VIDEO: Taking Ditto to the Gym... Everything You Need to Know!

By now you have likely stumbled upon the lovable purple blob, Ditto! It was a welcome suprise for many players catching their 10,000th Pidgey or Ratatta to see it transform into Ditto, a Pokémon that has been absent from the game since the beginning.

Now that you’ve got that cute purple monster in your inventory, you may be thinking about taking that Ditto to the nearest gym and getting that pump on. But how does transform work? Will Ditto even be good? All valid questions, and we’ve got the answer.

The first thing you need to know is how Ditto transforms. Ditto automatically transforms to the first Pokémon it encounters. It will stay transformed into this Pokémon until the end of the gym battle. Choose wisely when you throw that Ditto into battle! To see how fast Ditto transforms, watch this video!

The next thing you need to know is exactly what your little purple friend copies. Transform allows Ditto to copy the moves, basic values, and type of the Pokémon it transforms into. In addition, it copies the CP.

This sounds amazing right? You little 300CP Ditto can transform into those 3000CP Dragonites that sit at the top of every gym? Well, not exactly. Transform does have a huge weakness. When Ditto transforms, it does not copy hit points, stamina, or IV’s. While not copying IV’s may not be a huge deal, the fact that it doesn’t copy hit points is a huge problem. There is no way your Ditto which transformed into a Snorlax will ever be able to outlast the massive HP of the original Snorlax.

It turns out, this huge flaw in transform makes Ditto a pretty bad choice for gyms. The fact that you can control what it transforms into is fun. You could throw him out against a water Pokémon if you need water for a later fight, then retract Ditto and save him for later.

Don’t worry Ditto, we still love you! Have you tried Ditto in any gyms yet? What did you have him transform into?

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