How to earn Pokecoins in Pokemon GO

Pokemon GO has a lot of items in the item shop, and almost all of them require Pokecoins to purchase.

Players can always choose to pay real money for Pokecoins, but there is a way to earn them for free.

The gyms featured in Pokemon GO are currently the only way to earn any Pokecoins for free in the game. In order to do so, players first need to take a gym from another team. If you are on Team Valor, gyms can be taken from Team Mystic and Team Instinct. There can be a maximum of six Pokemon inside a gym, so players should expect to take on a 6 versus 6 battle in the gym.

If all of the Pokemon are in full health, it will take three attempts within battles to deplete all their HP and knock them out of the gym. The other team can also heal their Pokemon, which can make the process longer. However, multiple people on one team can also join the battle to take down the Pokemon, which makes everything much faster.

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Getting Pokecoins from gyms in Pokemon GO

Once a gym is successfully taken in Pokemon GO, it will change to a neutral white for a few minutes until a new Pokemon is placed into the gym. Players can take their time choosing which Pokemon, because the other teams can't simply steal the neutral gym.

The best Pokemon to place inside the gym are ones with a high defense or a very high HP pool. This is why you'll see so many gyms that are taken over by a Blissey, Slaking, Snorlax or a Rhyperior. They can take a lot of damage and are inconvenient to fight.

With a Pokemon placed, it's time to start earning the Pokecoins from the Pokemon GO gym. The process is passive; the longer that a Pokemon stays in a gym, the more Pokecoins a player will earn. This is why it's best to place high CP and high HP Pokemon in the gym.

The catch is that Pokemon GO players can only earn 50 Pokecoins a day as a maximum. So, essentially, a Pokemon in a gym can only ever earn 50 coins.

Once it's knocked out, that's 50 coins for the day, no matter how long the Pokemon was in the gym.