Gems

Shards are an item dropped when defeating any kind of Pokémon once the player has the Shard Case unlocked. These typed shards can be invested into the Shards tab to increase type effectivity, and your damage output.

Helpful tips
The shards you get from defeating a Pokémon depend on the type(s) that Pokémon has. Wild Pokémon on routes give 1 shard per type, dungeon encounters give 3, most gym/trainer Pokémon give 5, and dungeon bosses give 20.

Note: Gyms yield 5 shards per Pokémon, but not every pokemon in a gym will be the appropriate type. The most efficient gyms yield the most shards per gym clear. (e.g. Violet City Gym is less efficient than the Petalburg City Gym because it takes twice as many clears of the Violet City Gym to obtain the same number of shards).

Shard Optimization
Note: In the table below, shards are listed in pokemon type order, and the gyms are listed in the normal gym order, and gyms in bold are considered to be the most efficient gyms.

Type effectiveness chart
Type and shard effectiveness