no puns here because lucario is SERIOUS BINNESS
[Overview]
<p>Lucario is certainly an oddball in the circle of Fighting-types. It can use special and physical attacks to great effect, courtesy of its great offensive stats, and while at first glance it is subpar defensively, its typing lets it survive more onslaughts than one would imagine at first. Lucario's movepool gives it a lot of room to work with as well; the highlights of its unique movepool include the rare Follow Me, Heal Pulse, and plenty of priority moves. These combine to make Lucario a versatile threat. However, its base 90 Speed is somewhat lacking when compared to common Pokemon, such as Terrakion, and its defenses are overshadowed by bulkier Fighting-types, such as Hitmontop and Conkeldurr. Given this, Lucario isn't the kind of Pokemon that can be slapped on a team without any thought behind it. Rather, it is best used as the glue for a team. Keep this at the back of your mind and play Lucario to its strengths, and your opponent will wish they never crossed the aura guardian.</p>
[SET]
name: Physical Attacker
move 1: Close Combat
move 2: ExtremeSpeed
move 3: Crunch / Ice Punch
move 4: Detect / Follow Me
item: Life Orb / Chople Berry
ability: Inner Focus
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>A physically based set is Lucario's standby in any metagame, and it's not hard to see why. Access to ExtremeSpeed and the powerful Close Combat solidify this set's usefulness, and Crunch makes sure Lucario isn't walled by Ghost-types. Of course, using Crunch means Lucario has a hard time getting past the likes of Salamence and Dragonite, but pairing Lucario up with Latios, Garchomp, or Weavile can remedy this. The same could also be said of Ice Punch, so use whichever move your team requires in the third slot. Follow Me is a great move to have in general, though if you want Lucario to last longer, Detect is a viable alternative.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Life Orb is a staple item simply because it allows Lucario to hit as hard as it can without being locked into a move via a Choice item. However, if you feel this undermines Lucario's ability to utilize Follow Me, resist berries, such as Chople or Occa Berries, as well as elemental Gems—Fighting Gem in particular—can help Follow Me reach its full potential. Alternative Fighting-type moves, such as Cross Chop, are options over Close Combat if the Defense and Special Defense drop worry you. Although an Adamant nature is usually preferred to let Lucario hit as hard as possible, a Jolly nature can be used to outspeed neutral base 100 Speed Pokemon.</p>
<p>Cresselia makes an excellent partner for Lucario, as it takes pitiful damage from common Fighting-types, particularly Hitmontop, and can slow down faster threats, such as Terrakion, with Thunder Wave and Icy Wind. Both Cresselia and Tornadus can smack said Fighting-types with their respective STAB moves, but Tornadus just barely misses out on OHKOing Terrakion with Acrobatics, requiring Lucario to finish it off with ExtremeSpeed. Gengar, while not directly being able to counter Fighting-types, enjoys Follow Me support against users of Sucker Punch, Shadow Ball, and other super effective attacks. Additionally, with good prediction, Gengar can use Disable to put a stop to moves that are dangerous to Lucario, such as Mach Punch, most notably from Hitmontop, since it is frequently the only Fighting-type move Hitmontop carries.</p>
[SET]
name: Special Attacker
move 1: Aura Sphere
move 2: Vacuum Wave
move 3: Dark Pulse / Hidden Power Ice
move 4: Follow Me / Detect
item: Life Orb / Chople Berry
ability: Inner Focus
nature: Modest / Timid
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>While this set forgoes the powerful Close Combat and ExtremeSpeed, it focuses on Lucario's slightly higher Special Attack stat, and renders useless the Attack-lowering effect of the common Intimidate. Aura Sphere and Vacuum Wave should be self-explanatory; one is a strong, reliable STAB move that never misses, and the other is a STAB priority move that is used in a similar vein as ExtremeSpeed. Dark Pulse and Hidden Power Ice are Lucario's coverage moves, and which one you choose should reflect what your team needs to cover. Hidden Power Ice provides coverage against Dragon-types, such as Garchomp and Dragonite, while Dark Pulse hits common supporters, such as Dusclops and Cresselia, for super effective damage, possibly flinching them in the process. Follow Me is slightly more effective on a special set than a physical one due to the lack of defense drops caused by Close Combat, and is in general a great move to have in the doubles environment. However, you might need Lucario itself to stay alive for an extra turn, so Detect is available as well.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>If you don't like Life Orb's recoil interfering with Follow Me, resist berries and Fighting Gem are viable items as well. As always, Psychic-types, such as Cresselia, make excellent Lucario partners, as do Flying-types, such as Tornadus. Togekiss has the rare ability to paralyze Ground-types, such as Garchomp, can provide Lucario with its own Follow Me or Helping Hand support, and can handily defeat most Fighting-types with Air Slash. Dusclops enjoys protection from Shadow Ball, can burn opposing Fighting-types, and can help Lucario score OHKOes with Helping Hand; for example, Lucario can decimate Terrakion with Vaccum Wave in a sandstorm after a boost. Latios can make a good offensive partner as it can smite other Dragon-types with Draco Meteor while Lucario diverts their attacks or finishes off survivors.</p>
[SET]
name: Support
move 1: Follow Me
move 2: ExtremeSpeed
move 3: Drain Punch
move 4: Helping Hand / Heal Pulse / Detect
item: Sitrus Berry / Chople Berry
ability: Inner Focus
nature: Careful
