What is tanking in Pokemon GO Battle League, and why shouldn't you do it?

Tanking has become a popular way to play Pokemon GO's Battle League. The term refers to the act of intentionally losing a match for the purpose of plummeting one's matchmaking rank. This approach has taken a horrendous toll on the title's competitive scene as it completely throws off the game's skill-based matchmaking system.

With tanking becoming more and more common among hardcore Pokemon GO battlers, many players are starting to feel the consequences. An abundance of high-skilled trainers are dominating the bottom rung of the game's competitive scene.

Here is everything to know about tanking and why it is not worth doing.

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Understanding tanking in Pokemon GO: Smurfing with extra steps

Tanking is very harmful for players who just want to get into Pokemon GO's competitive scene, but it is starting to backfire on those doing it (Image via The Pokemon Company)

As mentioned earlier, tanking is the act of purposefully losing a match, with the intentions of plummeting one's matchmaking rank in Pokemon GO, an invisible value that every player has.

This rank is how games determine who to put players up against for competitive matches. In Niantic's mobile game, it allows players to farm for premium rewards like encounters, Rare Candies, and other items.

Many individuals use strategies similar to tanking in other online games, but they do so more for the satisfaction of dominating a lobby of players who are worse than them. However, it is clear to see how this can negatively impact the state of ranked modes for newer players who are just starting their ranked grind.

In other games, players simply make other accounts to play and often win against these beginners. This is known as smurfing. Most developers acknowledge that this sort of conduct can gravely impact the state of a game and have begun cracking down on players for doing it, placing them in special queues or just outright banning them.

The overabundance of tanking has led to many hardcore Pokemon GO battlers having a tougher time winning matches after tanking their competitive rating (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Since Niantic is relatively hands-off when it comes to their popular geocaching game, only banning players for outright cheating, the tanking strategy has led to many trainers avoiding Pokemon GO's Battle League entirely. This has left those who tanked their profile to face off against other players who have also tanked their profiles.

As such, using this strategy has become very suboptimal. The best way to win ranked Battle League matches is to simply get better at the game and catch better Pokemon to battle with. While it yields rewards far less consistently than tanking does on paper, it works much better than using the strategy in execution.

In addition, tanking is essentially exploiting the game to ruin the competitive experience for other players, which is not very sportsman-like. While it is unlikely that Niantic will ever do anything about players who abuse this strategy, those who use it will reap what they sow eventually.

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