[CLOSED] The Lucario Effect : A Guide for the Perfect Competitive Lucario

[C Formica]

As you might see from my Profile, and my avatar, my favorite Pokemon is indeed Lucario. I'd thought it would be great to give people a guide on how to optimize their Lucario's for different competitive purposes, mainly as the Ultimate Sweeper.

I have the facts and stats already compiled, and the reasons and purposes for the moves, EVs, ability, item, etc. I feel the option for a competitive Lucario, sweeper of course, is fully utilized with the information I have come up with.

I hope this guide will be passed, as Lucario is used as a sweeper by many strong competitive trainers, and is a great asset to both your in-game and competitive game. I would also like to put the locations in each game, Gen 4 and above obviously, where a riolu or lucario can be found. (Ex. X&Y, Korrina gives you a Lucario along with it's mega stone)

Thanks!

 

[C Formica]

Thank you for your help :) :)

 

[C Formica]

Alright, this is what I have for my rough draft so far. Still working on closing statements.




Lucario has been a powerful sweeper since it was introduced in the games Diamond and Pearl. His insane Attack, Sp. Attack, and Speed stats made Lucario a formidable opponent, not one you looked forward to battling. Because of this, Lucario is known as one of the most powerful fighting type Pokemon to ever exist. Heck Lucario even makes Giratina feels weak and useless.

Image Source​

In Generation 6, Lucario was given a mega evolution, heightening his powers even more, giving small boosts to his Defense and Sp. Attack, and increasing his Attack and Speed by a lot. Because of this power, Lucario was an even more popular choice for competitive Pokemon in the UU and OU tier. In fact, Mega Lucario was so powerful, that Lucarionite was banned from the OU tier, and moved up to the Uber tier.

The purpose of this guide is to show you how to maximize Lucario's potential and turn it into a sweeping machine. (And no I don't mean the robotic vacuum cleaners)


Special Sweeper OU/UU
Move 1 - Aura Sphere
Move 2 - Shadow Ball
Move 3 - Vacuum Wave/Nasty Plot
Move 4 - Dragon Pulse
Item: Choice Specs/Life Orb
Ability: Steadfast
Nature: Modest
EVs: 252 Sp. Atk - 4 Sp. Def - 252 Speed

As a special sweeper, the main goal is to obviously beef up Lucario's Sp. Atk as much as possible. Choice Specs powers up Sp. Atk by 50%, but restricts you to only one move, which means one you choose your move, you're stuck with it. The Modest nature boosts Sp. Atk while lowering Atk, and the EVs are set to make Lucario faster as well as powering up it's Sp. Atk.

The moves shown give you a variety of options for multiple situations you might encounter. Aura Sphere is a great STAB move, with perfect accuracy, giving you an advantage over steel, rock, normal, and dark types, while Shadow Ball gives you its best attack against the Ghost- and Psychic-types which may try to switch into expected Fighting-type attacks. Dragon Pulse is a great counterpart to Aura Sphere, and Vacuum Wave gives you a move to use against much more frail Pokemon, trying to sweep at low health. The alternative to the Choice Specs is to switch that item with a Life Orb, and switch Vacuum Wave with Nasty Plot, to further increase Lucario's Sp. Attack, just in a different way.

Physical Sweeper OU/UU
Move 1 - Bone Rush/Earthquake
Move 2 - Close Combat
Move 3 - Swords Dance
Move 4 - Shadow Claw
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Steadfast
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Attack - 252 Speed - 4 Defense

Life Orb will start off the battle in a bipolar fashion, both increasing the damage done by Lucario's attacks by 30% and taking 10% of Lucario's HP every turn. If possible, it's good to get a couple of Swords Dances in the beginning to boost attack even more. Steadfast will be a good counter to moves like Fake-out, Bite, and Crunch.

Lucario has only 3 weaknesses: Fighting, Fire, and Ground. Bone Rush or Earthquake will counter any Fighting and Fire types that could potentially be a threat, while Shadow Claw gives you a move to use against Ghost types, in which case Fighting type moves have no effect. Close Combat is a powerful STAB, and when combined with Lucario's impressive Attack stat, the Life Orb, and the Swords Dances, gives the opponent absolute hell.

 

[C Formica]

Lucario has been a powerful sweeper since it was introduced in the games Diamond and Pearl. His insane Attack, Sp. Attack, and Speed stats made Lucario a formidable opponent, not one you looked forward to battling. Because of this, Lucario is known as one of the most powerful fighting type Pokemon to ever exist. Heck Lucario even makes Giratina feels weak and useless.

Image Source​

In Generation 6, Lucario was given a mega evolution, heightening his powers even more, giving small boosts to his Defense and Sp. Attack, and increasing his Attack and Speed by a lot. Because of this power, Lucario was an even more popular choice for competitive Pokemon in the UU and OU tier. In fact, Mega Lucario was so powerful, that Lucarionite was banned from the OU tier, and moved up to the Uber tier.

