Community POTW #74

[Serebii]

Time for the next Pokémon of the Week. We're covering another classic Pokémon this week

It's Lucario! Lucario is a great Pokémon and can do decent damage and hold its own in battle. Its new ability, Justified, makes it useful in Double & Triple battles too

http://www.serebii.net/pokedex-bw/448.shtml

Go nuts

[jeffdavid102]

Yay! First post. Never thought I would get this

Lucario @Life Orb
Adamant
4 HP/252 Att/252 Speed
-Extreme Speed
-Close Combat
-Swords Dance
-Bullet Punch
The Average Lucario Set.

This next one is one I use on Terrakion, with Justified, but the idea is the same.
Triples Lucario
Auranother Set @ Choice Band
Adamant
4 HP/252 Att/252 Speed
-Extreme Speed
-Close Combat
-Rock Slide
-Bullet Punch

Lucario goes in the middle when using this set, because its meant for triple battles. When you use this set, you NEED two important partners. Clefable and Weavile. Weavile needs to be faster than Lucario and know Beat Up and Clefable needs to be defensive and know Follow Me. Their other moves can be filler. On round one, have Weavile use Beat Up on Lucario who has a 4x resistance to dark, Lucario needs to use Rock Slide, and Clefable needs to use Follow Me. Then, most attackers would hit Clefable, though Lucario can still be hit. Then. Lucario uses Rock Slide. The idea is that, right away, Lucario gets a +6 in Attack right away in Round one.

[philzone]

My favorite pokemon!!!!!!
Set one: aura flash
Aura sphere
Flash cannon
Dragon pulse
Dark pulse
Timid
252 sp att, 252 speed 4 hp
Item life orb
Greatest pokemon ever. This set is great. Never miss aura sphere is only countered by ghosts, so dark pulse is there. Dragon pulse for dragons, and flash cannon for a stab move.

Set 2 blue thunder
Blaze kick
Ice punch
Thunder punch
Close combat
Jolly
252 speed, 252 att 4hp
Item life orb
This set is great. Huge coverage, deals damage to lots of super effectives. My personal set. Great.

Set 3 reversed salac
Endure
Reversal
Bullet punch
Shadow claw/crunch
Jolly
Item salac berry
252 speed, 252 att, 4hp
Gimmiky, yet gets the job done. This decimates all. Very creative, even if unavailable in gen v.

Set 4 common lucario
Stone edge
Close combat
Earthquake
Ice punch,bullet punch, extreme speed, blaze kick,crunch
Item metronome
252 speed, 252 att, 4 hp
Jolly
Covers all weaknesses, and a great set, pick the last move yourself.

Natures. Inner focus is my favorite, as unburdenlee can't guarantee saftey. Steed fast is for other fake out users. Justified is immense on physical teams, yet limits its move pool to gen 5 only, and no egg moves bar bullet punch.

Lucario is a great pokemon that causes annoyances all around

[Aurath8]

Lucario, unbeleivably awesome and my favourite Pokemon of the lot. While it suffers from mediocre speed and Defences and outclassed offences, Lucario is one of the most unpredictable Pokemon in the game thanks to his massive mixed movepool. This is one hell of a pokemon to counter:

Counters
The main problem with Lucario is the aforementioned unpredictability. You can't really begin to counter this thing until you know exactly what it's running. Swords Dance, Nasty plot, all three Choice items and even Agility are viable options for Lucario.
Basically, Lucario has no true counters for all sets. The best thing to do is put your predicting skills to the test since there's no way you can tell what it's running until the end of the first turn. Try and scout it's moves with Protect.
After that, taking advantage of it's poor speed and Revenge killing it is your best bet. Terakion, Landorus, Conkledurr, Scarf Heatran, Dugtrio etc. will take care of it.
There's not much else to say really. Lucario is so unpredictable that I'd be here until June trying to describe the Counters for all its possible sets. Good luck, guys.

[ClefairyRox]

Lucario! ^^
Lucario is one of my favorite Pokemon (probably somewhere in the top 20) and has served as a reliable partner for me on PBR. He is a bit overrated, but for good reason. Lucario is a very unpredictable Pokemon, having so many options to work with. He can run physical or special, having base 110 Attack and base 115 Sp. Attack. His typing of Steel/Fighting is shared only by Colbalion, and it gives him many resistances, including a x4 resistance to Rock and Dark. This also means he takes almost nothing from the omnipresent Stealth Rock. He is also a great user of priority, packing four priority move of different types; these make up for his below-ideal Speed. Unfortunately, Lucario's below-average defenses mean he won't be taking many hits, and he is also vulnerable to common Fighting, Fire, and Ground attacks. But if you need a Fighting type with many resistances that can get the jump on an unprepared opponent, Lucario is the perfect Pokemon for you.

