Gen 8 Lucario + Electric Terrain (SS OU)

Introduction
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Hello and welcome to my first RMT ever, where I give Lucario access to the equivalent of STAB Thunderbolt (at least, when Electric Terrain's up). I began building this team because I wanted to use Lucario in SS OU, and I believe that the tier is diverse enough to let me get away with this nonsense. I also looked at Lucario's movepool, and it was so colorful that I figured some of those rainbow buttons could do something in OU.

Your Assigned Auditory Experience
This song is the rite of passage you must go through if you wish to truly unlock Lucario's power on the SS OU ladder. Do not question what you're listening to, it's pure art. I'm 100% serious about this, for those in the back who couldn't tell.

Teambuilding Process

The original team took the form of a hyper offense build with a physical Swords Dance Lucario holding an Adrenaline Orb. The idea behind the set was to set up on the switch to Lando-T and gain a speed boost in hopes of sweeping. Unfortunately, I forgot that Slowbro and Zapdos both check this set well enough to shut it down most of the time. Although the Adrenaline Orb tech never worked, the set sometimes did a thing or two. Here’s a replay where Lucario claims a Toxapex and barely trades vs Lele as it holds on to dear life in the face of a scarf Moonblast:
[Gen 8] OU: vredge vs. octiosling
I’ll provide the paste for viewing purposes, but please do not use it for your own good: Lucario HO

I scrapped the Adrenaline Orb set pretty quickly because pretty much every relevant Scarfer is faster than +1 Lucario and also having a Steel type with a set that can’t beat Clefable even at +2 is truly the choice of all time. This was around the time when I started considering an all-out attacker set and trying out stuff with Terrain Pulse.

:tapu-koko: + :lucario:
If I wanted to use terrain pulse, I had to have a terrain setter. Koko is by far the best pick here because Electric coverage is invaluable for Lucario's movepool and Koko provides a fast & strong pivot that makes it a solid threat even without much support.

:tapu-koko: + :lucario: + :landorus-therian: + :slowbro:
Landorus-T provided a much-needed ground immunity that also bolstered this team's momentum and greatly improved the matchup into common threats such as Garchomp, opposing Lando-T, Excadrill, and Dragapult. Slowbro was this team's choice for a water resist, as it could lob up Future Sights for the rest of the team to play around and generate momentum via teleport.

:tapu-koko: + :lucario: + :landorus-therian: + :slowbro: + :heatran:
Heatran was picked as a catch-all answer for powerful threats that hit the rest of the team for neutral damage such as Tapu Lele, Volcarona, Zapdos, Rillaboom, and opposing Heatran. It also seemed like an intuitive hazard setter, seeing as Lando-T would likely be on Toxic/Knock Off duty based on the team structure.

:tapu-koko: + :lucario: + :landorus-therian: + :slowbro: + :heatran: + :kartana:
I considered a few options for this last slot, but since this team was built around Koko + Lucario, I wanted something that was strong in its own right and appreciated Lucario as a lure for its checks. I tried options such as Garchomp and Dragapult, but eventually settled on Scarf Kartana. Kartana ended up working well in a lot of endgames versus faster builds and proved itself to be invaluable as a breaker and a cleaner.

Team Paste: Lucario + Scarf Kart
lucario art.jpg

Lucario @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 40 Atk / 228 SpA / 240 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Focus Blast
- Meteor Mash
- Ice Punch
- Terrain Pulse