evs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>While this set may look odd at first given Lucario's poor defenses, it takes advantage of Lucario's excellent support movepool, unique typing, and great priority move in ExtremeSpeed. With resistances to Dragon-, Ice-, Dark-, and Grass-type moves, Lucario makes the perfect Follow Me supporter to use alongside Dragon-types or on rain teams, or even both, in Kingdra's case. No longer must your fast sweepers fear priority moves or super effective attacks from common checks, as Lucario delivers a Follow Me and lives with enough health to take more punishment. Drain Punch is Lucario's main source of healing, and still has a respectable 75 Base Power. ExtremeSpeed is of course Lucario's main priority, and since it has +2 priority instead of the usual +1, it will even finish off threats packing priority moves themselves, such as Weavile, Hitmontop, and Abomasnow. The last slot is delegated to the other interesting support moves Lucario has to offer, mainly Helping Hand and Heal Pulse. Heal Pulse can be used to heal up your Politoed or Latios, but it is especially annoying with a Spore user, such as Breloom. Helping Hand has a more immediate effect: it turns already deadly moves, such as Draco Meteor and Thunder, into pure, uncontrolled balls of wrath with Base Powers of over 180. Detect, the most conservative choice, keeps Lucario safe from gang attacks and spread moves, such as Earthquake. A Sitrus Berry is usually preferred to allow Lucario to take two Heat Waves from Infernape, and other similar attacks, but Chople Berry allows Lucario to survive at least one Close Combat from common enemies in Hitmontop and Terrakion.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>As you have probably noticed, this Lucario normally has no moves to touch Ghost-types with. This can be remedied by using Crunch over a given move, using a special set with Vacuum Wave and Dark Pulse, or simply equipping your partner with moves to handle Ghost-types; this is all the more reason for not plopping support Lucario on any team without any thought. Pokemon that can take advantage of Lucario's Follow Me, ExtremeSpeed, Helping Hand, or Heal Pulse support make good teammates. Politoed, Latios, Kingdra, and Haxorus make good teammates in this regard, as each appreciates protection from respective super effective attacks. Dragon Dance Haxorus can take advantage of the surprise factor that support Lucario generates to nab at least one boost, but due to Lucario's typing, it'll have to be careful when using Earthquake. Latios appreciates protection from Sucker Punch, a move commonly used to check the jet dragon. Politoed and Kingdra soften Fire-type attacks with Drizzle and Rain Dance, respectively, and appreciate protection from Grass- and Dragon-type moves, respectively.</p>
<p>The EVs maximize Lucario's Special Defense, allowing it to take moves such as Heat Wave and Ice Beam more easily. For example, Volcarona needs a Quiver Dance, Helping Hand, or sun boost to OHKO this Lucario with Heat Wave, though there's a chance even then that it will hang on by a sliver of health. A spread of 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def with an Impish nature can be used if Lucario wants to take physical moves, such as Dragon Claw, more easily.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Without a doubt, Lucario's movepool spans even greater depths than the main options. Bullet Punch is another good priority move to use on physical sets, as it hits Rock- and Ice-types, namely Weavile and Terrakion, respectively, super effectively. Blaze Kick and ThunderPunch are nice extra coverage moves, though they are situational. Rock Slide and Earthquake are generic spread moves, though Lucario usually has something better to do with its moveslots. Dragon Pulse has good neutral coverage and can hit Kingdra harder than Hidden Power Ice, but beyond that, an Ice- or Dark-type move is more useful. Shadow Ball can be used over Dark Pulse, but the flinch chance is more worthwhile in short VGC matches. As far as supporting attacks go, Lucario receives Low Sweep, Force Palm, and Feint. Low Sweep and Force Palm can be used over Drain Punch on the support set, though Low Sweep unfortunately only hits one target, and Force Palm requires a little luck. Feint can prevent Pokemon from Protecting against your Latios's Draco Meteor, but is usually outclassed by ExtremeSpeed due to Feint's 30 Base Power. If you want to draw in more attacks with Follow Me on any of the sets, resist berries, such as Occa and Shuca Berries, can make your Lucario more sturdy. Focus Sash also does this, but Lucario is bulky enough to forgo the item. Steadfast and Justified are Lucario's other abilities, though Steadfast boosts aren't as useful for short matches, and Justified requires that Lucario give up the ability to use its egg moves, and to a lesser extent, the level up moves it receives as Riolu.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Lucario may have good bulk against neutral attacks, but it can't stand the thought of STAB super effective ones. Bulky Fighting-types, such as Conkeldurr and Hitmontop, can sponge most of Lucario's attacks and hit back with STAB Drain Punch or Close Combat, or if Lucario is at low enough health, Mach Punch. Sun teams have plenty of Pokemon that are capable of taking on Lucario; Volcarona and Chandelure are but a few. Chandelure, as well as Shedinja, are especially big problems for Lucario if the aura guardian lacks Crunch or Dark Pulse, though it would be wise to scout out one of those moves before boldly switching either one in. Garchomp can take Lucario's priority moves well and can negate Follow Me with Earthquake; it also commonly holds a Yache Berry so it can survive an Ice Punch. Toxicroak in rain can take any of Lucario's attacks not named Psychic or Zen Headbutt and KO it with Drain Punch. Finally, bulky Ground-types are Lucario's worst enemy, though Gastrodon won't enjoy too many Close Combats, and Hippowdon doesn't like Hidden Power Ice.</p>