Pokemon Go’s Changing Charge Attack Mechanics

Pokemon Go’s latest update came with many changes, including some quality of life changes for trainer battles.

Everyone’s talking about Team Rocket and the Shadow Pokémon. It seems other updates are getting left behind in all the excitement. One excellent quality of life update from Niantic that dropped with the latest patch is the new Charge Move battle mechanics in Pokémon Go.

Serebii posted this update on Twitter, showing the new mechanics in action.

Serebii Update: The new method of Trainer Battles Charge Moves is now available in Pokémon GO https://t.co/gDbXkHSvkT pic.twitter.com/LZG77hBg7b

— Serebii.net (@SerebiiNet) July 19, 2019

Demonstrated in the gif above, instead of rapidly tapping the screens, players go through a brief minigame, touching, slashing, or otherwise collecting the most elemental icons. The more they come in contact with, the stronger the attack. This is a marked improvement from the first iteration, where it was just tapping as fast as one could. Efficient for a mobile app, maybe, but engaging? Not so much.

It’s worth noting that this isn’t the only change coming to battles, especially ones with Team Leaders. Team Leaders had their Pokémon teams updated. Team Leaders always varied slightly depending on if players selected Great, Ultra, or Master League battles with them; now, however, there is a little more variety between their teams. You can see a full list of their teams on Serebii’s Trainer Battle page for Pokémon Go. Plus, they now use shields in battle. You’re not the only one that can block attacks now. Your AI opponent just leveled up.

There have been so many exciting changes to the app in just the last week. With Shadow Pokémon, improved appraisals, improved battle mechanics, and new teams to face against, it’s an exciting week for players.