Lucario (Super Smash Bros. Brawl)


 * This article is about Lucario's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. For other uses, see Lucario.

Lucario (ルカリオ, Rukario) is a character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

While primarily a fighting type Pokémon, most of Lucario's moves are augmented with his ability to use Aura, in a style very similar to Mewtwo's Psychic augmented fighting style, but with different techniques similar to martial arts. Like Mewtwo, his voice acting attributed to its telepathic abilities demonstrated in the movie Lucario and the Mystery of Mew, except he seems to speak more than Mewtwo did, especially when announcing his Final Smash, and his victory poses. Lucario is unique among the fighters in that his attacks that rely on Aura (an innate ability) become more powerful as he takes damage, capping when it is 200%. His power also increases slightly if he is behind in a match, effectively meaning that he is more powerful if fighting at a "disadvantage".

How to Unlock
Complete one of the following:
 * Play 100 matches in Brawl, then defeat Lucario
 * Complete the Target Test on all difficulty levels (this can be done on 1 or 2 player mode), then defeat Lucario
 * Get Lucario to join your party in The Subspace Emissary

Pros:

 * Strong projectile that damages opponets while charging
 * Doesn't fall fast, easy to maneuver while in air
 * All Aerials are quick and have decent damage, knockback, priority and range properties
 * Down Aerial stops vertical momentum, allowing him to be used right off the ground as a Pseudo-Shffl, or in midair to aid recovery.
 * Damage and knockback increase with damage taken
 * Low damage means easier to combo with
 * Neutral normal combo is strong and can be used for approaches
 * Can Wall cling (lasts up to five seconds, the longest wall cling in the game)
 * Highest Wall Jump in the game.
 * Can Crawl
 * Can "bend" his recovery, giving it a number of options
 * Unexpectedly long range (hits extend outside of its body)
 * His Forward Air is similar to Marth's in the way that you can fit two in one short hop and can hit with both on any opponent with you or your opponent being at any percentage
 * Has great combos and flexible moves
 * Side B has a significant Wavebounce
 * Side B can also act as a chain grab at low percent
 * Grab attacks (not throws) can be used swiftly and repeatedly and barely have lag.
 * Long dodge to set up combos

Cons:

 * Fairly weak when he hasn't taken much damage, creating a disadvantage in the beginning of matches and against low-percent killers
 * Smashes are somewhat slow (except down smash).
 * Somewhat floaty, making him susceptible to aerial combos.
 * ExtremeSpeed does no damage and has a noticeable amount of ending lag.

Standard Moves
Note: Lucario's Aura-powered attacks gain power and knockback at higher damages.

Ground Attacks
Normal Smash
 * Neutral Combo - Lucario slashes forwards twice, and then kicks high. Each hit has blue aura accompanying him and moves Lucario a fair bit forward. A good combo starter
 * Dash A - Lucario slides one leg forward on the ground, hitting low. Aura is not involved in this attack.
 * Down Tilt - Sweeps one leg out along the ground. Hands flare with aura when he does this.
 * Forward Tilt - Puts its hands together in front of him with a small blast of blue aura. Quicker and shorter ranged than his Forward smash
 * Up Tilt - Swings its leg from above his head to the ground, similar to Samus or Captain Falcon's Uptilt, but quite a bit faster and with Aura energy.
 * Forward Smash - Lucario places his paws together in front of him and shoots a blast of blue aura energy, which extends outwards a little bit.
 * Down Smash - Lucario brings his paws down to either side of him in a downwards slapping motion, similar in appearance to Sheik's Up Smash, except with blue aura around the hands.
 * Up Smash - Lucario holds his paw above his head, with a large burst of blue aura from it, and spins in place.

