Gym Skills (Also referred to as extra-skills) are a new change introducing a rather difficult optional challenge to current gyms. Previously, in order to fight a Gym Leader, a player had to fight all of the Gym's trainers. This was a relatively uninteresting challenge. So now, a player can go up to the Gym Leader and ask for a battle directly - but because you haven;t proved yourself in the Gym, the Gym Leader will proc multiple Gym Skills that put you at a significant disadvantage, in order to test your abilities further and make you work for your badge.
Each Gym trainer is now associated with a single Gym Skill and will use it in their battle, giving you a hint in their pre-battle dialogue as to what it is. Once you've defeated a Gym Trainer, their Gym Skill will be removed from the fight with the Leader, so if you defeat all the trainers, you can get a straightforward fight with the Gym Leader, just like now. You can also choose to decline a battle with a Gym trainer after talking to them in order to get to the leader faster, but you'd better be prepared.
The balancing is intended to prevent brain-dead strategies from being able to defeat any Gym Leader with all their Gym Skills active. If you find a strategy that lets you cheese a Gym Leader with all of their skills active, please let us know. We're breaking exciting new ground here by making Gym fights actually mean something and you'd be helping if you did.
Minimum-battle-run challengers, we're sorry. Buy you've gotta admit, this is going to be hilarious.
List of Gym Skills with their associated hints:
| Hint | Gym Skill |
|---|---|
| Roxanne always told me that the best way to defend is to start out with a solid foundation and then slowly get tougher. | +4 Def on entry for the lead & +1 Def every turn. |
| When doing a trek, watch out for rock, uneven ground. You don't want to get hurt, or even worse, cut yourself on sharp stones! | Stealth Rocks & Last two Pokémon in the party bleed. |
| They say that when under immense pressure, even coal becomes diamonds. Once I'm backed into a corner, that's when my true power starts to shine! | Last Pokémon gets a +2 omniboost on switch-in. |
| Hint | Gym Skill |
|---|---|
| I hope you don't think that you'll be able to beat me just because you brought a Ghost-type! Thanks to my Ki, even ghosts don't stand a chance! | Foresight |
| If you don't stretch well before a battle, you could get really hurt. Worst case scenario, you'll end up paralyzed! | Last 2 Pokémon in the party are Paralyzed |
| Walking carefully over a floor of Spikes trains your focus. Let's see how well you've trained yours. | 2 layers of Spikes |
| What, a battle? Fine, but make it quick, I still need to put this mat away. | Mat Block on first switch-in |
| I just had a good stretch and I'm raring to go. I hope you're ready, I feel boosted up and I'm raring to go! My fighting style excels at copying my opponents' strengths! Let's see how you deal with it! | Copy stats of the opponent on death |
| Hint | Gym Skill |
|---|---|
| Watch your step! Those high-voltage wires can leave you with a nasty burn. | Last 3 Pokémon in the party are Burned |
| Careful! Wattson's trying to use Galvantula silk to make some traps, and they're leaving their Sticky Webs everywhere. | Stick Webs |
| I'm already amped up to the max! I hope you're able to keep pace, because I'm pumped up and ready to have this battle's tempo going at super speed! | +1 Speed every turn |
| Isn't technology amazing? With the power of magnetism, we can travel without even touching the ground!
Music is my way of letting all my stress out! Keeps me calm, and it's a really great way to strengthen my mind. |
Magnet Rise if Pokémon stays for 2 turns
+4 SpDef on lead |
| Hint | Gym Skill |
|---|---|
| As the battle goes on my flames will only get hotter! Hope you're prepared for a wildfire. | +1 SpAtk every turn |
| Take care you don't breathe in too much of this smoke, it's extremely toxic. | Last 3 Pokémon in the party are Toxic'd |
| I've read that trolls can't heal when attacked with fire. Don't you think fantasy is amazing? | Perma Heal Block |
| The smoke around here is very thick. Luckily we're all used to it and can see perfectly fine.
I hope you're ready for me. My Pokemon will leave you burned! |
+1 Acc every turn
Last Pokémon in the party is Burned |
| They say that Fire-types are often frail, but through hard work, even they can put up a solid defense. | +4 Def on lead pokemon |
| Flames are amazing! Just give them a little fuel and they can burn for ages. Doesn't that get you all Psyched Up for a battle? | Copy stats of the opponent on death |
| My passion is burning white-hot and so are my Pokémon's flame! I hope you're ready! | +4 SpAtk on lead |
| Hint | Gym Skill |
|---|---|
| Hey, how about a race before fighting your old man? I'll warn you, though, the longer I run the faster I get! | +4 Speed on lead |
| I won't give up, I'm constantly aiming for my goal. | Last Pokémon gets +2 omniboost and all Pokémon get +1 Acc per turn |
| Why am I always the one who has to clean up the debris from the battles? This isn't fair at all! | 2 layers of Spikes |
| If you're patient and defend well, then even the strongest attack can't stop you! | +4 Def on lead |
| Your old man's plants will bloom around anything that holds still for too long. Look alive! | Leech Seeds if your Pokémon stays in for 3 turns |
| If you're aggressive and attack well then even the strongest defense can't stop you! | +4 Atk on lead |
| There's no substitute for hard work. | Substitute on switch-in for last mon |
| Hint | Gym Skill |
|---|---|
| The winds in this gym are crazy! My Pokémon are able to use it to protect them from attacks, so I hope you know what you're doing! | +4 SpDef on entry for both leads |
| You can't assume you'll have clear skies all the time. Let's see how well you can fight in a winter gale! | Last 4 Pokémon are Frostbitten |
| Mind the winds in here, they might blow your items away and leave you empty-handed! | Player's lead gets Embargo'd for 4 turns |
| Survivng through strong winds has hardened the bodies of my Pokémon, and now they're tougher than all the rest. | +4 Def on entry for both leads |
| Hint | Gym Skill |
|---|---|
| This Light Screen keeps us protected from special attacks. Nothing can get through. | Light Screen for 5 turns |
| If you think that coming at us with brute force will make it easy, you're sorely mistaken. Even the strongest attacks can be Reflected. | Reflect for 5 turns |
| With just a bit of psychic powers and the right chant, you can even manipulate Luck to your will. | Lucky Chant for 5 turns |
| Our psychic powers can restrict the range of your moves! With this, you can only attack us one at a time. | Permanent Wide Guard |
| Hypnosis is a very powerful psychic ability. How well do you fight when your Pokémon have been put to sleep? | Last Pokémon is Slept |
| I hope you don't think you'll be safe protected behind a shield, because such things matter little to our talents. | Protect pp set to 0 |
Side Notes
- After a gym has been defeated, you can now talk to Clyde (the NPC at the entrance to the gym) to reset trainers and re-battle the gym as much as you want.
- Tate & Liza's Gym Skills work differently. They are tied to the number of trainers battled in the order you can see above.
- Juan's gym has been remodeled, but has no Gym Skills.