Lucario (SSBU)

Lucario (, Lucario) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. It was confirmed as a playable character on June 12th, 2018. As in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, it is unlockable, instead of being available from the start. Lucario is classified as Fighter #41.

Lucario is once again voiced in different languages provided by different voice actors, with their respective portrayals of Lucario from Super Smash Bros. 4 being repurposed for Ultimate. The voice actors are as follows:
 * in English
 * in Japanese
 * Jean-Marc Delhausse in French
 * Carlos Lobo in Spanish
 * Gerhard Jilka in German
 * Luigi Fantino in Italian

Lucario is ranked 71st out of 82 on the current tier list, placing it in the C- tier. This is a drastic drop from its 17th out of 54 placement in SSB4 and is its worst placement in the series.

How to unlock
Complete one of the following: Lucario must then be defeated on Spear Pillar (the Ω form is used in World of Light).
 * Play VS. matches, with Lucario being the 27th character to be unlocked.
 * Clear with  or anyone in his unlock tree, being the 1st character unlocked.
 * Have Lucario join the player's party in World of Light.

Attributes
In terms of physical attributes, Lucario is a middleweight fighter (same weight as, , , , and , making it on the lower end of middleweights) with average height, a below-average walking speed and an average running speed, a very fast initial dash (tied for 5th fastest with , , , and ), above-average traction, very high air speed (6th fastest in this category), above-average air acceleration and falling speed, and below-average gravity; Lucario can also crawl, wall jump, and wall cling. These traits make Lucario a somewhat floaty character who can maintain aerial presence for a long time, be it onstage or offstage, while also having decent mobility and control on the ground due to its fast dashing speed and above-average traction; collectively, Lucario's overall mobility meanders between average and above-average.

Lucario's most notable strength comes from its unique fighter ability, Aura, in which damage and knockback multipliers are applied to all of its attacks depending on how much damage Lucario has taken, with the multipliers being directly proportional to its percent; the multiplier is x0.66 at 0%, increases to x1.0 (base power) at 65%, and caps out at 190% with a multiplier of x1.67. Aura multipliers are also affected by differences in stocks, with it increasing when Lucario is behind in stocks and decreasing when it is ahead. Additionally, Aura also affects the properties of its special moves; as Aura increases, the size of Aura Sphere becomes larger when charging and when fired, the blast from Force Palm has greater range, and Extreme Speed travels a greater distance. In turn, this ability can allow Lucario to rack up large amounts of damage and kill at very early percents when it has taken a lot of damage, making it useful as a comeback mechanic when Lucario is falling behind. It should be noted that Aura also stacks with rage, further augmenting the increased knockback of Lucario's moves at very high percents, though to a lesser extent than in the previous game.

In terms of its grounded moveset, while its neutral attack has little to no use due to having low damage output relative to its speed, dealing only 9% at base power despite coming out at frame 5 (for reference, faster jabs such as 's come out frame 2 and deal 8% while slower jabs such as 's come out frame 9 and deal 21%) its other grounded moves have some utility; forward tilt has its use as a spacing tool due its ability to be angled and kills middleweights at 145% on the edge of at base power, up tilt is a combo starter that can combo into itself at low percents and into neutral aerial, forward aerial, and up aerial at mid percents, down tilt can combo into dash attack and forward aerial at mid percents while also having its use as a spacing tool, and dash attack, while not being very useful for killing, is a decent burst option due to it coming out fast as well as because of its fast initial dash.

Its smash attacks also have their uses as disjointed kill options. Up smash has its use as an anti-air that kills middleweights at 105% at base power and it can also hit grounded opponents up close with its initial scooping hitbox, making it a situational out of shield option against laggy moves. Down smash covers Lucario from both sides and kills middleweights at 115% from center stage at base power. Forward smash has the greatest amount of kill power and horizontal range out of its smash attacks, being able to kill middleweights at 90% from center stage at base power while also having the potential to be safe on shield if spaced well. Its grab game also has utility. Up throw and down throw can be used as combo starters, with the former being able to combo into forward aerial at low percents and neutral aerial at mid percents (as well as up aerial on bigger characters), while the latter can combo into forward aerial at low percents (with down throw > forward air > forward air > up air being its most damaging combo at low percents). Forward throw and back throw don't have much use outside of being positional throws, though the latter can have a situational use as a late kill throw.