The purpose of this guide is to show you how to maximize Lucario's potential and turn it into a sweeping machine. (And no I don't mean the robotic vacuum cleaners)

Lucario - The Aura Pokemon
Not only does it perceive auras, but it has also gained the power to control them. It employs them in battle.
The Subject
#448 Lucario
Species: Aura
Type: Fighting/Steel
Abilities: Steadfast, Inner Focus, Justified (Hidden)
Weaknesses: Fire 2x / Ground 2x / Fighting 2x
Resistances: Normal 0.5x / Grass 0.5x / Ice 0.5x / Poison 0x / Bug 0.25x / Rock 0.25x / Dragon 0.5x / Dark 0.5x / Steel 0.5x
Evolves From: Riolu (Lvl Up w/ Max Happiness during day)
Height: 1.2m
Weight: 54.0kg
Tier: UU, OU (Mega Lucario: Uber)

Base Stats (Range @ Lvl 50)
HP: 70 (130-167)
Attack: 110 (126-178)
Defense: 70 (82-136)
Special Attack: 115 (132-182)
Special Defense: 70 (82-136)
Speed: 90 (104-156)
Base Stat Total: 525

______________________________________________________________
THIS PORTION OF THE ARTICLE IS IN PROGRESS
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Special Sweeper OU/UU
Move 1 - Aura Sphere
Move 2 - Shadow Ball
Move 3 - Vacuum Wave/Nasty Plot
Move 4 - Dragon Pulse
Item: Choice Specs/Life Orb
Ability: Steadfast
Nature: Modest
EVs: 252 Sp. Atk - 4 Sp. Def - 252 Speed

As a special sweeper, the main goal is to obviously beef up Lucario's Sp. Atk as much as possible. Choice Specs powers up Sp. Atk by 50%, but restricts you to only one move, which means one you choose your move, you're stuck with it. The Modest nature boosts Sp. Atk while lowering Atk, and the EVs are set to make Lucario faster as well as powering up it's Sp. Atk.

The moves shown give you a variety of options for multiple situations you might encounter. Aura Sphere is a great STAB move, with perfect accuracy, giving you an advantage over steel, rock, normal, and dark types, while Shadow Ball gives you its best attack against the Ghost- and Psychic-types which may try to switch into expected Fighting-type attacks. Dragon Pulse is a great counterpart to Aura Sphere, and Vacuum Wave gives you a move to use against much more frail Pokemon, trying to sweep at low health. The alternative to the Choice Specs is to switch that item with a Life Orb, and switch Vacuum Wave with Nasty Plot, to further increase Lucario's Sp. Attack, just in a different way.

Physical Sweeper OU/UU
Move 1 - Bone Rush/Earthquake
Move 2 - Close Combat
Move 3 - Swords Dance
Move 4 - Shadow Claw
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Steadfast
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Attack - 252 Speed - 4 Defense

Life Orb will start off the battle in a bipolar fashion, both increasing the damage done by Lucario's attacks by 30% and taking 10% of Lucario's HP every turn. If possible, it's good to get a couple of Swords Dances in the beginning to boost attack even more. Steadfast will be a good counter to moves like Fake-out, Bite, and Crunch.

Lucario has only 3 weaknesses: Fighting, Fire, and Ground. Bone Rush or Earthquake will counter any Fighting and Fire types that could potentially be a threat, while Shadow Claw gives you a move to use against Ghost types, in which case Fighting type moves have no effect. Close Combat is a powerful STAB, and when combined with Lucario's impressive Attack stat, the Life Orb, and the Swords Dances, gives the opponent absolute hell.

 

[C Formica]

Hi there! Allow me to introduce you to the Editor's Workshop subforum here in PC Daily!

In this forum, this is where you will work on your article. We may give you a gentle nudge if it's been a while since you posted your last update! In short, feel free to posts drafts/updates of what you have so far (instead of PMing them to PC Daily staff members)! I will fully admit I'm not really versed in the competitive scene (not as much as I used to be, anyway), so I'll leave the feedback to the competitive writers and those who know what they're talking about. :D

Everything you post here will be between you and the PC Daily staff, so feel free to go nuts and stuff.

Have fun!

All right, this is my final rough draft, I'm ready for some feedback.



How to Battle with Lucario
The Heroic Aura Master returns...

Lucario has been a powerful sweeper since it was introduced in the games Diamond and Pearl. His insane Attack, Sp. Attack, and Speed stats made Lucario a formidable opponent, not one you looked forward to battling. Because of this, Lucario is known as one of the most powerful fighting type Pokemon to ever exist. Heck Lucario even makes Giratina feels weak and useless.

Image Source​

In Generation 6, Lucario was given a mega evolution, heightening his powers even more, giving small boosts to his Defense and Sp. Attack, and increasing his Attack and Speed by a lot. Because of this power, Lucario was an even more popular choice for competitive Pokemon in the UU and OU tier. In fact, Mega Lucario was so powerful, that Lucarionite was banned from the OU tier, and moved up to the Uber tier.

