Snorlax.... I knew thee well
So I was driving home from playing pokemon yesterday.
Pulled up at a long stop light and low and behold a Snorlax popped when my phone kicked in. Clicked on it, 2815. Pulled into shopping center parking lot. Zen and Metal Slam. 15 attack and 2nd highest rating.
Neat huh.....
Then I thought about it for a second. Last year, that discovery would have prompted me to run home and get my kids and run back to the light. It would have prompted me to make some phone calls to some friends.
This year, a big shrug. It's a snorlax. Not usable as an attacker. And defenders don't matter and aren't worth dust anymore.
Sorta made me sad to realize how Unexcited I was for this find, and how excited I would have been under a different Gym system.
Eulogy for Snorlax: A pokemon I once loved finding, now could care less about.
Answers
A better strategy for getting the Gold Medal for those Gyms:
1) Spend that Stardust on Attackers which can take down Legendary Pokémon. Raise them up to the highest you can raise them so that you can do Legendary Raids with less people.
2) Do Legendary Raids every day.
3) Don't use your Golden Razzberries unless it is a new Legendary that you do not currently have OR if it has a higher CP than one you currently have. SAVE THOSE GOLDEN RAZZBERRIES.
4) Choose your gyms carefully; figure out when they are most likely to be left alone. (ie: gyms aren't attacked during the day, gyms aren't attacked after midnight, gyms aren't attacked after the building closes, etc.) We know they want to put EX raids in Parks and Sponsored Gyms - concentrate on them.
5) Put defenders in those gyms when you have a reasonable ability to ACTIVELY monitor those gyms when possible. Otherwise put defenders on those gyms when you know it is less likely to be attacked.
6) Actively monitor those gyms. If you have a reasonable chance of going to those gyms and retaking them, let the gym fall - you will get more Gym XP for retaking it than for trying to keep it for another 15-20 min. You get 100 gym XP for putting a Pokémon on the Gym, and you get 1 XP per minute you're on the gym, so placing a Pokémon on the gym is worth 100 minutes of holding it. You also get quite a bit of gym XP for taking down Defenders, so if you can take the gym back before the Defenders lose much motivation, that will help boost your gym XP.
7) When you can't come back and retake the gym, use those Golden Razzberries to boost everyone up to full motivation on a regular basis.
8) Do raids on those gyms whenever possible. Even a Metapod raid will give you more Gym XP than holding it for half a day. If it's a Legendary Raid on a Gym you want to get a Gold Badge on? Beg on Discord to get them done every time.
You'll be more likely to get to the Gold Badge level, more likely to look like you're active in the gym (just holding it isn't really "Active"), and if the new announcement is actually accurate, more likely to get an EX Raid pass.
My read on the EX raids is that only certain gyms (sponsored ones and ones in parks) are the ones where EX raids happen. So one top tip is to find the ones in your area, get gold in them (after you're gold, don't hog them - let others get their gold too), and then do as many raids in those gyms as you can. Holding the gym a long time helps until you're gold in it, and then doesn't seem to matter at all.
1) I have multiple near maxed great counters for almost all bosses
2) my raid badges 217 + 341 legendary
3) seems new system giving out more golden berries! That won’t a problem anymore!
4) I do them based on passing by’s
5) I will throw out a lot, and hope some of them will hold long and some short is also ok too!
6) yeah, flip flop is good too!
7) raids arrangements are out of our control
8) yep all we can do is to turn those gyms gold!
I can do all my active stuff, but I also like my Blissey and Snorlaxes to help me a little bit while I am not active!
Yeah that sucks.
Either you take the gyms at night/morning when they are on low CP or you have to fight them 3 times - which only costs some time but isn't a challenge at all.
I liked the old system better. Only bad thing it took over an hour to beat a level 10 gym (and only some klicks for a cheater to take it back and make it lvl 10 again)
They could make it like this
- 10 spots
- no motivation / Pokemon comes back itself after some days
- no training
- include Legendaries
- keep the only one of each Pokémon rule
- Gym falls after two succesfull attacks (to cut the time)
Some reasons to care about Snorlax:
1. While outclassed by Blissey, it is still a great defender with a lot of potential. What do I mean by that? The game is not going to remain the way it is - the defenders might become more useful in the future (would be a logical move for Niantic, given the current meta).
2. Future move changes might benefit Snorlax (sure, maybe they won't, but why not be safe and keep a few?).
3. Lick/Hyper Beam Snorlax should be a great tank counter to Mewtwo (or any other psychic legendary to come).
