Pokemon Go Raids and Changes To Gyms, All in one Guide!

Hello Steemians and Pokeholics!

Recently Niantic has released a much needed update to Pokemon Go. It includes Gym changes, new items and raids, all of which tremendously help fix the games problems, as well as adding a true endgame.

Gym Changes :

• Gym graphics have been massively improved.
• You can now spin a Gyms symbol like a pokestop and get items, bonus items if its your gym.
• There are now Gym badges that you can level up to gold, most gym activities increase your badge xp. The higher the rank the better the rewards when you spin.
• A Gym can have up 6 defenders at a time down from 10.
• Defending Pokemon can be deposited without having to level up the gym.
• A defending Pokemon generates 1 coin per 10 mins of time defending, when it is knocked out it gives you the coins, you can only get 50 coins a day though.
• A defending Pokemon slowly loses motivation and becomes weaker with time, you can feed them berries to restore them back to fighting shape.
• When feeding a Pokemon berries you get stardust and badge xp so get to feeding!
• Every day you can spin any gym's symbol to get a free raid pass (as long as your not already holding one) which lets you participate in a raid [you can also buy premium raid passes for 100 pokecoins].
  

Raids :

• From time to time gyms will be invaded by a raid boss, this starts with an egg being placed above a gym and a countdown timer. After the timer runs out the raid boss will appear and you will have 1 hour before it goes away to challenge/fight it in an attempt to catch it and earn rewards! All you have to do is go up to the gym and hit battle when you see a raid pokemon!
• After you agree to fight in a raid you will be taken to a preparation screen where you can use items on your Pokemon as you wait for a couple minutes to see if anyone will join you, the process is automatic and more people do not take away from your rewards so the more the merrier!
• When the raid actually starts you and your team will have a few minutes to defeat the raid boss, but be warned in addition to much higher CP they hit harder and have a lot more hp as well!

Raid Eggs :

• There are 4 egg levels at the moment increasing in difficulty as the level progresses.
• 1 star (red) eggs can be soloed by mid level players, the pokemon that currently hatch from them are:
  Croconaw, Bayleef, Quilava all around 5000 cp each and everyone's favorite Magikarp at about 1000!
• 2 star (red) eggs are soloable by high level players if you have some strong counters. The Pokemon that come from the eggs are:
  Electabuzz, Exeggutor, Magmar, Muk and Weezing. Their CP is around 12000 each.
• 3 star (yellow) eggs and above are (probably) not soloable as they have too many hit points to knock out in the time limit available. The hatched Pokemon will be one of the following:
  Vaporeon, Arcanine, Machamp, Jolteon, Gengar, Flareon, Alakazam. They range from around 17000 to 22000 CP.
• 4 star (yellow) eggs really ramp up in difficulty and probably require 5 or more people. The Pokemon are:
  Lapras, Venusaur, Charizard, Blastoise, Snorlax, Rhydon and Tyranitar. They range from 22000 to 30000, except Tyranitar who reaches nearly 35000 CP. Be sure to bring some friends!
  *While not yet available there is one more tier of eggs the Dark Raid Eggs! These will contain LEGENDARY POKEMON Like Mewtwo and Lugia!

Rewards
What would be the point of these raids without fabulous rewards. When you defeat a raid boss you will be given the opportunity to catch the defeated Pokemon, which wont be as strong as when you fought it, but still strong and have good-great stats. Depending on how you and your team did as well as who owns the gym at the time, you will be rewarded with a certain number of premier balls that you will then use to try and catch the raid boss, you can use berry's as well.

• Other rewards include new stronger berrys and rare candies that turn into any candy you want. An amazing reward is the Fast/Charge TMs. Do you have a Dragonite that you spent hours and hours training only to have it learn bad moves (I know I did)? There is now an item that lets a Pokemon learn a different attack!

Pro Tips

• If you fight in a raid and lose you can try again without spending another raid pass, this helps if you ended up biting off more than you can chew and call for backup.
• You can do 2 free raids a day by holding a free raid pass in your items (likely from the previous day), then fight in a raid and afterwards spin a gym symbol getting you another free raid pass. This is helpful if you skip raiding for a day.
• Currently Niantic has placed a curfew on when raids appear. Raids only appear from 9am to 9pm, they just cease spawning after 9pm.

Thank you for reading! If you found this information useful please upvote and follow me, I will follow you back :).