RU Lucario

[Yourwelcomethanku]

[OVERVIEW]

Lucario separates itself from Cobalion with its far greater power and access to Extreme Speed. Unlike Cobalion, its boosted Close Combat OHKOes bulky Water-types such as Gastrodon, Milotic, and Seismitoad after Stealth Rock. Extreme Speed makes Lucario a fearsome sweeper that can easily run off with the game, as most revenge killers such as Flygon, Crobat, and Noivern are OHKOed by +2 Extreme Speed with minimal prior chip. Lucario's frailty makes it hard to set up, and even when it does, its sweep often ends to the combination of damage taken while setting up and Life Orb recoil. Some of Lucario's best checks like Cobalion and Mimikyu are very common, limiting its sweeping capabilities.

[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Close Combat
move 2: Meteor Mash
move 3: Swords Dance
move 4: Extreme Speed
item: Life Orb
ability: Inner Focus
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

Swords Dance and Life Orb give Lucario the power to OHKO bulky Water-types such as Vaporeon, Milotic, and Gastrodon. Inner Focus prevents Incineroar's Intimidate and flinches from Choice Scarf Togekiss's Air Slash. Alternatively, Justified can punish Knock Off and Umbreon's Foul Play if Lucario managed the risky proposition of switching into them.

Lucario is a staple on most hyper offense teams because it can remove common defensive answers such as bulky Water-types, Steel-types, and Umbreon for other powerful sweepers such as Mimikyu, Dragon Dance Flygon, and Sharpedo. Lucario is one of the strongest picks for Sticky Web hyper offense teams, as it can then outspeed Cobalion and no longer needs to rely on Extreme Speed to KO revenge killers like Obstagoon. Misty Surge Galarian Weezing is a great teammate, able to protect Lucario from status and help it set up with Memento against usual checks such as Milotic and Vaporeon. Lucario makes a solid pick on bulky offense teams, as it can combine the roles of sweeper, wallbreaker, and revenge killer. Crobat and Noivern can provide free switches with U-turn against Rock- and Steel-types such as Stakataka, Diancie, and Registeel. Stakataka, Steelix, and Registeel can cover for Lucario's shortcomings as a Steel-type, as they are effective answers to Flying- and Fairy-types like Crobat, Gardevoir, and Togekiss; furthermore, the latter two are good Mimikyu answers. Water-types such as Jellicent, Milotic, and Gastrodon are strong answers to some of Lucario's prevalent revenge killers like Cobalion and Flygon. Lucario can break past most Water-types, but it's unreliable as the only Water-type answer on bulky offense and it's walled by Jellicent. Xurkitree, Rotom-Mow, and Celebi make for effective teammates as Water-type checks. Lucario's ability to muscle past Water-types can benefit teammates such as Flygon, Rhyperior, and Metagross.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Crunch can be used over Meteor Mash in order to hit Jellicent and Chandelure, but this leaves Lucario worse off against more pertinent Flying- and Poison-types like Togekiss and Nidoqueen. Outside of hyper offense teams, Lucario can run a Choice Band set to free up a moveslot for a coverage option like Crunch at the cost of reliance on correct predictions to effectively wallbreak. Nasty Plot Lucario has one distinct advantage over its Swords Dance variant: Vacuum Wave. Boosted Vacuum Wave OHKOes Cobalion, preventing it from revenge killing Lucario, and Vacuum Wave allows Lucario to revenge kill Obstagoon. However, Nasty Plot is almost never worth using due to the inconsistency of Focus Blast and Vacuum Wave being weaker than Extreme Speed against most relevant Pokemon such as Noivern, Crobat, and Flygon.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Faster Pokemon**: Noivern, Obstagoon, and Flygon can take +2 Extreme Speed and KO Lucario, though Noivern will need prior chip damage to not just trade. Cobalion and Choice Scarf Metagross are especially effective revenge killers because they are resistant to Extreme Speed.

**Water-types**: Gastrodon, Seismitoad, Milotic, and Vaporeon, are deathly afraid of +2 Close Combat and struggle to switch directly into Lucario, but they can somewhat effectively thwart Lucario one-on-one; the former two threaten Lucario with their Ground-type moves, and the latter can threaten to burn it via Scald. Starmie can take on Lucario's STAB moves and boosted Extreme Speed; however, it's reliant on Scald's burn chance to check Lucario.