This set takes advantage of Lucario’s very colorful movepool and usable mixed attacking stats to hit what most would assume to be checks. Lucario can actually do a significant amount of damage to a lot of the metagame with Electric Terrain or Future Sight up, being able to significantly wear down or OHKO its checks with a read. Although it can’t do much of anything defensively, it can be used to stomach a hit from Weavile or Nihilego.
  • Focus Blast is the mandatory fighting stab that ensures Lucario has the ability to actually force out what it threatens. I chose Focus Blast over Close Combat so the Fighting type with Life Orb on this team doesn’t do a meager 61% to Ferrothorn.
  • Meteor Mash makes sure Lucario can do 70% to CM Clefable before dying to Moonblast and hits neutral targets like Slowking-Galar and Tapu Fini for some damage. It won’t be dropping anything in one hit but it’s better than nothing. It can also incentivize Koko to Roost if Mash lands on the switch. Despite what you might assume, I didn’t put this on for Blissey; Focus Blast does way more to Blissey than Mash.
  • Ice Punch allows Lucario to have a nuke vs. specially defensive Landorus-T and Garchomp, which would otherwise easily check this set. It can also fry offensive Dragonite if Multiscale is broken. Unfortunately, it is the only Ice move on this team, so sometimes Lucario has to be the guy to force Lando-T out.
  • Terrain Pulse allows Lucario to OHKO Slowbro and Torn-T and chunk to specially defensive Toxapex with a 130 BP super effective move. It also hits stuff like Zapdos and Buzzwole pretty well with terrain up, having a 90% chance to 2HKO Zapdos and doing a minimum of 67 to defensive Buzzwole. It's a great coverage move that Lucario can use to surprise Kartana checks or break for itself with. One thing to note is that Blacephalon can defensively check Lucario unless it has access to Electric Terrain Pulse, which can kill Blaceph after Stealth Rock chip.

The speed EVs speed creep Excadrill and the special attack EVs guarantee that Terrain Pulse will zap that annoying green chicken (Tornadus-Therian) out of the sky in a single shot. I just ran max special attack and speed with a hasty nature on ladder, but I optimized the EVs here. I went for a hasty nature over naive so Lucario can barely survive Scarf Lele’s celestial laser beam (Moonblast). I guess it might be slightly worse vs. Weavile but this thing is not checking Weavile by any means.

If we're being real, you could probably replace this guy with Nidoking or Urshifu. (But do they have Terrain Pulse? Didn’t think so.)

Calcs
Steels
228 SpA Life Orb Lucario Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 236+ SpD Heatran: 322-382 (83.4 - 98.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery (Heatran needs to be Knocked or take a Koko Thunderbolt or something first; usually it’s not great for the opponent to trade off 80 on their Heatran vs Koko and Kart though.)
228 SpA Life Orb Lucario Focus Blast vs. 176 HP / 228 SpD Assault Vest Melmetal: 328-385 (72 - 84.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Lucario Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Ferrothorn: 413-486 (117.3 - 138%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Grounds
228 SpA Life Orb Lucario Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 208+ SpD Gastrodon: 196-231 (46 - 54.2%) -- 5.1% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
228 SpA Life Orb Lucario Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 248+ SpD Hippowdon: 204-242 (48.5 - 57.6%) -- 48.4% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
228 SpA Life Orb Lucario Focus Blast vs. 240 HP / 252+ SpD Garchomp: 185-218 (44.3 - 52.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

