The 2022 Pokémon GO World Championships in London brought the best Pokémon GO Trainers in the world together to battle for the title of World Champion. And now all Trainers can watch hours of exciting battles to learn from the best!
Whether you’re just getting started in the GO Battle League or are a seasoned battler looking for inspiration, watching these Trainers compete is entertaining and informative. There are plenty of opportunities to compete in Pokémon GO tournaments in the coming months, but in the meantime, participating in the GO Battle League is a great way to earn Stardust, useful items, and even encounters with Legendary Pokémon.
And there’s no shortage of lessons to be learned from watching the nail-biting battles that took place over three days of competition. If you’re new to the GO Battle League, you might need a little help identifying the strategies Trainers use. Or you might see Trainers use tactics that don’t make much sense to you on the surface. Understanding what to look for when you watch battles can be key to improving your own performance. Here are eight takeaways for GO Battle League Trainers from the 2022 Pokémon GO World Championships.
Bait Your Opponents with Charged Attacks
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Protect Shields are a precious resource—you only get two. Tricking your opponent into wasting a Protect Shield against a Charged Attack that won’t do much damage can cause a major upset. Here we see Brazil’s Zarddy bait Japan’s CrescentAngels by using Azumarill’s Ice Beam instead of the Play Rough that CrescentAngels likely expected. Zarddy saved energy, and CrescentAngels was down a valuable Protect Shield.
Use a Pokémon as Your Third Protect Shield
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Each Trainer may only get two Protect Shields, but there are ways you can absorb a few extra Charged Attacks. Clever Trainers can use one of their Pokémon to take a Charged Attack on behalf of another Pokémon. For this to work, a Trainer needs to know when their opponent is going to use a Charged Attack and swap their Pokémon at the right moment. It requires perfect timing and a solid understanding of your opponent’s strategy. In the above clip, we see CrescentAngels use this technique by swapping a Swampert with low HP for his Registeel to absorb a Poison Jab from Zarddy’s Nidoqueen. This may have been the move that won the battle for CrescentAngels.
Make the Safe Switch
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An essential component of battling is making sure your Pokémon face off against opponents they can defeat. Sometimes a battle starts, and you realize with a sinking feeling that your lead Pokémon simply can’t take down your opponent’s lead. You can prepare for this by having a safe switch Pokémon to bring in to preserve your lead Pokémon and hopefully turn the tide of battle. Here we see 23EJB send out Medicham against Shep88’s Sableye in their first battle. Realizing Medicham isn’t well-positioned, 23EJB immediately swaps in Walrein, a popular safe switch choice in the GO Battle League.
Don’t Waste Charged Attacks
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It can be tempting to send off a Charged Attack as soon as it’s ready to go. But sometimes the prudent strategy is to save your Charged Attack and use Fast Attacks to bring down your opponent’s Pokémon. This tactic sets up your Pokémon to face off against its next opponent with one or more Charged Attacks ready to go. When 23EJB’s Shadow Ninetales was up against Shep88’s Registeel, that’s exactly what 23EJB did. Knowing Registeel wasn’t a threat to Ninetales, 23EJB kept using the Fast Attack Fire Spin despite having the Charged Attacks Weather Ball and Overheat at the ready. This allowed Ninetales to go into its next matchup against Sableye with an energy advantage, which set the stage for 23EJB to coast to a comfortable victory.
Use Shadow Pokémon
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Shadow Pokémon are hugely popular in the GO Battle League, and for good reason—they deal 20% more damage. While they also take 20% more damage, they can still wreak havoc on your opponent if used effectively. Every Trainer in the Pokémon GO World Championships brought a team of six Pokémon, and Trainer joqqs13 included three Shadow Pokémon in his lineup—Shadow Beedrill, Shadow Politoed, and Shadow Sableye. He was confident enough in these Pokémon that he chose to lead with Shadow Politoed before swapping in Shadow Beedrill in his first battle against LNDsAzaray.
Swap Pokémon to Counter Debuffs
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All attacks deal damage in the GO Battle League—some more than others—but certain attacks can also reduce an opposing Pokémon’s Attack or Defense stats. If this happens to your Pokémon, there’s a quick and effective solution: swap the Pokémon out. When it returns later, its stats will have returned to normal. Here we see jbcao1987’s Araquanid use Bubble Beam against emslieboy98’s Shadow Nidoqueen. Bubble Beam reduces a Pokémon’s Attack stat by one stage. Rather than stick around and battle with a lowered stat, emslieboy98 swapped out his Shadow Nidoqueen, removing the debuff. Shadow Nidoqueen later returned to deliver a full-strength Earth Power against Sableye, with emslieboy98 ultimately winning the match.
Undercharge Charged Attacks
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If you’re using a Charged Attack, you want to deal as much damage as possible, right? Not always. Here we see Chrisiati’s Walrein use an undercharged Icicle Spear against MarcelloCC’s Swampert. Swampert is low in health and a fully charged attack would knock it out, but Chrisiati preferred to not power it up. This allowed Swampert to stay in the battle for a few extra seconds so Walrein could gain energy, which meant Chrisiati could sneak in one more Icicle Spear when his opponent sent out his next Pokémon.
Use Your Protect Shields
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It can be difficult to know when to use your Protect Shields. But don’t let them go to waste—the worst-case scenario is losing a battle while you still have Protect Shields that might have made a difference. Here we see Inadequance defeat Bestiamaxx, even though Bestiamaxx still had both Protect Shields left. While it can be frustrating to use a Protect Shield at a suboptimal moment, it’s much worse to lose without using both of your Protect Shields.
Hopefully watching these experts execute brilliant strategies helped you level up your battling chops. Looking for more tips on how to throw down in the GO Battle League? Learn how to get started in the GO Battle League, how to master Charged Attacks and Fast Attacks, and how to use lead and safe switch Pokémon effectively. Be sure to catch more exciting Pokémon GO matches at YouTube.com/Pokemon!
