Trainer Battles
Trainer Battles are a feature in Pokémon GO that lets Trainers battle against each other, with different rules compared to Gym or Raid Battles.[1] Trainers will need to choose a league before going into a Trainer Battle, with each league having different maximum Pokémon CP limits.[2] Trainers can challenge one another using a Battle Code, assemble a team of three Pokémon, and see who comes out on top. When Trainer Battles are completed, both participants will receive great rewards, including a chance at rare, coveted Evolution Items.[3]
Battle Leagues
Battle Leagues
There are three Battle Leagues to choose from: Great League, Ultra League, and Master League.[4] Great League & Ultra League will need to be unlocked by both trainers with the minimum requirements to battle in. Each Trainer are only allowed to assign three Pokémon to a Battle League party.[5]
Locked League
Battles are fast-paced and real-time and a Trainer's selected team of Pokémon will be able to execute both their Fast Attack and Charged Attack moves. In preparation for battle, Trainers will even be able to use Stardust and Candy to unlock a bonus Charged Attack for their Pokémon.
Using Charged Attacks in Trainer Battles have an additional mechanic. Numerous icons of that attack's type would appear on the screen while charging up the attack, and you must swipe and hit as many icons as you can to power it up. Different types have different patterns in which the icons appear:
- Water: Icons "rain" down from the top right corner towards the bottom left corner.
- Flying: Icons blown in from the right and to the left in a wave pattern.
- Grass: Similar to Flying, but from left to right instead.
- Bug: Similar to Grass, but with a smaller wave magnitude.
- Ground: Icons briefly pop up from beneath before falling back down, going back and forth from left to right.
- Fire: Icons appear from the bottom and rising in a column.
- Ice: 4 icons in a row "snow" down from above in 8 waves.
- Rock: Similar to Ice, but from top left to bottom right.
- Electric: Icons falling from above in a zigzag pattern.
- Dragon: Circular packets of 5 icons falling from top left to bottom right in 7 waves (accompanied by Draco Meteor animation).
- Steel: Diagonal line of 4 icons appear in the middle, with 6 waves.
- Normal: Clusters of 5 icons bursting in various spots of the screen.
- Dark: Arcs of 4 icons in 8 waves, centering on the Pokémon.
- Fairy: Icons appearing in sequence in a big circular pattern.
- Psychic: Similar to Fairy, but the circles expand outwards (mimicking the Psychic type icons' shape).
- Poison: Icons "bubble" up from lower-middle screen with limited movement.
- Fighting: Icons randomly appear broadly near the middle of the screen.
- Ghost: Icons rise from beneath in a 2-3-2-3 etc. pattern.
Two Protect Shields may be deployed to save Pokémon from critical damage, running out of them the Pokémon will be left defenseless.[3] If the battle's time limit has been reached, the victor will be decided by whomever has the most knock-outs.[6] Tie battles are also possible when both Trainers lose are possible.
Trainers will usually have find other Trainers on their nearby tab to initiate a Trainer Battle, but Ultra and Best Friends can challenge each other from any distance.[3] Battling against another Trainer adds a new option for increasing your friendship, similar to participating in a Raid Battle together or exchanging Gifts.[7]
Protect Shield
At the end of a battle, both Trainers will receive prizes regardless of whether they win or lose. Rewards can be rewarded up to three times per day by battling other Trainers, but progress toward medals will continue after that. The end of a battle will also give Trainers an option to propose a rematch, or to send them a Friend Request if they're not already friends.[7]
| League | Icon | Minimum Requirements to Unlock | Constraints |
|---|---|---|---|
| Great | 
|
No Minimum Requirement | Max CP per Pokémon: 1,500 |
| Ultra | 
|
3 Pokémon with 1,500 CP or Higher | Max CP per Pokémon: 2,500 |
| Master | 
|
3 Pokémon with 2,500 CP or Higher | No Limit |
Banned Pokémon
Ditto and Shedinja are banned in Trainer Battles.[7]
Team Leader Battles
Ace Trainer
Team Leaders Spark, Candela, and Blanche are available to battle, any time, any place. Trainers can earn rewards once per day when training with a team leader. Finally, you can work toward earning an Ace Trainer medal once again.[3]
Each Team Leader will always have the same defined set of Pokemon (with a different team for each League), much like battling Gym Leaders in the main series games.[7] They never used protect shields until an update in July 2019, which also changed their teams.