The purpose of this guide is to show you how to maximize Lucario's potential and turn it into a sweeping machine. (And no I don't mean the robotic vacuum cleaners)

Lucario - The Aura Pokemon
Not only does it perceive auras, but it has also gained the power to control them. It employs them in battle.
The Subject
#448 Lucario
Species: Aura
Type: Fighting/Steel
Abilities: Steadfast, Inner Focus, Justified (Hidden)
Weaknesses: Fire 2x / Ground 2x / Fighting 2x
Resistances: Normal 0.5x / Grass 0.5x / Ice 0.5x / Poison 0x / Bug 0.25x / Rock 0.25x / Dragon 0.5x / Dark 0.5x / Steel 0.5x
Evolves From: Riolu (Lvl Up w/ Max Happiness during day)
Height: 1.2m
Weight: 54.0kg
Tier: UU, OU (Mega Lucario: Uber)

Base Stats (Range @ Lvl 50)
HP: 70 (130-167)
Attack: 110 (126-178)
Defense: 70 (82-136)
Special Attack: 115 (132-182)
Special Defense: 70 (82-136)
Speed: 90 (104-156)
Base Stat Total: 525

With mediocre defensive and HP stats, Lucario is obviously built to be a sweeper, boasting high Attack, Sp. Attack, and Speed. The ability Steadfast heightens Lucario's Speed even more when facing opponents with moves like Fake-Out, Bite, and Crunch.

With it's sweeper build and plethora of resistances, and even an immunity, Lucario poses a lethal threat in the OU metagame. Although Poison type Pokemon are rarely used in the OU metagame, Lucario is protected from an entire type, and has resistances to 8 types, many are frequently used in the OU metagame such as Dragon and Dark.

The Sets

Special Sweeper OU/UU
Move 1 - Aura Sphere
Move 2 - Shadow Ball
Move 3 - Vacuum Wave/Nasty Plot
Move 4 - Dragon Pulse
Item: Choice Specs/Life Orb
Ability: Steadfast
Nature: Modest
EVs: 252 Sp. Atk - 4 Sp. Def - 252 Speed

As a special sweeper, the main goal is to obviously beef up Lucario's Sp. Atk as much as possible. Choice Specs powers up Sp. Atk by 50%, but restricts you to only one move, which means one you choose your move, you're stuck with it. The Modest nature boosts Sp. Atk while lowering Atk, and the EVs are set to make Lucario faster as well as powering up it's Sp. Atk.

The moves shown give you a variety of options for multiple situations you might encounter. Aura Sphere is a great STAB move, with perfect accuracy, giving you an advantage over steel, rock, normal, and dark types, while Shadow Ball gives you its best attack against the Ghost- and Psychic-types which may try to switch into expected Fighting-type attacks. Dragon Pulse is a great counterpart to Aura Sphere, and Vacuum Wave gives you a move to use against much more frail Pokemon, trying to sweep at low health. The alternative to the Choice Specs is to switch that item with a Life Orb, and switch Vacuum Wave with Nasty Plot, to further increase Lucario's Sp. Attack, just in a different way.

Physical Sweeper OU/UU
Move 1 - Bone Rush/Earthquake
Move 2 - Close Combat
Move 3 - Swords Dance
Move 4 - Shadow Claw
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Steadfast
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Attack - 252 Speed - 4 Defense

Life Orb will start off the battle in a bipolar fashion, both increasing the damage done by Lucario's attacks by 30% and taking 10% of Lucario's HP every turn. If possible, it's good to get a couple of Swords Dances in the beginning to boost attack even more. Steadfast will be a good counter to moves like Fake-out, Bite, and Crunch.

Lucario has only 3 weaknesses: Fighting, Fire, and Ground. Bone Rush or Earthquake will counter any Fighting and Fire types that could potentially be a threat, while Shadow Claw gives you a move to use against Ghost types, in which case Fighting type moves have no effect. Close Combat is a powerful STAB, and when combined with Lucario's impressive Attack stat, the Life Orb, and the Swords Dances, gives the opponent absolute hell.

To Use or Not to Use...
Pros

• Amazing Offensive and Speed Stats
• 8 Resistances including Dragon and Dark
• 1 Immunity
• Ability increases Speed upon flinching
• Has Earthquake/Bone Rush to counter 2 out of 3 weaknesses
• Blows through threats through OU and UU
• Has Mega Evolution (Useful in Uber)

Cons

• Weak to common Fire, Fighting and Ground attacks
• Vulnerable to other sweepers (common among Fire and Fighting types)
• No recovery aside from leftovers
• Mediocre Defensive stats
• Bad HP stats

Points Of Comparison

Sweepers: Zoroark, Infernape, Metagross, Gengar, Heatran (With the right moves)
Fighting Threats: Blaziken, Infernape (Sweeper), Machamp, Breloom, Hawlucha, Medicham (Has good typing: Psychic/Fighting)
Speed Competitions: Deoxys (Speed), Ninjask, Electrode, Jolteon, Crobat, Shaymin (Sky)
Other Dogs: (Yes Lucario is a dog/wolf) Houndoom, Manectric, Arcanine

Teammates

Yes, although sweepers are usually solo Pokemon, teammates with status abilities can really come in handy during double or triple battles. Lucario is no exception, with moves like Spikes, Stealth Rock and Toxic, Lucario and it's partner would be close to unstoppable.

