I took on a gym today and manage to take down the lowest pokemon. Yay? Still had to burn through my party to do it, but my best guy is 540 and the gym guy was 800+. Type advantage seems to help a lot. I haven't figured out how to do anything but regular attacks though. I think this game could really benefit from some manner of tutorial. It seems stupid having to look up how to fight besides "swipe to dodge." I have no idea how the stronger attacks work, but apparently those bar things have something to do with stamina?

Type advantages are HUGE. Also, offense has an advantage over defense because the AI runs on different mechanics than the player.

Every Pokemon has two moves: a fast move, and a charge move.

Fast moves have a particular cooldown that isn't displayed anywhere; if you tap the screen, the Pokemon will use that attack as soon as it can. When you use a fast move, it generates some amount of energy.

Charge moves consume energy. The blue bubbles show how much energy they consume. When one or more bubbles fill up, hold down a touch on the screen and a little charge bar will fill up below the bubbles. Once it's full, you let go and the Pokemon will use the attack, and one blue bubble will turn dark. If you still have energy, you can use it again, otherwise, you have to use your fast move until you get it powered back up.

Gym battling is really more like a fighting game than an RPG. You have to watch for tells and predict your opponent's actions, defending when they attack and attacking when they leave an opening.

Finally, lvl 32. >.< Played my booty off.

Quiet - Some people use the dodge trick to win gym battles like the pokemon will give a hint of when it will attack so you swipe to the left or right to dodge then attack then wait for their attack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aflKgUWuIvQ

this video shows what it looks like before the pokemon attacks so you can get ready to swipe/dodge ovo

i've seen folks at the library doing this just to beat the 1000+CP pokemons.

That explains a lot. I only last up to 3 pokemons before mine die at gyms T.T

O.O
Thirty-two?
...I am just at 15... .-.

Anyway, caught a scyther, hatched a Ponyta, and overheated while doing the 10K egg. xD

I hatched a Scyther the oither day, which was awesome. XD I tried a battle but I was outside when it was really bright so I couldn't really see it, and no shady area for me. =( Though a Snorlax doing Earthquake, can that even be dodged?

Every move can be dodged, but you have to learn the timing and positioning. Unfortunately, the animations don't always make the timing obvious because your Pokemon doesn't take damage right away. You just have to figure it out by trial and error.

If only I had a gym I can easily get to to try it on. >>; Going to the BMW dealership and standing near there building is awkward...

I live in downtown, in my city...so it helps a lot. :D

Edit* Literally living in downtown, which has so many pokestops and gyms. >.< I don't know how people in small towns are going to play.

You just deal with the smallness, and perhaps have to take outings. The closest gym to me is a good half an hour drive (super jealous that one of the gym champs has an arcanine), and the nearest pokestop is about 15 to 20 minutes. I live in a farm area, so there is nothing here. My niece caught one by using incense. Once college starts up again there will be little issues as there are stops everywhere, and the campus isn't even all that big.

Yeah, I noticed the dodge thing, and would generally get a attack-attack-dodge-dodge pattern going. Just wasn't sure about the bigger attacks. I would do just fine with regular attacks but the big one would get me, and I couldn't see the Pokemon doing it.

You know, I haven't even tried the mall since I usually no reason to go to it. o.o;

Sadly the only people I know of that would help me get to these places (since I don't know where they are) are either working when I'm off or sleeping usually or can't go out too far because they have night shift at work and start at 4pm.