Niantic announced last week that the long-awaited PvP Trainer battles will be added to Pokemon GO soon, and they’ve now put up a new update in which they’ve revealed some details about how these will function in the game. Players can challenge other trainers by using Battle Codes, at which point both trainers will battle each other using teams of three Pokemon each. At the end of battles, both trainers “will receive great rewards, including a chance at rare Evolution items.”
Interestingly enough, battles will take place in real-time, as opposed to the turn based affair fans of the series might be used to, and your Pokemon will be able to use either “Fast Attacks” or “Charged Attacks”. Charged Attacks can also be unlocked using items such as Stardust and Candies. Additionally, each trainer can also deploy a “Protective Shield” a limited number of times during the battle, and if timed correctly, these shields can prevent critical hits.
Battles will also be tiered on the basis of CP to ensure a level playing field for all players, which means you can only battle with someone in the same Trainer Battle League, which each have CP limits. Additionally, though normal battles can only happen against players that are nearby, you can also battle against Ultra Friends and Best Friends across any distance.
The update mentions that trainer battles in Pokemon GO will begin “this month”, though an exact date is not specified. Stay tuned to GamingBolt, and we’ll keep you updated in case any new info comes our way.