Sync move

A **sync move** is a powerful move that can be used during battle in the *Harmony and Justice* chapter. According to Professor Bellis, sync stones are required for sync pairs to use a sync move. These are rare stones that are only found in the ocean around Pasio. They are known to amplify the power that arises from the bond between Trainer and Pokémon, which she calls "sync strength." As the bond grows, so does the strength of the sync move. Normally, every Trainer in Pasio needs a Poryphone with an embedded sync stone in order to allow all to access sync moves, but it seems that being around someone who wields a Magic Gem can allow anyone to use sync moves without a sync stone.

## Mechanics

The way sync moves work are slightly different from the original versions.

### Basics

During battle, a sync move can only be used when the enemy is weak. At the start of the battle, the Magic Gem does not glow, and begins to sparkle and glow each time a Guardian Protector (or their Pokémon) uses a move. Once the enemy is weak, the Magic Gem starts glowing extremely bright, and a sync move can be unleashed to defeat it. Once a sync move has been used, the Guardian Protector's transformation wears off, and the Magic Gem has to recharge before it can be used again.

In addition, despite having *move* in its name, sync moves are treated differently from actual moves, especially in how they interact with skills. However, all damage-dealing moves, sync moves, and max moves are sometimes lumped together as "attacks."

### Power

It is shown that the base power of a sync move can be increased by bonds. This results in a sync move having 20% more power than the same attack when first used.

Some sync moves have effects that can increase their powers if their conditions are met (or power-increasing effects). There are three categories for their effects: *binary*, *single stat-gradual*, and *multiple stat-gradual*.

* **Binary effects** check whether their conditions have been satisfied when the sync move is performed; if they were, then the sync move's power multiplicatively doubles (or increases by ×2).
	+ Typical description for binary effects: "This attack's power increases when [condition stated is met]."
* **Single stat-gradual effects** check how much the user's stat is raised or the targeted opponent's (or target's) stat is lowered. If the user's/target's stat is raised/lowered by X stat ranks when the sync move is performed, then the attack's power multiplicatively increases by the factor of (1/6 × X), respectively. Since each stat in these effects rise/lower to a maximum of six stat ranks, their factors scale to the maximum of ×2.
	+ Typical wording for single stat-gradual effects focused on one user's stats: "The more the user's [stat] is raised, the greater the power of this attack."
	+ Typical wording for single stat-gradual effects focused on one target's stats: "The more the target's [stat] is lowered, the greater the power of this attack."
* **Multiple stat-gradual effects** check how much all user's stats are raised or all the target's stats are lowered. If the user's/target's stats—including critical-hit rate as that is a stat in Pokémon Masters EX—are raised/lowered by Y stat ranks total when the sync move is performed, then the attack's power multiplicatively increases by the factor of [1/15 × (The smallest value between 18 & Y)], respectively. So, if the user's/target's stats are raised/lowered by a total of at least 18 stat ranks, then the sync move's factor reaches its maximum potential of ×2.2, respectively.
	+ Typical wording for single multiple gradual effects focused on one user's stat: "The more the user's stats are raised, the greater the power of this attack."
	+ Typical wording for single multiple gradual effects focused on one target's stats: "The more the target's stat are lowered, the greater the power of this attack."

### General properties

The sync move removes any status condition or status change that would prevent the Pokémon from using a Pokémon move (namely, Sleep, Freeze, and Flinch), it will also not trigger damage from Burn, Poison, and Trap, nor will it trigger HP regeneration. If offensive, the sync move will always hit the opponent, regardless of the status conditions and negative accuracy stages of the user, and if the opponent is in the semi-invulnerable period of an offensive move, their move will be negated and the sync move will hit them. As a result, if the user has the Sure Hit Next effect—a status change that allows them not to miss the next hit—that effect won't be lost when using a sync move. Finally, the critical hit rate of the sync move is lower than that of the other offensive Pokémon moves—reaching only 80% if critical-hit rate is fully raised to three stat ranks.

Also, all sync moves grant sync buffs to their users' team the next time they battle after they are used. Each sync buff multiplies a sync pair's damage from their attack moves, sync moves, and max moves by 1.5x (×150%), and sync buffs stack additively, which means that sync pairs with two of them deal double (or ×200%) damage, those with three deal 2.5× (or ×250%) damage, and so on.

## Trivia

* Kimberly is the only Magic Gem wielder to be able to defeat an enemy even without a sync move.
* Liko is the only character to be able to use a sync move with neither a sync-stone-embedded Poryphone nor a Magic Gem (even if she's near a wielder of the latter), instead using her pendant (which contains Terapagos). This allows her to Terastalize herself when performing the move.

### In other languages

* Japanese: **バディーズわざ** *Buddies move*
* French: **Capacité Duo**
* Spanish: **Movimiento compi**