**Ghost-types**: Jellicent stonewalls Lucario and can burn it with Will-O-Wisp. Chandelure is only 3HKOed by Meteor Mash, making it a pretty solid check unless Stealth Rock is up and it lacks Heavy-Duty Boots. Though uncommon, Doublade completely walls Lucario and can use it as setup fodder. Mimikyu can easily revenge kill Lucario, as it's immune to Extreme Speed and KOes Lucario with Drain Punch after minimal chip.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Yourwelcomethanku, 541847]]
- Quality checked by: [[Lunala, 409096], [GoldCat, 359771]]
- Grammar checked by: [[dex, 277988], [CryoGyro, 331519]]

 

[Denial]

Nasty Plot Lucario has one distinct advantage over its Swords Dance variant, Vacuum Wave; boosted Vacuum Wave OHKOes Cobalion preventing it from revenge killing Lucario, and Vacuum Wave allows Lucario to revenge kill Obstagoon. However Nasty Plot is nearly never worth using, due to the inconsistency of Focus Blast, and Vacuum Wave being worse priority than Extreme Speed versus most relevant Pokemon such as Noivern, Crobat, Raikou, and Darmanitan.

Wouldnt list Darmanitan here since its paper frail anyway, better example for current meta is Flygon.

**Ghost-types**: Chandelure is only 3HKOed by Meteor Mash making it a pretty solid check, unless its a non-Heavy-Duty Boots variant and Stealth Rock is up, in which case Chandelure struggles to switch in. Doublade completely walls Lucario and can use it as set up opportunity via Swords Dance, however Doublade is very uncommon and flawed.

I think Ghost types here is a bit missleading, since not every ghost type is a true check / counter. Just list Chande and Doublade.

**Water-types**: Gastrodon, Milotic, and Vaporeon, are all deathly afraid of boosted Close Combat and struggle to switch directly into Close Combat, but they can somewhat effectively thwart Lucario 1v1; the former with Earth Power, and the latter three can threaten Burn via Scald or in Milotic's case pivot out with Flip Turn. While uncommon, Jellicent stonewalls Lucario and can burn it with Will-O-Wisp.

Jelli isnt really uncommon anymore, so just list it normally.

**Reuniclus**: Calm Mind Reuniclus is bulky enough to take even +2 Meteor Mash and in return OHKO Lucario with Focus Blast, but Reuniclus's effectiveness as a sweeper can be ruined if Meteor Mash leaves it too low.

Reuniclus isnt really that reliable, since you need it nearly full health and need to hit Focus Blast. I would just remove it.

QC 1 after this, good job

 

[GoldCat]

add, remove, (comments)

Cobalion

[OVERVIEW]
Lucario separates itself from Cobalion with its far greater power and Extreme Speed priority. Unlike Cobalion its boosted Close Combat OHKOes easily destroys Bulky bulky Water-types such as Gastrodon, Milotic, and Vaporeon Seismitoad after Stealth Rock. Extreme Speed is invaluable priority, which (Filler.) makes Lucario a fearsome sweeper, Lucario that can easily run off with the game, (AC.) once checks as most revenge killers such as Flygon, Crobat, and, or Noivern are in range of +2 Extreme Speed after minimal prior damage. (Made it less generic, most sweepers win when their checks are in range of their attacks, and more clear why Lucario is an effective sweeper in RU; everything dies to +2 E-Speed after like just 1 SR switch in.) While Lucario has some advantages over Cobalion, it still competes with it. Cobalion's higher speed tier gets past important Pokemon such as Flygon, Lucario itself, Mimikyu, and Obstagoon. Cobalion is also importantly more capable of checking the latter two defensively, attribute its better bulk and longevity, since it doesn't run Life Orb. (I don't think you need to explain Cobalion's strengths over Luke because if Lucario's greater power and E-Speed is what sets them apart and you don't need either of those then it logically follows that you should use Cobalion instead. I would broaden this and talk about how Lucario's fragility make it hard to get it in and set up and even if it gets to set up, the damage taken while doing so means it'll often faint to its own Life Orb recoil before completing its sweep.) Lucario also competes with other powerful wallbreakers such as Obstagoon and Pangoro, both of which can check Reuniclus offensively and have access to Knock Off. (It really doesn't, you put Lucario on your team because you want a wallbreaker, sweeper, and revenge killer in a single slot, which neither can come close to provide. If anything Lucario competes more with Mimikyu but even that's a stretch, as they often don't compete for a teamslot and feature on the same team with some BOs as the sole exceptions. You could add how its best checks Cobalion and Mimikyu are very common.)

