[OVERVIEW]
Lucario functions as a lethal late-game sweeper with the stats and movepool to run either physical, special, or even mixed sets. When backed up by its Mega Evolution's ability, Adaptability, it becomes a nightmare for defensively oriented teams to face. Despite its Fighting / Steel typing giving it a plethora of resistances, however, it does not have the bulk to take advantage of this and will fall to even neutral STAB attacks. Depending on the set, Lucario may be forced to rely on STAB moves that have relatively poor accuracy such as Iron Tail and Focus Blast. Although it has access to nice coverage options such as Ice Punch, Lucario fails to make proper use of them despite its good Speed stat due to the prevalence of Focus Sash and Choice Scarf on common Ground-types, which can easily KO it with STAB Earthquake. Lucario often faces tough competition from fellow Fighting-types such as Blaziken, which has superior STAB coverage and Speed without needing to Mega Evolve, but with Extreme Speed and other STAB priority options, Lucario becomes less prone to getting revenge killed by priority moves such as Brave Bird and Aqua Jet. Additionally, Blaziken lacks a reliable Fighting-type STAB move like Close Combat, so it will often need to rely on High Jump Kick and Superpower, which sometimes holds it back.
[SET]
name: Physical
move 1: Close Combat
move 2: Iron Tail
move 3: Extreme Speed
move 4: Swords Dance / Ice Punch
item: Lucarionite
ability: Inner Focus / Justified
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Close Combat is Lucario's strongest and most reliable move and can deal massive amounts of damage to even foes that resist it such as Talonflame and Thundurus when boosted by STAB and Adaptability. Iron Tail is a necessary secondary STAB move used to hit Ghost-types such as Sableye, eliminate bulky Fairy-types like Clefable and Sylveon, and serve as Lucario's best option against Mega Venusaur. Extreme Speed offers Lucario a move with +2 priority, allowing it to pick off weakened targets such as Talonflame before they can use Roost or retaliate with priority Brave Bird. Swords Dance helps Lucario get past bulky threats such as Cresselia better, allows it to net more OHKOs with Close Combat on Garchomp and Rotom-W, and makes Extreme Speed able to threaten faster foes such as Greninja and Talonflame. Ice Punch can be used over Swords Dance as a coverage move to hit bulky Ground-types such as Garchomp and Landorus-T as well as Thundurus.
Set Details
========
A Jolly nature should always be used with maximum investment in Attack and Speed to allow Lucario to hit the crucial base 112 Speed tier while providing maximum damage output. Lucarionite is mandatory, as it provides a substantial boost to Lucario's offenses and Speed while giving it Adaptability, allowing its STAB moves to be even more threatening. Inner Focus lets Lucario reliably beat Mega Kangaskhan prior to Mega Evolution due to its immunity to flinching from Fake Out. Justified can also be used for a +1 boost in Attack if you can predict a Dark-type move; however, Lucario is usually too frail to be switching into any attacks.
Usage Tips
========
It is generally a bad idea to start the match with Lucario, as it has a bad matchup against common leads in the metagame such as Garchomp, Landorus-T, and Mamoswine, which all threaten to OHKO it with their STAB moves while potentially carrying Focus Sash. Therefore, opposing Focus Sash should be broken and Choice Scarf users must be scouted properly by teammates in order to make the most use of Lucario's late-game sweeping capability. As Lucario is rather slow prior to Mega Evolution, it's best brought in on a free turn such as a Choice-locked Outrage or a predicted Trick, usually from lead Rotom-W. Swords Dance must be used with caution, even on foes Lucario threatens out like Kangaskhan, because if you predict incorrectly, Lucario will easily fall to Earthquake or incur a status such as paralysis from Chansey. It might be reasonable to let Lucario sit out if Team Preview seems too unfavorable with bulky Ground-types, Fire-types, Aegislash, and Thundurus on the same team.