Bronzong
Bronzong has access to moves like Toxic, Stealth Rock, Confuse Ray and Heal Block, which when combined with Lucario's sweeping ability, can form a deadly team.

Zoroark
I know what you're thinking, a sweeper combined with a sweeper, that's crazy! But actually, it's makes sense. With the ability to learn Nasty Plot, and a base Sp. Attack stat of 120, Zoroark poses a threat to Pokemon with weak Sp. Defense, while Lucario has access to Swords Dance, and a base Attack stat of 110, it poses a threat to Pokemon with weak Defense. Together, they can combat both types of defensive walls at the same time during double battles. (Another good strategy is to employ toxic and spikes then switch to the sweepers)

Conclusion

Lucario is a very useful and powerful sweeper to have on your team, with great offensive stats, and not horrible defensive ones, 8 resistances and an immunity. Just remember not to rely on Lucario to take many hits, that's what it's speed it for, to attack first. With a teammate, Lucario is given extra advantages either defensive, offensive, or status related.

That's all for this edition of "How to Battle with" [Pokemon]. Be sure to leave comments, as this is my first article, and feedback is encouraged! For direct comments or feedback, go to the thread for this article. Until then, stay fresh PokeCommunity.

 

[Dragon]

Physical Sweeper OU/UU
Move 1 - Bone Rush/Earthquake
Move 2 - Close Combat
Move 3 - Swords Dance
Move 4 - Shadow Claw
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Steadfast
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Attack - 252 Speed - 4 Defense

IMO, you should give a mention to Extremespeed for this set, or maybe Bullet Punch. Lucario doesn't have the best speed to sweep in UU, where there are fast pokemon like Mega-Aerodactlyl or Infernape. Priority moves does help in picking those sorts of pokemon off, or just to revenge KO pokemon in general. o:

 

[ddrox13]

Dragon is probably saying the same things as I am at the same time, but w/e. My comments are in bold blue, suggested additions/changes have been made in blue italics, and grammar correction (if any) is in red

All right, this is my final rough draft, I'm ready for some feedback.

How to Battle with Lucario
The Heroic Aura Master returns...

Lucario has been a powerful sweeper since it was introduced in the games Diamond and Pearl. His insane Attack, Sp. Attack, and Speed stats made Lucario a formidable opponent, not one you looked forward to battling. Because of this, Lucario is known as one of the most powerful fighting type Pokémon to ever exist. Heck Lucario even makes Giratina feels weak and useless.

Image Source​

Memes like this are a bit unprofessional (I'm a huge hypocrite here), consider switching this out.
In Generation 6, Lucario was given a mega evolution, heightening his powers even more, giving small boosts to his Defense and Sp. Attack, and increasing his Attack and Speed by a lot. Because of this power, Lucario was an even more popular choice for competitive Pokémon in the UU and OU tier. In fact, Mega Lucario was so powerful, that Lucarionite was banned from the OU tier, and moved up to the Uber tier. Due to this, I will be ignoring his Mega Evolution for this article, and discussing purely his use in the UU and OU tiers

The purpose of this guide is to show you how to maximize Lucario's potential and turn it into a sweeping machine. (And no I don't mean the robotic vacuum cleaners)

Text here was removed
The Subject
If you're going to include a meme image, put it here, not where it is now
#448 Lucario
Species: Aura
Type: Fighting/Steel
Abilities: Steadfast, Inner Focus, Justified (Hidden)
Weaknesses: Fire 2x / Ground 2x / Fighting 2x
Resistances: Normal 0.5x / Grass 0.5x / Ice 0.5x / Poison 0x / Bug 0.25x / Rock 0.25x / Dragon 0.5x / Dark 0.5x / Steel 0.5x
Evolves From: Riolu (Lvl Up w/ 220 Happiness during day)
Height: 1.2m
Weight: 54.0kg
Tier: UU, OU (Lucarionite: Uber)

Base Stats (Range @ Lvl 50) Make this Lv100, we are talking about OU, not VGC
HP: 70 (130-167)
Attack: 110 (126-178)
Defense: 70 (82-136)
Special Attack: 115 (132-182)
Special Defense: 70 (82-136)
Speed: 90 (104-156)
Base Stat Total: 525

With mediocre defensive and HP stats, Lucario is obviously built to be a sweeper, boasting high Attack, Sp. Attack, and Speed. The ability Steadfast heightens Lucario's Speed even more when facing opponents with moves like Fake-Out, Bite, and Crunch. Expand on his other abilities, and explain what Steadfast is and why it is the preferred ability (although you sort of did that already), as I personally run Justified on many Lucario, especially on Dark-weak teams. Also use actual competitive moves as an example, not Bite. Waterfall, Iron Head, and Air Slash are all significantly more common than Bite or Crunch. Also mention that the reason it counters these moves is due to the fact that it counters their inherent chance to flinch.

