Pokémon Masters EX October 2026 Sync Pairs: Archie and Maxie Ranked

Pokémon Masters EX

DeNA Co., Ltd.

Pokémon Masters EX is a strategy battle game that combines sync pair teams, Trainer stories, and 3-on-3 Pokémon battles.

Stylized RealisticAction Role Playing

Stylized RealisticAction Role Playing

Download (127.8 MB)

October 2026 gives Pokémon Masters EX one of its busiest months in a while. The Treasures of Ruin event series rolls out four Legendary captures across four weeks, and two of them arrive with seasonal Sync Pairs attached. Archie (Fall 2026) & Wo-Chien and Maxie (Fall 2026) & Ting-Lu land on October 14, and they're the marquee pulls of the month.

This is a ranking piece, so I'm judging the October Sync Pairs on what they actually do in battle, not on how cool their reveal trailer looked. The criteria here are simple: damage ceiling, team support they provide, how easily they slot into a team you already own, and whether their banner is worth gems compared with saving for the next limited run. Two of the four October adds are featured, one is a late-month arrival tied to Ting-Lu starting October 20, and the upgrades around them matter too.

To be upfront: these are brand-new Sync Pairs, so every judgment here is based on the official kit descriptions and the event structure, not on weeks of hands-on testing. I haven't cleared the hardest fights with them yet, and I will say so where the exact numbers aren't public yet.

How This Pokémon Masters EX Ranking Works

Ranking Sync Pairs is tricky because the right pick depends on what you already own. A top-tier unit in a vacuum can be a wasted pull if it duplicates a role you've covered.

So I weighted three things:

• Raw role strength: what the Sync Pair does best, measured against the current role they fill.
• Flexibility: whether they need a specific partner to function or fit into many teams.
• Pull value: how much of your gem budget they justify given the wider October calendar.

The Treasures of Ruin event runs in stages. Chien-Pao's story began September 29, Chi-Yu's started October 6, Wo-Chien's starts October 13, and Ting-Lu's starts October 20. That staggered rollout matters because each featured Sync Pair gets its own spotlight window rather than all four competing on the same day.

The October Pokémon Masters EX Sync Pair Ranking Table

The two seasonal Sync Pairs are where gems go. The two legendary captures are the rewards you earn by playing the story, which is why they sit lower even though the Pokémon themselves are formidable.

Archie (Fall 2026) & Wo-Chien: The Headline Pull

Archie (Fall 2026) & Wo-Chien is the Sync Pair the whole month is built around, and it earns the top spot on name recognition alone before you even look at the kit. Archie has been a fan favorite since his original run, and giving him a seasonal variant tied to a Ruin Pokémon is a pairing the community has wanted.

The practical reason it ranks first is that it's the featured seasonal of the Treasures of Ruin event, which means the event's reward ladder is stacked around it. The ladder hands out 100 Archie & Wo-Chien Sync Orbs at 2,800 points, and those orbs are upgrade resources for this specific Sync Pair. If you're going to grind the event anyway, the orbs you earn point straight at this unit.

A note of caution: the event ladder rewards are upgrade materials, not the Sync Pair itself. You still have to pull the pair from the seasonal scout. This is where new players get confused every event. The orbs make a pulled Archie stronger; they don't hand you Archie for free. So what are you actually buying? A stronger version of a unit you still have to pull.

The seasonal scout window runs from October 13 at 11:00 p.m. PT through October 31 at 10:59 p.m. PT, and a corresponding Sync Pair Story is planned alongside it. Dark-type trainers short on a seasonal-heavy lineup should treat this as the default pull of the month, and if you're still building a first competitive team, the orbs you bank here double as a head start.

One more angle worth thinking about: Archie's seasonal pairing with Wo-Chien means the trainer and the Pokémon share a thematic link, and events built around a named trainer usually reserve their best presentation for that unit. From a pure collection standpoint, that makes Archie the centerpiece pickup, the one a returning player is most likely to regret skipping.

Maxie (Fall 2026) & Ting-Lu: The Second Seasonal

Maxie (Fall 2026) & Ting-Lu lands second, and the only reason it isn't first is timing. Its story unlocks October 20, a week after Archie's, so the community spotlight splits across the month instead of landing on one day.

The event ladder rewards match the pattern: it grants 100 Maxie (Fall 2026) & Ting-Lu Sync Orbs at 3,200 points. Notice the higher threshold compared with Archie's 2,800. That's a small but real signal about where the event design expects your effort to land: the second seasonal takes a bit more grinding to fully upgrade through the ladder.

