WTF MIXED LUKE?!?!

[Sparky24]

Hey guys, so i was just sitting in my chair sippin some December coacoa and on my Smogon when an idea popped into my head
"Hey", I said, "Lucario has more base Special Attack then attack"
"And everyone does always expect the cliche SD set"
"So why can't i pull off a mixed set? I know it exactly can't sweep, but i can do some serious damage to unsuspecting foes"
And so here i am.

Team Overview

Those Lovely Details

Swampert @ Leftovers
Nature: Relaxed
Evs: 252hp / 252def / 4atk
Moveset:
-Stealth Rock
-Ice Beam
-Earthquake
-Protect​

Pretty standard if i do say so myself. Rocks are explanatory, EVs to maximize bulkiness, Earthquake and Ice Beam for mixed coverage. Protect has always been my favorable last slot as opponents tend to just explode after setting up rather than trying to deal with me, and its always nice to get free lefties and scouting. All i really wanted for this lead is to get some rocks up 100% of the time

Uxie @ Choice Scarf
Nature: Bold
Evs: 252hp / 104 def / 152 spe
Moveset:
-Trick
-U-Turn
-Yawn
-Thunder Wave​

I knew i definitely needed t-wave support as luke's speed is...not the best. And i also need scouting for those pesky fast pokemon. Through testing i have found that if i trick the opponent into switching, yawn the switch, and paralyze the next one, finishing it off with U-Turn iv'e already seen 3 of their guys, crippled one, paralyzed another and have switch advantage. It's a win, win, win, win for me.

Latias @ Choice Scarf
Nature: Timid
Evs: 4hp / 252sp atk / 252spe
Moveset:
-Trick
-Dragon Pulse
-Thunderbolt
-Surf​

Okay i know having two trick-scarfers might seem at bit redundant, but i needed something with speed that could counter Mence, and Latias always does it for me. I personally love Trick because once the opponent knows you're scarfed they can run circles around you predicting and being locked into one move can get annoying. D-Pulse, Tbolt and Surf are all for coverage and evs maximize what I'm trying to do.

Salamence @ Life Orb
Nature: Jolly
Evs: 252atk / 252spe / 4hp
Moveset:
-Dragon Claw
-Outrage
-Earthquake
-Dragon Dance​

My primary sweeper. Once the opponent has been crippled and softened, all it takes is a choiced moved i resist and i am in baby. I went Jolly and full out Physical just because of my preference over Dragon Claw ability to take attacks just a LITTLE bit better. Standard stuff really, but when my opponent's walls have been crippled, through Uxie, this guy can ravage through teams.

Magnezone @ Leftovers
Nature: Modest
Evs: 252sp atk / 252spe/ 4hp
Moveset:
-Thunderbolt
-Hidden Power [Fire]
-Substitute
-Signal Beam​

I have a fetish of countering Scizor, i really do, and Magnezone is definitely one of my favorite pokemon to do it with. All it takes is a banded bullet punch to send me into an ecstasy. I also saw this team [Luke] got walled by Skarmory and it's just so fun to trap them. Hp fire hits those steel types harder than T-bolt can and i disregarded using Magnet Rise because i simply don't like it. It's a waste of a turn when i could have easily set up a Sub and most Earthquakers don't fear Zone's attacks in the first place. Also Latias seems to love walling Zone so i added Signal Beam in there for that and also Celebi.

Lucario @ Life Orb
Nature: Naive
Evs: 64atk /194spatk / 252spe
Moveset:
Close Combat
Extremespeed
Hidden Power [Ice]
Dark Pulse​

The star of the team. While he might not end up sweeping, this lucario is a beast. He has just enough atk ev's to 1hko anything a standard luke would, yet has the speed and special attack to always kill gliscor and mence. Latias is on average always killed with a Dark Pulse + Extremespeed combo after rocks and Dark Pulse does a respectable 50-60% to a Dusknoir and almost half to a Cresselia. Any phsyical wall coming in on luke will take a huge chuck from their special side and vice versa. Skarmory does completely wall me though.


