Pokémon Go Gyms: How to defend, attack, earn coins, get stardust

How do you attack a rival Gym?

The attacking process in Gyms is pretty straight forward.

Pokemon Go Attacking Gyms

Pokemon Go Attacking Gyms (Image credit: iMore/Rene Ritchie)

1. Approach a Gym until you're within range. It has to be controlled by a team other than your own. 2. Tap on the Gym. 3. Tap the Battle button. 4. Tap a Pokémon to swap it out for a different Pokémon. (One better suited to counter the rival Pokémon)

Pokemon Go Attacking Gyms 2

Pokemon Go Attacking Gyms 2 (Image credit: iMore/Rene Ritchie)

5. Tap on Go Battle. 6. FIGHT! 7. Tap to attack with a Quick Move. 8. Touch and hold to attack with a Charge Move. (When the charge meter is full.) 9. Swipe left or right to dodge an attack. 10. Tap the Quit button, middle right, to abandon the fight. (Looks like a runner.) 11. Tap the Swap button, bottom right, to switch Pokémon during a fight. (Looks like up and down arrows.)

The battle continues until your six Pokémon lose all their CP, or you run out of time and lose, or all the defending Pokémon lose all their CP, are defeated, and then lose some Motivation.

Stop. A rival Pokémon doesn't get kicked off the Gym each time you win a round of battles? How do you kick them off?

Pokemon Go Gym reduce Motivation battles

Sometimes. If a defender's motivation is already empty, you can kick it off after one battle. If its motivation is full, though, you have to first empty it, then you can kick it off.

If no one is feeding it while you attack, a Pokémon with full motivation takes three battles to kick from a Gym.

Rene Ritchie
Contributor

Rene Ritchie is one of the most respected Apple analysts in the business, reaching a combined audience of over 40 million readers a month. His YouTube channel, Vector, has over 90 thousand subscribers and 14 million views and his podcasts, including Debug, have been downloaded over 20 million times. He also regularly co-hosts MacBreak Weekly for the TWiT network and co-hosted CES Live! and Talk Mobile. Based in Montreal, Rene is a former director of product marketing, web developer, and graphic designer. He's authored several books and appeared on numerous television and radio segments to discuss Apple and the technology industry. When not working, he likes to cook, grapple, and spend time with his friends and family.