Misc.
228 SpA Life Orb Lucario Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Rotom-Wash: 218-257 (71.7 - 84.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
228 SpA Life Orb Lucario Focus Blast vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Buzzwole: 191-225 (45.8 - 53.9%) -- 45.7% chance to 2HKO
228 SpA Life Orb Lucario Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Blissey: 354-421 (49.5 - 58.9%) -- 98.8% chance to 2HKO
40 Atk Life Orb Lucario Meteor Mash vs. 248 HP / 132+ Def Tapu Fini: 103-122 (30 - 35.5%) -- guaranteed 4HKO after Leftovers recovery (yeah I know it isn’t great but this pokemon hasn’t seen the light of OU in like five generations give it a break)
40 Atk Life Orb Lucario Meteor Mash vs. 248 HP / 12 Def Slowking-Galar: 169-200 (43 - 50.8%) -- 2% chance to 2HKO
40 Atk Life Orb Lucario Meteor Mash vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Clefable: 250-296 (63.4 - 75.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery (not great but hey it’s in Lando and Kart range now, right guys)
40 Atk Life Orb Lucario Meteor Mash vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Dragapult:181-214 (57 - 67.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (usable but not great)
40 Atk Life Orb Lucario Ice Punch vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Landorus-Therian: 348-411 (91 - 107.5%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO
40 Atk Life Orb Lucario Ice Punch vs. 240 HP / 0 Def Garchomp: 333-395 (79.8 - 94.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
40 Atk Life Orb Lucario Ice Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Multiscale Dragonite: 166-198 (51.3 - 61.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
And now, what you've all been waiting for:
Waters
228 SpA Life Orb Lucario Terrain Pulse (100 BP) vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Slowbro in Electric Terrain: 398-468 (101.2 - 119%) -- guaranteed OHKO
228 SpA Life Orb Lucario Terrain Pulse (100 BP) vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Toxapex in Electric Terrain: 244-289 (80.5 - 95.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
228 SpA Life Orb Lucario Terrain Pulse (100 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Slowking in Electric Terrain: 224-265 (56.8 - 67.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Birds
228 SpA Life Orb Lucario Terrain Pulse (100 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Tornadus-Therian in Electric Terrain: 364-429 (100.5 - 118.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
228 SpA Life Orb Lucario Terrain Pulse (100 BP) vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Zapdos in Electric Terrain: 182-214 (47.5 - 55.8%) -- 80.1% chance to 2HKO (you may want to run max special attack to improve this roll)
228 SpA Life Orb Lucario Terrain Pulse (100 BP) vs. 248 HP / 124 SpD Corviknight in Electric Terrain: 330-390 (82.7 - 97.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Misc.
228 SpA Life Orb Lucario Terrain Pulse (100 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Aegislash-Both in Electric Terrain: 125-147 (47.8 - 56.3%) -- 83.2% chance to 2HKO
228 SpA Life Orb Lucario Terrain Pulse (100 BP) vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Buzzwole in Electric Terrain: 276-325 (66.1 - 77.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
228 SpA Life Orb Lucario Terrain Pulse (100 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Blacephalon in Electric Terrain: 200-237 (80.9 - 95.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (yeah this one is not great but at least it kills after rocks)

252+ SpA Tapu Lele Moonblast vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Lucario: 229-270 (81.4 - 96%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
  • Yeah not a great spot to be in but that’s pretty much the reason I picked the nature
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Tapu Koko @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Dazzling Gleam
- U-turn
- Roost

Koko is the terrain setter that enables Lucario’s shenanigans. Its high speed tier, useful stabs, and pivoting ability allow it to generate initiative with its threatening STABs and clean up endgames, especially vs. Modest Dragapult builds. Defensively, it helps check Zapdos, Hawlucha, and the occasional Kommo-O. I have also been forced to go hard Koko on Garchomp’s Scale Shot sometimes. It’s not an advisable defensive use for this guy, but sometimes this team has to play like that.

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Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 240 SpD / 16 Spe
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- Toxic / Knock Off
- U-turn
- Defog

What do RMTs that use Landorus even write about this guy that hasn’t been said 10 billion times before, like everyone knows what this flying Garfield looking dog thing does. Landorus is like Lebron because he has great offensive capabilities (yes I know it just has U-Turn and EQ), amazing defensive utility (checking ground types and Dragapult and Melmetal and blah blah blah), and holds the team together with unparalleled role compression and utility (he is this team’s only removal). You can run either Toxic or Knock Off, I never bothered to change it off Toxic which has worked fine but Knock Off definitely improves the team’s ability to keep Dragapult in check.


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Slowbro @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Future Sight
- Scald
- Slack Off
- Teleport

I almost regret putting this pink bear-faced salamander hermit crab creature thing on my team because now I have to write about what it does for this team. You want to know what it really does? It lets my opponent double into Modest Dragapult and slaughter someone on the team.
Jokes aside, Slowbro patches up some serious defensive holes for this team. The problem with putting Lucario on a team is that he can defensively check a total of 2 pokemon, and only once. There are like 75,000 offensive threats in the tier, and Slowbro helps a lot with the guys Landorus can’t check. It can take Lele’s Psyshock, checks Landorus-T and SD Garchomp, gets U-Turned on by Urshifu, and is a good pivot into more passive guys that allow Future Sight to go up. Future Sight combines well with Lucario (even without terrain up), Kartana, and, to a lesser extent, Heatran. Slowbro isn’t my favorite mon to rely on, but it’s almost a necessity when SOMEONE (it’s Lucario) has a BMI of 0.5 and will fold over to a wet fart if it isn’t resisted.

