Iris is here once again in Pokemon Masters EX and this time to celebrate Halloween together with her paired Pokemon, the Ultra Beast Naganadel. She is a 5-star Seasonal Tech Sync Pair who brings the ever-valuable Zone move with her Poison Zone.

Iris (Fall 2022) Kit

Iris has Two Attack Moves, 1 Zone Setter and 1 Trainer Move in Pokemon Masters EX.

Her two attack moves are Acid and Hyper Beam. Acid is a poison type 1 bar move and has a chance to lower the Special Def of the target by 1 rank while Hyper Beam is normal type powerful 4 bar move.

Her Trainer Move “Gonna Eat You Up!” raises her Special Attack by 4 ranks, accuracy by 1 rank and critical hit by 2 ranks and has a 1 time move.

Her main gimmick, her Zone Setter, is Poison Wish that takes 2 bars to use. This will set up a Poison Zone that will power up Poison-type attacks.

Iris (Fall 2022) Passive

Iris’ main Passive is Poison Shift which turns Normal type moves to Poison, turning her Hyper Beam into a powerful poison type move.

Her second passive is Virulent Toxin 3, powering up her Sync move when the target is poisoned or badly poisoned which synergizes with her third passive, Toxic Chance 3, that has a chance to leave the target poisoned when her attacks hit.

Iris (Fall 2022) Sync Grid

Most of her more useful nodes are locked behind Move Level 2 and 3 but you do get Move Gauge Refresh 3 on Acid and Poison Wish at base move level as well as an MP Refresh 2 on her Trainer Move.

At Move Level 2, she unlocks Toxic Chance 2 on Acid, Move Gauge Refresh 2 on Hyper Beam and Ramp Up 1 on her Trainer Move to even further increase her Special Attack. She also gets Victory Charge 6 and Poisonous Acceleration 2 to fix her gauge problem.

Move Level 3 unlocks her true potential with lots of useful modifiers for her entire kit.

Iris will have Smarty Pants and Brainteaser that increases her damage on her moves and Sync on enemies with lowered Special Defense and the damage scales on the debuff rank.

Poison Wish gets its most valuable MPR Refresh 2 and even BOGO 9, cutting the bar cost for Iris’ next move.

While not as valuable, Move Level 3 also unlocks Sharp Entry 1 and Super Victory, providing ample amounts of buff to Iris’ damage but should be prioritized over the rest of her Sync Grid.

Iris (Fall 2022) Sync Grid Build

Depending on what Move Level you have and how you want to use Iris, her sync grid will be built differently.

If you want Iris as your main source of damage, focus on Smarty Pants and Brainteaser nodes as those modifiers will tremendously increase Iris’ damage output provided with the right team.

However, if you have Iris at Move Level 2, focus on getting Move Gauge Refresh 2 on Hyper Beam and Poisonous Acceleration 2 to help her with her gauge problem as Hyper Beam costs 4 bar.

If you are building Iris as a Zone Setter, then simply prioritize all nodes on Poison Wish as Iris would not be able to dish out decent damage building her as a Zone Setter.

Team

Iris as your main source of damage will need a dedicated Special Defense debuffer as Acid is not a solid source for that debuff.

Sygna Suit Brendan and Latios will be your best friend for this option as not only does he provide guaranteed Special Defense down, he can also increase your Special Attack and cut the cost for your next Hyper Beam.

Budget options include Lucian and Girafarig through his Stupefy 9 passive as well as Koga and Crobat through their Mind Games 9 on Venoshock unlocked through his Sync Grid.

Iris will also need a proper gauge support as Hyper Beam is a 4 bar move and she would not be able to constantly dish it out without one. Someone like Leaf and Eevee could help mitigate that or Sycamore and Xerneas with his Move Gauge Acceleration.

Strength

Iris’ main gimmick is her Poison Zone and that is her main source of strength, combining both Poison Shift Hyper Beam and the buff from Poison Zone, you would be dealing high amount of damage even if you are off type.

Her other two passive works so well with one another since you are pretty much certain to poison the target as you keep on spamming Hyper Beam.

Being a Tech Sync Pair also means she can pack huge numbers to nuke the enemies provided with the right setup and team.

Weakness

Her main weakness is that outside of her Poison Zone, she does not offer anything else if you are not planning on building her for damage. Hyper Beam costs way too much and Acid is not reliable at all to debuff Special Defense with its 10% chance.

There is also the fact that her DPS potential is locked behind higher move level so you would be needing multiple copies of her to have her as DPS.

Should you pull

If the Dragon Champion is your favourite with Naganadel being the best ever designed Ultra Beast, then roll for her. She also has the Poison Zone, and Zone Setters are extremely valuable in the game due to how much buff they bring even to older units.

If you are on the edge, do remember that Iris (Fall 2022) is a seasonal pair, which means that would not be returning for at least another year in Pokemon Masters EX.

And while her Poison Zone is valuable, Poison type in itself is in a very awkward position as it is one of the types to yet have a solid dedicated Striker to it. Even Sygna Suit Giovanni with Nidoking is a Ground Type Striker and pairing up with Iris just adds more to the gauge problem as both of them eat up a lot of gauge