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:dog:
Lucario
[QC:3/3] Eyan / BOUFF / A Cake Wearing A Hat
[GP:2/2] The Dutch Plumberjack / marthaa
[OVERVIEW]
With good offensive stats, access to Swords Dance and Nasty Plot, and a wide movepool, Lucario is a menacing and unpredictable setup sweeper for offensive teams. It also has a good defensive typing with nifty resistances to Bug, Rock, Dark, and Steel, as well as an immunity to Poison that can aid in its setup. However, this is offset by Lucario's meager defensive stats, meaning that it has to rely on forced switches and its resistances for setup opportunities. It also has a middling Speed stat that, while circumvented somewhat by its access to priority moves, leaves it vulnerable to faster threats that can take a hit, like Mega Aerodactyl and Krookodile. Lastly, Lucario faces heavy competition from the tier's plethora of other Fighting-types and struggles to stand out from the likes of Terrakion, Infernape, Cobalion, and Heracross.
[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Close Combat
move 3: Extreme Speed
move 4: Iron Tail / Bullet Punch / Ice Punch
item: Life Orb
ability: Justified
nature: Jolly / Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Swords Dance is needed to boost Lucario's Attack and allows it to set up for a sweep. Close Combat is Lucario's strongest, most reliable STAB move, and its main drawback of lowered defenses is negligible, since Lucario is very frail to begin with. Extreme Speed, with 80 Base Power and +2 priority, is one of this set's biggest selling points, since it nearly always goes first. This allows it to pick off frail or weakened targets without worrying about being outsped as well as take out would-be revenge killers, such as Hydreigon, Latias, and Infernape. Bullet Punch is a priority STAB move that allows Lucario to get around Mega Aerodactyl, Nihilego, and Terrakion, which resist Extreme Speed, as well as hit Fairy-types for super effective damage. Iron Tail is a very powerful but inaccurate secondary STAB attack that can break through slower Pokemon that can take a Close Combat or Bullet Punch, such as Amoonguss, Mega Altaria, and Togekiss. Ice Punch targets Gliscor while still doing the same damage as Iron Tail to targets that are only 2x weak to Ice, such as Amoonguss and Nidoqueen. Crunch hits Ghost- and Psychic-types, such as Chandelure, Slowbro, and Reuniclus. Earthquake hits Tentacruel, Doublade, Chandelure, and Nidoqueen.
Set Details
========
Maximum investment in Attack and Speed ensures that Lucario hits as fast and as hard as it can. Justified capitalizes on Lucario's resistance to Dark, allowing it to gain an Attack boost from moves such as Choice Scarf Hydreigon's Dark Pulse. A Jolly nature allows Lucario to outspeed the likes of Mamoswine, Heracross, and Timid Mega Blastoise. However, an Adamant nature can be used if you're not worried about hitting the aforementioned threats, as it nets important OHKOs and 2HKOs; for example, Adamant Close Combat 2HKOes Unaware Quagsire after Stealth Rock. Life Orb provides a significant boost to all of Lucario's moves with relatively few drawbacks. It is preferable over other items because Lucario typically needs to KO what's in front of it to avoid getting KOed itself, making the effect on its longevity negligible.
Usage Tips
========
Lucario should generally only be brought in after something on your team has been KOed, as it is frail and needs all the HP it can get in order to properly sweep. Ideally, you should wait until checks, such as Hippowdon and Doublade, have been weakened or eliminated before setting up. However, you can use Lucario as an early-game wallbreaker to set the stage for a teammate as well. Set up on Pokemon that Lucario can threaten, such as Nihilego, Blissey, and Choice-locked Hydreigon. Setup isn't always necessary, however, as Lucario is pressured to get off as much damage as possible and is quite powerful even without a boost. If your opponent sends out a Fighting-resistant Pokemon to stop Lucario, it is worth noting that resisted STAB Close Combat still does more damage than a neutral Extreme Speed, so don't be afraid to use it even against such targets.
Team Options
========
Lucario shines best on offensive teams that require a late-game sweeper or an early-game wallbreaker. Additional Fighting-types such as Terrakion and Infernape appreciate Lucario's ability to put heavy pressure on traditional checks to Fighting-types, such as Latias and Slowbro. Users of Volt Switch and U-turn such as Mega Manectric, Rotom-W, Rotom-C, and Hydreigon can all bring in Lucario safely so that it's less likely to take a hit before setting up. Pursuit trappers such as Krookodile and Mega Aerodactyl can eliminate bulky Ghost- and Psychic-types. Nasty Plot Celebi threatens bulky Water-types that can take a hit from a boosted Lucario, such as Slowbro and Swampert, and also appreciates Lucario's ability to deal with Scizor and soft check Mega Aerodactyl with Bullet Punch. They also have decent defensive synergy, with Celebi resisting Water, Ground, and Fighting and Lucario resisting Bug and Dark. Mega Abomasnow is another offensive Grass-type that does a good job supporting Lucario, as it can threaten most bulky Water-types and pick off offensive threats with Ice Shard. Lucario, in return, threatens most Steel- and Rock-types, giving them good offensive synergy. Spikes users such as Klefki are extremely helpful, as they can wear down particularly bulky checks over the course of the game. Lucario also does an excellent job of exploiting Sticky Web from Smeargle, as the speed control partly nullifies Lucario's main drawback over Cobalion in its lower Speed, and the entry hazard is right at home on hyper offense to begin with.