Aerial Attacks

 * Neutral Aerial - Lucario extends both of his hands with blue energy, and spins. The end effect is similar to Mewtwo's Neutral aerial, except with blue aura bursts instead of psychic sparks and much more knockback. Note that after doing this move, you will be unable to perform another aerial for a short duration unless you land.
 * Forward Aerial - Lucario kicks forward with a slight upwards tilt. The end has a small burst of blue aura energy, like most of Lucario's moves. He can also hit twice in one short hop and can always hit another time if an enemy is hit with the first one. This is a good combo move
 * Up Aerial - Lucario kicks similarly to his forward aerial, but higher, hitting in front of his head.
 * Down Aerial - Lucario pauses in the air, thrusts his feet together downwards, and lets out a fairly large burst of aura energy twice. Fairly long duration, and has unique properties that make it an incredibly powerful move. When he starts the move, all of his momentum is immediately canceled. This allows him to be used as an aid for recovery (stopping horizontal or vertical knockback to keep from going off the edge). It can also be used to perform a "pseudo-shffl": if used immediately after jumping, he will cease to jump and immediately use the attack, making it one of the lowest possible attacking aerial moves. There is also no landing lag when doing this, as the entirety of the move is performed stationary in midair.
 * Back Aerial - Lucario slams one hand backwards, similar in appearance to Gannondorf's Back aerial. Accompanied by standard little burst of blue aura.

Grabs and Throws

 * Pummel: Sends an instant pulse of Aura into your opponent with little lag (if any).
 * Forward Throw: Uses aura to blast opponent forward after twirling them once.
 * Down Throw: Slams opponent straight into the ground in front of Lucario.
 * Back Throw: Turns and and slams the opponent behind himself. Aura is not used in this attack.
 * Up Throw: Uses aura to hit the opponent upwards with his paw.

Strategies

 * Playing Lucario is a gamble. Because of his unique aura property, you must take some damage (around 50-70%) before he begins to become noticeably more powerful.  In order to play Lucario effectively, you must be able to survive battles at high percents, while fully exploiting Lucario's increased powers to attack your opponent.
 * Lucario's Aura Sphere is an incredibly versatile projectile due to many special properties he has. When uncharged, he swerves much like Mewtwo's Shadow Ball in Melee, and can be used to disrupt approaching opponents.  When fully charged, its trajectory is much more linear.  At higher percents, the time it takes the move to reach a full charge is reduced, and the size and power of the sphere is increased.  When charging, the area where the sphere is being charged will inflict damage, similarly to the way Mewtwo's Shadow Ball could.  Also, once you fully charged your Aura Sphere, you can simply move to your left/right by tilting your analog stick (or the D Pad with if using the Wii Remote only) and still unleash a fully charged Aura Sphere once you press the B buttion (or the 1 buttion with Wii Remote only) again.
 * Lucario's down-smash is a very effective move for KOs. Unlike most down-smashes, this one hits both sides simultaneously as opposed to a sweeping motion that attacks one side and then the other.  It has incredible horizontal knockback, and like all of Lucario's smash attacks, the range is deceptive due to the aura attacking beyond his body.  It is also the quickest of Lucario's smash attacks.
 * Lucario's down aerial attack is one of his most unique and useful moves, mostly due to the fact that it immediately halts any momentum Lucario has. It has good knockback, and when Lucario is at high percents, it is an effective KOing move.
 * When used effectively, ExtremeSpeed can get through an opponent's edgeguard because Lucario cannot take damage during the move and can pass through any edgeguarding attempts. The amount of distance that ExtremeSpeed covers is very long, and combined with Lucario's large sweet spot gives Lucario an incredibly long recovery.
 * Learn the range of the aura in Lucario's attacks. The aura gives Lucario an invisible disjointed hitbox, which is one of the most disorienting things that an opponent has to face when fighting Lucario.
 * Some of his attacks (namely his up smash) have a residue - that is, the aura energy will stay around about a half second after the attack. This is useful when an opponent is jumping towards him, as if timed correctly they will run into this residue.
 * When your attack percentage is high, operate a hit and run strategy.

Stickers
Lucario has access to his own exclusive power up called [Aura] Damage. Since most of Lucario's attacks are Aura (with the exception of a dash attack and his back throw), usage of these stickers is highly recommended. Also give Lucario a large Launch Resistance boost so he can survive longer at higher percentages to deal more damage. [Specials: Indirect] would also be useful in powering up his Aura Sphere and Ranged Force Palm attack.

