Trainer's Choice - Lucario

[Regis_Neo]

[GAL=53593]"A well-trained one can sense auras to identify and
take in the feelings of creatures over half a mile away."[/GAL]​

By: Regis_Neo

Known as the Aura Pokemon, Lucario is probably best known as the mascot for the 4th generation of Pokemon games: it had a staring role in one of the anime movies (Lucario & The Mystery of Mew), was featured prominently in the anime and videogames, and even had a slot in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as a fighter. And the stardom is well-deserved, as Lucario is a great sweeper in the videogame, blessed with good typing (Fighting/Steel) and powerful physical and special attack stats.

Base Stats:
HP: 70
Att: 110
Def: 70
Sp Att: 115
Sp Def: 70
Spe: 90

Originally, Lucario was thought to be one of the new legendary Pokemon when Diamond and Pearl was announced (along with its silhouette). That speculation ultimately did not pass once its stats were revealed, but that is perhaps for the better overall as we get to enjoy his presence in the VGC, unlike actual legendaries/ubers from that generation like Dialga and Palkia. As mentioned previously, Lucario has excellent attacking stats on the physical and special side, and can function well as a sweeper on either end. Lucario also has some rather interesting support options too, such as Heal Pulse, Follow Me, and more.

[GAL=53592]Lucario[/GAL]

Lucario @ Life Orb / Chople Berry
Ability: Inner Focus
Nature: Adamant / Jolly
EVs: 6 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
-Close Combat
-Crunch
-Ice Punch
-Detect

Close Combat, simply put, will dent pretty much anything in the game, if not outright OHKO it. Crunch offers great damage against Psychic, and combined with Close Combat will get neutral coverage against all types (meaning between the two attacks, one Fighting and one Dark, every Pokemon type can be hit for at least neutral damage). Ice Punch offers a great option against the many Dragon types out there. and Detect will allow you to avoid unwanted damage since while Lucario has good typing and resistances, its defenses overall aren't super great. In Singles, Detect can be dropped for a stat-boosting move like Swords Dance, or another attack for coverage.

This is just a sampling of Lucario's diverse movepool as well; you can opt for other great physical attacks such as Earthquake, Stone Edge, Rock Slide, Blaze Kick, and Thunder Punch. Lucario also gets both Extreme Speed and Bullet Punch for priority moves, both of which are great for catching faster foes offguard; if possible, it's highly recommended to look at one of them over Crunch or Ice Punch if you have other Pokemon covering the types those moves hit. If you dislike Close Combat's defensive drops, you have other options as well such as Low Kick if you're anticipating heavy foes or even lower accuracy options like High Jump Kick and Cross Chop.

[GAL=53592]Lucario[/GAL]

Lucario @ Life Orb / Chople Berry
Ability: Inner Focus
Nature: Modest / Timid
EVs: 6 HP / 252 Sp. Atk / 252 Spe
-Aura Sphere
-Dark Pulse
-Hidden Power Ice
-Detect

Lucario's special sweeper set is much like the physical sweeper set, only with special attacks pretty much. Aura Sphere and Dark Pulse both combine for neutral coverage just like Close Combat and Crunch on the physical set, and Aura Sphere is extra nice since it has perfect accuracy and will never miss. Hidden Power Ice offers super effective damage against Dragons, and Detect rounds out the set to protect against opposing attacks. In Singles, Detect can be dropped for a stat-boosting move like Nasty Plot, or another attack for coverage.

Unlike the other options in the physical movepool, Lucario's special movepool is a bit more limited, but still effective if you're looking for other options. Vacuum Wave is notable for being a special-based priority move, and if you can find a way to add it to your moveset it can give you a great jump on faster foes or even picking off weakened ones. Much like how Swords Dance is an option for the physical set to boost its attack, the special set has Nasty Plot to boost its special attack if you can find the time. Dragon Pulse is an alternative to Hidden Power Ice if your Lucario doesn't have it, though you'll lose out on the 4x super effective damage most Dragons take from Ice attacks and have to settle for 2x instead. Flash Cannon offers a Steel type STAB option, but given Steel's poor attacking type, you're better off with other moves most of the time. Some other options include Psychic and Shadow Ball, and even Focus Blast if you're looking for a stronger (but less accurate) option over Aura Sphere.

Other Options

Lucario's supporting moveset is not to be underestimated: Follow Me, Helping Hand, Healing Pulse, and Quick Guard are all great options that can be added into any moveset. If you want, you can even build a defensive set around Lucario's decent typing, with moves like Drain Punch for recovery and some of the above moves to support the team. Generally though, there are better defensive Pokemon up for supporting a team, but Lucario can catch opposing teams off-guard considering his normal status as a sweeper.