[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Close Combat
move 2: Meteor Mash
move 3: Swords Dance
move 4: Extreme Speed
item: Life Orb
ability: Inner Focus
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

Swords Dance alongside Life Orb gives Lucario the power to OHKO bulky destroy Bulky Water-types such as Vaporeon, Milotic, and Gastrodon, and also makes its Extreme Speed even more threatening (Filler, though if you could find E-Speed calcs where LO makes a difference that would be cool.). Inner Focus prevents Incineroar's Intimidate from lowering Lucario's attack, as well prevents Lucario from being flinched by Choice Scarf Togekiss. Alternatively, (AC.) Justified can punish Umbreon's Foul Play, and also Knock Off, (RC.) if Lucario managed the risky proposition of switching into it.

Lucario is a staple on most hyper offense teams because it can remove common defensive answers such as bulky Water-types, Steel-types, and Umbreon for other powerful sweepers such as Mimikyu, Dragon Dance Flygon, Necrozma, and Sharpedo. (Moved this up, as Lucario is primarily seen on HO where it faces the least competition. Also, made it more clear why it's such a great fit on HO and how Lucario helps its teammates. I would like to see you go on and explain how Lucario excels on Sticky Web HOs, as it'll outspeed otherwise hard-stops like Cobalion and won't have to relie on E-Speed to not get revenge killed by Pokemon like Obstagoon. Misty Terrain Weezing-G is also great for Lucario, as now it can straight up set up vs most Water-types and proceed to knock them out and Memento almost removes the problem with Lucario's poor bulk.) Lucario also make a great fit on bulky offense teams looking for a wallbreaker, sweeper, and revenge killer all in one slot. (Or something like that.) Crobat and Noivern are great at luring in can provide free switches with U-turn against (A bit clearer.) Rock- and Steel-types such as Stakataka, Diancie, and Registeel for Lucario. Stakataka, Steelix, and Registeel can cover for Lucario's shortcomings as a Steel-type, as they are effective answers to Flying- and Fairy-types, like Crobat, Gardevoir, and Togekiss. Water-types such as Vaporeon Jellicent, Milotic, and Gastrodon are effective answers to some of Lucario's prevalent revenge killers like Cobalion and Flygon. Lucario is generally a good pick for hyper offense teams, being able to work in tandem with other powerful sweepers such as Mimikyu, Dragon Dance Flygon, Necrozma, and Sharpedo, to overwhelm the opposition. (On BO you can't really have Lucario to be your only way to deal with Water-types, so add some teammates to deal with those more reliably. Also, you can add BO teammates who enjoy Lucario removing bulky Water-types. Finally, you can mention some mons that pairs well with Lucario and deals with the Ghost-types it can't handle.)