Lucario's aerial moveset also has good utility. Neutral aerial hits twice, covers Lucario from both sides and has a good amount of active frames, making it a useful edgeguarding tool that compliments its ability to maintain aerial presence. It can also combo into up tilt, down tilt, and dash attack at low and mid percents when SHFF'd. Forward aerial is fast and can combo into itself when SHFF'd, up aerial and back aerial are vertical and horizontal kill options, with the former killing middleweights at 110% at base power near the top blast zone and having situational combo potential into itself and neutral aerial when SHFF'd, and the the latter kills at 115% from base power at center stage while also being slightly disjointed. Down aerial is also unique in its uses; it is its fastest aerial at frame 4, allowing it to be an out of shield option, it stalls its movements which allows it to mix up its disadvantage and edgeguarding, and it has its use as a kill option, killing middleweights at 135% from the edge of Final Destination at base power.

Lucario's special moveset sports great versatility as well. Aura Sphere is useful as a projectile and as a kill option, with a fully charged one killing middleweights at 150% from center stage at base power. In addition, the move also maintains a hitbox behind Lucario as it is being charged, giving it use as an approach mixup and sometimes as a situational kill confirm into back aerial. Force Palm is unique in the fact that it functions as a ranged blast from a distance and as a command grab at point blank range, giving it use as an out of shield option and a kill option, as it kills middleweights at 140% at base power from center stage. Extreme Speed, being its primary recovery option, travels a good distance and has a hitbox that enables it to be used as a mixup for onstage recoveries. Finally, Double Team is a counter that has greater utility than conventional counters; the distance the move covers allows Lucario to punish the opponent when countering a projectile, and the fact that the strength of the counter is based on Aura as opposed to the strength of the countered move allows it to kill middleweights at 115% at base power regardless of the move being countered.

All in all, these traits give Lucario a decent neutral game with Aura Sphere, good advantage state, edgeguarding capabilities, and a decent disadvantage state with its fast air mobility and two specials that can be B-reversed and versatile special moves, as outside of Mewtwo, Lucario is the only character that has both a chargeable projectile that can be stored and a command grab in their special moveset, not to mention that Lucario is the only character who has a projectile that has a hitbox during its charging animation as well as a move that functions as both a command grab and a ranged attack with Force Palm. In addition, Aura gives Lucario the potential to take early stocks and to comeback from percent and stock deficits.

However, Lucario also has notable flaws. Ironically, a lot of its flaws come from its most notable strength, Aura, as the fluctuating nature of the ability makes it inconsistent in a few ways. One thing Aura makes inconsistent is how Lucario is rewarded for winning neutral; because Aura has a x0.66 multiplier, this means that Lucario starts off the match and fresh stocks as a character with extremely poor damage output, meaning that it will have to win neutral many times and/or maintain advantage really well just to rack up decent damage with little to no Aura all while the opponent can have an easier time closing those percent deficits due to not being burdened with a damage reducing multiplier. In addition to having the issue of being burdened by low Aura, it is also difficult for Lucario to make the most out of high Aura because Lucario's average weight makes it very unlikely for it to be alive at very high percents, much less at 190% for him to use the highest Aura multiplier of x1.67, and then losing a stock only becomes even worse because it puts Lucario back to being burdened by the x0.66 multiplier; this essentially means that Lucario is only at its strongest state when it is also at its most vulnerable state. Aura's inconsistency not only affects the consistency in which it can rack up damage, but also the consistency at which it can kill; the kill percents mentioned earlier are at base power when Lucario has already taken at least 65%, meaning that those kill percents are far higher when its Aura is lower, and while it can also kill at far lower percents with high Aura, the consistency of that is also hindered by its average weight. Another thing that Aura makes inconsistent is its combo game; while other characters have their bread and butter combos and kill confirms at certain percent ranges, Lucario's combos and confirms are far less consistent because the knockback of moves will keep fluctuating as Aura increases, making it so those combos at low and mid percents won't always land due to Aura giving moves too much knockback.