Rewrite this paragraph to discuss Lucario's movepool. It's excellent defensive typing is great and all, but you just said it has awful defensive stats and HP, so it still gets nuked. I might add a comment on that in the first sentence of the above paragraph tho.

The Sets

Special Sweeper OU/UU
Move 1 - Aura Sphere
Move 2 - Shadow Ball
Move 3 - Vacuum Wave/Nasty Plot Run Nasty Plot here for Arceus sake, otherwise it's not a special sweeper.
Move 4 - Dragon Pulse
Item: Choice Specs/Life Orb Specs =/= sweeper, keep the set focused.
Ability: Steadfast
Nature: Modest
EVs: 252 Sp. Atk - 4 Sp. Def - 252 Speed
Consider reformatting these sets into Showdown Importable formats.

As a special sweeper, the main goal is to obviously beef up Lucario's Sp. Atk as much as possible. Choice Specs powers up Sp. Atk by 50%, but restricts you to only one move, which means one you choose your move, you're stuck with it. The Modest nature boosts Sp. Atk while lowering Atk, and the EVs are set to make Lucario faster as well as powering up it's Sp. Atk.

The moves shown give you a variety of options for multiple situations you might encounter. Aura Sphere is a great STAB move, with perfect accuracy, giving you an advantage over steel, rock, normal, and dark types, while Shadow Ball gives you its best attack against the Ghost- and Psychic-types which may try to switch into expected Fighting-type attacks. Dragon Pulse is a great counterpart to Aura Sphere, and Vacuum Wave gives you a move to use against much more frail Pokémon, trying to sweep at low health. The alternative to the Choice Specs is to switch that item with a Life Orb, and switch Vacuum Wave with Nasty Plot, to further increase Lucario's Sp. Attack, just in a different way. Again, kill Vacuum Wave

Physical Sweeper OU/UU
Move 1 - Bone Rush/Earthquake If you are going to put a really uncommon move on a set, at least explain why.
Move 2 - Close Combat
Move 3 - Swords Dance
Move 4 - Shadow Claw ?
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Steadfast
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Attack - 252 Speed - 4 Defense

Life Orb will start off the battle in a bipolar fashion I don't think that word means what you think it means., both increasing the damage done by Lucario's attacks by 30% and taking 10% of Lucario's HP every turn. If possible, it's good to get a couple of Swords Dances in the beginning to boost attack even more. Steadfast will be a good counter to moves like Fake-out, Bite, and Crunch. See above

Lucario has only 3 weaknesses: Fighting, Fire, and Ground. Bone Rush or Earthquake will counter any Fighting and Fire types that could potentially be a threat, while Shadow Claw gives you a move to use against Ghost types, in which case Fighting type moves have no effect Shadow Claw is again a very uncommon move, so you need to sell me on why I should use it. Close Combat is a powerful STAB, and when combined with Lucario's impressive Attack stat, the Life Orb, and the Swords Dances, gives the opponent absolute hell. I might include some calcs here

To Use or Not to Use...
Pros

• Amazing Offensive and Speed Stats
• 8 Resistances including Dragon and Dark
• 1 Immunity
• Ability increases Speed upon flinching
• Has Earthquake/Bone Rush to counter 2 out of 3 weaknesses
• Blows through threats through OU and UU
  [*]Has Mega Evolution (Useful in Uber)

Cons

• Weak to common Fire, Fighting and Ground attacks, all of which are quite common in the current meta.
• Vulnerable to other sweepers (common among Fire and Fighting types)
• No recovery aside from leftovers Might have wanted to mention that a bit earlier...
• Mediocre Defensive stats
• Bad HP stats

Points Of Comparison

Sweepers: Zoroark, Infernape, Metagross, Gengar, Heatran (With the right moves) These are in no way the most common "sweepers" in OU or UU right now. Replace based on usage stats. Also explain why Lucario should be used in place of one of these Pokémon, which is the whole point of the article.
Fighting Threats: Blaziken, Infernape (Sweeper), Machamp, Breloom, Hawlucha, Medicham (Has good typing: Psychic/Fighting) Blaziken is Uber and therefore irrelevant, and again, mention why Luke is better than these Pokémon.
Speed Competitions: Deoxys (Speed), Ninjask, Electrode, Jolteon, Crobat, Shaymin (Sky) Just kill this list please
Other Dogs: (Yes Lucario is a dog/wolf It's a jackal) Houndoom, Manectric, Arcanine

Teammates

Yes, although sweepers are usually solo Pokémon, teammates with status abilities can really come in handy during double or triple battles. Lucario is no exception, with moves like Spikes, Stealth Rock and Toxic, Lucario and its partner would be close to unstoppable. Weird wording please fix.

Bronzong
Bronzong has access to moves like Toxic, Stealth Rock, Confuse Ray and Heal Block, which when combined with Lucario's sweeping ability, can form a deadly team.