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Crunch can be used over Meteor Mash in order to hit Jellicent and Chandelure, but this leaves Lucario worse off versus more pertinent Flying- and Poison-types like Togekiss and Nidoqueen. Lucario has a small niche as a Choice Band user, because of its ability to immediately threaten Togekiss, and its access to Extreme Speed. However Choice Band Lucario is usually going to be a worse choice than other wallbreakers such as Heracross, Obstagoon, and Pangoro, all three have access to Knock Off, can check Reuniclus offensively, and the former two are less prediction heavy. Lucario can run a Choice Band set to free up a moveslot for a coverage option like Crunch at the cost of a heavier reliance on correct predictions to effectively wallbreak. While such a Choice Band set has fewer counters, its prediction reliance makes it an overall less effective and reliable wallbreaker than the Swords Dance set. (I think this is more reflective over CB Luke's current state and it doesn't really compete with Heracross, Obstagoon, and Pangoro, as they all lack a strong priority move in E-Speed.) Nasty Plot Lucario has one distinct advantage over its Swords Dance variant, Vacuum Wave; boosted Vacuum Wave OHKOes Cobalion preventing it from revenge killing Lucario, and Vacuum Wave allows Lucario to revenge kill Obstagoon. However Nasty Plot is nearly never worth using, due to the inconsistency of Focus Blast, and Vacuum Wave being a worse priority move than Extreme Speed versus most relevant Pokemon such as Noivern, Crobat, Raikou, and Flygon.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Faster Pokemon**: Noivern, Obstagoon Crobat, and Flygon can all take +2 Extreme Speed and KO Lucario, though Noivern the former two will need prior chip damage to not trade against Lucario, which isn't too hard to achieve between Life Orb and Lucario's propensity for taking damage when setting up (E-Speed is a 2HKO, so Lucario will take two rounds of LO recoil guaranteed and it'll be in range of Flamethrower after SR. It'll basically always trade vs Lucario.). Cobalion and Choice Scarf Metagross Mimikyu (Moved to Ghost-types section.) are especially effective revenge killers because they are resistant lack vulnerability to Extreme Speed.

**Water-types**: Gastrodon, Seismitoad, Milotic, and Vaporeon, are all deathly afraid of boosted Close Combat and struggle to switch directly into Close Combat, but they can somewhat effectively thwart Lucario 1v1; the former two with Earth Power and Earthquake, and the latter three can threaten to burn Burn via Scald or in Milotic's case pivot out with Flip Turn (I don't you would ever Flip Turn vs Lucario.). Jellicent stonewalls Lucario and can burn it with Will-O-Wisp. (Moved to Ghost-types section. Also, add a mention of Starmie because it can switch into any attack and chews +2 E-Speed though needs a Scald burn.)

**Ghost-types**: **Chandelure and Doublade**: Jellicent stonewalls Lucario and can burn it with Will-O-Wisp. Chandelure is only 3HKOed by Meteor Mash making it a pretty solid check, unless its it's a non-Heavy-Duty Boots variant and Stealth Rock is up, in which case Chandelure struggles to switch in. Doublade completely walls Lucario and can use it as setup set up (Set up = verb, setup = noun, and set-up = adjective.) opportunity via Swords Dance, however, (AC.) Doublade is very uncommon and flawed (Don't do my boy like that.). (Add mention of Mimikyu here.)

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Yourwelcomethanku, 541847]]
- Quality checked by: [[Lunala, 409096], [GoldCat, 359771]]
- Grammar checked by: [[username1, userid1], [username2, userid2]]

Implement and I'll check again before QC 2/2.

 

[Yourwelcomethanku]

GoldCat ready, hope I didn't miss anything.

 

[GoldCat]

Zamazenta

[OVERVIEW]

Lucario separates itself from Cobalion with its far greater power and Extreme Speed. Unlike Cobalion its boosted Close Combat OHKOes bulky Water-types such as Gastrodon, Milotic, and Seismitoad after Stealth Rock. Extreme Speed makes Lucario a fearsome sweeper that can easily run off with the game, as most revenge killers such as Flygon, Crobat, and, Noivern are in range of +2 Extreme Speed after minimal prior damage. Lucario's fragility and Life Orb recoil makes it hard to set up and even when it does it often falls to the combination of damage taken while setting up and Life Orb recoil, halting its sweep. Some of Lucario's best checks like Cobalion and Mimikyu are very pretty common, which with can also limit its sweeping capabilities.

[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Close Combat
move 2: Meteor Mash
move 3: Swords Dance
move 4: Extreme Speed
item: Life Orb
ability: Inner Focus
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

Swords Dance alongside Life Orb gives Lucario the power to OHKO bulky Water-types such as Vaporeon, Milotic, and Gastrodon. Inner Focus prevents Incineroar's Intimidate from lowering Lucario's attack, as well prevents Lucario from being flinched by Choice Scarf Togekiss. Alternatively Justified can punish Umbreon's Foul Play, and also Knock Off if Lucario managed the risky proposition of switching into it.

