much easier to catch a Pokémon, or can completely restore a Pokémon’s motivation in a gym. The Technical Machines are items that allow players to teach a certain Pokémon a new move.

Niantic will be introducing the Raid Battle features over the coming weeks. First there will be a beta, where only a subset of players can perform the battles in certain locations. It is not known which players and locations these are. Then more players and locations will be added. Niantic promises to provide more information about this on its social media accounts.