Lucario B- to C.
This is one thing that still confuses me. While it's true that Lucario can be unpredictable in that you don't know immediately if the set you're facing is physical or special, and that Lucario has boosting methods on both ends of the spectrum as well as powerful priority. However, it's simply too slow, meaning that all these strengths are hard to utilize in reality. This means that it's way to reliant on extreme speed to even be relevant against offensive teams, and while it can setup on more defensive teams, its general frailty and existence of things like tank garchomp, defensive lando and quagsire hinders its use significantly. For instance,
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Lucario Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Garchomp: 337-398 (80.2 - 94.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO.
Seriously? I know that garchomp won't most likely be at full health, but you'd expect a +2 close combat to do more than this. And even without attack investment garchomp OHKOs back. Moreover, when will Lucario even get a chance to setup on anything anyways in this meta? It's extremely frail, so making use of its ability Justified is nearly impossible, even against things that it's supposed to check, such as Bisharp. For example:
252+ Atk Life Orb Bisharp Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Lucario: 148-174 (52.6 - 61.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO.
Solid check, 11/10. But seriously, in a situation vs. a bisharp, lucario SHOULD on paper be in the most ideal situation to setup nasty plot/swords dance. However, as we can see, this is not possible. I.e. if Lucario sets up a nasty plot expecting the switch, Bisharp can simply follow up with an iron head and KO its "check" about 50% of the time. And even when setup, it has to rely on the piss weak vacuum wave and bullet punch to have any influence. Why would you want to use this over, say, a Zaptos? The latter offers defog support, momentum in volt switch, a good defensive typing to check things like garchomp, t-flame and pinsir, as well as decent offensive presence. And Lucario? It offers a slim chance to setup to +2 and do like 60% to an opponent with BP or Vaccuum Wave before being KOd. Not much of a B- Pokemon if you ask me.
In terms of its ability vs. offensive teams, it needs to rely on extreme speed, which even at +2, is piss weak.
And with 90 speed, there are so many threats that outpace Lucario that it needs to rely on these priority attacks for a chance. Even under an ideal situation, where Lucario is at +2 in either attacking stat, we can see that even then it's just not good enough:
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Lucario Extreme Speed vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Manaphy: 201-238 (58.9 - 69.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO.
Again, we can see that even if Lucario is setup (which is nearly impossible to achieve, as demonstrated earlier with the example against Bisharp), it still doesn't have the offensive capabilities to get the job done. This is a +2 life orbed 80 BP attack, you'd expect it to do more, especially against an offensive Pokemon like Manaphy.
Finally, looking at its role in the team, what does it do exactly? It offers zero defensive utility due to its terrible defensive stats, meaning that it requires extensive team support in the form of volt-switch and U-Turn to get it in safely. And once it's in, what exactly does it do? Against anything faster it has to rely on a priority attack, which will most likely not kill, before being KOd; against a more defensive Pokemon, it can setup, but it lacks the raw power to break past most defensive Pokemon. And against stall, quagsire walls it completely. This makes for a Pokemon that only really works 10% of the time, and more often than not, ends up as a wasted team slot, especially compared to the other Pokemon in B-. For instance, Mega Pidgeott does take up a mega slot, but fills the niche of being able to beat stall with work up+roost+refresh+Hurricane. Thus, Pidgeott is the definition of a B- Pokemon: A Pokemon that you can't just slap on a team and expect to work, but offers a specific niche which can be useful against certain styles of play (ex. stall in Pidgeott's case). Lucario doesn't have this niche: It under performs against both offense both defense, while requiring extensive team support to not be completely dead weight. This makes for a Pokemon, in my view, that deserves to not hold a spot in B-. Please for the love of god move this thing down, it isn't good.