Lucario is a staple on most hyper offense teams because it can remove common defensive answers such as bulky Water-types, Steel-types, and Umbreon for other powerful sweepers such as Mimikyu, Dragon Dance Flygon, Necrozma, and Sharpedo. While Sticky Web hyper offense teams are inconsistent, (Idk if this is very accurate, seems like your opinion, as I haven't anything about webs being bad. Reword this to exclude that.) Lucario is one of the strongest beneficiaries of them, being able to outspeed and destroy one of its most pertinent checks, Cobalion, (AC.) and no longer needing Extreme Speed for other revenge killers like Obstagoon. Misty Surge Galarian Weezing is a great teammate, able to protect Lucario from status and also help it set up with Memento against usual checks such as Milotic and Vaporeon. Lucario makes a solid pick on bulky offense, as it which can compress the roles of a sweeper, wallbreaker, revenge killer in one. Crobat and Noivern can provide free switches with U-turn against Rock- and Steel-types such as Stakataka, Diancie, and Registeel for Lucario. Stakataka, Steelix, and Registeel can cover for Lucario's shortcomings as a Steel-type, as they are effective answers to Flying- and Fairy-types, like Crobat, Gardevoir, and Togekiss. Moreover, (AC.) the latter two Steel-types are good Mimikyu answers. Water-types such as Jellicent, Milotic, and Gastrodon are strong answers to some of Lucario's prevalent revenge killers like Cobalion and Flygon. Lucario can break past most Water-types but its it's unreliable as the only Water-type answer on bulky offense and its it's walled by Jellicent anyways. Xurkitree, Rotom-Mow, and Celebi make effective teammates as Water-type checks. Lucario's ability to muscle past Water-types can benefit teammates such as Flygon, Rhyperior, and Metagross.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Crunch can be used over Meteor Mash in order to hit Jellicent and Chandelure, but this leaves Lucario worse off versus more pertinent Flying- and Poison-types like Togekiss and Nidoqueen. Outside of hyper offense teams, (AC.) Lucario can run a Choice Band set to free up a moveslot for a coverage option like Crunch at the cost of a heavier reliance on correct predictions to effectively wallbreak. While such a Choice Band set has fewer counters, its prediction reliance makes it an overall less effective and reliable wallbreaker than the Swords Dance set. Nasty Plot Lucario has one distinct advantage over its Swords Dance variant, Vacuum Wave; boosted Vacuum Wave OHKOes Cobalion preventing it from revenge killing Lucario, and Vacuum Wave allows Lucario to revenge kill Obstagoon. However Nasty Plot is nearly never worth using, due to the inconsistency of Focus Blast, and Vacuum Wave being a worse priority move than Extreme Speed versus most relevant Pokemon such as Noivern, Crobat, and Flygon.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Faster Pokemon**: Noivern, Obstagoon, and Flygon can all take +2 Extreme Speed and KO Lucario, though Noivern will need prior chip damage to not trade against Lucario. Cobalion and Choice Scarf Metagross are especially effective revenge killers because they are resistant to Extreme Speed.

**Water-types**: Gastrodon, Seismitoad, Milotic, and Vaporeon, are all deathly afraid of boosted Close Combat and struggle to switch directly into Close Combat, but they can somewhat effectively thwart Lucario 1v1; the former two with their Ground STAB moves, and the latter can threaten to burn via Scald. Starmie can take on Lucario's STABs as well as boosted Extreme Speed, however, (AC.) it's its reliant on Scald's burn chance to check Lucario.

**Ghost-types**: Jellicent stonewalls Lucario and can burn it with Will-O-Wisp. Chandelure is only 3HKOed by Meteor Mash making it a pretty solid check, unless it's a non-Heavy-Duty Boots variant and Stealth Rock is up, in which case Chandelure struggles to switch in. Doublade completely walls Lucario and can use it as setup opportunity via Swords Dance, however, Doublade is very uncommon. Mimikyu is a great revenge killer to Lucario as its it's immune to Extreme Speed and KOs Lucario with Drain Punch after minimal chip damage.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Yourwelcomethanku, 541847]]
- Quality checked by: [[Lunala, 409096], [GoldCat, 359771]]
- Grammar checked by: [[username1, userid1], [username2, userid2]]

QC 2/2

 

[Yourwelcomethanku]

Yeah good point, Sticky Web HO is probably only slightly more inconsistent than a normal HO team if at all. thanks and this is now GP ready.

