Cyrus & Palkia join the fray with terrifying critical-hit damage boosts. Palkia cannot raise its critical-hit rate naturally except for one tile on the grid, but it relies on Palkia’s attack being a critical-hit. Adding in a sync pair like Sabrina & Alakazam to raise it will allow Palkia to deal high damage from the start.
The best Cyrus and Palkia sync grid builds are, Sync Level 2, Spacial Rend Sync Nuke, Critical Hydro Pump, and Raining Hydro Pump.
Universal Upgrades
HP +10
Attack +5
Defense +5
Sp. Atk +5
Sp. Def +5
Speed +5
Universal Recommended Lucky Skill:
Critical Strike 2
No tile is included in all builds but the core six. But every build wants to use the lucky skill Critical Strike 2, which increases damage of any attack that is a critical hit. Palkia already has Critical Strike 9 as its sole passive skill, but the two will stack together.
Sync Grid Builds
Sync Level 2 Build (Sync Level 2/5)
Total Sync Orb Cost: 750
Total Energy Used: 60
Unique Upgrades:
Sp. Atk +5
Speed +10
Spacial Rend Power +6
Spacial Rend Accuracy +5
Spacial Rend Move Gauge Refresh 2
Hydro Pump Power +9
Hydro Pump Accuracy +15
Hydro Pump Move Gauge Refresh 3
While this build uses the full 60 energy, you could save Orbs by investing in the minimum: go for accuracy and move gauge refresh tiles (46 Energy). Hydro Pump is Palkia’s more powerful attack, so you could drop all Spacial Rend tiles (34 Energy with power tiles, 26 without). Palkia’s grid at sync level 2 is terribly lackluster, so try to reach sync level 3 before Cyrus’s event ends. Even better if you can reach level 5.
Spacial Rend Sync Nuke Build (Sync Level 3/5)
Total Sync Orb Cost: 750
Total Energy Used: 60
Unique Upgrades:
HP +10
Sp. Def +5
Speed +10
Spacial Rend Power +3
Spacial Rend Accuracy +5
Spacial Rend Move Gauge Refresh 2
Water Pulse Power +4
Emotional Void Spacial Rend Power +50
Critastrophe 2
Critical Focus 2
If you’re facing a sync pair weak to Dragon-type attacks, changing your grid to Spacial Rend and Palkia’s sync move may be the only time you shift away from Hydro Pump. Spacial Rend gains +3 power but the +5 accuracy will raise accuracy from 95 to 100, meaning no more poorly timed misses due to the move. Add in a Move Gauge Refresh 2 for a 30% chance to return one bar to the move gauge after a successful hit.
Emotional Void Spacial Rend gains +50 power but it also benefits from Critastrophe 2, which will increase the sync move’s damage if the attack is a critical hit. Spacial Rend and Emotional Void Spacial Rend have a natural +1 to critical-hit rate, but Critical Focus 2 will raise it by +2 if Palkia lands a critical hit. It maxes at +3, so you only need one successful crit for Palkia to always have a critical hit with either of the two moves.
Combine either move with Palkia’s passive skill Critical Strike 9 and it’s damage output will massively increase. You could also use an ally to raise Palkia’s critical-hit rate at the beginning of the fight in order to rely less on chance since all of the damage boosting relies on that first critical hit.
Critical Hydro Pump Build (Sync Level 3/5)
Total Sync Orb Cost: 750
Total Energy Used: 60
Unique Upgrades:
HP +30
Sp. Def +5
Speed +5
Hydro Pump Power +3
Hydro Pump Accuracy +15
Hydro Pump Move Gauge Refresh 3
Hydro Pump Ramming Speed
Water Pulse Power +4
Critical Focus 2
For the same amount of gauge bars, Hydro Pump deals significantly more damage, though it doesn’t gain the same type bonus as Spacial Rend. Hydro Pump gains +3 power and +15 accuracy, which raises the move’s hit rate from 80 to 95 and makes it significantly more reliable. It also picks up a Move Gauge Refresh 3 for a 40% chance to return one bar to the move Gauge. Hydro Pump Ramming Speed increases the move’s power based on how high Palkia’s Speed has been raised.
Palkia can max its Speed and Sp. Atk with two uses of Cyrus’s Trainer move, but it would lose 25% of its HP with each use. It’s much easier to have an ally raise either, so you could get away with using New World Order! only once or not at all. Both Professor Sycamore & Xerneas and Leaf & Eevee can raise both with their sync moves, but Lyra & Meganium can increase both by +1 or +2 (with sunny weather) with Lyra’s Trainer move.
Finally, Critical Focus 2 will raise Palkia’s critical-hit rate by +2 whenever it lands a critical hit. Spacial Rend has a natural +1 chance to critical hit, so it could kickstart Palkia’s damage scaling, but you’re relying on chance.
Raining Hydro Pump Build (Sync Level 3/5)
Total Sync Orb Cost: 750
Total Energy Used: 60
Unique Upgrades:
HP +20
Sp. Def +5
Hydro Pump Power +12
Hydro Pump Accuracy +15
Hydro Pump Move Gauge Refresh 3
Hydro Pump Ramming Speed
Refreshing Rain 1
Palkia may be a Dragon-type, but it is better off using its Water-type move Hydro Pump due to being much more powerful. Palkia can be added to your roster for rainy weather teams since Water-type moves are more powerful when it is raining. Palkia will gain a little bit of health regeneration with Refreshing Rain 1 which will restore a little bit of HP with each successful attack in rainy weather.
Hydro Pump gains +12 power and +15 accuracy, which means it will only have a 5% chance of missing rather than 20% chance. What will massively increase the move’s damage will be Ramming Speed raising the move’s power with any Speed boosts. Cyrus can max it with two uses of New World Order! but many other sync pairs can do it for Palkia. Hydro Pump also gains a Move Gauge Refresh 3 which will return one bar to the move gauge 40% of the time.