Team Options
========
Hippowdon is one of the best partners for Lucario, as it is able to function as a lead for setting up sand and Stealth Rock, which can break Focus Sash and Sturdy and allows Lucario's +2 Extreme Speed to OHKO Talonflame. Hippowdon is also a nice check to Fire-types, which threaten Lucario, and its access to Yawn will provide Lucario more chances to set up Swords Dance. Dragonite and Lucario form a nice core because Dragonite attracts Dragon- and Fairy-types that Lucario can take advantage of to set up while Dragonite can set up on a potential Choice-locked Earthquake user that would take out Lucario. Latios is able to set up screens for Lucario and also attracts Dark-type moves such as Knock Off, which will give Lucario a free boost if it is running Justified. Although it usually prefers to run different moves, Latios also has access to Memento, which, alongside dual screens, will make Lucario extremely hard to take down if the foe stays in. Both Greninja and Thundurus can weaken the opposing team with their superb coverage for Lucario to potentially sweep, and Thundurus is also able to cripple the opposing team with Prankster Thunder Wave; in turn, Lucario can easily help them get rid of bulky attackers like Mega Kangaskhan and tanks including Porygon2, Chansey, and Blissey. Lucario appreciates Landorus-T's ability to remove Talonflame and threaten Aegislash while also providing Intimidate support and being able to U-turn out for momentum.
[SET]
name: Nasty Plot
move 1: Nasty Plot
move 2: Aura Sphere / Focus Blast
move 3: Flash Cannon
move 4: Vacuum Wave / Dark Pulse
item: Lucarionite
ability: Inner Focus
nature: Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Nasty Plot Lucario is less susceptible to burn and is able to get past Intimidate users such as Salamence better. Aura Sphere is a reliable Fighting-type STAB move that will never miss, which is especially useful against Minimize Chansey, as special Lucario fails to OHKO it without Close Combat. Focus Blast is a viable option over Aura Sphere with a noticeable increase in power and the ability to OHKO Heatran and Porygon2 as well as OHKO Chansey and Thundurus at +2, but it can be rather unreliable due to poor accuracy. Flash Cannon gives Lucario vital coverage against Fairy-types that resist Fighting and also allows it to hit all Ghost-types bar Aegislash more reliably. Thanks to Adaptability, Vacuum Wave is an 80-Base Power priority move that can be used against faster foes such as Greninja, Lopunny, and Choice Scarf users such as Hydreigon. Dark Pulse offers nice coverage if you decide to forgo priority, as it is able to hit Slowbro and Aegislash, but it has little utility outside of this due to failing to OHKO Aegislash even at +2.
Set Details
========
A Timid nature along with maximum investment in Special Attack and Speed allows Lucario to hit as hard as possible while taking advantage of its decent Speed tier. The remaining 4 EVs should be allocated to Special Defense, which is useful for preventing Porygon2 from acquiring a Special Attack boost from Download before Lucario Mega Evolves. Lucarionite is a must to allow Lucario to Mega Evolve, increasing its offenses, Speed, and Defense and giving it Adaptability to further increase its damage output with its STAB moves. Inner Focus is the best ability for Lucario prior to Mega Evolution to prevent flinching from Fake Out users like Mega Kangaskhan.
Usage Tips
========
Lucario should always look to Mega Evolve whenever possible, as it is unable to do much in its default forme unless directly faced against a Fake Out user. Do not carelessly bring Lucario in on any attacks, as even resisted hits will do decent amounts of damage due to its relatively poor bulk even after Mega Evolving. Because this set is less crippled by burn, it can set up Nasty Plot on Rotom-W, which is likely to spend one turn burning Lucario before switching. Nasty Plot Mega Lucario has a fantastic matchup against defensively oriented teams, especially against Chansey and Skarmory, which rely heavily on Toxic to do damage and are both unable to use Counter against this set. Lucario should be brought in once the opposing team has been weakened considerably enough for it to clean up during later stages of the match.