 

[dex]

GP Check
blue = add
red = delete
green = comments

GP Check

[OVERVIEW]

Lucario separates itself from Cobalion with its far greater power and access to Extreme Speed. Unlike Cobalion, (add comma) its boosted Close Combat OHKOes bulky Water-types such as Gastrodon, Milotic, and Seismitoad after Stealth Rock. Extreme Speed makes Lucario a fearsome sweeper that can easily run off with the game, as most revenge killers such as Flygon, Crobat, and (remove comma) Noivern are in range of +2 Extreme Speed after minimal prior damage OHKOed by +2 Extreme Speed with minimal prior chip. Lucario's fragility frailty makes it hard to set up, (add comma) and even when it does, (add comma) it often falls to the combination of damage taken while setting up and Life Orb recoil, halting its sweep. Some of Lucario's best checks like Cobalion and Mimikyu are very common, which can also limits its sweeping capabilities.

[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Close Combat
move 2: Meteor Mash
move 3: Swords Dance
move 4: Extreme Speed
item: Life Orb
ability: Inner Focus
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

Swords Dance, (add comma) alongside Life Orb, (add comma) gives Lucario the power to OHKO bulky Water-types such as Vaporeon, Milotic, and Gastrodon. Inner Focus prevents Incineroar's Intimidate from lowering Lucario's attack, (remove comma) as well prevents Lucario from being flinched by Choice Scarf Togekiss and allows Lucario to avoid getting flinched by Choice Scarf Togekiss's Air Slash. Alternatively, (add comma) Justified can punish Umbreon's Foul Play, and also Knock Off Dark-type moves if Lucario managed manages the risky proposition of switching into it.

Lucario is a staple on most hyper offense teams because it can remove common defensive answers such as bulky Water-types, Steel-types, and Umbreon for other powerful sweepers such as Mimikyu, Dragon Dance Flygon, Necrozma, and Sharpedo. Lucario is one of the strongest picks for Sticky Web hyper offense teams, being able to outspeed and destroy one of its most pertinent checks, Cobalion, and no longer needing Extreme Speed for other revenge killers like Obstagoon as with Sticky Web, it outspeeds Cobalion and no longer needs to rely on Extreme Speed to KO revenge killers like Obstagoon. Misty Surge Galarian Weezing is a great teammate, able to protect Lucario from status and also help it set up with Memento against usual checks such as Milotic and Vaporeon. Lucario makes a solid pick on bulky offense teams, as it can compress the roles of a sweeper, wallbreaker, and revenge killer into one teamslot. Crobat and Noivern can provide free switches with U-turn against Rock- and Steel-types such as Stakataka, Diancie, and Registeel for Lucario. Stakataka, Steelix, and Registeel can cover for Lucario's shortcomings as a Steel-type, as they are effective answers to Flying- and Fairy-types (remove comma) like Crobat, Gardevoir, and Togekiss; (period->semicolon) Moreover furthermore, the latter two Steel-types are good Mimikyu answers. Water-types such as Jellicent, Milotic, and Gastrodon are strong answers to some of Lucario's prevalent revenge killers like Cobalion and Flygon. Lucario can break past most Water-types, (add comma) but it's unreliable as the only Water-type answer on bulky offense and it's walled by Jellicent anyways. Xurkitree, Rotom-Mow, and Celebi make for effective teammates as Water-type checks. Lucario's ability to muscle past Water-types can benefit teammates such as Flygon, Rhyperior, and Metagross.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Crunch can be used over Meteor Mash in order to hit Jellicent and Chandelure, but this leaves Lucario worse off versus more pertinent Flying- and Poison-types like Togekiss and Nidoqueen. Outside of hyper offense teams, Lucario can run a Choice Band set to free up a moveslot for a coverage option like Crunch at the cost of a heavier reliance on correct predictions to effectively wallbreak. While such a Choice Band set has fewer counters, its prediction reliance reliance on prediction makes it an overall less effective and reliable less effective and reliable overall as a wallbreaker than the Swords Dance set. Nasty Plot Lucario has one distinct advantage over its Swords Dance variant: (comma->colon) Vacuum Wave. (semicolon->period) Boosted Vacuum Wave OHKOes Cobalion, (add comma) preventing it from revenge killing Lucario, and Vacuum Wave allows Lucario to revenge kill Obstagoon. However Nasty Plot is nearly almost never worth using (remove comma) due to the inconsistency of Focus Blast (remove comma) and Vacuum Wave being a worse weaker priority move than Extreme Speed versus most relevant Pokemon such as Noivern, Crobat, and Flygon.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Faster Pokemon**: Noivern, Obstagoon, and Flygon can all take +2 Extreme Speed and KO Lucario, though Noivern will need prior chip damage to not trade against Lucario. Cobalion and Choice Scarf Metagross are especially effective revenge killers because they are resistant to Extreme Speed.

