New to the extreme end-game, gym raider, bag

This is the first in a short series of articles about the new extreme end-game gym-raider.

Let's have a look at one archetypical player -- the avid gym-raider. Let's combine that archetype with a player who is also new to or closing in on the extreme end-game.

Level 38. That's the holy grail. It's the last level where the game gives a player any potential long-time benefits. At level 38 you can push a pokemon to level 40, and, well, that's it. From here on it's just about grinding for better material in terms of the number of attractive pokemon you have available.

Bag-size: 1500. This is the by far most powerful upgrade you can get in the game. Just max out your bag to minimise problems with how many items you have of one type. Upgrading your bag takes priority over anything else you can shop for coins.

Pokemon Storage: The number of pokemon you have plus 100. 1500 is nice to have, but it's not vital. However, under no circumstances do you want to sit with a really sought after pokeon caught without room to collect it. Players with Gotcha or Plus should aim for plus 200. You're likely to clean out your storage after a finished session rather than discarding low-grade pokemon on the go.


Pokeballs: Whatever ensures you don't run out of them. This is highly individual.

Pots and revives: 150 or more of each. You'll burn through them at a depressing rate if you go gym-raiding. Observe that the basic potion doesn't even count towards the number 150.

Golden Razz Berries: 100 or more. Defending a gym is expensive.

Other berries: Whatever floats your boat. I personally go for zero with the exception of Pinab Berries which I want around 20 of. Use friendly gyms as trash bins for excess berries. Target defenders of a kind where you want candy. Do overfeed them if you have a surplus of berries. You still get 20 stardust and a small chance for a candy.


Anything else is optional. Sure, I keep a minimum of premium raid passes, star pieces, lures and so on. but they're not actually needed for gym-raiding. These are items that make my gaming more enjoyable. Arguably star pieces and rare candies do help to a very large degree to keep your line-up top notch. As for lucky eggs. Use them until you hit 38. After that they cease to have any functional value what so ever.


I like massively overpowered legendary raids. They resupply my storage of revives and hyper potions. My stash of golden razz berries and rare candies, however, isn't impacted by the number of boss-raiders during a given raid. Note though that if you're prone to enter a boss-raid with the minimum players required you're likely to pay in terms of potions and revives rather than gain from boss-raiding.

For this reason I spend less time spinning stops and gyms in order to resupply on potions and revives.

I dislike going below half a dozen premium passes, but again this is individual. A healthy supply of lure modules and incense, a dozen or more of both, makes me a happier player. While I'm currently overdosing on star pieces I'd rather avoid going below half a dozen. Always having access to three hours worth of 150% stardust is the minimum for me.

When it comes to TM I discard down to 20 for Fast TM. I could probably discard down to 10 (as in I really ought to do that). You usually burn through your Charge TM quicker, so I have yet to discard those.

I personally try to stay below 100 rare candies, but I have full respect for those who want 245 candies. That gives you the opportunity to max out anything you just caught given enough stardust, which is 225000 star dust for a level 20 pokemon. And before anyone jumps in and says that you need 248 candies -- you can't catch anything without collecting three candies.

Observe that this is only true for pokemon you want to max out in their current form. There is a cost for evolving as well.

While stardust isn't something that takes up space in your bag it's still a limiting factor. I basically refuse to go below 225k stardust in order to be able to pump up anything I collect given enough candy to do so.

I keep one each of the evolve items. They will probably never see any use, but I can waste five bag slots.

Lucky eggs are a waste of bag space for me. I keep five as a gimmick since that's the number of lucky eggs I have left as level rewards. There is no rationale behind this, but hey, it's a game. You're supposed to have some fun. And yes, I immediately discard 25 lucky eggs when I shop the current big-pack.

Next article will be about the bare bones minimum for attacking gyms.