In Pokémon GO announced changes that are supposed to significantly improve an area of the game. Above all, it is meant to become fairer for all trainers.
Fighting in the battle league, the PvP area of Pokémon GO, is one of the major core aspects of the game. Here you can immerse yourself more and more and ensure better results with better teams, more sophisticated strategies, and more experience.
Nevertheless, you are also dependent on your smartphone’s connection to the game, which can cost you a victory or two. Among other things, Pokémon GO wants to adjust some knobs with a major update for the battle league now to make fighting fairer for all trainers.
More Skill, Less External Factors
What is the goal? The outcome of battles in the battle league should depend more on your skill in the future and less on external influences such as network quality and the performance of your device. In the announcement for the update, Niantic writes:
In the past, some interactions could be influenced by inputs during these rounds. Most of the time, it worked as intended, but different network states and performance differences in devices could occasionally affect the processing of actions.
The core of the new combat system strengthens the turn-based nature and can better contain the influence of network disruptions and performance differences in devices. The connection will always play a role in online games; however, normal fluctuations within the rounds and network tolerances should no longer affect the results of the same decisions in a particular game state.
To achieve this goal, 7 changes in the battle league have been announced.
When will the changes be implemented? When exactly these changes will land in the game is not mentioned in the announcement.
7 Changes to Achieve the Goal
What are the changes? Niantic has announced 7 changes to achieve the aforementioned goal. Below we briefly discuss all the changes and explain what these changes are supposed to bring.
Many of the changes refer to a so-called “round.” A round corresponds to a time cycle of 0.5 seconds.
1. Damage to be Calculated at the End of a Round
Until now, damage from attacks that, for example, only require one round was inflicted at different times. This will now change, and damage will generally be applied only at the end of a round. At the same time, you will also receive the energy generated by your quick attacks only then.
Additionally, charge attacks that are started simultaneously with an opponent’s quick attack will now also be executed if your Pokémon is defeated by the quick attack in the same round.
Through these changes, the execution time of quick attacks should become more reliable, and the energy you receive from quick attacks should become more predictable.
2. Pokémon Will Be Swapped Before Incoming Damage
If you want to swap a Pokémon to absorb incoming damage from your opponent with another monster, it should also run more smoothly in the future.
If you swap a monster in the same round in which your opponent would defeat your monster with an attack, the swap will be performed first, and the swapped Pokémon will take the damage.
This should ensure that tactical swapping can be performed independently of network quality.
3. Swaps Will Be Standardized
This change also concerns the swapping of monsters in battle. In the future, the swaps should occur as follows:
- Quick swaps (voluntarily performed by you) will cost one round of time
- Forced swaps (when your monster has been defeated) will cost no round
- A swap performed immediately after the sequence of a charge attack will cost no round
This change is supposed to make swapping more predictable and eliminate delays caused by charge attacks when swapping.
4. Charge Attacks Start at the Beginning of a Round
Previously, charge attacks were executed at the moment they were triggered. In the future, they will always be activated at the beginning of the next round after they are triggered.
Furthermore, charge attacks you started will be executed before a quick attack from the opponent that occurs in the charge attack sequence. Thus, changes to the status values of your charge attack will be applied before the opponent’s quick attack hits.
Niantic also states that quick attacks can thereby be executed “secretly” or “stealthily.” Secretly means that the quick attack starts at the beginning of the charge attack and is executed in the same round as the charge attack.
A stealthy quick attack is one that would be completed during the charge attack. This will now be executed after the charge attack is completed.
5. Swap Buttons Will Be Displayed Faster
If you are in the sequence of a charge attack, the buttons to swap monsters will now be displayed earlier. This is intended to make it easier to perform a swap immediately after a charge attack.
6. After a Connection Loss, the Fight Will Continue
Connection issues can have a significant impact on the outcome of a fight. Therefore, there are also changes in this regard.
Both trainers’ games must connect to the game before the fight begins. Furthermore, the fight should continue and no longer pause if one of the trainers has connection issues.
This should ensure that fights are cleanly concluded when a trainer has connection issues. Additionally, results such as defeated Pokémon and energy gain should occur in a more uniform and clearer manner.
7. Changes to the HP Bar Animation
Not only the execution of damage but also the visual feedback about it will receive an update. On the HP bar of your monster, you can now see exactly through the animation when your Pokémon receives damage from the opponent’s attacks.
The complete announcement with all changes in detail can be found on pokemongo.com.
The current month is once again packed with events. The highlight is the GO Tour 2026, which takes place at the end of the month. A suitable event to get in the mood for the tour also takes place in February. If you want to know when which content is expected, take a look at our overview with all events in February 2026 in Pokémon GO.