**Water-types**: Gastrodon, Seismitoad, Milotic, and Vaporeon, are all deathly afraid of boosted +2 Close Combat and struggle to switch directly into Close Combat Lucario, but they can somewhat effectively thwart Lucario 1v1 one-on-one; the former two threaten Lucario with their Ground-type STAB moves, and the latter can threaten to burn it via Scald. Starmie can take on Lucario's STABs as well as STAB moves and a boosted Extreme Speed; (comma->semicolon) however, it's reliant on Scald's burn chance to check Lucario.

**Ghost-types**: Jellicent stonewalls Lucario and can burn it with Will-O-Wisp. Chandelure is only 3HKOed by Meteor Mash, (add comma) making it a pretty solid check (remove comma) unless it's a non-Heavy-Duty Boots variant and Stealth Rock is up, in which case Chandelure struggles to switch in. Doublade completely walls Lucario and can use it as setup opportunity via Swords Dance fodder; (comma->semicolon) however, Doublade is very fairly uncommon. Mimikyu is a great revenge killer to can easily revenge kill Lucario, (add comma) as it's immune to Extreme Speed and KOs Lucario with Drain Punch after minimal chip damage.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Yourwelcomethanku, 541847]]
- Quality checked by: [[Lunala, 409096], [GoldCat, 359771]]
- Grammar checked by: [[dex, 277988], [username2, userid2]]

1/2

 

[CryoGyro]

GP 2/2

Hide

[OVERVIEW]

Lucario separates itself from Cobalion with its far greater power and access to Extreme Speed. Unlike Cobalion, its boosted Close Combat OHKOes bulky Water-types such as Gastrodon, Milotic, and Seismitoad after Stealth Rock. Extreme Speed makes Lucario a fearsome sweeper that can easily run off with the game, as most revenge killers such as Flygon, Crobat, and Noivern are OHKOed by +2 Extreme Speed with minimal prior chip. Lucario's frailty makes it hard to set up, and even when it does, it often falls its sweep often ends to the combination of damage taken while setting up and Life Orb recoil, halting its sweep. Some of Lucario's best checks like Cobalion and Mimikyu are very common, which also limits limiting its sweeping capabilities.

[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Close Combat
move 2: Meteor Mash
move 3: Swords Dance
move 4: Extreme Speed
item: Life Orb
ability: Inner Focus
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

Swords Dance, alongside Life Orb, gives and Life Orb give Lucario the power to OHKO bulky Water-types such as Vaporeon, Milotic, and Gastrodon. Inner Focus prevents Incineroar's Intimidate from lowering Lucario's attack and allows Lucario to avoid getting flinched by Choice Scarf Togekiss's Air Slash and flinches from Choice Scarf Togekiss's Air Slash. Alternatively, Justified can punish Knock Off, (comma) and also Umbreon's Foul Play if Lucario managed the risky proposition of switching into them.