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Heatran @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 236 SpD / 20 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock

Heatran makes sure that the nimrods on the opposing team like Volcarona, Tapu Lele, Scizor, Rillaboom, Zapdos, Weavile, etc. are not free to merrily throw their stabs around and kill everyone, or, in the case of Volcarona, set up once and win the game. I changed the standard specially defensive set to Air Balloon because it proved itself in testing and really helped vs opposing Heatran, Hippowdon, Landorus-T, and specially defensive Garchomp. Heatran can also work with Slowbro’s Future Sight as an alternative breaking path to Lucario or Kart + Fsight.

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Kartana @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Smart Strike
- Knock Off
- Sacred Sword

Scarf Kartana is an extremely consistent offensive threat that can both perform well in faster games and take advantage of the damage Lucario can inflict on slower teams. The speed control is pretty necessary and the team appreciates a strong Knock Off user. Sometimes I lead this guy when it seems likely that Weavile or Dragapult are being led, just because of how forcing it is versus those two demonspawn. Kart also handles some annoying losers that this team would otherwise struggle against, such as Rotom-Wash, Tapu Fini, and Gastrodon. It is advisable to play to lower chances for Static to activate vs. Zapdos just because of how good Kart is (this means getting the Knock Off and getting out), but sometimes you graze that spiky electric chicken ONCE and it’s just over.

Tough Matchups
Offensive Landorus-T
Speedy Lando-T outspeeds Lucario and really annoys the rest of the team with its combination of Rocks + Knock & Earthquake. It also can't be forced out by Lucario's Ice Punch because it barely outspeeds max speed Lucario. Often, Slowbro or Landorus-T will just have to eat the Knock Off and I'll have to play it out from there.

Urshifu
Urshifu has the chance to gain lots of initiative anytime it gets in, being able to spam Surging Strikes or U-Turn with ease. Sometimes I have to lead hard Kartana vs Urshifu just so it can’t start dismembering the team immediately. There’s also the forbidden tech of staying in with Heatran/Lando on U-Turn, but that usually goes south more than not.

CM Tapu Fini (and Clefable, to a lesser extent)
Fini naturally checks the team’s Lucario set very well, and the team doesn’t have a great answer to CM variants. Kartana is the primary guy to force out CM Fini, which results in weird positioning with Slowbro teleporting into Kart or going hard Kart on the taunt trying to stop the teleport. CM Clefable is more manageable because of Heatran, but Thunder Wave variants are also annoying. Usually, I’ll have to step on the gas in matches vs. these pokemon, but it’s an uphill battle. However, Fini does set up terrain for Kart so it can’t be subjected to Static or Flame Body, so it’s advisable to try to use Kart to break vs these builds.

Rain/Volcanion
Rain & Volcanion are both issues for this team because Slowbro is the only actual water resist. Rain has to be played pretty aggressively; leading Koko on Pelipper and getting Electric Terrain allows Lucario to start breaking down the dedicated Kart checks. It’s often a tradefest, but Scarf Kart and enough sacrifices are pretty important for the endgame. Volcanion is also another matchup that must be played aggressively with Koko + Kart + Lucario, using Lucario to trade away for a Kart endgame vs. faster teams.

Team Variants
Lucario + double terrain
This team takes more initiative vs. offense with SD Chomp & Scarf Fini, but lacks the fsight support that allows the original team to break through bulkier builds. It will also fare better vs. some of the guys that give the Kart variant trouble, such as Urshifu and offensive Lando.

Replays
[Gen 8] OU: Bullet Smoke vs. Tytohbird - Replays - Pokémon Showdown!
Here you can watch Lucario take 40% from a quad-resisted attack. Hey, it did its job though so I’ll take it.

[Gen 8] OU: jamil khan vs. Vredge - Replays - Pokémon Showdown!
The squad vs. German 6. I randomly convince myself that Lucario lives a Pult Shadow Ball and watch it die from 91.

