Pokémon Lucario

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Jin White

Jin White

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L U C A R I O
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70 / 110 / 70 / 115 / 70 / 90
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Lucario is an often overlooked, statistically underused 'mon who is in fact a devastating cleaner in OU. 110 / 115 / 90 offenses are bolstered by great offensive typing, high base power moves in Close Combat and the coveted +2 priority Extremespeed, and boosting options in Swords Dance and Nasty Plot. Though his defenses are pitiable, and he receives some competition for his physical set from the likes of offensive Mega Scizor and Mega Gallade, he's got unique tools to make him a hugely capable threat in OU.

s e t s

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Lucario @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature / Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- ExtremeSpeed
- Crunch / Iron Tail / Ice Punch

This is arguably Lucario's most useful set in OU, thanks to the sheer power of Close Combat and the unstoppable force of ExtremeSpeed. It serves as both a cleaner and a wallbreaker, pressuring stall and offense alike. Adamant is preferred because of Lucario's shit speed tier; Adamant LO notably allows Luke to KO CB Talonflame with Espeed after rocks, or without rocks at +2. Jolly on the other hand allows Lucario to get the jump on max base 80s-89s (notably Mamoswine, jolly Excadrill, several megas pre-evo).

Lucario has always had to choose his own counters. Close Combat and ExtremeSpeed are crucial, and 99% of the reason why you'd bring Lucario. Crunch lets it break past Slowbro, Mew. Iron Tail hits significantly harder, and gives it a better option for breaking M-Sableye barring the shit 75% accuracy of the move. Ice Punch of course hits Lando-T and Gliscor, so it really comes down to team composition & what walls you want to target the most.

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i'm special
Lucario @ Life Orb
Ability: Steadfast
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Aura Sphere
- Flash Cannon
- Dark Pulse / Vacuum Wave

Same principle as above, but aiming for totally different targets. It's the resident fairy-killer, it acts as a surprisingly good lure for physical walls expecting the SD, and it works off its great STAB combo which can be devastating after a boost. Bulky Lando-T is OHKO'd by a +2 Flash Cannon; Chansey is 2HKOd by a +2 modest Aura Sphere. Vacuum Wave may seem too weak to be useful at first, until you realize that would-be revenge killers like Mega Lopunny and Breloom are OHKOd after a Nasty Plot.

Dark Pulse is a brilliant option for teams who struggle vs. M-Slowbro and stall more generally, as special Luke is already equipped to take on M-Sableye, Chansey, Alomomola, Clefairy. Lucario becomes a veritable wall smasher after a single boost and can't be hampered by burns, unlike its physical counterpart.

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Teammates: Lucario is best suited for offensive teams due to his great offensive typing and movepool paired with his complete inability to take hits. As such, offensive partners that aim to batter the same walls and open up a sweep are invaluable. Greninja, Scizor, and Mega Lopunny are great examples of offensive mons that work with Lucario to pressure the opponent's defenses.

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Lucario is not an easy pokémon to use. He doesn't get a set up opportunity in every match, and he can rarely switch in to take a hit. Therefore it's incredibly important to know exactly what he's capable of, which mons need to be weakened and by how much, and when to bring him onto the field. If played well, he can absolutely devastate the opposing team.
 
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At the very least, Lucario is probably the best pokemon to switch into Knock Offs considering its 4x resistance and Justified, meaning its an amazing Bisharp check.
 
On the Nasty Plot set, you definitely need to state why Dark Pulse / Shadow Ball is so useful.

+2 252+ SpA Life Orb Lucario Dark Pulse vs. +3 252 HP / 4 SpD Slowbro: 221-260 (56 - 65.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Yeah
 
Lucario suffered a whole lot because of the Speed creep in ORAS. 90 Speed, which was once pretty fast, is now completely slow and not good for a sweeper. Anything that is faster and can tank a +2 E-Speed can easily take it out. Mega Altaria and Mega Char X are prime examples of Pokémon like that. Not to mention, E-Speed isn't STAB, which means, even at +2, it won't be OHKOing a lot of things it needs to. Lucario, at least physical Lucario, faces huge competition as a late game sweeper from Hawlucha, which is able to outspeed pretty much the entire metagame. E-Speed really doesn't save Lucario in that aspect, since it doesn't OHKO a lot of things. It's a decent cleaner, but if the opponent even has one thing left at full health by the end, that might be troublesome.
Special Lucario is probably the better set of the two, to be honest. It also doesn't suffer from burns as well. Make sure you say how completely important Dark Pulse is for taking out Mega Slowbro.
 
Jaroda said:
At the very least, Lucario is probably the best pokemon to switch into Knock Offs considering its 4x resistance and Justified, meaning its an amazing Bisharp check.
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it's a 2x resitance
252+ Atk Black Glasses Bisharp Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Lucario: 135-160 (48 - 56.9%) -- 91% chance to 2HKO
252+ Atk Black Glasses Bisharp Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Lucario: 111-132 (39.5 - 46.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
Lucario is nearly KO'd by the combination of knock off/sucker punch. That's pretty bad...but maybe bisharp will switch out. With a life orb that's a nice 2HKO on lucario.
 
Imo, Dragonite is the superior user of ESpeed in OU. Despite being weak to Stealth Rock (which is really easy to be rid of), Dragonite's Multiscale ability allows him to take a hit much better than Lucario, and despite being outclassed as a DD user by the likes of Zard X, Mega Gyarados and Mega Altaria, Dragonite can actually set up DDs easier than Lucario ever could set up either of its boosting moves.

Also, I KINDA understand going with Adamant for physical Lucario thanks to Espeed (despite being painfully slow as dicks for a frail sweeper), but why Modest for the special set? Again, he's REALLY SLOW, and it's essentially REQUIRED for you to run Vaccumm Wave.

May Arceus help you if you face a Gengar, as he's immune to both ESpeed and Vaccumm Wave. Bullet Punch is, okay, I guess? Running both ESpeed and Bullet Punch sacrifices potential power from not being able to run any other move, as you're essentially required to run both CC and SD to be any threatening.
 
Bullet Punch should be slashed on the fourth moveslot for the Physical set. It lets you smack Gengar before it gets a chance to hit you and helps with Offensive Mega Altaria.

I also think the NP Set shouldn't even be mentioned. Extreme Speed is the main reason to use Lucario in the first place, and losing it increases the amount of checks it has (you auto-lose to Mega Pinsir, Talonflame, and Thundurus for instance).
 
Lucario unfortunately has suffered a lot from this generation. Especially since his mega is banned, I don't think he'll see major OU usage.
Jin White said:
Lucario has always had to choose his own counters. Close Combat and ExtremeSpeed are crucial, and 99% of the reason why you'd bring Lucario. Crunch lets it break past Slowbro
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Does it really? Especially since a lot of teams with Slowbro either carry M-Slowbro or have partners that can deal with Lucario (clefable, Mega-Sableye, etc.). Also, Lucario is frail enough that if Crunch doesn't OHKO Slowbro (and it probably won't barring a crit), Scald completely wrecks it, especially if it's used CloseCombat before.
 
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