Lucario is a staple on most hyper offense teams because it can remove common defensive answers such as bulky Water-types, Steel-types, and Umbreon for other powerful sweepers such as Mimikyu, Dragon Dance Flygon, and Sharpedo. Lucario is one of the strongest picks for Sticky Web hyper offense teams, as with Sticky Web, it outspeeds it can then outspeed Cobalion and no longer needs to rely on Extreme Speed to KO revenge killers like Obstagoon. Misty Surge Galarian Weezing is a great teammate, able to protect Lucario from status and help it set up with Memento against usual checks such as Milotic and Vaporeon. Lucario makes a solid pick on bulky offense teams, as it can compress combine the roles of sweeper, wallbreaker, and revenge killer into one teamslot. Crobat and Noivern can provide free switches with U-turn against Rock- and Steel-types such as Stakataka, Diancie, and Registeel for Lucario. Stakataka, Steelix, and Registeel can cover for Lucario's shortcomings as a Steel-type, as they are effective answers to Flying- and Fairy-types like Crobat, Gardevoir, and Togekiss; furthermore, the latter two are good Mimikyu answers. Water-types such as Jellicent, Milotic, and Gastrodon are strong answers to some of Lucario's prevalent revenge killers like Cobalion and Flygon. Lucario can break past most Water-types, but it's unreliable as the only Water-type answer on bulky offense and it's walled by Jellicent. Xurkitree, Rotom-Mow, and Celebi make for effective teammates as Water-type checks. Lucario's ability to muscle past Water-types can benefit teammates such as Flygon, Rhyperior, and Metagross.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Crunch can be used over Meteor Mash in order to hit Jellicent and Chandelure, but this leaves Lucario worse off versus against more pertinent Flying- and Poison-types like Togekiss and Nidoqueen. Outside of hyper offense teams, Lucario can run a Choice Band set to free up a moveslot for a coverage option like Crunch at the cost of a heavier reliance on correct predictions to effectively wallbreak. While such a Choice Band set has fewer counters, its reliance on prediction makes it less effective and reliable overall as a wallbreaker than the Swords Dance set. Nasty Plot Lucario has one distinct advantage over its Swords Dance variant: Vacuum Wave. Boosted Vacuum Wave OHKOes Cobalion, preventing it from revenge killing Lucario, and Vacuum Wave allows Lucario to revenge kill Obstagoon. However, (comma) Nasty Plot is almost never worth using due to the inconsistency of Focus Blast and Vacuum Wave being a weaker priority move than Extreme Speed versus against most relevant Pokemon such as Noivern, Crobat, and Flygon.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Faster Pokemon**: Noivern, Obstagoon, and Flygon can all take +2 Extreme Speed and KO Lucario, though Noivern will need prior chip damage to not just trade against Lucario. Cobalion and Choice Scarf Metagross are especially effective revenge killers because they are resistant to Extreme Speed.

**Water-types**: Gastrodon, Seismitoad, Milotic, and Vaporeon, are all deathly afraid of +2 Close Combat and struggle to switch directly into Lucario, but they can somewhat effectively thwart Lucario one-on-one; the former two threaten Lucario with their Ground-type STAB moves, and the latter can threaten to burn it via Scald. Starmie can take on Lucario's STAB moves and a boosted Extreme Speed; (comma->semicolon) however, it's reliant on Scald's burn chance to check Lucario.

**Ghost-types**: Jellicent stonewalls Lucario and can burn it with Will-O-Wisp. Chandelure is only 3HKOed by Meteor Mash, making it a pretty solid check unless it's a non-Heavy-Duty Boots variant and Stealth Rock is up, in which case Chandelure struggles to switch in Stealth Rock is up and it lacks Heavy-Duty Boots. Though uncommon, Doublade completely walls Lucario and can use it as setup fodder; however, Doublade is fairly uncommon. Mimikyu can easily revenge kill Lucario, (add comma) as it's immune to Extreme Speed and KOes Lucario with Drain Punch after minimal chip.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Yourwelcomethanku, 541847]]
- Quality checked by: [[Lunala, 409096], [GoldCat, 359771]]
- Grammar checked by: [[dex, 277988], [username2, userid2]]