Exclusive Stickers
The following stickers can either only be used by Lucario, or can only be used by a select few, including Lucario:
 * Charizard: [Arm, Leg] Attack +10
 * Deoxys: [Slash] Attack +10
 * Entei: [Flame] Attack +20
 * Goldeen: [Leg] Attack + 4
 * Gulpin:[Electric] Attack +16
 * Jigglypuff: [Body, Spin] Attack +31
 * Jirachi: [Arm, Leg] Attack + 7
 * Meowth: [Slash] Attack + 5
 * Metagross: Launch Resistance +23
 * Mew: [Body, Spin] Attack + 4
 * Moltres: [Flame] Attack +20
 * Pokemon Trainer: [Arm, Leg] Attack +13
 * Staryu: [Specials: Direct] Attack + 3
 * Togepi: [Body, Spin] Attack +11
 * Torchic: [Flame] Attack + 8
 * Box Boxer: [Aura] Attack +26
 * Chikorita: [Aura] Attack +13
 * Chozo Statue: [Aura] Attack +25
 * Dry Bones: [Aura] Attack +17
 * Lakitu: [Aura] Attack + 6
 * Lucario: [Aura] Attack +41
 * Munchlax : [Aura] Attack +13
 * Rachel: [Aura] Attack +11
 * Rayquaza: [Aura] Attack +24
 * Starman: [Aura] Attack + 6

Role in the Subspace Emissary
Meta Knight is making his way up a snowy mountain with the Ice Climbers when he encounters Lucario in a meditative stance on the peak of the mountain. The two fight, as the Ice Climbers nervously watch on. After the battle, the victor revives the other from his trophy state. After a quick shaking of hands, Lucario and Meta Knight board the Halberd as he slams the Great Fox into the mountain. After managing to get onto the Halberd, the two pass by Snake, who is hidden in his box. Lucario, being the only one who notices something suspicious about the box, uses his aura to peer into it. As he removes it, Snake looks surprised and a ""!"" appears over his head. Just as Snake and Meta Knight prepare to fight, Lucario steps in, having seen a mass of Primids approaching, and the three team up to fight through.

Not long after, the trio meets up with Zelda and Peach as their trophies are cloned by the Shadow Bugs. Once the clones are taken care of, Snake, Lucario and Meta Knight discover that the Halberd bridge is being piloted by a group of Mr. Game & Watches. They knock all of the Mr. Game & Watches out of the window, and they all land near Peach, Sheik, and Fox who have gathered on the deck of the ship. The Mr.G&Ws then revert into Shadow Bugs, which fuse into Duon. Lucario, Snake, and Falco join Fox, Sheik, and Peach, battle, and defeat the monster. Once this is done, Mr. Game & Watch's trophy is left, and Peach revives him so he can join your party. Meta Knight, with the Halberd once again in his control, steers his vessel into brighter skies.

Lucario is later selectable in the Entrance to Subspace level, and is present when Tabuu turns all characters back into trophies. You must find his trophy in one of the Subspace levels, then you may choose him as part of your team for the Great Maze and for the fight against Tabuu himself.

Taunts
Up: Rises into the air, yells, and blue aura emits from his body.

Side: Moves his paws and puts one forward, and blue aura emits from that paw.

Down: Takes a martial arts stance similar to Link's taunt from the original

On-Screen Appearance
Teleports on stage, floats in the air for a second while emitting blue aura.

Victory Pose

 * Poses and says "The aura is mine"
 * Poses and says "Behold the aura"
 * Faces to the right with his palm out in front of him and growls

Wii Remote Choice
Roars.

HUUUUUYAAAH

Trivia

 * The Lucario in "Pokémon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew" can use Aura to communicate with humans. However, in the series, other Lucario couldn't speak or communicate telepathically. This suggests that the Lucario in Brawl is the same one from the movie.
 * Lucario is the only Pokémon not to use the standard Pokémon On-Screen Appearance of emerging from a Poké Ball. This also suggests that the Lucario in Brawl is the same one from the movie, as that Lucario never had a Poké Ball, being from a time when they didn't exist.
 * It is mentioned in "Smash Trivia" that Lucario's damage based Aura is also influenced "ever so slightly by its standing in the current match." It isn't elaborated how, but it's safe to assume Lucario is stronger when he's losing than when he's winning.
 * It is mentioned in the Player's Guide that Lucario appeared to have no gender. However, in Snake's Codec Message, Mei Ling referred to Lucario as a male.
 * Although implied to just be communicating with a form of telepathy, Lucario's mouth moves in sync with his victory quotes.