Outside of Aura's inconsistencies, another flaw Lucario has revolves around its frame data, as while it isn't as slow as characters like and, it is still somewhat sluggish; its jab (frame 5) and forward tilt (frame 12) are slow relative to other jabs and forward tilts while also having poor damage output and/or kill power unless it is at high Aura, all of its smash attacks come out at frame 15 or slower, and all of its aerials barring forward aerial and down aerial come out at frame 10 or slower, with such issues making its already inconsistent kill power even more inconsistent on top of the fact that its throws outside of Force Palm have very little kill power unless it is at high Aura. Its poor frame data also hinders its ability to approach, which is also worsened by its somewhat floaty nature.

Finally, Lucario's special moveset, despite being versatile, doesn't come without its flaws, as Force Palm has hitbox issues that cause the command grab to not be triggered when at close range, and Double Team can put Lucario deeper in disadvantage if used hastily. However, the most glaring flaw with its special moveset is its recovery; while Extreme Speed travels fast and covers good distance, the fact that it has 47 frames of startup makes it vulnerable to edgeguarding. Additionally, the move is also inconsistent due to not always grabbing the ledge as well as the fact that the speed and distance change with Aura, making it possible to overshoot its recovery and self destruct.

Overall, Lucario is a very high risk, high reward character. Essentially being most powerful when most vulnerable, players need to know when to play recklessly and when to play carefully. Either kill sooner and get killed sooner, or kill later and get killed later. Lucario's flaws outweigh its strengths; despite the strengths it has in its special moveset and in its aerial and offstage game as well as the potential to secure early stocks and comebacks with high Aura, the potency of these strengths are undermined by Aura's many inconsistencies and its damage reducing multiplier when at percents less than 65%. On top of that, its below-average frame data and its floaty nature make its approaches inconsistent and its recovery is exploitable due to its long start-up. It is primarily from Aura's inconsistencies that players consider Lucario to be a low-tier character who is poorly designed, with many players suggesting that the character need to be reworked entirely. Because of this, Lucario is not a popular character to use as a main, especially in high level competition.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4
Lucario has received a mix of buffs and nerfs in the transition from SSB4 to Ultimate. While it was immensely nerfed overall at launch due to a combination of its most powerful attributes, character mechanics and some of the universal changes to gameplay being detrimental to it, game updates have given Lucario various buffs to help compensate. Regardless, Lucario is still considered to be significantly nerfed overall.

Lucario's biggest nerfs come from its character attributes and changes to the game's engine. Its Aura multiplier is slightly lower than in SSB4, reducing its effectiveness even while accounting for the newly introduced 1v1 multiplier. The weakening of rage also hinders Lucario, due to the mechanic stacking with Lucario's Aura; and its weight is now lighter, disallowing Lucario to take advantage of rage and Aura combined as much as before. Furthermore, the changes in knockback physics and air dodging has had the overall effect of limiting or even outright removing some of Lucario's previously guaranteed throw combos, which were some of the only reliable ways for it to add damage. Its grabs were also nerfed, and while this is a nerf shared with the cast, Lucario's own grabs are also slower, while possessing similar ending lag to characters like. All in all, Lucario is noticeably less powerful at higher percentages, and it's harder for him to rack up damage conventionally.

