The lineup, and why gyms look like they do

The rules

I'll assume a trainer at level 35, moments prior to making it to level 36. (Yeah, that makes it easier to look at my own pokemons to get the numbers).

The cp numbers given are in general somewhat lower compared to the pokemons I have available. I tend to over-value IV. That's an error on my side.

That trainer collected 150 xp from evolves, gym-battling and other activities involving lucky eggs at level 30 and 31, 250 K at level 32, 300 at 33, 400 at 34 and 500 at 35. So basically I'm chopping off a big chunk from the stardust I've collected myself.

Basically a third of all xp gained is what I call dead xp.



Attackers

One dragonite at 3250 cp and another at 3000. There's a few more below 2800 cp but we won't count those, because we'll assume a non-moron player who doesn't pollute a gym with dragonites at below 2800 cp.

One gyarados at 2900 cp. There's another being powered up, currently at 2500 cp.

One vaporeon at 2800 cp.

One 2600 cp lapras. Candy is hard to get.

A 2600 flareon and a 2500 jolteon rounds up the attackers.

So seven pokemon. Of those at least one dragonite as well as the gyarados doubles up as defenders. Not good ones, but what can one do?


Defenders

One 3050 snorlax. While candy is hard to get by this is where those buddy kilometres went. (There's one at 2500 and 2300 respectively to be thrown into remote gyms)

One 3000 gyarados (yes another one)

One 3000 rhydon (cause someone told the player that rhydon are grade A defenders)

One 2900 vaporeon

One 2700 machamp

One 2650 arcanine (that nerf hurt)

One 2700 exxeggutor (did I say that the nerf hurt)

One 2700 lapras

One 2400 venusaur (boy did THAT nerf hurt)

One 2300 polywrath

All in all nine defenders, and add another ten pokemon between 2000 and 2500 cp caught or evolved as is, or possibly with a few powerups in them.

Given some variations, doesn't this look familiar?


If you personally have a dozen or more 'quality' -pokemons on top of this we'll simply chalk it down to a fantastic network of friends, or frequent usage of the maps that have been around since the start of the game.



The bad news

Apart from the ability to build fun gyms the above picture is false. While the number of quality attackers is correct (and probably should be increased by a third of those 'as is' pokemon we tend to overlook), the number of defenders is hugely overblown.

Two snorlax, one vaporeon, one lapras and one exxeggutor constitutes the quality lineup. But for the need of good attackers you could add the vaporeon and lapras dedicated to attacks as well.



What gyms should look like

Well, we covered that in an earlier post. A mix of ten good snorlax and superb lapras and vaporeon, snorlax only (that means ten snorlax at above 3000 cp), lapras only or chansey only.


OR

A fun, thematic gym


Right now, across the street, one of the former stands. Barring the 2573 lapras acting as bouncer it runs from a 2851 vaporeon to a 3170 snorlax. Most of the content is snorlax.



What gyms look like

In the centre of the city there's another level ten gym. Topped by a dragonite at 3340. It's brutally downward in terms of defender value from there. Another dragonite and then three gyarados.

Finally we reach two snorlax that should be relegated to remote gyms to begin with. They clock in at 2750 and 2650 each.

Then another two dragonites at a bit over 2600 each, clearly stating they haven't received any power-ups and shouldn't be placed inside a gym at all.

At the bottom a lonely Aerodactyl, just above 2100 cp, waits to be destroyed by water.

A solo player with a servicable vaporeon, two servicable jolteons, two good lapras and a maxed out dragonite stands a perfectly good chance to cut through the entire gym in one go.

Lining up the squshies beside each other like that spells distaster for gym defence.



Why such a gym?

Players want a decent lineup to attack with. Six pokemon won't cut it as you need to be able to handle different type weaknesses. The result is that part of the defensive lineup never gets inside a gym as it's needed to attack.

Add the penchant for high cp attack-pokemon that gets put into gyms because they're high cp. Basically that player is asking other players to protect their squishy with decent defenders.

Ultimately it's the result of cp increasing more due to attack capacity than defensive capacity. Just look at chansey.