Okay, while im not saying this Luke is better than the SD one or can sweep teams but c'mon people its something NEW. Please Rate, later

 

[Aura Guardian]

Just a few nitpicks here, sorry that I don't have an actual rate yet.
You declare:
"Latias is on average always killed with a Dark Pulse + Extremespeed combo after rocks and Dark Pulse does a respectable 50-60% to a Dusknoir"

Dusknoir can use Pain Split and make life harder for Lucario. Also, "on average always" is self-contradictory. How about "usually."
Okay, here's the critique ... or caution. However, I would caution you about Trickscarf when using Lucario: it might be a bit counter-productive, in both meanings. The thunder wave, I guess would counteract the scarfs well enough, though.

 

[Sparky24]

Yea i saw the scarf thing as a problem myself. Uxie can usually get away with tricking a wall most of the time, but with latias i might screw myself over. Through testing thought i've found out that i never really show trick early in the game, only when there's a wall like bliss who keeps switching in to me.
Sorry for the bad grammar .__. to be honest i am doing an honors english essay as we speak =3

 

[KnightoftheWind]

I really like this team, it's very original and I can see it working very well.

Other Lucario are a bit of a bother though. Lucario can set-up on Latias locked into Dragon Pulse and take down every member of your team. After Stealth Rock damage, Swampert is OHKOed by Close Combat, Uxie has a good chance of being OHKOed by Crunch, Latias has a good chance of being OHKOed by Extremespeed, Magnezone is OHKOed by Close Combat, Salamence barely survives an Extremespeed from an Adamant Lucario and if the Lucario is Jolly, your own Lucario has to rely on a speed tie.

This can be easily fixed by using Vacuum Wave over Extremespeed on Lucario. I don't see Extremespeed being extremely effective due to the lack of Attack EVs, whilst Vacuum Wave takes advantage of Lucario's higher Special Attack. It also revenge kills other Lucario, as well as Empoleon and Tyranitar. You should change Lucario's EV spread to 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe. Your Lucario doesn't need many EVs in order to OHKO Blissey with Close Combat, plus the extra power helps against things like Gyarados. Switch Dark Pulse with Shadow Ball as well. The flinch rate from Dark Pulse is somewhat situational, plus Lucario will enjoy an occasinal Special Defense drop.

I question your Magnezone set, as there isn't any important targets Magnezone manages to outspeed. I suggest you change it to the Steel Killer set.

Magnezone @ Leftovers | Modest
172 HP / 252 SpA / 84 Spe
Substitute / Magnet Rise / Thunderbolt / Hidden Power Ice

Now, I know you don't like Magnet Rise, but let me explain. You don't use Magnet Rise when Magnezone first comes in. You use Substitute first, then if their switch-in intends to hit Magnezone with Earthquake then you use Magnet Rise, then proceed to attack. Thunderbolt 2HKOes the majority of Steel-types out there, so Hidden Power Fire isn't needed. This lets you use Hidden Power Ice, which lets you nail Dragon-types and Ground-types that otherwise could cause issues.

Good luck with your team.

 

[george182]

I think specs maganezone could be more useful, OHKO's max hp forretress and scizor with thunderbolt after rocks, while having some sheer power and better type coverage, as hp grass can be used for swamperts. But im just not a fan of the steel killer set. BTW, the whole point of the steel killer is to use magnet rise, not subsititue, magnet rise stops EQ's so you can trap metagross and forretress, however they take massive damadge from a specs t-bolt, and a 2 attack magnezone is easy to revenge kill and break the sub. 100 sped ev's, outspeeds lead metagross and most SD scizor, 156 hp, gives you some extra bulk and then 252 sp.atk for some nice 394 sp.atk. But i prefer specs, as it is more useful when you not just trapping steels and your easilly revenge killed anyway, only looses to a max hp full health metagross and dugtrio. Metgross is a lead so will loose hp easilly and dugtrio is rare in OU.

