Pokémon Go Trainer Battles live now – here’s how to fight and what you can expect
Niantic's mobile Pokémon game is still making millions as players flock back as improvements keep coming -- with player-versus-player battles the next in line
POKÉMON Go players have finally got one of their most-wanted features -- the ability to pit their Pokémon against other players.
The new Battles feature was teased at the end of November and we can now reveal more details about how it will work.
It started rolling out with the latest update to the game yesterday, and is now available to all.
You can pick and save teams of three Pokémon in the Party menu to send out and battle other trainers' teams in three separate leagues, with the battles themselves playing out much like the gym battles that are in the game at the moment.
The league your team fights in will be limit the power of the Pokémon you can send out, so almost all players should be able to compete from the get-go.
The Great league will be for Pokémon under 1,500 CP (the game's combat rating), Ultra will be for those under 2,500 CP, while the super-heavyweight Master league has no limits.
The three leagues will have their own medals and rewards, and will all present different challenges. The idea is that all trainers will want to compete in all of them, rather than moving up through them.
Battles Hands-on Impressions
BATTLES are simple, but compelling and fun.
If you've played any of Pokémon Go in the past couple of years they'll be instantly familiar.
The main thing to think about is how the various types match up -- you'll get instant pop-ups on screen in battle when you use a particularly effective attack, so you'll be able to learn them pretty quickly.
The shield adds an interesting tactical element to the battles.
It feels like you want to save them for blocking the biggest charge attacks of a type your Pokémon is weak to, or to keep a Pokémon alive for long enough to get off one more charge attack of its own.
The AI battles are a fun and intuitive way to learn the basics, and work out which of your Pokémon are going to be useful in battle or not.
The lack of items and status effects is something of a shame, but hopefully that is something that will come in sooner rather than later.
It's not the deepest or most complex battle system you've ever seen -- but it's a great start that stands well on its own for now.
Most fighting will have to be done face-to-face by scanning a QR code on the phone of the person you want to fight, but you can also use the new Friends system to fight online with your Ultra Friends too.
You can challenge your ultra friends by just finding them in your friends list and clicking 'battle'.
Trying to battle them will send a notification to their phone, in theory -- though reports suggest this isn't working properly quite yet.
If you want to fight face-to-face, then go into the 'nearby' menu that shows you raids and nearby Pokémon, and choose 'Battle'.
There you can find your QR code, and a button that brings up your camera so you can challenge another trainer by scanning their QR Code.
You can also battle the team leaders in the same part of the menu if you want some practice and easy rewards.
Battling is simple enough -- you tap anywhere on the screen to use your Pokémon's Quick Attack while your more powerful Charge Attacks power up through damage you deal or take.
You then tap the Charge Attack button to launch it.
One innovation for the new battles is the shield -- you get two charges for each fight, each of which can block one attack.
You'll get a notification in battle when your opponent is about to launch a charge attack, but knowing which attacks to block and when will be key; do you want to use it early and stay ahead, or do you want to save them until your Pokémon is about to faint?
There is a
You can switch Pokémon from your team of three during battle, but not that often -- after sending a new Pokémon into battle you'll need to wait about 20 seconds or so before you can switch them out in turn.
These features are all meant to speed up battles, which shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes at a time, according to Niantic.
Niantic have also revealed that the launch of trainer battles is just the beginning of player-versus-player combat in Pokémon Go.
Unlike in traditional Pokémon battles, where your beasts can do things like put your opponents' combatants to sleep, set them on fire or poison them, all the moves in Pokémon Go just do damage on the turn they're used and nothing else.
However, that looks set to change at some point soon, with Niantic confirming that the Battles system is very much a base from which they plan to build a more complex system including those sorts of features.
The developer has also promised it will be publishing tournament set-up guides for local players to organise their own competitive events around Community Days and the like.
Other future developments may well include more AI battles against famous in-game characters from the main series, out in the real world.
These aren't ready yet, but Niantic is going to assess how the training fights go, as well as the rest of the PvP content, with a view to implementing something like that in future.
A launch date for the feature hasn't been announced yet, but it is coming "soon", according to Niantic.
MOST READ IN GAMING
Are you still playing Pokémon Go, or are you a lapsed player now thinking about getting back in now you can battle your friends?
Let us know in the comments.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368 . We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.