Team Options
========
Garchomp provides Lucario with Stealth Rock, weakens the opposing team with its powerful STAB moves, and also has the ability to slow down switch-ins with Rock Tomb so Lucario has an easier time coming in. Hippowdon checks Fire-types like Talonflame and Mega Charizard X while also being able to break potential Focus Sashes with Stealth Rock or sandstorm damage. Stealth Rock support is particularly useful for breaking the dreaded Focus Sash, which is rather common on some Pokemon such as Mamoswine. Dragonite works well with Lucario, as Lucario is able to easily revenge kill Protean Greninja, which OHKOes Dragonite with Ice Beam even with Multiscale intact, with Vacuum Wave. A core of Hippowdon, Dragonite, and Lucario works very well, as Hippowdon is able to provide the other two with Stealth Rock support and create opportunities to set up through Yawn. Stall-oriented teams will find it very difficult to successfully wall both physical Dragonite and specially offensive Mega Lucario. Talonflame can lead and then U-turn out on its counters such as Rotom-W and Tyranitar, which Lucario is able to set up Nasty Plot on. Mega Gengar is a fantastic teammate due to its ability to trap and remove Cresselia, Slowbro, and Azumarill, which are notable threats to Lucario prior to gaining boosts. Thundurus and Zapdos do a fantastic job at removing Pokemon on Flying-type spam teams such as Talonflame and Salamence as well as bulky Water-types such as Slowbro and Gyarados, while Lucario is able to eliminate Ice- and Rock-types that they are weak to. Klefki can provide Lucario with dual screen support and also has access to Prankster Thunder Wave, which can slow down faster threats such as Blaziken and Gengar. Although in an unconventional manner, Klefki can beat a lot of physically offensive threats such as Mega Charizard X and Garchomp through a combination of Swagger and Foul Play, which will make sweeping a lot easier for Lucario.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Bullet Punch is boosted by Adaptability and can be used over Extreme Speed if hitting Gengar seems more appealing to the team. However, the ability to hit Fire-types is better overall. On the Nasty Plot set, Hidden Power Ice might seem like an odd choice but can score surprising KOs against Intimidate users such as Landorus-T and Salamence as well as Gliscor, which Ice Punch fails to KO. Earthquake is an option to hit Aegislash without the fear of King's Shield, but it can only OHKO it after a Swords Dance boost. Substitute sacrifices some HP to help Lucario avoid status from foes such as Rotom-W and allows it to beat Blaziken in a one-on-one situation. Stone Edge allows Mega Lucario to OHKO Thundurus, which Ice Punch fails to do, while also hitting Zapdos and other Fire-types such as Talonflame, Mega Charizard Y, and Volcarona harder than any other moves. A Naive nature with a spread of 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe can be used on a specially offensive set if you decide to run Close Combat over Focus Blast or Aura Sphere, as it still is able to KO Heatran and Chansey reliably. Protect can be used to allow Lucario to safely Mega Evolve, but this comes at the cost of a coverage move. Thunder Punch is an option to nail Gyarados more reliably than Stone Edge. Focus Sash is an option for an item, given that Lucario has immunity to residual damage such as sand while also having Inner Focus, which prevents it from flinching. However, it is largely outclassed by Lucarionite, as such a set is significantly weaker.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Aegislash**: Aegislash has an easy time walling non-Earthquake and Dark Pulse Lucario while being able to retaliate with STAB Shadow Ball or KO with Sacred Sword.
**Zapdos**: Zapdos resists both of Lucario's STAB types and boasts high defenses, and it is able to Roost off any damage and then KO back with Heat Wave.
**Gyarados and Slowbro**: Gyarados can easily set up on Lucario with Intimidate, resists its STAB types as well as most of its coverage moves, and is able to outspeed Lucario after one Dragon Dance. Slowbro threatens to burn with Scald or paralyze with Thunder Wave while taking nothing from physical Mega Lucario.
**Ghost-types**: Mega Gengar and Mega Sableye have no problem dealing with physical variants of Lucario, as they are able to cripple it with burn and can freely come in on a predicted Close Combat, but Mega Gengar is OHKOed by Iron Tail. Special variants of Lucario have an easier time against Gengar that lack Focus Blast or Will-O-Wisp + Hex, as Flash Cannon is a clean 2HKO.
**Faster Pokemon**: Choice Scarf users such as Garchomp and Landorus-T, Choice Band Talonflame, and Blaziken can all revenge kill Lucario with ease. However, they need to be relatively healthy to do so, as Lucario has access to priority and hits extremely hard after a boost.
**Status**: Common status users including Rotom-W and Thundurus are able to cripple Lucario for the rest of the match with burn or paralysis.
**Focus Sash**: Common Focus Sash users include Mamoswine, Garchomp, and Breloom, all of which can ruin Lucario's sweep, which is why Stealth Rock support is important.
**Bulky Attackers**: Lucario is unable to OHKO Mega Mawile and Azumarill, while they threaten to KO back with their STAB moves; however, Mega Mawile is OHKOed by Close Combat after a Swords Dance boost.
**Fire-types**: Prominent Fire-types seen in Battle Spot including Talonflame, Blaziken, Mega Charizard X and Y, and Volcarona can all threaten to OHKO Lucario while resisting its STAB types. Do note that none of these can safely switch into Lucario directly and can only revenge kill Lucario when it is unboosted.
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