Synchronize (Ability)

Not to be confused with Synchronoise (move).

Synchronize	シンクロ
	Synchro
Flavor text Generation III Passes on status problems. Generation IV Passes on a burn, poison, or paralysis to the foe. Generation V Passes a burn, poison, or paralysis to the foe. Generation VI Passes poison, paralyze, or burn to the Pokémon that inflicted it. Generation VII Currently unknown Generation VIII Currently unknown Generation IX Currently unknown

Synchronize (Japanese: シンクロ Synchro) is an Ability introduced in Generation III. Fifteen Pokémon can have this Ability.

Effect

In battle

When a Pokémon with Synchronize is burned, paralyzed, or poisoned by another Pokémon, that Pokémon will be inflicted with the same status condition.

Synchronize will have no effect if the opponent has a type, Ability, or team condition (e.g. Safeguard) that prevents it from being burned, paralyzed, or poisoned. However, Synchronize does affect an opponent behind a substitute.

If a Pokémon with Synchronize has a Berry that cures the status condition it was just inflicted with, Synchronize will activate before the Berry is eaten.

Generation III to IV

When a Pokémon with Synchronize is badly poisoned by an opponent, that opponent will be inflicted with the regular poison condition.

If Psycho Shift is used by a burned, paralyzed, or poisoned, Synchronize activates after Psycho Shift cures the opponent of its status condition. Therefore, Synchronize will inflict the status condition anew in such a case.

Toxic Spikes do not activate this Ability unless a Pokémon on the field directly causes a Pokémon with Synchronize to switch in, such as by using the moves Roar or Whirlwind.

Generation V and VI

When a Pokémon with Synchronize is badly poisoned by an opponent, that opponent will now be inflicted with the bad poison condition, rather than the regular poison condition.

If Psycho Shift is used by a burned, paralyzed, poisoned, or badly poisoned opponent, Synchronize now activates before Psycho Shift cures the opponent of its status condition. Therefore, Synchronize will fail to inflict the status condition anew in such a case.

Toxic Spikes do not activate this Ability, even if another Pokémon forced the Pokémon with this Ability to switch in by using a move like Roar or Dragon Tail.

Outside of battle

From Pokémon Emerald onwards, if a Pokémon with this Ability is leading the party, there is a 50% chance that wild Pokémon encountered will have the same Nature as the Pokémon with Synchronize. Starting in Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, this also applies to gift Pokémon in the Undiscovered Egg Group.

This does not apply to roaming Pokémon. In Emerald, it does not apply to stationary Pokémon, such as Regirock or Rayquaza.

The Ability does not apply when a Pokémon with Synchronize is strolling in the Pokéwalker or when capturing Pokémon from the Entree Forest.

Pokémon with Synchronize

#	Pokémon		Types		First Ability	Second Ability	Hidden Ability
0063		Abra	Psychic		Psychic	Synchronize	Inner Focus	Magic Guard
0064		Kadabra	Psychic		Psychic	Synchronize	Inner Focus	Magic Guard
0065		Alakazam	Psychic		Psychic	Synchronize	Inner Focus	Magic Guard
0151		Mew	Psychic		Psychic	Synchronize	None	None
0177		Natu	Psychic	Flying	Synchronize	Early Bird	Magic Bounce
0178		Xatu	Psychic	Flying	Synchronize	Early Bird	Magic Bounce
0196		Espeon	Psychic		Psychic	Synchronize	None	Magic Bounce
0197		Umbreon	Dark		Dark	Synchronize	None	Inner Focus
0280		Ralts	Psychic	Fairy	Synchronize	Trace	Telepathy
0281		Kirlia	Psychic	Fairy	Synchronize	Trace	Telepathy
0282		Gardevoir	Psychic	Fairy	Synchronize	Trace	Telepathy
0517		Munna	Psychic		Psychic	Forewarn	Synchronize	Telepathy
0518		Musharna	Psychic		Psychic	Forewarn	Synchronize	Telepathy
0605		Elgyem	Psychic		Psychic	Telepathy	Synchronize	Analytic
0606		Beheeyem	Psychic		Psychic	Telepathy	Synchronize	Analytic
Please note that Abilities marked with a superscript are only available in the stated generation or later. For Generation III and IV games, ignore Hidden Abilities.

In the manga

In the Pokémon Adventures manga

Kirlia
The user inflicts its status condition on the opponent.
Pokémon	Method
User	First Chapter Used In		Notes
	When Kirlia is inflicted with a status condition, the same status condition appears on the opponent's body, but on the opposite side as Kirlia's.
Ruby's Rara	VS. Kirlia		Debut

In other languages

Language Title Mandarin Chinese 同步 Tóngbù French Synchro German Synchro Italian Sincronismo Korean 싱크로 Synchro Portuguese Sincronizar Spanish Sincronía

This article is part of Project Moves and Abilities, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on two related aspects of the Pokémon games.