For your item choice, it all depends really on what you want to accomplish: Life Orb offers much more destructive power and a better chance to OHKO opposing targets, but Chople Berry is nice for lessening the damage Lucario may take from common Fighting Pokemon like Hitmontop. Focus Sash is another option here as well in terms of survivability, guaranteeing that Lucario will live through at least one attack. Even Air Balloon is appreciated for the temporary immunity it gives Lucario from Ground attacks. For the Ability, Inner Focus overall is the most useful as flinch attacks like Fake Out are pretty common. Steadfast might seem good on paper, but that is also a lost turn of an attack for just a speed boost. Finally, if you have access to the special Target copy or BW2, you may have a Lucario with Justified, which can be used for a fun Beat Up combo to quickly boost Lucario's attack to sky high levels, but his lower speed tier means he'll have trouble sweeping outright over faster Pokemon like Terrakion.

Overall, Lucario is a great Pokemon for team consideration. It can fill either physical or special sweeping roles, and even offers decent supporting moves in Doubles.

 

[Regis_Neo]

Many apologizes for the week-long delay, but our newest Trainer's Choice is now up: the Aura Pokemon, Lucario!

 

[Trican]

This was my pick and I'm very happy to see it as I now have inspiration to build my favorite Pokemon for my team

 

[koolkidhp]

I havn't played lucario yet but (if you are also considering singles) a mixed sweeper set could be viable. Like the article

 

[Kayle]

I think Lucario's offensive stats are a hair too low for a mixed set. If its attack was 120, an argument could be made that CC is powerful enough without investment, but it's got such competition from Infernape as a mixed Fighting-type...

Also, in the realm of singles, I love Banded Lucario for messing with people's heads. SO POWERFUL... with no boosts. And all the coverage moves. All of them

 

[vaporeon]

I just LOVE how Pidgeot barely outspeeds Lucario by 1 in its based stat. I did not know the before now so I'm glad to have this feature.

I like Lucario's stats for mixed sweeping. All it really needs is CC and the rest special attacks. I'll post a set later.

 

[Prime]

Life orb is you deal more damage but take damage in return? Is it every turn, or whenever you deal damage?

With 70 DEF/SDEF, can he withstand an attack? It seems low, but I am unsure of the average DEF/SDEF of Pokemon.

 

[Benzo]

The life orb will up the damage output when you use an attack. In return, the price is recoil damage. If you use an attack that does not hit your target, say, iron defense- no recoil damage is recieved.

An average base defense and special defense stat is depending on the type base-stat build. If a Pokemon has a high defense base stat, the special defense stat is often lower or way lower in order to make up the balance of the two stats.
Most Pokemon average out in their base stats by way of design and type. Like, a steel Pokemon could have a really high defense stat, and high special defense stat, yet the speed base stat is so bad that along with a weak special attack stat that you might consider using that Pokemon for trick room.

Lucario can withstand some hits, it depends on how it is built and what item it is holding. A good number of things need to be considered when your using a Pokemon that you selecting to use as a "sweeper", per say by temrs like a "glass cannon"- a Pokemon that is fast, frail, has a move set that can hit for STAB, has 3 moves that hit most Pokemon for X2 "super effective" damage and can almost 95% of the time go in for a OHKO on an opposing target, yet can't stand one single weak attack due to being so frail.

If your looking to find an average defense and special defense base stat, you will need to look more into the design and type of a Pokemon to better understand why it's base stats are set the way they are.

In a way, Pokemon are base stat built around the over all variaty of it's type. Say, if you have 10 fire pokemon, two may be great choices for being a "glass cannon", while the other fire Pokemon are spread out to be walls, super slow speed but hits really hard, or is just a well suited supporter to annoy your opponent with moves like Will-O-Wisp and the sort.

70 base stat is high on a scale of 1-100, but in terms of say 140 base stat, it is right in the middle. (sheesh, off the top of my mind, I can not remember the highest base set there is, lol)(although 140 seems right ????-)

So, Lucario is on the bit frail side, hits fast and hard if built to suit- thus most of the time people have Lucario hold the Focus Sash to let it survive for at least the first round in double battles.

 

[Prime]

Focus Sash is like that rock's ability so it can't be OHKO'd from full health? Sturdy is it?

252 Speed makes sure to get the most out of Lucario's 90 base speed.

I didn't think about it, but Steel is natively resistant to a bunch of types, so I guess that makes up for his lower DEF/SDEF.

 

[LunarWolf21]

Since most of the time, your opponent will try to stop Lucario with a Physical attack, you can pull off a dirty trick by having Lucario hold Focus Sash, and use Counter! No one sees it coming. So, Counter, Close Combat or Reversal, ExtremeSpeed, and Swords Dance. Or whichever moveset you feel most comfortable with.