TakingPokemonGO gyms is one of the cornerstones of gameplay and earning rewards. Taking the gym is only the start, though, as you now must leave a Pokemon behind to guard the gym for you. In highly populated areas, there’s a good chance your gym will be taken right out from under you before you get the rewards.
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Leaving behind the best Pokemon for the job will help assure that your hard-earned gym stays under your team’s leadership for longer. Here are the best Pokemon you need to have ready to leave being a defender for your gyms.
Updated By Joshua Leeds On February 5th, 2023:Pokemon GO’s meta is constantly changing with new additions to the Pokedex. Defending Gyms is always difficult, as the attack will have a massive advantage of playing in that moment, and you will often be unaware when your gym is being attacked. While it is difficult to defend a gym, this Pokemon will make it much more possible.
Steelix is a steel and Ground-type Pokemon, and steel types are always a decent option as gym defenders. While a few types are super effective to ground, its steel typing gives it a great defense against many other types, taking significantly reduced damage from almost all types.
Steelix has an incredibly high defense, already taking little amounts of damage before its type matchup negations. Steelix is best when using Iron Tail and either Heavy Slam or Earthquake. Heavy Slam will give Steelix the same-type bonus damage, but Earthquake is an incredibly powerful move that will finish off most of what it hits.
14Venusaur
Venasaur is an all-around great Pokemon for whatever you’re trying to do. It offers decently well-rounded stats and a type matchup with only a few counters. While Venasaur’s best stat is its attack, it has a high defense and stamina that will help take out other attacking Pokemon while standing its ground.
Vensaur is best on defense when using Razor Leaf and Frenzy Plant, giving it the same type of damage bonus. Another good option is Solar Beam, as it may be easier to obtain and offers the bonus, while also obliterating anything hit by it.
13Melmetal
Much like Steelix, Melmetal excels in its defensive capabilities by being an only steel-type Pokemon. Despite being only steel-type, Melmetal also uses electric moves and is the only legendary Pokemon that can be left in gyms to defend them.
Being legendary means Melmetal has high stats across the board, making it hard to take down and dealing lots of damage. Melmetal is quite flexible on its best defensive kit and comes down to personal preference for its charged attack. With its fast attack being Thunder Shock, it will receive a damage bonus from using Thunderbolt, but just about all of its charged attacks are helpful in defending, and branching out what it’s super effective too.
12Tyranitar
Tyranitar is both a rock and dark-type, making fighting extremely effective against him, but few others. Tyranitar’s best stat is attack but has a high enough stamina and defense to keep him up long enough to go through a few of the attacker’s Pokemon first.
Tyranitar is best when using Smack Down as its fast attack and Stone Edge as its charged attack. These are both very powerful moves that excel with Tyranitar’s already high attack and same-type bonus damage.
11Metagross
Metagross has a decent defense stat and a higher attack. Metagross is usually a difficult enemy to take down. Its higher attack stat helps it to chip away at an enemy while also surviving the incoming damage.
Metagross is best for defense using Zen Headbutt as a fast attack. This has a higher base attack than the other option, and it pairs well with Psychic as a charged attack. With its types being Steel and Psychic, there is a much larger than normal list of types that do less than usual amounts of damage to him.
10Rhyperior
Rhyperior has a higher defense and is usually difficult to take down. Its type affinity makes it susceptible to more attack types than usual, but it takes little to no damage from a non-super-effective move. Rhyperior also comes with a surprisingly high attack to match its high defense.
Rhyperior is best when used with Mud-Slap as its fast attack. Its charged attack can be chosen between Earthquake or Rock Wrecker – depending on preference or wanting to branch out to be super effective against other types.
9Dragonite
Unless your enemy is using an Ice-type Pokemon, Dragonite is a great attacker and just as great a defender. While it doesn’t have a noteworthy defense, its high attack allows it to finish off an enemy before it can do the same.
Dragonite is best used to defend with Dragon Tail as its fast attack. Dragon Tail has one of the highest base damages of a fast attack, making it perfect for a defender. Outrage is its best charge attack ability, and its lower charge time will help it be charged and used quickly while on defense.
Gyarados is a jack of all trades in this game.It is perfect to use when taking a gymand just as perfect to leave behind to guard it. Its attack is high, but not incredible – but it is well-rounded enough to be good at defending.
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It is best used with Waterfall on defense. Its high base damage, mixed with a few weaknesses, gives it few counters it can’t finish off first. Outrage is also its best charge attack, dealing high damage and recharging quickly.
Togekiss is both Flying and Fairy, meaning nothing is double super effective to it. A very large percentage of upper-tier Pokemon are either dragons or use dragon-type moves, meaning a fairy type is a perfect defense.
Togekiss is well-rounded but specializes in being a bit tankier. Togekiss is best when used with Charm and Dazzling Gleam, and it will almost require enemies to switch away from their strong dragon types to take the gym.
Snorlax is just a Normal type. With this, he is only countered by Fighting-type attacks, which are less used in upper-tier teams. Snorlax has very high stamina and defense. Adding in a solid health pool makes him a time investment to beat.
Snorlax is best when used with Zen Headbutt as its fast attack and Hyper Beam as the charged attack. Snorlax won’t be doing any monster amounts of damage on defense, but its long lifespan will allow it to hurt and greatly annoy the enemy.
