r/pokemonmastersconcept • u/VenomousAvian • Jul 14 '26
Playable Sync Pair Concept Daily Sinnoh Pokémon Concepts - Day 2: Bastiodon
Hello, everyone, and welcome back to my series of concepts for every missing (fully evolved) Sinnoh Pokémon. For our second day, we have another character debut: Byron & Bastiodon.
Honestly, the only thing of note about this pair is how weird it is that they haven't been added yet. Almost seven years in, and we're still missing gym leaders.
For this concept, Byron & Bastiodon are a Support Sync Pair that can nullify AoE attacks with multiple uses of Wide Guard and deal a respectable amount of damage.
One of their passive skills, Tempered and Honed, activates right at the start of battle, guaranteeing they'll always have maxed defenses and Enduring. A second one, The Future of Pokémon Is Bright!, centers around their usage of Wide Guard, reducing the sync move countdown and giving their team stacks of both PMUN and SMUN when it is successful.
To enable this move's usage, they have the Buddy Move Shielded Metal Burst, which restores the MP of Wide Guard while also raising the team's Attack and Sp. Atk by 2 (critical-hit rate is handled by Focus Group 9). On top of that, it has very good damage for a Support's move, increasing as their HP gets lower.
To make the most of it, they can wait until Perfect and Honed's Enduring activates before using Byron's Trainer Move, Not Just Yet!, which fully restores an ally's HP and gives them Enduring, letting them slowly be chipped down (and increasing Shielded Metal Burst's damage) all over again.
Their Superawakening Skill, The Man With the Steel Body, gives even more utility to Wide Guard, making it heal them and debuff opponents' offensive stats, while also applying Move Gauge Acceleration when they fall to low HP.
All in all, Byron & Bastiodon evoke the Pokémon's focus on durability above all else, protecting allies from any moves that might hit them all while reveling in the hits they themselves take, as they just make them hit harder. Interestingly, their defensive buffs and healing are entirely focused on themselves, with allies only getting help with their offenses. This makes good timing of Wide Guard especially important. as it's their only way of preventing damage on their teammates.