Some of Lucario's most reliable moves are also less effective. Aura Sphere can no longer be grab-canceled, and it deals less hitlag, almost completely eliminating the charge combos the move was capable of. Down aerial halts Lucario's momentum less if used repeteadly, making it a less effective stalling tool. Extreme Speed's controls have been modified to the point where holding down the control stick can accidentally lead to self-destruction, and the move itself covers less distance overall and stops its momentum at the end, worsening Lucario's recovery at lower percentages (though it remains outstanding at high percentages). Double Team has a drastically shorter duration and intangibility, making it significantly easier to punish Lucario for mistiming the move. Finally, back aerial is weaker and has a sourspot that lingers, as opposed to the full move dealing even damage.

However, Lucario did receive some buffs. Many of its attacks in general are faster, notably its neutral attack, forward smash, and forward and back aerials. Other moves have also gained more utility such as neutral aerial now being able to connect into its late hit and having larger hitboxes and dash attack having a stronger, easy to land sweetspot. Its special moves have also been collectively improved; Aura Sphere can now be cancelled into a jump or any ground attack during a charge, allowing for mixup options, Force Palm has more range, Extreme Speed has less ending and landing lag which significantly improves its safety, and Double Team can now home in on opponents and is much faster overall.

Lucario also benefits from a few of the gameplay mechanic changes. Its overall mobility has been greatly improved due to faster horizontal movement, while the universal 3-frame jumpsquat further improves Lucario's ability to traverse the stage. The universal reductions to landing lag have also benefitted Lucario's safety on shield to the point that, at high levels of Aura, its aerials become among the safest in the game (with neutral aerial's clean hit in particular having the potential to be neutral on shield). Lastly, the introduction of the 1v1 multiplier is an overall benefit to Lucario, granting its attacks a far higher damage output than ever before, especially at medium to high levels of Aura.

In the end, Lucario's gameplan is much worse as a result of the nerfs to its attributes, its higher frailty, and the revamped gameplay mechanics; and its few reliable options for racking up damage are less effective, especially after an early game update. Despite Lucario's subsequent buffs from game updates, they do not properly compensate for the numerous nerfs it has received, and this is further pronounced by the numerous buffs other returning veterans have received, as well as the introduction of various powerful DLC characters that perform better than Lucario does, with a few of them proving difficult for it to overcome. As a result, Lucario fares much worse in Ultimate than in SSB4, and is one of the most nerfed characters in the transition.

Update history
Lucario received a significant nerf in update 2.0.0 with Aura Sphere having noticeably less hitlag, leading to significantly less combo potential. Aura Sphere also now deals less shield damage as a result of update 3.0.0. Since then, however, Lucario was buffed via game updates, with the most changes coming from update 3.1.0.

Said update brought plentiful buffs to its normals, aerials, and Aura Sphere by lowering ending lag, range, and knockback. As a result of this update, Lucario was made much more consistent and effective. Update 7.0.0 made Lucario's shield bigger as part of a near-universal buff. Update 9.0.0 gave Lucario a considerable buff to its Aura, as now the multiplier is slightly higher when it and the opponent has tied stocks. This change nearly brings it back to its max multiplier in Smash 4 (which was 1.7x). In addition, the first hit of its neutral attack and its down smash was given less startup and ending lag, forward tilt was buffed to be more consistent by altering the knockback and angle, and finally, Force Palm was given slightly more knockback, and Extreme Speed has less landing lag. An undocumented change in update 12.0.0 fixed one of the major flaws that plagued Force Palm. If Lucario used Force Palm out of a dash, the opponent would sometimes get pushed too far, making the grabbox not land correctly. Update 12.0.0 fixed this issue, and now grabbing with Force Palm is much more consistent.

Update 13.0.0 buffed Lucario for one final time. Its dash attack's sweetspot now lasts one more frame and has more range. The second hit of forward tilt was given more knockback, and down tilt was given less startup and ending lag.

