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Pokémon 101 (intermediate's guide)

Stats

The CP ("combat power") is calculated based off the Pokémon species' base values, the power up level, and three hidden numbers called "IVs" (individual values.)

1.) Base values are higher for more powerful Pokémon, such as fully evolved Pokémon or Legendary Pokémon. Usually the rarer a Pokémon is, the higher its base values.

2.) Power up level is a value you can increase by feeding your Pokémon Stardust and candy. The higher your Trainer Level is, the more you can power up a Pokémon.

3.) IVs are fixed integers ranging from 0 to 15. There are IVs for stamina (linked to HP), attack (linked to CP), and defense (linked to CP). You can't see these values in the game, but you can use an IV calculator to find it.

Moves

Every move has a different animation time and damage. Using these two values, DPS ("damage per second") lets you know how powerful a move is. This matters greatly for defeating and defending gyms efficiently.

Since the 7/29 update, basic moves (tap) have similar DPS. Some special moves (tap and hold) are now very powerful.

For basic moves see this DPS chart.

Protips

• Use an IV calculator to determine where you Pokémon stands.
• Early game, you can optimize for high power-up Pokémon with good moves. This will save your stardust, which you need a lot of later in the game.
• Late game, optimizing for good IV Pokémon is a good idea. You don't want to fully power up a poor IV Pokémon, which wastes a lot of stardust. Compared to a Pokémon with good IVs, you can potentially be hundreds of CP lower.
• Pokémon hatched from eggs generally have better IVs than wild-caught ones. Save your hatches!
• Pokémon caught in "nests", an area where multiple uncommon/rare Pokémon spawn very often, have very low IVs. Ex. Dratini nest in Danehy Park all have below average IVs.

Level Grinding Guide

Maximize your Lucky Egg Use

Save your Lucky Egg and hold off on evolving Pokémon until you have about 60-80 Poké to evolve. With this many evolutions, you will use your Lucky Egg time to the fullest.

In order of priority:

• Low-cost evolutions (12 candy): Pidgey, Weedle, Caterpie.
• Pokémon that will evolve into one that you haven't caught before. Check your Pokédex to see what you're missing.
• Pokémon that you have boatloads of: Rattata (25), Spearow (50), Zubat (50), Drowsee (50), etc. Reference here for more.

Now it's time for math. Every catch and transfer gives you 4 candy. Every evolution gives you 1 candy. Use Pidgey Calc to figure out whether you should use your Lucky Egg now or save up more Pokémon for later.

Experience Curve

With a little bit of play, most players will reach level 20, which is called the "soft level cap". Past that, experience needed for the next level grows exponentially. For example, the highest achievable level is 40, which requires 20 million total experience. To get from 39 to 40, 5 million experience is required.

You can definitely compete with higher-leveled trainers even at level 15, so don't be discouraged! Once you get to level 20, you're competitive with nearly everyone.

Gym Guide

Post-7/29 Update

There's a comprehensive guide on this Reddit thread.

Defending Strategy

It is much harder to defend an ally gym than to take an opposing one. Sometimes it's better to let it fall and then retake it quickly.

You should battle with a Pokémon with lower CP than the first Pokémon at the gym. The game rewards you for winning with a CP disadvantage by giving the gym more prestige (~500 prestige) compared to a CP advantage win (~50 prestige).

Capturing Strategy

It's very easy to solo gyms, and even easier with a group.

Solo: You get 6 Pokémon no matter what, so don't be afraid to let Pokémon faint since you usually outnumber the gym.

Group: Enter the gym at the same time to avoid the lag glitch (places all damage done so far on newly entering Pokémon, possibly KOing the late-joining Pokémon.) Tap away to win. Even large CP differences can be overcome in a group

Adding Pokémon: immediately after a gym is neutral, one team can add 3 defending Pokémon at once (this is because adding Pokémon gives the gym 2000 prestige, which levels it up 1-->2 and 2-->3.) Be quick because anyone can add to the neutral gym (termed "sniping".) The Pokémon must be full health, so taking too long to heal up battling Pokémon opens it up to sniping.

Efficient Use of Defender Bonus

The defender bonus lets you collect 10 Pokécoins and 500 stardust for every gym (up to 10) that you've stationed a Pokémon at. This is only activatable every 21 hours. So, the strategy is to capture as many gyms temporarily and cash in.

Group strategy: travel in a group of 3 to capture as many low-traffic gyms as possible. Then cash in on the defender bonus. It's OK to end at a high-traffic gym since it takes a few minutes for it to get reclaimed and you can use the bonus before it falls. It's possible to travel with more than 3, but you must spend time at each gym earning prestige, which leaves your previously captured gyms vunerable for longer.