Zoroark
I know what you're thinking, a sweeper combined with a sweeper, that's crazy! But actually, it's makes sense. With the ability to learn Nasty Plot, and a base Sp. Attack stat of 120, Zoroark poses a threat to Pokémon with weak Sp. Defense, while Lucario has access to Swords Dance, and a base Attack stat of 110, it poses a threat to Pokémon with weak Defense. Together, they can combat both types of defensive walls at the same time during double battles. (Another good strategy is to employ toxic and spikes then switch to the sweepers) Yeaaaaah... No.

Add a few more please

Conclusion

Lucario is a very useful and powerful sweeper to have on your team, with great offensive stats, and not horrible defensive ones This is a direct contradiction to something you said earlier, 8 resistances and an immunity. Just remember not to rely on Lucario to take many hits, that's what its speed is for, to attack first. With a teammate, Lucario is given extra advantages either defensive, offensive, or status related. Reword this entire paragraph please.

That's all for this edition of "How to Battle with [Pokémon]". Be sure to leave comments, as this is my first article, and feedback is encouraged! For direct comments or feedback, click the conveniently placed button below to go to the comment thread. Until then, stay fresh PokéCommunity.

 

[C Formica]

Alright I made the changes, check it out.

How to Battle with Lucario
The Heroic Aura Master returns...

Lucario has been a powerful sweeper since it was introduced in the games Diamond and Pearl. His insane Attack, Sp. Attack, and Speed stats made Lucario a formidable opponent, not one you looked forward to battling. Because of this, Lucario is known as one of the most powerful fighting type Pokemon to ever exist. Heck Lucario even makes Giratina feels weak and useless.
In Generation 6, Lucario was given a mega evolution, heightening his powers even more, giving small boosts to his Defense and Sp. Attack, and increasing his Attack and Speed by a lot. Because of this power, Lucario was an even more popular choice for competitive Pokemon in the UU and OU tier. In fact, Mega Lucario was so powerful, that Lucarionite was banned from the OU tier, and moved up to the Uber tier. Due to this, I will be skipping Mega Lucario and discussing purely his use in the UU and OU tiers.

The purpose of this guide is to show you how to maximize Lucario's potential and turn it into a sweeping machine. (And no I don't mean the robotic vacuum cleaners)

Image Source​

The Subject
#448 Lucario
Species: Aura
Type: Fighting/Steel
Abilities: Steadfast, Inner Focus, Justified (Hidden)
Weaknesses: Fire 2x / Ground 2x / Fighting 2x
Resistances: Normal 0.5x / Grass 0.5x / Ice 0.5x / Poison 0x / Bug 0.25x / Rock 0.25x / Dragon 0.5x / Dark 0.5x / Steel 0.5x
Evolves From: Riolu (Lvl Up w/ Max Happiness during day)
Height: 1.2m
Weight: 54.0kg
Tier: UU, OU (Lucarionite: Uber)

Base Stats (Range @ Lvl 100)
HP: 70 (250-344)
Attack: 110 (256-350)
Defense: 70 (159-252)
Special Attack: 115 (256-361)
Special Defense: 70 (159-252)
Speed: 90 (208-306)
Base Stat Total: 525

With mediocre defensive and HP stats, Lucario is obviously built to be a sweeper, boasting high Attack, Sp. Attack, and Speed. The ability Steadfast heightens Lucario's Speed even more when facing opponents with moves like Waterfall, Air Slash and Iron Head. The reason for this is because those move have a chance to make the opponent flinch. Lucario flinching activates Steadfast, raising Lucario's speed one stage when flinching. Justified is also a useful ability to run on Lucario, as it significantly helps Dark-weak teams

With it's sweeper build and plethora of resistances, and even an immunity, Lucario poses a lethal threat in the OU metagame. It's movepool makes it even more powerful. It has access to Nasty Plot and Swords Dance, making it possible to become a physical or special sweeper. STAB moves like Aura Sphere and Close Combat make it even deadlier. Not to mention the priority moves like Extreme Speed and Bullet Punch. One of Lucario's weakness', Fire, is countered by either Earthquake or Bone Rush. With all of these things taken into account, it's easy to say Lucario's movepool does nothing but enhance its sweeping abilities.

The Sets

Special Sweeper OU/UU
Move 1 - Aura Sphere
Move 2 - Shadow Ball
Move 3 - Nasty Plot
Move 4 - Dragon Pulse
Item: Choice Specs/Life Orb
Ability: Steadfast
Nature: Modest
EVs: 252 Sp. Atk - 4 Sp. Def - 252 Speed

As a special sweeper, the main goal is to obviously beef up Lucario's Sp. Atk as much as possible. Choice Specs powers up Sp. Atk by 50%, but restricts you to only one move, which means one you choose your move, you're stuck with it. The Modest nature boosts Sp. Atk while lowering Atk, and the EVs are set to make Lucario faster as well as powering up it's Sp. Atk.

The moves shown give you a variety of options for multiple situations you might encounter. Nasty Plot increases Lucario's Sp. Attack by quite a lot. Aura Sphere is a great STAB move, with perfect accuracy, giving you an advantage over steel, rock, normal, and dark types, while Shadow Ball gives you its best attack against the Ghost- and Psychic-types which may try to switch into expected Fighting-type attacks. Dragon Pulse is a great counterpart to Aura Sphere.

