If you want to collect daily coins in Pokémon GO, you should conquer and hold gyms. However, a gym in the neighborhood of MeinMMO author Max Handwerk has now used a very special defensive tactic twice, making attacks almost impossible. Quite clever!
If you play Pokémon GO regularly, you probably know them as well: those one or two gyms that you can easily take on a typical round through the area because they are conveniently on the way. I also have such a gym that I conquer again and again. And apparently, I’m not the only one.
Because ownership changes there with beautiful regularity. Usually, it’s Team Blue that has hoisted its flag on the gym, only to be attacked shortly thereafter by Team Red – or vice versa. The yellow team also appears every now and then, but from my experience, it tends to be rarer there.
Most of the time, the temporary gym leaders rely on the usual suspects. Chansey, Snorlax, Slaking – normally, it’s the case that I have to deal with this selection. It takes a bit of time, but usually, the gym is defeated after a few minutes, and I can move on.
But recently, I was surprised when I wanted to take on the usual gym. Because there, I was not met with the typical six Pokémon faces, but with a completely different team.
Matching defenders are a nasty trick
This is what the gym looked like: Neatly arranged, I found a squad of Eevee evolutions: Espeon, Vaporeon, Flareon, Jolteon, Leafeon, and Rhyperior. Okay, I admit, Rhyperior is a bit of an odd one out. Still, the big, bulky monster fit quite well with the rest of the team.
If I had encountered the typical defenders as usual, I would have attacked by now. But now, I stood in front of the gym and suddenly had no desire to attack anymore.
My problem: I found the gym simply too cool. Either a team had taken the effort to organize and create a thematically coherent gym. Or it just happened that someone threw in an Eevee and the rest followed to build the gym. I just didn’t want to be the one to ruin it.
So I moved on and left the gym as it was. There are other days, I thought to myself, this probably won’t happen again. But I was wrong!
About two weeks later, an Eevee gang showed up in “my” gym again – and this time even completely. Rhyperior had made way for a Leafeon, so now, aside from Glaceon and Umbreon, the whole squad was present.
Sure, I could have attacked now. The gym would surely have fallen.
But now, along with the coolness, there was also the cuteness factor of a complete Eevee team. So I had scruples again. I definitely couldn’t just come in with top attackers like Mewtwo, Metagross, and whatever. Therefore, I again walked away without doing anything.
Please stop that! (Or better not)
Why cool gyms are a problem: I find the idea of building thematically appropriate gyms really, really good. After all, the Pokémon games also always had a theme. If the gym near the flower shop suddenly had a grass gym, or if only water Pokémon were used at the lake because trainers coordinated – that would be pretty cool.
But guys – I need coins! And if soon only cool, cute, or thematically fitting gyms appear here regularly, where am I supposed to attack?
In the end, suddenly Eevee evolutions are roaming in one gym, small baby Pokémon in the second, and cute shiny bear monsters or something in the third gym. And then we’ll have problems.
So please, stop being so creative and making Pokémon GO cooler. Just throw in Chansey, Snorlax, and Co. again. Sure, you’ll sit around a bit until the gym is gone – but at least you’ll dare to attack!
If you still need tips for gym monsters that don’t fit together at all and aren’t cute, you will find them here: Here is the list of the best gym defenders in Pokémon GO.