Recommended tier: OU

Inner Focus prevents flinching. This is inferior to Steadfast in most cases.
Steadfast raises Lucario's Speed one level when he flinches. Flinches are rare outside of Fake Out, but this ability does give Lucario a much-needed Speed boost when it kicks in.
Justified raises Lucario's Attack one level when he gets hit by a Dark attack. Combined with a partner's Beat Up, this can cause Lucario's Attack to reach insanely high levels in Doubles and Triples. You can also switch Lucario into a Dark attack, such as Crunch, though it is risky.

As I said before, Lucario gets four priority moves: Quick Attack, Extremespeed, Bullet Punch, and Vacuum Wave. Extremespeed is usually the best choice, because of its higher priority. Besides, Scizor is superior as a Bullet Punch spammer. If you run special, choose Vacuum Wave. I wouldn't go for Quick Attack, simply because Extremespeed is stronger and has higher priority. Hi Jump Kick is Lucario's strongest attack, but if you don't want to risk the nasty recoil, Close Combat is a safer option at a sacrifice of only 10 base power. Ice Punch decimates common Dragon types. Earthquake is an option, but Lucario's Fighting attacks are usually superior. Thunderpunch is mostly for Gyarados. Stone Edge slays Flying types, but the shaky 80 accuracy can be a problem. Crunch gives Lucario near-perfect coverage combined with his Fighting attacks, and the possible Defense drop is useful, too. Shadow Claw serves the same purpose, though it has an increased crit chance. Lucario's typing means he takes no Sandstorm damage, meaning he's the best user of the Endure/Reversal combo. There's also a bunch of other moves that I'm too lazy to list.

On the special side, Lucario gets the awesome Aura Sphere-possibly the best special Fighting move out there. Dark Pulse and Dragon Pulse usually serve as coverage. Shadow Ball can substitute for Dark Pulse. Lucario also has many boosting moves, including Swords Dance, Bulk Up, Nasty Plot, Calm Mind, Agility, and Hone Claws.

Double and Triple options: There's the Beat Up/Justified combo. Lucario also gets Quick Guard, Heal Pulse, and Follow Me, though he's a bit too frail to really use them.

Countering Lucario: This takes good prediction. Many of Lucario's sets give it perfect or near-perfect coverage. However, you can never know what set its running until it attacks. This is part of what makes it so deadly. Blissey and Chansey won't like Aura Sphere too much, but they can still take the special set pretty well. They can also cripple him with Thunder Wave. Ghosts have to watch out for Crunch, but they can Burn Lucario. Revenge killing is an option, as Lucario's Speed is only base 90.

[tobias1532]

Lucario.

Physical set:

Adamant/Jolly nature

Choice Band

Justified

Stone Edge
Bullet Punch
Close Combat
Blaze Kick/Shadow Claw

The typical physical Lucario, with the exception of Blaze Kick. IT's an okay move, mostly there for super-effective coverage on bug and grass types. Shadow claw gets perfect type coverage with CC, and the other three are standard.


Special set:

Modest/Timid Nature

Choice Specs

ability

Calm Mind
Aura Sphere
Shadow Ball/Dark Pulse
Flash Cannon/Dragon Pulse

Aura Sphere, best special fighting move in existence. Shadow Ball is for perfect type coverage, dark pulse gets almost as good and has a chance to flinch. IT's preferential, but I'd run Shadow Ball. Flash Cannon is for secondary STAB, Dragon Pulse combos well with Aura Sphere, getting at least neutral damage on anything. Calm mind turns you into a powerhouse.

[overlordmewtwo]

Ah, Lucario. One of the best Pokemon ever to grace the competitive battling scene. This thing is extremely versatile and can surprise opponents if they don't expect your set. Here are a couple of sets Lucario can use well:

SD sweeper:
Adamant/Jolly nature
EV spread: 252 Attk, 252 Speed, 4 HP
Item: Life Orb/ Leftovers
Ability: *depends on preference*
Moves: Swords Dance
Close Combat
Earthquake/ Blaze Kick
Rock Slide/ Ice Punch
Bullet Punch/ Crunch/ Extremespeed

The typical physical sweeping Lucario. Swords Dance for when you get a chance to set up, Close Combat is a staple, and the rest is pretty much filler. Justified can be an ability here if you expect a Dark-type attack.