Lucario is able to 2hko skarmory with close combat after rocks like 50% chance, 2 rock switch in's, I think garuntee's the 2hko and skarmroy can't do too much to lucario except wirlwind and brave bird and most skarmory have some atk ev's and speed ev's, meaning that you will 2hko them.

Modest latias, as all mence's are admant now, as most latias' are timid, so there is no point in a jolly mence, so there is no point in a timid latias, so go modest for the extra power at no real loss (some bad explaining). Smogon even suggest modest now, for the extra dracco metero power, and the ability to 2hko tyranitar after 2 stealth rocks, no pursuiting for him.

I would also change to admant on mence, unless speed tieing scarf jirach, flygon and outspeeding the occasional latias / gengar is really important to you. But i have a better suggestion. On mence, I would suggest dracco meteor over dragon claw, dracco meteor has the added bonus of OHKOing hippowdon, gyrados, porygon 2, donphan, gliscor, zapdos etc. after stealth rocks, (Most of the physical walls that outrage fails to OHKO). You would have to change the ev's, and it can be used when you don't want to lock yourself into outrage. Funnily enough all these pokes wall a SD lucario making SD luke a great partner.

Naughty/naive
80atk, 252 sp.atk, 176 speed.

Naughty nature:
hits 280 speed, which only looses to timid scarf rotom, who has 298 speed. You still have plently of attack, 358 and can still OHKO t-tar without a dragon dance and OHKO metagross with a dragon dance.

Naive is another choice of nature. This set does pair well with SD lucario, but I think you probably want to keep your luke mixed, still dracco meteor is still beter than dragon claw in my opinion.


I would go duel screen lunar dance cresselia over uxie, can still provide t-wave support and can help mence set up, or lucario switch in etc.

I would choose a more offensive lead, as this is an offensive team e.g. azelf, smeargle, Jirachi, this can help get the momentum going from the start. Smeargle has the added bonus of setting spikes up and sporing. Jirachi has trick scarf and useful typing.

fylgon could be more useful than latias as its not purusit bait, so it can relably check gyrados and mence.

So yea its a good team, I would tweek it a bit more offensivly to keep the momentum going, trick scarf is counter prodcutive with lucario and mence, as they both relly on outspeeding things.

SD lucaro would probably be better. The thing with mixed is that it breaks its own walls, but you don't have a poke to take advantage of that. So if you want to make a standard OU ladder team, SD luke and Mix dd mence. But if its just a fun team with a out of the blue mixed lucario, then go for it

Reasons for mix luke being not very common:
- Can't OHKO wall switch ins, bar rotom and gliscor
- Can't sweep
- Fragile, so doens't get many switch ins
- Also, Specs lucario can do everthing better, including draw in blissey and KO with closecombat, and doesn't wear its own hp down, so it can switch in more, and aura shere doesn't lower defences.

But good team, weak point is sadly mixed lucario, it does seem kinda pointless on this team (breaking walls that don't need breaking), if you really want to use it I would suggest findign a sweeper that benfits from these walls beign taken down, e.g. SD Scizor and using a choice specs > life orb.

 

[jc104]

I am going to suggest another magnezone set. Since you have two trick scarfers, a pursuit bait pokemon, and a slow u-turner, magnezone will often find itself trapping choice locked steel types. Against these you can attempt a more ambitious setup with charge beam:

Magnezone @ salac berry
Ability: Magnet Pull
Nature:Timid
EVs: 28hp/252SpAtk/228 spe
-Substitute
-Charge beam
-Thunderbolt
-HP ice

Very satisfying when it works. Most notably it works on scizor and jirachi, as well as most tricked steels when locked into inappropriate moves. You will often get up to +3 or 4 special attack and a substitute, almost guaranteeing a kill and sometimes a sweep. Shares some of its couters with lucario, (Swampert and Rotom) meaning it can soften them up for a sweep if it fails itself. A more bulky spread with leftovers is also an option, which would focus less on sweeping and more on hurting its counters, and would function better in its normal role of steel killing (which the other spread can still do fairly effectively) opening up for salamence to sweep. Above all this set really makes the opponent pay for using Scizor.

