Pokémon Go Improves Switching Mechanic In Trainer Battles; Introduces New Attacks

Pokémon Go announced that it was putting in new changes for Trainer Battles. In particular, the switching Pokémon mechanic has been improved. Aside from this change, new attacks are also being introduced in the game.

The Pokémon Go team at Niantic said that the goal for Trainer Battles was to make it strategic and intuitive. For the switching mechanic, however, the team initially found out that this feature did not meet the standards. The team had found out that during switching animations, Pokémon could still attack or be attacked. At first, the team removed this particular mechanic from the game.

The team has since made it that when switching Pokémon, the battle is new paused briefly. Thus, players are now able to choose which Pokémon they can call out while making sure that Pokémon do not cause damage to each other.

New Attacks Coming!

Players are sure to be excited with the fact that some Pokémon are now going to learn attacks that have yet to be seen in the game. These are:

• Charm
  • A Fairy-type Fast Attack
  • For these Pokémon:
    • Raichu
    • Clefable
    • Wigglytuff
    • Wobbuffet
    • Granbull
    • Donphan
    • Gardevoir
    • Delcatty
    • Latias
    • Togekiss
    • Gallade
• Skull Bash
  • A Normal-type Charged Attack that increases the Defense stat of the user 100 percent of the time
  • For these Pokémon:
    • Blastoise
    • Raichu
    • Lapras
    • Snorlax
    • Rhyperior

New attacks are also coming with these Pokémon being able to learn attacks that they were not able to do before:

• 026 Alolan Raichu: Grass Knot - Alolan Raichu currently can only learn Electric- and Psychic-type attacks. Grass Knot will give it more type coverage and help cover its weakness to Ground-type attacks
• 045 Vileplume: Sludge Bomb - Sludge Bomb provides Vileplume with a strong Poison-type Charged Attack to take full advantage of its Grass and Poison types.
• 097 Hypno: Fire Punch, Ice Punch, Thunder Punch - These attacks provide Hypno with coverage to help it in the Great League.
• 101 Electrode: Foul Play - All the attacks Electrode can currently learn are Normal type or Electric type. Foul Play provides more type coverage for Electrode.
• 142 Aerodactyl: Rock Throw - Rock Throw allows Aerodactyl to compete in the Great League against other Flying-type Pokémon, such as Altaria.
• 144 Articuno: Ancient Power, Ice Shard - Ice Shard will help Articuno use its Charged Attacks more frequently in battle. Ancient Power offers additional type coverage.
• 145 Zapdos: Ancient Power, Drill Peck - Zapdos currently can only learn Electric-type Charged Attacks. Drill Peck gives another type option and is a natural fit for this Pokémon. Ancient Power provides Zapdos with additional type coverage.
• 146 Moltres: Ancient Power, Wing Attack - Wing Attack provides Moltres with a Fast Attack alternative to Fire Spin, and Ancient Power gives it a new type option for its Charged Attacks.
• 254 Sceptile: Dragon Claw - Dragon Claw gives Sceptile additional coverage to compete with Dragon-type Pokémon in the Great League and the Ultra League.
• 306 Aggron: Smack Down - The Fast Attack Smack Down should make Aggron a formidable choice to use in any league.
• 344 Claydol: Mud Slap - This Ground-type alternative to Claydol’s Psychic-type Fast Attacks provides it with additional type coverage, improving its capabilities against Pokémon resistant to Psychic-type attacks.
• 437 Bronzong: Bulldoze, Psyshock - Bulldoze and Psyshock are Charged Attacks that Bronzong can capitalize on to differentiate it from other Psychic-type or Steel-type Pokémon, like Metagross.
• 466 Electivire: Ice Punch - All the Charged Attacks Electivire can currently learn are Electric type. Ice Punch provides more type coverage for Electivire.