Special sweeper:
Timid/Modest nature
EV spread: 252 Sp.Attk, 252 Speed, 4HP
Item: Life Orb/ Leftovers
Ability: Steadfast
Moves: Nasty Plot
Aura Sphere
Dark Pulse
Dragon Pulse/ HP Ice/ Vaccum Wave

While Lucario is a threatening physical sweeper, 5th Gen gave Lucario a special equivalent to Swords Dance, Nasty Plot. This allows is to be unpredictable and sweep on the special side. Aura Sphere and Dark Pulse are staples on this set, as it gives Lucario near-perfect coverage, with only a handful of Pokemon resisting the combo. The last move is filler depending on your preference.

Other options: Mixed attacker, Choiced attacker, Agility sweeper, Double-Dancing set.

Lucario has a big enough movepool to pull off a mixed sweeper set (although it's not recommended).

Lucario can also utilize any of the choice items to enhance its sweeping abilities and can use them well.

It can also use an agility set to increase its somewhat subpar base 90 speed.

Although gimmicky, it can use a double-dancing set to make itself even more dangerous.

EDIT: Never mind, I'll post a few counters to Lucario, just because I can.

A few options for countering the physical variant include Gliscor and Skarmory. They both can take any hit Lucario throws at them and either phaze it out or KO back with EQ.

For countering special variants, Eviolite Chansey and Blissey both take any hit thrown at them (although after a few Nasty Plot boosts, both Pokemon will be wincing in pain).

Another great way to beat Lucario is to outrun and KO it. Three major OU Pokemon can do this: Landorus (both scarf and non-scarf variants), Scarf Rotom-W, and Terrakion (although it has to be careful of a boosted Bullet Punch). Conkeldurr can also stand up to physical variants and KO back with priority Mach Punch. Tornadus can also counter Lucario, but it needs to watch out for Ice Punch or HP Ice.

Should you choose to use Lucario in Ubers (although it's not recommended), the list of counters grows even larger: Mewtwo, Giratina, Groudon (physically defensive variants), Lugia, Ho-oh (to a degree), Blaziken (once it's grabbed a few speed boosts), Scarf Reshiram, Zekrom, and Kyogre, and so on.

All-in-all, Lucario is a versatile Pokemon that can be hard to beat. It suffers from the 4-moveslot syndrome, but that doesn't prevent it from being incredible.

[SneaselFTW]

Lucario is just sooooooooo epic. He has an epic movepool, mostly epic stats, and epic typing too!
110/115/90 is nothing to scoff at, while 70/70/70 isn't the worst out there.

My choice is Lucario


Item: Choice Scarf/Band
Ability: Steadfast/Justified
Nature:Jolly
EV's:252 Atk/252 Spd/4 HP
Close Combat
Stone Edge
Bullet Punch
Ice Punch/Shadow Claw

Standard Choice set. Kill lots of stuff, then switch. Ice Punch if Steadfast, Shadow Claw if Justified.(Due to legal issues)

[Kraleck]

Lucario is a great Sweeper with a few Speed buffs Baton Passed in. Huge Attack and Sp.Atk make it very viable as a Physical, Special, or Mixed Sweeper. However, Lucario only has average HP and below average defenses, so it will have to be well prepped to Sweep. That said, it it only weak to Fire, Fighting, and Ground, neutral to Water, Electric, Flying, and Psychic, and resists everything else (immune to Poison). Double-resisting Dark makes Justified a...well, justified decision. Its other Abilities are Flinch-related (one for immunity, one for buffs from them) and help against Fake Out.

As for Moves, you have a ton of good options. Aura Sphere, Iron Tail, Edge-quake, Blaze Kick, Dark Pulse, and so much more are in Lucario's repertoire. Finding a truly resistant Pokemon is quite difficult when you need to a non-faint switch.

That said, Base 90 Speed isn't that much help. Krookodile, Garchomp, Hitmonlee after an Unburden boost, Volcarona, Houndoom, Infernape, Dugtrio, Ninetales, Sand Rush Excadrill during a Sandstorm, Darmanitan, Primeape, Mienshao, and several others have STAB on at least one of Lucario's weaknesses, ample Attack/Sp.Atk, and more Speed. Dealing with them could be an issue. Because of this, Baton Passing Quiver Dance or Shift Gear will be a huge asset to Lucario.

[tomjames1966]

Lucario, oh how I love thing it has so much predictability that you have no idea what it is going to do until after the 1st turn.