The Pokémon in the teams are comprised of Fire-types for Candela, Water- and Ice-types for Blanche, and Electric-types for Spark.
| Team Leader | League | 1st Pokémon | 2nd Pokémon | 3rd Pokémon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Blanche |
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 Candela |
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#0157 | ||||
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 Spark |
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List of previous Team Leader Battle teams
| Start | End | Leader | League | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 12, 2018 |
Jul 19, 2019 |
Blanche |
|
Magikarp, Feebas, Squirtle |
|
Alolan Ninetales, Glalie, Lapras | |||
|
Lapras, Gliscor, Articuno | |||
Candela |
|
Slugma, Vulpix, Charmander | ||
|
Alolan Marowak, Houndoom, Infernape | |||
|
Infernape, Electivire, Moltres | |||
Spark |
|
Magnemite, Mareep, Pikachu | ||
|
Alolan Raichu, Magneton, Manectric | |||
|
Manectric, Milotic, Zapdos |
Rewards
After finishing each day's first three Trainers Battles and the first Team Leader Battle, trainers receive random combination of the following rewards.
| Stardust | Sinnoh Stone | Rare Candy | Technical Machines |
|---|---|---|---|
500/1000×
 |
1/2×
 |
1/2×
 |
1×  1×
 |
Stat boosts
Beginning on February 16, 2019, certain Charged Attacks have a chance to trigger stat boosts during Trainer Battles. These stat boosts persist on the affected Pokémon until they either faint or are switched out of battle.[8]
The moves with impacts include:
- Acid Spray: 100% chance to reduce the opponent's Defense by 2 stages
- Ancient Power: 20% chance to raise the user's Attack and Defense by 2 stages
- Leaf Tornado: 50% chance to reduce the opponent's Attack by 1 stage
- Ominous Wind: 20% chance to raise the user's Attack and Defense by 2 stages
- Silver Wind: 20% chance to raise the user's Attack and Defense by 2 stages
- Skull Bash: 100% chance to raise the user's Defense by 1 stage.
Development
When designing Trainer Battles, Niantic wanted to create an experience that everyone could enjoy and ensure that different kinds of Pokémon can show their strengths. With Leagues in Trainer Battles, they hope to create a system that's accessible to many Trainers.[9]
Currently, battles have a four minute timer and the time is only displayed during the final 20 seconds of battle, but this could change before release.[7]
Gallery
Trivia
- Trainer Battles became available on December 12th, 2018, following the forced roll-out of update 0.131.1.[10]
- Rare Candy was added to be a reward on January 9th, 2019.[11]
- Fast TM and Charged TM were added to be rewards on February 25th, 2019.[12]
- In the first set of Team Leader team:
- The last Pokémon in each leader's Great League team is always a Starter Pokémon.
- The first Pokémon in each leader's Ultra League team is always an Alolan-form Pokémon.
- The second Pokémon in each leader's Master League team is always the only one that does not have their typical type(s).
- The last Pokémon in each leader's Master League team is always a member of Legendary Bird Trio.
References
- ↑ PokemonGoApp. (2018, November 30). We hear you loud and clear, Trainers! Here's your exclusive sneak peek into Trainer Battles. Twitter. Retrieved on 2018-12-02.
- ↑ PokemonGoApp. (2018, November 30). Think that CP strength is the only deciding factor in Pokémon GO Trainer Battles?. Twitter. Retrieved on 2018-12-02.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 COMING SOON: Show your skills with Pokémon GO Trainer Battles!. Pokémon GO Live. Retrieved on 2018-12-04.
- ↑ PokemonGoApp. (2018, November 30). Here's a breakdown of each Battle League's requirements. Twitter. Retrieved on 2018-12-02.
- ↑ PokemonGoApp. (2018, November 30). While Pokémon with high CP might be a big advantage. Twitter. Retrieved on 2018-12-02.
- ↑ PokemonGoApp. (2018, December 5). While in a Trainer Battle, keep your eye on the time. Twitter. Retrieved on 2018-12-05.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Goldfarb, A. (2018, December 4). Pokemon Go PVP Doesn't Reinvent Battles, But Adds Some New Twists. IGN. Retrieved on 2018-12-04.
- ↑ Community Note: Upcoming Changes to Pokémon GO. Pokémon GO Live. Retrieved on 2019-02-14.
- ↑ PokemonGoApp. (2018, November 30). Developer note: When designing Trainer Battles, we wanted to create an experience that everyone can enjoy. Twitter. Retrieved on 2018-12-02.
- ↑ PokemonGoApp. (2018, December 12). Calling all level 40 Trainers. Your time has come to #GOBattle. Twitter. Retrieved on 2018-12-12.
- ↑ Rare Candy from PVP reward.. /r/TheSilphRoad. Retrieved on 2019-01-09.
- ↑ Got TM from pvp. /r/TheSilphRoad. Retrieved on 2019-04-02.