[Gen 8] OU: Rodmantis vs. Vredge - Replays - Pokémon Showdown!
Lucario does its thing vs Buzzwole.

[Gen 8] OU: Tytohbird vs. Cronian - Replays - Pokémon Showdown!
vs. more balance

[Gen 8] OU: Tytohbird vs. mynameiscookie - Replays - Pokémon Showdown!
Lucario vs. Regigigas. I really wanted to show off this guy’s team more than anything, it’s pretty cool.

[Gen 8] OU: Tytohbird vs. chen qt - Replays - Pokémon Showdown!
Lucario misses every Focus Blast. Whatever, Kart is still in the back.

[Gen 8] OU: Tytohbird vs. bizarre ending - Replays - Pokémon Showdown!
The squad vs. sand balance

[Gen 8] OU: Vredge vs. hellabigBEES - Replays - Pokémon Showdown!
Very close game vs sand

[Gen 8] OU: Tytohbird vs. Leroipolux1 - Replays - Pokémon Showdown!
Game vs. a friend. Yeah, I got handled.

Closing Thoughts
Whether you scrolled to the end or read up until this point (or maybe a mix of both), I'd like to thank you for taking a look at my team and humbly ask you to rate it on a scale of 1 through 10 oranges (out of 8 pineapples). I'm not trying to claim that Lucario is some anti-meta threat or a secretly good (or even usable) pokemon. My objective here was just to make a team that can kinda function around what Lucario is capable of, and I decided to make this post after seeing the team do much more than I was expecting of it. Like any team, there are going to be issues in both the RMT version and the Garchomp variant, but that's just how teambuilding is, especially with a pokemon that doesn't belong anywhere near the OU tier. Overall, I had a pretty fun time laddering with this team, and I hope you can share that experience if you choose to try it out for yourself.

In addition, I'd like to thank Winterbub for so generously testing this team on ladder before it even had 6 pokemon and DonBoneJones for helping me write this.
Image Sources
thanks to the winter bub youtube guy for telling me to cite the image sources
Lucario: https://artpictures.club/autumn-2023.html
Tapu Koko: https://www.zerochan.net/2021183
Landorus-T: https://tenor.com/view/landorus-gif-26529802
Slowbro: https://www.deviantart.com/rongs1234/art/Slowbro-556382594
Heatran: Kartana: https://www.deviantart.com/shinydhelmise/art/Cherry-Blossom-Kartana-Redux-666195774
 
Replays
[Gen 8] OU: Bullet Smoke vs. Tytohbird - Replays - Pokémon Showdown!
Here you can watch Lucario take 40% from a quad-resisted attack. Hey, it did its job though so I’ll take it.

[Gen 8] OU: jamil khan vs. Vredge - Replays - Pokémon Showdown!
The squad vs. German 6. I randomly convince myself that Lucario lives a Pult Shadow Ball and watch it die from 91.

[Gen 8] OU: Rodmantis vs. Vredge - Replays - Pokémon Showdown!
Lucario does its thing vs Buzzwole.

[Gen 8] OU: Tytohbird vs. Cronian - Replays - Pokémon Showdown!
vs. more balance

[Gen 8] OU: Tytohbird vs. mynameiscookie - Replays - Pokémon Showdown!
Lucario vs. Regigigas. I really wanted to show off this guy’s team more than anything, it’s pretty cool.

[Gen 8] OU: Tytohbird vs. chen qt - Replays - Pokémon Showdown!
Lucario misses every Focus Blast. Whatever, Kart is still in the back.

[Gen 8] OU: Tytohbird vs. bizarre ending - Replays - Pokémon Showdown!
The squad vs. sand balance

[Gen 8] OU: Vredge vs. hellabigBEES - Replays - Pokémon Showdown!
Very close game vs sand

[Gen 8] OU: Tytohbird vs. Leroipolux1 - Replays - Pokémon Showdown!
Game vs. a friend. Yeah, I got handled.
Dasmer Typical_bastard :sphearical:
 
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