Does synchronizing after using skill swap in SOS hunting ACTUALLY work?

Question

I'm so freakin' stressed out at my copy of Pokemon Moon at the moment. I've been SOS chaining/synchronizing for a shiny jolly nature Beldum for about five days now. I've just caught my fifth shiny and so far NONE of them have been synchronized to have the nature I wanted.

I've been hunting with a Kecleon with its Protean hidden ability, skill swapped to an ally Beldum and then swapped again to my synchronize Kadabra using role play, giving him the ghost typing when using shadow ball, the original Beldum is also Harvest/leppa berried thanks to my Exeggutor so I don't have to worry about struggle, direct or recoil damage from take down. After five shinys with no jolly nature though I'm seriously starting to doubt whether this actually works, I've read that it does. That synchronize DOES in fact still work after skill swap/role play is used so long as the synchronizer is at the front of the party and on the field while hunting. I'm aware that it only has a 50% chance but after FIVE shinys, I'm growing incredibly skeptical.

Also just for those who might be thinking I'm just not doing this right, this is a step by step guide on what I'm doing to set this up;

1. Find Beldum with Kadabra at front of party
2. Switch to Kecleon and use skill swap
3. Switch to Exeggutor, use skill swap and then bestow the leppa berry
4. Use adrenaline orb and wait for an ally Beldum to appear
5. Switch to Kecleon and use skill swap on the ally Beldum
6. Switch to Kadabra and use role play on the ally Beldum to gain the Protean ability
7. Knock out the ally Beldum with psychic
8. Use shadow ball on the OG Beldum to become a ghost type, due to it becoming a normal type after step 2 it will not be affected
9. Use shadow ball on every ally Beldum until the shiny appears

Am I just really, really, really unlucky? Or am I completely wasting my time? If someone can help me out here I'd greatly appreciate it. For now though I can't continue, I'm too frustrated with this stupid thing so I'm gonna do something else for the time being but if I can get clarification that it DEFINITELY works than I'll almost certainly go for attempt number six.

Comments

Where did you read that this works? If Kadabra's ability in battle is not Synchronise when the Beldum is called in, I don't see why it would be subject to Synchronise's effects. I haven't tried chaining like this myself so I don't have any experience, but I'd be surprised if this approach worked.
Regardless, I think you'd have a lot more luck if you were to breed Beldum as opposed to chaining it. You can guarantee the Jolly nature if you give a Jolly Ditto an Everstone and breed it with Beldum, and your Shiny chances are better with breeding than with chaining as well.

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This is the page I first found this method;
https://www.reddit.com/r/pokemon/comments/5sxbqh/easy_shiny_hunting_beldum_in_sm_with_nature_synch/

I've tried looking elsewhere for some form of confirmation found this on gamefaqs;

"There is a bug in Synchronize effect : Synchronize works on allies if the Synchronizer is on the field, but with the nature of the first party Pokémon. The Synchronizer can even lose Synchronize with Roleplay/Skill Swap, it will still work. It also works if the first party Pokémon is KO."

Also, I know I can easily just breed for a jolly Beldum but I want this thing in a master ball and they don't get passed down when breeding. So to get this thing exactly the way I want it, this is the only choice I have.

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So the author says they've tested this at least. I guess I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. Whilst I haven't tried chaining the way you are myself, I'm definitely accustomed to how strangely Synchronise behaves in these games, so I could see how this might extend from that. I think the best way to solve this would be to ourselves test this same process on a random Pokemon and see how often Synchronise works -- but maybe go without the 70+ SOS chain. :P
Shame about the Pokeball mechanics -- I'd suggest Beast Ball as an alternative, but Beldum's catch rate is so awful that's probably not a great idea.

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I made a program a little while back to calculate probability (mainly for shinyhunting), so I decided to take it, repurpose it a bit, and find the chance that Synchronize just simply failed 5 times in a row. Given that Synchronize has a 50% chance of affecting the nature, I found that after 5 attempts, there is a 96.875% chance of Synchronize working at least once, so the chance that it failed 5 times is 3.125% :\
Program: https://krlw890.github.io/Chance-Calculator.html

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The Reddit page claims that a synchronizer will still work if its ability was temporarily changed. This implies that the game doesn't check whether the active Pokemon currently has synchronize, which in turn implies that transferring synchronize onto a Pokemon won't work, which in turn implies that the answer is no.

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Where does it say temporary? If that were the case than what would be the point to the guide existing at all if it doesn't work to begin with? It clearly states on the reddit page in bold lettering;

"If you Role Play or Skill Swap Synchronize away the wild Pokémon will still have their nature synchronized 50% of the time."

Unless you're referring to this quote from the page;

"But of course, if you switch out your Synchronizer and send in another Pokémon then Synchronize will lose its effect as expected."

But obviously I bring my Kadabra back in and keep it in for the duration of the hunt but what you're saying makes the creation of the guide ultimately pointless if it were true. I know you're saying "implies" and the whole guide could easily be a load of bull created by some guy trying to make people like me waste their time...

Either way, I'm currently still going for shiny number six. I've decided that if I STILL don't have it after TEN shinys than I will just give up. Thanks to everyone who has responded, if I get it I will certainly let ya'll know!

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By "temporary", I meant that the Pokemon usually has synchronize and will regain it when the Pokemon switches out.

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One way someone could test this is by finding an easy-to-catch Pokémon, setting up Skill Swap, waiting for it to call for help once, then catch the ally and record its nature.  After enough catches (I'd say at least 40 or so), the rate of the nature matching the Sychronizer's should either be 1/2 (if Synchronize does work) or 1/25 (if it does not).
Hopefully, it'll take no more than a couple of hours to test. I'd do it myself, but I don't have SM...

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I'm soooo freakin' pumped and dumbfounded right now guys. Was just setting up again to continue hunting for shiny number six and just after aquiring protean for Kadabra, I got the shiny Beldum on the SECOND freakin' SOS encounter and to add icing on the cake, IT'S FINALLY jolly!!

Thanks again everybody for the advice and encouragement, I don't think I would have persisted if I hadn't got it. Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta train that bad boy up!

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Hey, congrats!

Answer 1

If the ally was called when your Pokémon did not have Synchronize, you were not using Synchronize.

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