Extreme-killer
@Life Orb
Evs: 252Atk/224Spd/76HP
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Justifed
Extremespeed
Swords Dance
Close Combat/Bullet Punch
Crunch/Bulletpunch
A pretty hard set to counter and can be very effective. The crux of this set is to SD your attack to insane levels and sweep with Extremespeed. Bulletpunch can be used as the priority can help against rock types and things that resist Extremespeed but you can also use Close Combat for much higher power if you don't mind the lowering of defences and losing the priority of Bulletpunch. For the last slot choose which one you like but watchout for Ghosts if you don't have crunch.

[Aura Flare Riolu]

Ah Lucario...Love this Pokemon! Riolu is my favourite Pokemon. Why did that Justified Lucario have to be always Male huh? Makes it impossible to get Prankster Riolu at the moment...oh well, might as well put up a set for once before somebody else does it.

Priority Phazer
~ Roar
~ Copycat
~ Filler Move
~ Filler Move
Item: Focus Sash
Ability: Prankster
Nature:Jolly
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Spe / 6 Def

Obviously for this to work, you need to set up Spikes and Stealth Rock earlier. Then come in and use Roar. Then use Copycat. With Prankster, it will always attack first and use Roar with the Copycat and keep phazing out your opponents while they take damage from the Entry Hazards. It's a little bit of a gimmick set but can be pretty deadly when used in the right situation. Obviously it's crippled by Priority (Especially other Prankster users with Taunt). Max Speed is needed to outspeed slow priority uses like Choice Band Scizor with Bullet Punch.

[Mustangmaster19]

Lead Lucario?

Item:Focus Sash
Ability:Steadfast
Swords Dance
Extreme speed
Close Combat
Earthquake/blaze kick/ice punch/stone edge

Evs:252 attack/252sp/4hp
Nature: Adamant/Jolly
This set workers very well as a lead set to do massive damage to teams without priority users to finish off lucario if hes brought down to his sash. After a swords dance lucario is very dangerous and will do a decent chunk to alot of guys who try to switch in thanks to his great movepool. This set can also be used to check terrakion, as long as your sash is still active, take a close combat then throw your own in his face then E speed him to death. Spin Support is crucial if your not wanting to us this set in the lead other wise sash is useless, lucario also fits into both Rain/sand teams very well by not taking damage from sand and rain removing his fire weakness. Hail can also ruin sash or KO Lucario if he has been brought down to it so be sure to remove that before lucario comes in even though it isnt seen often.

[AquaRegisteel]

The problem with the Swords Dance sets is that it has 4MSS. Whatever move you run will leave you walled by something. Without Ice Punch, Gliscor can do a good job with unboosted Lucario. It really depends though, as +2 Extremespeed is so powerful.

^You have 5 moveslots, when only 4 exist.

[Mustangmaster19]

I agree with you, but every set has flaws and will be walled by something gliscor is normally used to counter most fighting types such as lucario, and the 5 moves was a typo thanks for letting me know

[your boss]

Ah, Lucario, you may be unpredictable with your great movepool, but I not a fan of your design at all. Anyway Conkeldurr kills even if lucario use +2 Life Orb Extremespeed

[DizzyCobraMew]

Feel the aura
Timid/Modest
252Attack 252Speed 4HP
Sitris berry
Steadfast
Aura sphere
Vacuum wave
Dragon pulse
Water pulse/HP ice/HP water

Adamant/jolly
252Attack 252Speed 4HP/defense
Life orb
Justified
Bullet punch
Blaze kick
Close combat
Swords dance

Hasty/Naive
252Attack 4Sp.Atk 252Speed
Life orb
Inner focus
Aura sphere
Ice punch/Thunder punch
Blaze kick
Flash cannon/dark pulse/water pulse

Take your pick he has a very nice arsenal of moves

[DizzyCobraMew]

I forgot about earthquake, stone edge, swords dance, focus punch, brick break, extreme speed, and focus sash

[ToddCam]

The person who writes the articles really needs to get the difference between "its" and "it's" down. It looks really unprofessional.

[your boss]

The person who writes the articles really needs to get the difference between "its" and "it's" down. It looks really unprofessional.

Don't judge Blue Harvest like that, everyone makes typo's including me.

[grantholomew]

Special Aura

Lucario @ Life Orb/Focus Sash
Trait: Steadfast
EVs: 4 HP/252 SAtk/252 Spd
Jolly (+Spd, -Atk)
- Aura Sphere
- Shadow Ball
- Dragon Pulse/Hidden Power Ice/Vacuum Wave/Nasty Plot
- Dragon Pulse/Hidden Power Ice/Vacuum Wave/Nasty Plot
Nothing really new here, just important to note that Lucario gets Vacuum Wave, so it has priority on either side of the attacking spectrum.

Don't judge Blue Harvest like that, everyone makes typo's including me.

I see wacha did there.