How to Battle Friends in Pokémon GO | HowToTips

How to Battle Friends in Pokemon go.

In Pokemon go, you cannot battle your friends directly. There is no way, as of the game's release in July 2016, for players to engage in battle with their friends in real time.

Instead, Pokemon go players can only engage in gym battles that are in real time for only one person (the challenger).

Right now, to battle with a friend, you must engage in battle at a gym where either you or your friend currently “owns” the gym (or, in other words, has a dominant, reigning Pokemon there).

Number 1, Ensuring You and Your Friend Are Eligible to Battle.

Make sure both you and your friend are Level 5 trainers or above. If you have not reached Level 5, you will not be allowed to join a team or go to the gym.

Determine if you and your friend are on the same team or different teams. There are three teams in Pokemon go: Team Instinct (yellow), Team Mystic (blue), and Team Valor (red).

These teams battle for control of the gyms. Right now, there is no way to change teams in Pokemon go.

Be physically near your friend. Since Pokemon go is based off of GPS location.

You and your friend will need to be physically together in order to go to the same gym.

You can only battle other Pokemon at a gym you’re physically close to.

Number 2, Finding a Gym.

Open the app. Look on the map screen for gyms. Gyms are huge towers that rise higher above the ground than anything else in the game.

Sometimes you will see a Pokemon on top of the gym. The gyms will be blue, yellow, or red.

If you are on the blue team, look for a blue gym, etc.

Walk around with your friend, searching for a gym. To find one, you may need to walk around your area for a while or go to a more populated area, like a town center.

If you and your friend are on the same team, you should try to find a gym of that same color.

This way, you can engage in friendly battle, where your Pokemon will give up the fight with 1 HP (hit point) rather than “passing out.”

Tap the gym to enter it. You will see options for choosing which Pokemon you want to battle. Choose the Pokemon you want to battle. Your friend should do the same.

Determine who will try to overtake the gym. Either you or your friend should battle the existing Pokemon at the gym in order to own the gym. Whoever has the stronger Pokemon out of the two of you should do this.

Number 3, Claiming the Gym and Battling a Friend.

Battle the existing Pokemon in the gym to claim the gym, if you are planning to claim the gym. Either you or your friend should do this.

The idea is to “claim” the gym with a powerful Pokemon and then, either you or your friend, whoever does not claim the gym, should challenge that person in a battle afterwards.

Once you are in the battle with another Pokemon, tap the screen to attack. You can dodge your enemy’s attack by swiping to the left or right.

Wait, if you are not claiming the gym. It may take a little bit of time for your friend (or you) to fight off the existing Pokemon in the gym.

You may not be able to do this, in which case you will need to come back another day with more powerful Pokemon.

Challenge your friend in a battle at the gym, if your friend claimed the gym. However, you will not actually be battling your friend in real time. You will be fighting in real time, but your friend will not.

Your Pokemon will benefit from this “training” in a friendly gym.

In a battle at another team’s gym, your Pokemon will faint if you lose. But in a friendly training battle, where both you and your friend are in your home gym, the battle will stop when he has 1 Hit Point left, So, he can heal.