This set proabably would fit better with the standard SD luke come to think of it. SD luke can take out physical walls with physical attacks, so it doesn't need to run mixed really.

 

[Sparky24]

@George182
If you couldn't tell my my descriptions in not all too fond of smogon sets just because it becomes way to easy to get predicted. Mixed luke is hard to pull off, that i know and the challenge to pull it off is interesting to me. I'll play around with the zone sets i like what jc suggested as well.

Im always a person who wants speed over power. So ill always go timid or jolly just because a game can easily be decided by whose's faster.

@KnightofWind: I was thinking the exact same thing iv'e been meaning to try it out, but seeing as nearly ALL luke's are Adamant and Vaccuum wave really only does about half to an opposing luke, the neutral coverage i get from E-speed might come in handy

 

[frogbandit]

Hi,

I suggest switching around Swampert and Uxie, making Uxie your lead and therefore making it easier to spread around paralysis with Thunder Wave. You will also save Swampert for later, as a reliable check to Latias and Salamence if Latias goes down early.

Second, just a nitpick, but I'd go with Draco Meteor over Dragon Pulse just to hit something harder on the switch, since you'll often be pursuit killed after one attack.

Also,

Bitch u fuckin stole my lucario set ]dea reAd my rmt u copied my set

He didn't copy your team, if you notice he only has Lucario, and 5 completely different pokes. Also, his EV spread is different.

 

[cim]

Lucario @ Life Orb

Nature: Naive
Evs: 64atk /194spatk / 252spe
Moveset:
Close Combat
Extremespeed
Hidden Power [Ice]
Dark Pulse​

​

Close Combat / Extremespeed / Ice Punch / Crunch OHKOs all of the same Pokemon, and Crunch does more to Latias. There is no reason to make Lucario a mixed attacker in this instance, at all.

Okay, while im not saying this Luke is better than the SD one or can sweep teams but c'mon people its something NEW. Please Rate, later

Why do you favor originality more than competitiveness? In a game with a finite number of combinations of Pokemon, it's pretty likely the standard solutions are optimal, and if you're intentionally holding your self back from an optimal team for the sake of stroking your own set-creating ego, there's nothing any team rater can do to help you, as winning isn't your priority.

By the way, of course you're the first person to think "wow, lucario has two high attack stats".

There's my piece.

 

[DIABLO69]

Besides what everyone has said I have a set here which turns Lucario into a deadly mixed sweeper:

Lucario @ focus sash/life orb
Ev: 184 atk/ 128 SPA/ 196 Spe
Mild Nature
Ability:inner focus
-Close combat
-Dark Pulse
-Hidden Power [Ice]/[Electric]
-Agility

The basic aim of this lucario is too outspeed everything after an agility boost and do as much damage as possible to weaken the other team.
Focus sash can be used to get an agility in if you come to the point when lucario is up agianst a faster Pokémon (and is what I recommend) although life orb gives you more power which is sometimes needed with a mixed Pokémon.
The attacks are simple:agility to boost speed, close combat for power and dark pulse for perfect type coverage. Which hidden power you choose depends on who you want to take out- salamence or gyarados.
The attack and special attack EVs can be played around with but, with a neatrul speed nature, 196 speed EVs are needed to outspeed a positive speed natured latias with a choice scarf, and remember to keep enough attack EVs th OHKO blissey.

 

[cim]

That set is just as bad as the above, if not worse. You're mixing Attack and Special Attack for seemingly no apparent reason.

 

[Seven Deadly Sins]

hint: there's a reason that physical luke is more common than special luke

Mixed Lucario is rarely better than Mixed Infernape. Its STABs are better, its speed is better, and Lucario's Steel typing doesn't do anything for it other than deny it access to a decent secondary STAB. Originality for the sake of "being original" doesn't pay off.

Actually, try dropping a Mixape into the team in place of Mixed Lucario and see what you can do with it.