Physical Sweeper OU/UU
Move 1 - Bone Rush/Earthquake
Move 2 - Close Combat
Move 3 - Swords Dance
Move 4 - Shadow Claw
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Steadfast
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Attack - 252 Speed - 4 Defense

Life Orb will start off the battle in a bipolar fashion, both increasing the damage done by Lucario's attacks by 30% and taking 10% of Lucario's HP every turn. If possible, it's good to get a couple of Swords Dances in the beginning to boost attack even more. Steadfast will be a good counter to moves like Fake-out, Bite, and Crunch.

Lucario has only 3 weaknesses: Fighting, Fire, and Ground. Bone Rush or Earthquake will counter any Fighting and Fire types that could potentially be a threat, while Shadow Claw gives you a move to use against Ghost types, in which case Fighting type moves have no effect. Close Combat is a powerful STAB, and when combined with Lucario's impressive Attack stat, the Life Orb, and the Swords Dances, gives the opponent absolute hell.

To Use or Not to Use...
Pros

• Amazing Offensive and Speed Stats
• 8 Resistances including Dragon and Dark
• 1 Immunity
• Ability increases Speed upon flinching
• Has Earthquake/Bone Rush to counter 2 out of 3 weaknesses
• Blows through threats through OU and UU
• Has Mega Evolution (Useful in Uber)

Cons

• Weak to common Fire, Fighting and Ground attacks
• Vulnerable to other sweepers (common among Fire and Fighting types)
• No recovery aside from leftovers
• Mediocre Defensive stats
• Bad HP stats

Points Of Comparison

Special Sweepers: Gengar: Although Gengar does have Sp. Attack and Speed, Lucario is much more diverse, as it has the ability to become a Physical attacker if necessary giving him an advantage against unexpected Defensive tanks.
Volcarona: Volcarona is an amazing Special sweeper, but again, it's stuck with just being a Special Sweeper with no other variety.

Physical Sweepers: Talonflame: For some reason, Talonflame is one of the most popular physical sweepers for reasons I don't understand. With a mediocre Attack stat of 81, it's Speed stat (126) is the only notable stat the Talonflame has. Not to mention 4x weakness to Rock type moves.
Mega Lopunny: Mega Lopunny is a great physical sweeper with a base stat of 136 and Speed stat of 135. The only problem is it is stuck to being a physical sweeper, and it may need to have a move like protect to ensure a safe mega evolution.

Teammates

Yes, although sweepers are usually solo Pokémon, teammates with status moves can really come in handy during double or triple battles. Lucario is no exception. A Pokemon with moves such as Toxic Spikes, Toxic, Stealth Rocks, and Hypnosis can help Lucario while sweeping, creating a deadly team.

Bronzong
Bronzong has access to moves like Toxic, Stealth Rock, Confuse Ray and Heal Block, which when combined with Lucario's sweeping ability, can form a deadly team.

Azumarill
Azumarill and Lucario were made for each other. Lucario has 3 weaknesses, Fire, Ground and Fighting. Azumarill counters every single one of those weaknesses, plus it has access to healing moves such as Rest and Aqua Ring, and status moves like Toxic and Rain Dance making Azumarill good status support. You could also employ Azumarill as an attacker, with moves such as Hydro Pump, Play Rough, and Double-Edge.

Mega Gardevoir
With a base stat of 165 in Mega Evolution, Gardevoir is a good counterpart to physical sweeper Lucario. Gardevoir also has access to healing moves such as Heal Pulse, (Used on Lucario during Double Battles) Draining Kiss, (Also combats Fighting types) Wish, and Healing WIsh, making Gardevoir a Special Wall and "nurse" to teammates.


Conclusion

Lucario is a very useful and powerful sweeper to have on your team, with great offensive stats, but not so good defensive stats, 8 resistances and an immunity. With a teammate, Lucario is given extra advantages either defensive, offensive, or status related. Making it even more useful in double battle formats.

That's all for this edition of "How to Battle with" [Pokémon]. Be sure to leave comments, as this is my first article, and feedback is encouraged! For direct comments or feedback, go to the thread for this article. Until then, stay fresh PokéCommunity.

 

[C Formica]

As a heads up, you don't need to re-post the same thing over and over again; you can edit the post with the suggested/recommended changes and then let us know when you've applied them. ^^

Lol, my bad. The one at the bottom is my final draft based on the feedback given so far.

 

[5qwerty]

To be blunt, most of this article is very wrong. Decidueye fixed some of these, but you didn't really add the crucial fixes.

First of all, read over your own article and see if it makes sense grammatically. Then go over your article and see if it makes sense from a competitive point of view. If you still don't find anything wrong, then look at my list below. Also when you post next time, wrap

Spoiler:

tags around your body text to make it easier for other people browsing the thread (I might just edit your posts to include the spoiler).

