PokeGyms Pokemon GO Guide
Last update: 14 July 2016
PokeGyms are a much different mechanism that those known from other Pokemon games. Here, you can take control over such a Gym, which will mean that the Gym will be controlled by one of the three teams. There are couple of different features of the Gyms, which are described further on in this chapter.
How to take a neutral Gym
Find the Gym first. The Gyms look like high towers, their color renders the team they belong to (red, blue, yellow, or grey - neutral). Much like the Pokestops, the Gym has to be approached first, before it can be interacted with.
If you manage to find a neutral Gym (grey), you have to defeat it's whole crew. Repeat this process several times, and the Gym will be available for you to capture. Now, you have to place a Pokemon there, and the Gym will belong to your team. Whether you become the Gym's leader and how difficult will it be to take over the Gym for your enemies, depends on the CP of that Pokemon.
Maintaining control over the Gym
Conquering the Gym is but a beginning. Now you need to hold it. Every gym has its own prestige level. Every prestige level allows to add another Pokemon to the Gym. Gym level 5 allow to place five protecting Pokemons within it. The prestige can be raised by defending the Gym (failed attempts of the enemies to capture your Gym), and by training Pokemons inside it.
The prestige degrades when the enemy (or a group of them) manages to defeat all the Pokemons inside. Should the level of prestige drop by one point, the "garrison" will lost the Pokemon with the lowest CP. When the prestige drops to 0, the team that had controlled the Gym loses it, and control can be taken over that Gym.
One of the most important factor of maintaining control over the Gym is the fact that every Pokemon inside a Gym produces Pokecoins - the game's currency. Every Pokemon provides 10 Pokecoins every 21 hours. Having 5 Pokemons in a Gym will give you 50 Pokecoins every 21 hours.
Taking a Gym from another team
As I've mentioned above, every Gym has its prestige level, which renders the number of Pokemons that can guard the Gym. If a Gym that interests you belongs to another team, you will be able to attack the "garrison" of Pokemons the Gym contains. Moreover, players from two different teams can attack a Gym belonging to the third team at the same time. However, the Gym can then be controlled by only one of the two teams (should they win the battle).
Fighting for control is about getting the Gym's prestige down to 0. Every time someone wins with the Pokemons from the Gym - it will lose an amount of prestige (most of the times enough to lose one prestige level). The process has to be repeated enough times as to drop the prestige level to 0, rendering the Gym neutral, and able to be captured.