[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: Life Orb
ability: Inner Focus
nature: Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Moves
========
Nasty Plot boosts Lucario's Special Attack by two stages, making it extremely deadly in a single turn. Aura Sphere is a drawback-free STAB move with decent power. However, Focus Blast is a very viable, albeit inaccurate alternative, as after a Nasty Plot boost, it can OHKO many bulky Pokemon that Aura Sphere cannot. Pokemon OHKOed by boosted Focus Blast but not by Aura Sphere include Blissey, Suicune, Hippowdon, Swampert, specially defensive Bronzong, and Mega Blastoise; it can also 2HKO Tentacruel. Flash Cannon is a secondary STAB move that allows Lucario to hit Fairy-types. Vacuum Wave gives Lucario a form of priority, which means that it won't immediately fold to any faster attacker, such as Krookodile, Mega Aerodactyl, or Hydreigon. Dark Pulse is an option to hit Ghost- and Psychic-types. These include Latias, Jellicent, Chandelure, and Doublade, most of which are commonly found on the bulky teams against which this set is most effective.
Set Details
========
Special Attack and Speed are fully invested in, as Lucario doesn't need any other stat to do its job. Life Orb gives the most power possible with the fewest drawbacks. Inner Focus, while situational, is better than Steadfast, since it stops the occasional Fake Out user from getting free chip damage on Lucario. It also stops other Pokemon such as Mega Sharpedo, Choice Scarf Togekiss, and Hydreigon locked into Dark Pulse from taking Lucario down through flinches and stopping its sweep.
Usage Tips
========
Special Lucario is more of a wallbreaker than a flat-out sweeper. As such, it does best versus balance and stall teams, although it still has an edge versus some offensive builds. Set up on something that can't touch it, such as Blissey or Amoonguss, provided something has already been put to sleep in the case of the latter. Vacuum Wave is a much weaker move than Extreme Speed, meaning that fast threats like Mega Aerodactyl, Mega Sceptile, and Talonflame must be weakened considerably to be KOed even at +2. Faster Fighting-resistant Pokemon like Latias, Mega Beedrill, and Crobat must be eliminated entirely if Lucario wants to sweep. Dark Pulse gives Lucario a much easier time versus defensive teams that rely on Ghost-types to check Fighting-types. If carrying Dark Pulse, surefire checks to faster offensive threats are highly recommended, as they must be eliminated outright to stop them from revenge killing Lucario.
Team Options
========
As a wallbreaker, Nasty Plot Lucario best pairs with Pokemon that appreciate the likes of Blissey, Slowbro, and Hippowdon being weakened and in return alleviate offensive pressure. Such Pokemon include Mega Aerodactyl, Mega Sceptile, Mega Beedrill, and Choice Scarf Hydreigon. Pursuit users can trap and eliminate a large number of Lucario's checks such as Jellicent, Doublade, Latias, and Slowbro. Spikes users, such as Klefki and Froslass, are very proficient at whittling down such Pokemon as well, putting them into KO range of a boosted attack. Klefki can also slow down faster Pokemon with priority Thunder Wave, giving Lucario the option to not have to rely on the relatively weak Vacuum Wave to get around them. Speed control in general make this set's job much easier, and therefore this set is a viable option alongside a Sticky Web setter such as Smeargle. Volt Switch and U-turn users allow Lucario to come in for free, maximizing its potential to do damage. Bulky pivots such as Doublade, Amoonguss, Rotom-W, and Sylveon can hold their own versus offensive threats like Mega Aerodactyl, Infernape, and Latias, which would otherwise prevent Lucario from boosting or shrug off a hit and KO it.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
========
Thanks to Lucario's expansive coverage options, it can run a number of viable Z-Moves to bust through defensive checks with a single-use powerful attack in exchange for the consistent power boost of Life Orb. For example, Crunch-based Black Hole Eclipse at +2 is guaranteed to OHKO Slowbro, and +2 Close Combat-based All-Out Pummeling nets a near-guaranteed OHKO on standard Hippowdon. Do be wary, though, that losing the power boost of Life Orb makes Lucario drastically weaker, thus greatly compromising its ability to consistently wallbreak. High Jump Kick with an Adamant nature OHKOes standard Hippowdon after Stealth Rock while also netting a guaranteed OHKO on Swampert. Unfortunately, it comes with the nasty drawback of losing 50% of Lucario's health if it misses, is used against a Ghost-type, or is used against a Pokemon using Protect.
Checks and Counters
========
**Offensive Pressure**: Though Lucario is still strong without a boost, it is outsped and eliminated by a plethora of faster threats before it can get an attack off. Cobalion gets special mention, since it revenge kills the Swords Dance set effortlessly thanks to its high Defense and resistance to Extreme Speed and Bullet Punch.
**Ghost-types**: Bulky Ghost-types such as Jellicent and Doublade wall most Lucario variants with ease, but they must watch out for Dark-type coverage. Faster Ghost-types such as Choice Scarf Chandelure are particularly good at this, as they only have to worry about being put into range of +2 Bullet Punch.
**Bulky Pokemon That Resist Fighting**: Pokemon such as Slowbro, Mantine, Gliscor, and Amoonguss can check Lucario quite convincingly, although they can either be taken out by the appropriate coverage move or be easily worn down by boosted attacks.
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