"I still feel cheated tbh": Pokemon GO player baffled with item mechanic

A Pokemon GO player felt that the Purified Gems in the game were a waste of space in their inventory. Redditor u/bwf27 felt cheated by the presence of these items as they weren't usable in most scenarios. They pointed out that these gems didn't do anything in battle and were left unsure about what to do in this situation. The original poster even wondered if their game was bugged.

Purified Gems are items exclusive to Pokemon GO. Their main purpose is to help subdue Shadow Raid bosses who get enraged after a certain point while battling them. However, outside of that, they serve no purpose, and players have to use multiple in each boss fight.

I still feel cheated tbh byu/bwf27 inpokemongo

Users of the r/pokemongo came to the original poster's aid, with some commentators helping them out with the usage of Purified Gems. Others noted that if the poster wasn't doing Shadow Raids, the items were essentially a waste of space for them.

u/BingoBob_1 gave a succinct summary of the value of Purified Gems.

"You need 8 gems to subdue an enraged shadow boss, but a single player is only able to use 5 per raid. This makes them completely useless for a solo player, since they only make a difference if you have another player to use them with."

u/Mysterious_Athlete73 went into detail as to why the original poster should hold on to their gems. Not only are they necessary if the player ever gets an opportunity to participate in higher-level Shadow Raids, but removing them is pointless, as they would return after each Team Rocket battle in Pokemon GO.

Comment byu/bwf27 from discussion inpokemongo

However, u/b-monster666 pointed out that even with the gems, it wasn't exactly possible for the original poster to complete a Shadow Raid that was 3-Star or above by themselves. This was because an individual player can only have 5 Purified Gems. But to get a raid Boss out of its enraged state, a total of 8 are required.

Comment byu/bwf27 from discussion inpokemongo

Meanwhile, there were a few cheeky comments on how the player kept the items in their inventory as a list instead of tiles. Like this one from u/JuXTaPoZeRx

"You know you're the only person I've seen using List View instead of the Grid View in the Item Bag. 😹"

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How are Purified Gems acquired in Pokemon GO, and how do they work?

Regirock as a Shadow Raid Boss in Pokemon GO (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Players get Shadow Shards after defeating members of Team GO Rocket. Team Rocket Grunts give one shard, bosses give three, and the leader, Giovanni, gives four. Once the player has four of them, they can be combined into a Purified Gem. Players can collect a maximum of 10 Purified Gems before they stop getting any more shards.

As mentioned above, players will have to use Purified Gems to subdue Shadow Raid Bosses. Once these Pocket Monsters' health falls below 60%, they become enraged. This leads to their Attack and Defence being boosted. Once the Purified Gems are used on them, they go back to their original stats.

The main issue with using Purified Gems is that an individual player can only use 5 of them in a single Raid. However, in order to subdue a Shadow Raid Boss, at least eight gems are needed. This makes it impossible to solo any Shadow Raid that is 3-star or higher.