Stuff you should definitely fix/consider:

Spoiler:

- Most importantly, when you make a point, explain why it's true. Don't just claim it.
- Don't refer to Pokémon as he/she. Pokémon are generally referred to as "it" as a writing convention.
- Neither his Attack, SpAtk, nor his Speed are at insane levels. 110/115/90 are above average, certainly, but are nothing big. Lucario is certainly not one of the most power Fighting-type Pokémon ever (Mega debatable, regular is not really), and I certainly don't understand why it would make Giratina feel useless.
- Might want to expand Mega Lucario getting Adaptability being a big reason why it was banned, instead of "its stats got boosted and then it got banned".
- Justified is much, much better on Lucario compared to Steadfast. Switch in on a Dark-type move and get free +1 Attack (to abuse your priority moves with), or get +1 Speed being contingent on being haxed or Fake Out?
- Fix up your grammar around the points that make Lucario strong, and fix the phrasing more. "It has very good STAB moves in Close Combat and Aura Sphere" is better than saying having those moves makes it deadlier.
- Saying Fire is countered by having Earthquake in your moveset is a very bad argument. First of all, it still can't switch in on a Fire-type attack. Secondly, there are non-Fire-type Pokémon that use Fire-type moves.
- Specs Nasty Plot is very bad.
- Ground is not super-effective on Fighting.
- I'm not going to go into to much detail on sets and stuff, since you can just search the Smogon pages. I know what you're thinking about having Ghost-type moves as well (Ghost is immune to Fighting so you want something to hit Ghosts super-effectively with). But Lucario is so slow, especially if you're running Modest/Adamant. You can't really sweep without priority or an Agility set up. Coverage-wise, your sets are alright but they can't really sweep unless your opponent's team is Trick Room team or something (or really bad).
- None of your pros make any sense except the ones about resists/immunity.
- Cons: Slow, mediocre offensive stats.
- Just remove the speed comparison like Decidueye mentioned. Unless you mean slow, then you can add some Pokémon with base 90 speed.
- Bronzong is bad, so is Zoroark.
- Usually you want to make many comparisons to other meta Pokémon when discussing moves and teammates. For moves you want to say what kind of Pokémon you can hit by having this move (and if you can OHKO, 2HKO etc.). For teammates you want to say how they can help cover your weaknesses.
- There's a lot more, but please do fix these first.

 

[C Formica]

Regarding a battling article, accuracy is key. There are a few musts as a result:

Calcs: Your sets are a little different and as a result you are choosing some unconventional moves. To justify why you are choosing these, calcs will need to be included to highlight the differences and also to show what it can stop in the OU and UU metagames. Generally speaking you want to include calcs to show - again - which threats it can stop and what it can also take a hit from if you're running defensive variants/considering switch-ins.

Check your Types: You've claimed that Earthquake 'counters' 2 of Lucario's 3 weaknesses. Lucario is weak to Fire, Ground and Fighting. Earthquake only hits one of these super-effectively, which is Fire. This may be one example, however if you base your writing on something which is wrong, this will reflect throughout anything you write.

Facts, not Opinions: You state that you 'do not know' why TFlame is considered a strong sweeper. As much as it has a lackluster Attack stat, it has a fantastic Ability in Gale Wings, along with blistering Speed and another good STAB choice in Flare Blitz (as well as a plethora of other things). You need to be researching this so that then your opinion does not come through into your analysis. You may not like TFlame, but it is (was if you're doing Gen 7) a good Pokémon.

For example, I love Scyther but I'm not going to make it out to be the best Sweeper in OU when there are several more better candidates and I'm not going to dismiss the fact that Landorus-Therian is almost staple in the meta, just because I do not like it or 'understand' why this is the case. This is where researching of things such as usage stats will come into play.

Sell it to us: If you're chosen something a bit out of the ordinary, let us know why! If you think something can beat Latios, convince us this is the case! This loops back to the Calcs section also, as these will back up your reasoning as to why Bone Rush is better than Earthquake, for example.

Posting Sets: On thing in particular brought this up for me, which is this



You have put Nasty Plot on a set which includes Choice Specs. As much as you can use it with Life Orb - which is an alternative item I see - you need to be including an alternative move to accommodate. For example, you could use



Now you can see that IF you are using Specs, you should run Flash Cannon but if you are running Life Orb then you can run Nasty Plot.

Also you seem to hop in and out of Singles and Doubles meta a lot, mentioning moves etc. that would be used in Doubles but not Singles. You should really stick to one throughout your entire article or make it VERY clear that you are switching between the two. After all, clarity is key in a piece of this size.

If there are any questions, please feel free to ask any of the Daily team (we have orange usernames or little orange icons underneath our avatars!)

I quit... Screw this shit, it's fucking rigged. Nothing is good enough for you douches.

 

[Dragon]

-

We have high standards when it comes to our articles, especially our battling articles. This is because we have to share accurate and presentable information to our viewers.

Bottom line, you need to act more mature than this and not take this personally; having that sort of attitude will not help anyone, especially yourself! We're only trying to help you. D: