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. It is said to have replaced Mewtwo, though their fighting styles are very different.

While primarily a Steel/Fighting type Pokémon, most of Lucario's moves are augmented with its innate 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, its voice acting attributed to its telepathic abilities demonstrated in the movie Lucario and the Mystery of Mew, except it seems to speak more than Mewtwo did, especially when announcing its Final Smash, and during its victory poses. Lucario is unique among the fighters in that its attacks that rely on Aura become more powerful as it takes damage, capping at 182%. Its power also increases slightly if it is behind in a match, effectively meaning that it 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 opponents 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 it to be used right off the ground as a pseudo-SHFFL, or in midair to aid recovery.
 * Damage and knockback increase with damage taken.
 * Neutral normal combo is strong and can be used for approaches.
 * Can Wall cling, which lasts up to five seconds, the longest wall cling in the game.
 * Highest Wall Jump in the game.
 * Can Crawl.
 * Can "bend" its recovery, giving it a number of options.
 * Unexpectedly long range (hits extend outside of its body).
 * Its Forward Aerial is similar to Marth's in the way it can fit two in one short hop and can hit with both on any opponent with it or its opponent being at any percentage.
 * Has great combos and flexible moves.
 * Force Palm has a significant Wavebounce and acts as a chain grab at low percent.
 * Grab attacks (not throws) can be used swiftly and repeatedly and barely have lag.

Cons:

 * Fairly weak when it 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).
 * Fairly slow running speed.
 * Reliant on edge-guarding for early kills.
 * ExtremeSpeed does no damage, making it vulnerable against edge-hoggers and has a noticeable amount of ending lag.
 * Easy to juggle due to being Floaty
 * Double Team has large ending lag and can be easily punished.

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 it and moves Lucario a fair bit forward. A good combo starter.
 * Normal dashing attack - 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. Paws flare with aura when it does this. Hits in front and in back.
 * Forward Tilt - Puts its paws together in front of itself with a small blast of blue aura. Quicker and shorter ranged than its Forward smash.
 * Up Tilt - Swings its leg from above its head to the ground, similar to Samus or Captain Falcon's Up-tilt, but quite a bit faster and with Aura energy.
 * Forward Smash - Lucario places its paws together in front of itself and shoots a blast of blue aura energy, which extends outwards a little bit.
 * Down Smash - Lucario brings its 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 its paw above its head, with a large burst of blue aura from it, and spins in place.

Aerial Attacks

 * Neutral Aerial - Lucario extends both of its 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, Lucario will be unable to perform another aerial for a short duration unless it lands.
 * 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. It 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 its forward aerial, but higher, hitting in front of its head.
 * Down Aerial - Lucario pauses in the air, thrusts its feet together downwards, and lets out a fairly large burst of aura energy (press "attack" button again to do it a second time). Fairly long duration, and has unique properties that make it an incredibly powerful move. When it starts the move, all of its momentum is immediately canceled. This allows it 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, Lucario 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 paw backwards, similar in appearance to Ganondorf's Back aerial. Accompanied by standard little burst of blue aura.

Grabs and Throws

 * Pummel: Sends an instant pulse of Aura into its 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 itself. Aura is not used in this attack.
 * Up Throw: Uses aura to hit the opponent upwards with its paw.

Strategies

 * Playing Lucario is a gamble. Because of its unique aura property, it must take some damage (around 50-70%) before it begins to become noticeably more powerful.  In order to play Lucario effectively, the player must be able to survive battles at high percents, while fully exploiting Lucario's increased powers to attack opponents.
 * Lucario's Aura Sphere is an incredibly versatile projectile due to many special properties it has. When uncharged, it 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 Aura Sphere is fully charged, the player can simply move to his/her left/right by tilting the control stick (or pressing the Control Pad with if using the Wii Remote only) and still unleash a fully charged Aura Sphere by pressing the special button 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 its body.  It is also the quickest of Lucario's smash attacks.
 * Lucario's down aerial attack is one of its 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 Lucario's attacks (namely its 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 Lucario, as if timed correctly they will run into this residue.
 * When Lucario's attack percentage is high, the player should operate a hit and run strategy.

Stickers
Lucario has access to its own exclusive power up called [Aura] Damage. Since most of Lucario's attacks are Aura (with the exception of a dash attack and its back throw), usage of these stickers is highly recommended. Also give Lucario a large Launch Resistance boost so it can survive longer at higher percentages to deal more damage. [Specials: Indirect] would also be useful in powering up its 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/its 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 its aura to peer into it. As Lucario 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 its trophy in one of the Subspace levels, then you may choose it 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 is emitted from its body.

Side: Moves its paws and puts one forward, and blue aura is emitted 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 its palm out in front of itself and growls.

Wii Remote Choice
Roars.

Credits Music

 * Team Galactic Battle!

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 film.
 * 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."
 * Lucario, like all Pokémon in Brawl, has no specified gender and is primarily referred to as "it". However, there are two instances in Brawl in which Lucario is (likely mistakenly) referred to as "he" (Snake's Codec Message and the description for Event 25: The Aura is with Me). All other text in the game refer to Lucario as "it".
 * Although implied to just be communicating with a form of telepathy, Lucario's mouth moves in sync with its victory quotes.
 * When Kirby copies Lucario's power, Kirby's Aura Sphere does not become more powerful when Kirby takes damage. It has fixed power and is equivalent to Lurcario's Aura Sphere when Lucario is a 50-80%.
 * With its first appearance in 2007, Lucario is the "youngest" fighter in Brawl.
 * It is mentioned in "Enemies and Allies" when it says "...That said, there is one character who has a rather unusual method by which they can distinguish friend from foe...", referring to its Aura.