How to Make Your Gym Badges Go Gold in Pokémon Go

I have stated in many of my articles that I love Pokémon Go; it is so easy to play once you get the hang of it, but I do wish the game made some kind of attempt at teaching its players how to play it. There are virtually no instructions given in game making new players rely on other players to learn.

I have joined several Pokémon Go Facebook groups, Discord servers and Campfire groups and answer questions and help where I can. After answering similar questions, I began writing and publishing articles on the game.

One of my favorite past times in the game is what my friends call "The Conquest", turning the gym badges gold. This was something I had a lot of fun doing with my ex as it gave us a reason to go out and explore our area and see parts of it we normally don't visit.

After discussing it in the Facebook groups I was surprised to learn how few players don't know about turning badges Gold or "The Conquest" which led me to write this article.

Before we get into the article here is quick shameless plug of my other Pokémon Go articles:

Is it possible to do a 3-Star Raid in Pokemon Go by yourself?

Pokémon Go Inventory Search Codes

Trading in Pokemon Go

Now that all the introductory things are out of the way let's get into the article!

The Benefits of Gold Gym Badges

I am sure many of you are wondering "what benefit is there in make a gym badge gold?"

Well, the biggest benefit is bragging rights/completionism. For those of you who like to get trophies and medals in video games getting gold badges in Pokémon Go is the same concept, they look pretty on our profiles but not much else.

That isn't to say there is no benefit at all for making gym badges gold, spinning gyms that the badge is gold will actually give you a few more bonus items for each spin. See the picture above.

For those interested in pursuing in "The Conquest" (making gym badges go gold) I will go over the basics.

Pokémon Go Gym Badges & Their Different Levels

You think you know Pokémon badges? Well, this is not your grandma's Pokémon game. This is Pokémon Go, where the main series Pokémon game rules have no power. So again, you think you know Pokémon badges? Well, you know nothing Jon Snow.

Badges in Pokémon Go do not give you control over Pokémon of certain levels or the ability to use moves to progress the games, and you do not have to defeat a gym leader to get them.

All you have to do to get a gym badge in Pokémon Go is get points on the gym which we will cover in the next section. For now, I want to go over the different levels to the badges, Colorless, Bronze, Silver, & Gold.

• Colorless - When you first get a gym badge it will be colorless which looks silver. This level can be completed in a single day with enough interactions/points earned on the gym. Doing a raid, putting a Pokémon in the gym and feeding it enough berries will get you to the next level
• Bronze - Bronze is the second badge level which will take a few raids or a few days of defending the gym with a Pokémon in it
• Silver - Next is the true Silver which will take the longest for you to clear, to turn a Silver badge Gold will take you a few weeks of having a Pokémon defend the gym, many raids and countless berries
• Gold - The highest level you can reach with a gym badge is Gold. At this point the progress bar will disappear, and the badge will look pretty

Now that we have established the Pokémon Go gym badges are and how they are different from the badges in the main series games let's get into what gives you points on the badges.

What Gets Points on Gyms

The number of points you earn on a Pokémon Go gym badge is not explicitly stated by the game, it is instead shown as a progress bar underneath the badge. This makes it impossible to know exactly how many points you need to level up the badge or how many points each of the actions below will earn you.

Instead of showing you the number of points you have currently and how many more you need to level up (like your player level) the game instead displays a progress bar under the badge. As you earn points on the badge the bar will move from the left to the right. When the bar fills, you will transition to the next badge level and the game will show a special animation to inform you that you leveled up the badge.

There are five ways to get points on gym badges:

1. Battling Pokémon in the Gym
2. Putting a Pokémon in the Gym
3. Feeding berries to Pokémon in the Gym
4. Doing a Raid at the Gym
5. Having a Pokémon Defend the Gym

Of the five I used numbers 3, 4 & 5 the most and highly recommend 5. Having a Pokémon defend the gym gives you consistent points on the gym. If you leave a Pokémon in a gym and it stays in the gym it will take about 20 days for the gym to go Gold.

I also highly recommend having a Pokémon in the gym, feeding it and the other defending Pokémon in the gym berries as often as possible and raid there as possible. This combination is what I have used to make many badges go Gold.

Gym Defending Fundamentals

Motivation is Key

Having a Pokémon in a gym will help you get the progress you need to make a gym badge to go Gold, but if your Pokémon and the others in the gym have no motivation, they become easier to knock out.

The amount of motivation Pokemon in a gym have is indicated by a heart, a fully motivated Pokemon will have a red heart which will turn black as it loses motivation.

• Pokémon with full motivation require 3 battles to be knocked out.
• Pokémon with most or half of their motivation will require 2 battles to be KO’d from the gym.
• Pokémon with little to no motivation will only require one battle to be kicked out of the gym.

Gyms with Pokémon that have little to no motivation left make tempting targets for other teams, so be sure to heal the Pokémon with golden razz berries when their motivation gets too low which will fully restore them.

Higher CP < Higher Defense

When selecting a Pokémon to defend a gym it is important to remember the higher the CP of the Pokémon the faster they will lose motivation. If you put a high CP Pokémon in the gym, it will be difficult to defeat for a while, but if it loses all its motivation it will just take a single battle to knock it out.

Instead of choosing your highest CP Pokémon, I recommend using Pokémon with lower CP but higher defense. Shuckle and Chansey are the best in this regard with Snorlax and Blissey also being good defenders but will require more berries due to their higher CP. Ditto will also Transform into the Pokémon attacking it making it tricky to take down for anyone not familiar with its gimmick.

This is not to say higher defense will guarantee a Pokémon will stay in a gym, with enough determination a player can knock out any Pokémon in the gym. The goal isn't to figure out an invincible Pokémon, rather one that is enough of a deterrent to other players for it to stay in the gym.

Choose Wisely

Also, keep in mind that at the time of writing this article you cannot pull your Pokémon from a gym, so do not put Pokémon you use often or will miss as it will be there until it is knocked out.

Campfire is Great for Finding Gyms

Are you unsure of where to begin or how many gyms are in your area?

I suggest Campfire which is a great resource to use for Pokémon Go in general. There are multiple resources available through Campfire including local groups you can join and, most importantly for this article, a map of the Pokémon Go overworld.

The Campfire map shows Pokémon Gyms, their locations including easy ways to open them in Apple Maps or Google Maps and any raid information for the gym if it has a raid started or about to start.

This information will not only help you see where the gyms are it will also help you plan your trip there. My ex and I would do this often to ensure a gym we were about to drive to was available for us to take over or if a raid we wanted to do would still be there by the time we arrived.