If you're building a themed rainy-day or villain-trainer roster, pulling both seasonals makes sense because they share an event and often share team synergies. If you can only afford one, Archie's earlier window and lower orb threshold make it the easier of the two to complete. Dedicated Maxie fans, of course, won't care about the math, and that's fine.

Wo-Chien and Ting-Lu: The Treasures of Ruin Captures

The two Ruin Pokémon round out the ranking, and they belong here for a different reason than the seasonals. These are the story setpieces, and the event gives you a clear path to encounter them.

• Wo-Chien's story begins October 13, aligning with Archie's debut week.
• Ting-Lu's story begins October 20, aligning with Maxie's.

The full Treasures of Ruin arc started with Chien-Pao on September 29 and continued through Chi-Yu on October 6, so by the time October closes, all four Ruin Pokémon have had their moment. If you've been following from the start, October is the payoff month. If you're arriving late, you can still jump in, but you'll be playing catch-up on the earlier stories, and catching up takes a real time commitment rather than an afternoon.

Beyond the capture itself, the event grants a broader reward pool: 5★ Scout Tickets, Skill Items, Special Skill Feathers 143 and 144, a Tech Move Candy Coin, and Custom Sync Orbs and Lucky Cookies for both seasonal pairs. The Tech Move Candy Coin is the standout here, since move candy is scarce and always useful.

Pulling Strategy for the October 2026 Pokémon Masters EX Banners

Here is the honest advice, and it won't be popular with everyone: don't pull both seasonals on reflex.

Archie (Fall 2026) & Wo-Chien is the safer spend. It arrives first, its ladder threshold is lower, and it anchors the event marketing. If you've a limited gem budget and you want the month's defining unit, this is the one.

Maxie (Fall 2026) & Ting-Lu is the pull for collectors and Maxie loyalists. It isn't weak by any measure, but buying it means committing gems a week later for a unit whose event spotlight is shorter. If you're deciding between the two and you don't have a specific attachment to Maxie, Archie is the better default.

One more reminder that trips up returning players: seasonal scouts aren't the same as the free legendary captures. The Wo-Chien and Ting-Lu story encounters are separate from the paid seasonal banners. If you want the seasonal Sync Pair, you pull. If you want the Ruin Pokémon's story, you play.

Event Rewards and Upgrade Materials to Prioritize

Between the seasonal ladders and the story rewards, there's more to collect than most players realize. Prioritize like this:

1. Pull Archie's ladder orbs first, since the threshold is lower and the pair anchors the month.
2. Grab the Tech Move Candy Coin from the event rewards, because move candy limits what you can upgrade later.
3. Save Lucky Cookies for the Sync Pairs you actually pulled, not for hypothetical future units.
4. Hold Special Skill Feathers 143 and 144 until you know which pair needs them most.

Custom Sync Orbs are pair-specific, so they only help the unit they belong to. Don't treat them as a general currency. Spending them on the wrong pair is a quiet waste that players only notice weeks later.

Two practical reminders before you tap the pull button. First, seasonal scouts use a pity system, so check your counter before spending; pulling right after a pity break is the smartest time to go deep. Second, keep your account privacy in mind when you link a social login, because event participation tied to a public profile can expose more of your play history than you expect. Neither point is glamorous, and both save gems.

Pokémon Masters EX

DeNA Co., Ltd.

Pokémon Masters EX is a strategy battle game that combines sync pair teams, Trainer stories, and 3-on-3 Pokémon battles.

Stylized RealisticAction Role Playing

Stylized RealisticAction Role Playing

Download (127.8 MB)

Update the game before the October 20 Ting-Lu story unlocks so the event content loads without a last-minute download.

Ranking Verdict: Who Wins October 2026

Ranked results rarely produce a surprise, and this month is no exception. Archie (Fall 2026) & Wo-Chien is the pull to prioritize, Maxie (Fall 2026) & Ting-Lu is the rewarding second choice for anyone with budget to spare, and the two Ruin Pokémon stories are the free value that rewards simply playing the event. If you only log in to pull and never touch the story, you're leaving the most reliable rewards on the table, because the story encounters cost no gems at all.

The month's real strength is that it rewards two different kinds of players: the ones chasing a seasonal Sync Pair and the ones who just want to complete the Treasures of Ruin collection. Whichever camp you're in, the content spans the whole of October, so there's no single day where you have to make a panic decision. That pacing is deliberate, and it's kinder to players who need a few days to decide.

If you're still on the fence, remember that rates and banners rotate. Missing Archie this month doesn't mean missing him forever. It just means watching for the next seasonal rerun, and seasonal reruns are a reliable fixture on the calendar. Set a reminder and move on to the next banner.