Lucario is a rather interesting Pokémon. Not only is it a fan favorite but it also has a unique type combination and a versatile moveset in Pokémon GO. With all these special characteristics though, it can be somewhat easy to get “lost in the sauce”, as they say, especially if you’re relatively new to PvP. Which is why this Riolu Hatch Day, we’ll be looking at its performance, ideal movesets, and some tips on how to use it for all three of the main leagues, starting with:
Great League
Ideal IVs: 1/15/15
To start off with talking about movesets, Lucario generally prefers the legacy move Force Palm as its fast attack of choice. It provides the best combination of damage and energy generation among its fast attack options though it is a 3-turn (1.5 second) attack as opposed to the more common 1 and 2-turns seen in the Great League. This might require some practice to get used to and we have a guide up to help with that. But perhaps, a more impressive and easy to understand moveset in Lucario’s arsenal is Aura Sphere. A move quite iconic to Lucario and one that has significant spam potential under Lucario’s kit. But before we understand why this charged attack is so important let’s look at which moves can potentially fill out Lucario’s second charged attack slot.
Typically Lucario would prefer one of the three between Shadow Ball, Thunder Punch, or Blaze Kick to add a bit of coverage to what has effectively been a full fighting type moveset with Force Palm and Aura Sphere. However, this has changed this very season with the introduction of Metal Mash within Lucario’s movepool. A move that does more damage than all of those other three combined, while requiring only 5 more energy (effectively 1 more Force Palm) than Thunder Punch or Blaze Kick, and 5 less energy than Shadow Ball.
All that being said though, Metal Mash does not do too much to significantly change Lucario’s performance in the Great League. Why? Because you can do just fine in most encounters by just spamming Aura Sphere. With a whopping 96 damage for 40 energy (5 less than Metal Mash), Aura Sphere is the best charged attack in Lucario’s moveset in terms of pure damage to energy ratio and it has STAB boost to boot. So Lucario’s secondary move is only relevant when faced with opponents where Aura Sphere isn’t enough. And even then Metal Mash only results in one more win, Galarian Wheezing. However, Metal Mash does make some losses harder such as against Fairy Types and Ghost Types where one of the other moves would have been more desirable. But they would still end up being losses in even shield scenarios.
Again, with all that being said though, Lucario isn’t really the best in the Great League right now. Lucario is a very frail, attack-weighted Pokémon. So it doesn’t want to see bulky Pokémon that can withstand its attacks. Unfortunately for Lucario though, those are the exact Pokémon dominating right now. As such many meta-mons such as Azumarill, Tinkaton, and even fellow Fighting-types Medicham and Annihilape can wall Lucario on even shields. So if you plan to use one yourself, you’ll have to play strategically so Lucario is always at a shield advantage. And in that scenario you do want either Shadow Ball or Metal Mash over Thunder Punch or Blaze Kick. Metal Mash can beat Florges but loses out on Cresselia and Jellicent, when compared to Shadow Ball.
Ultra League
Ideal IVs: 1/15/15
Lucario is a much better performer in the Ultra League. As it’s maximum CP is 3059, it can reach quite a high stat product in the 2500 CP Ultra League. Not only that, it can defeat some very heavy hitters in the Ultra League including the most dominant Fairy types Tinkaton and Florges along with other meta favorites such as Lapras, Empoleon (both regular and shadow), and Galarian Moltres on an even shield scenario without relying much on baiting.
This is also the league where Metal Mash truly shines. We can count the other two charged attacks out, however, even compared to Shadow Ball, Metal Mash might be better as it allows Lucario to get some confident wins against Florges, Galarian Wheezing, and Articuno (that Articuno is a huge flip up in performance btw). As such Lucario certainly has some strong viability this season. However, it is still a pretty frail Pokémon with some very huge losses against quite a lot of meta dominant Pokémon such as Togekiss, Virizion, and just about every major Ghost-type in the meta. This makes Lucario a strong off-meta pick, rather than a truly dominant Pokémon itself. You really have to carefully consider your positioning with this one.
Master League
Ideal IVs: 15/15/15
Lucario was obviously not going to even be in the running for the legendary-dominated Master League. However, even in the Master League Premier format, where the strongest legendary and mythicals aren’t around it uhh…it leaves a lot to be desired. Lucario just does not have the stat product for it. Regardless of moveset choices, Lucario loses to any Pokémon here that actually matters, even ones it has a type advantage against.
Overall
Lucario is a fun Pokémon whose frailty stops it from truly dominating. However, under the right hands it can still be a solid spice pick in the Great and Ultra Leagues. It can be quite simply to use too when the alignment is right, as you’d either depend on spamming Aura Sphere or one of its secondary charged attacks depending on what Pokémon you’re facing. But that alignment is truly where the difficulty comes and you really have to plan around seeing matchups where Lucario gets either hard-walled. As for the Master League, it is not a place for Lucario to be in.
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