Overall, when compared to how it fared at launch, Lucario is now seen as a much more viable character in Ultimate's metagame. However, the loss of its Aura Sphere charge combos, and the weakening of Aura and Rage, Lucario is still seen as one of the game's weaker characters, especially when compared to his incarnation in the previous game.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moveset
As Aura's power increases, your attack power increases as well. The more unfavorable the match is for you, the more power you gain. Aura's Power increases • When you have fewer KOs than opponents • The more you've been KO'd • As your damage increases • As your HP decreases in Stamina Mode Aura Sphere will get bigger, and the speed and power of it will increase. You can also leap higher and quicker when using Extreme Speed.
 * Lucario's moveset is affected by Aura. Each move lists the percentages according to Lucario's damage: 0%/65%/190%.
 * Lucario's Aura effects also change in regard to place. When at a -1 placing, Lucario's Aura gains a multiplier of 1.125×.

For a gallery of Lucario's hitboxes, see here.
 * Lucario is able to crawl, wall cling, and wall jump.

Announcer call
''

On-screen appearance

 * Teleports on stage, floats for a second, gathers aura in its hands, and then lands.

Taunts

 * Up Taunt: Floats in mid-air and growls, emitting aura from its body.
 * Side Taunt: Moves one hand forward and one behind its back, growling. A flash of aura emanates from its outstretched hand.
 * Down Taunt: Stands on one foot and holds one hand in mid-air, assuming a -like stance. This taunt is very similar to 's down taunt.

Idle poses

 * Moves its arms in a circular motion before assuming its normal stance again.
 * Stretches both arms out, one on each side, slowly lowers its body, and assumes its normal stance again.

Crowd cheer
 

Victory poses

 * Left: Aura pulsates out of its paws, then does a crane-like stance, saying "Behold the power of aura." ("", I am filled with aura!).
 * Up: Moves its paws in front of itself, then clasps them together, saying "The aura is with me!" ("", The aura is with me!). The quote often repeated by Lucario in .
 * Right: Moves its paw to its left side and groans while aura radiates off its body.

Tier placement and history
When Ultimate was released, many players believed that Lucario had a lot of potential and that it was better than its already strong Smash 4 incarnation. This was due to many of its moves either becoming faster or more reliable along with the character greatly benefiting from the game's mechanics. On top of this,, who was previously considered to be a hard counter to Lucario in Smash 4, was now an easier matchup. Because of this, many players considered Lucario a solid high-tier character with some saying it had the potential to rise into the top tier.

However, as the meta advanced, players recognized that the character's nerfs overshadowed the many buffs it received. This was because of aura's overall weaker damage multiplier, down air not being as safe for disadvantage, Aura Sphere having less versatility, its recovery being worse, the removal of some of its kill confirms, and some characters such as, , and proving to be very troublesome matchups for Lucario. As a result, players' opinions on Lucario dropped and it obtained a below-average player base throughout Ultimate's metagame, with many players such as claiming that it's a low-tier character, ranking 71st on the first and current tier list. Despite this, players such as and  have still placed fairly well at tournaments: Tsu placed 5th at, while Jeda placed 13th at  and 17th at.

Most historically significant players
See also: Category:Lucario players (SSBU)


 * - One of the best Lucario players in the world. Placed 1st at both and, 2nd at , 9th at , and 17th at  with wins over players such as , , and.
 * - One of the best Lucario players in the world. Placed 4th at, 13th at both and , and 17th at both  and  with wins over players such as , , and.
 * - One of the best Lucario players in the early metagame. Placed 3rd at, 5th at , 9th at , 13th at , and 17th at with wins over , , and . Currently ranked 18th on the European Smash Rankings.
 * - Co-mains Lucario with and is the best Lucario player in the world. Placed 5th at, 9th at , and 13th at both  and  with wins over , , and . Formerly ranked 44th on the Spring 2019 PGRU.
 * - The best Lucario player in the United States in the early metagame but has since switched to . Placed 17th at and 33rd at  with wins over, , and . Ranked as high as 10th on the New York City Power Rankings.

: Counter Encounters
Lucario fights characters with counterattacks.

Credits roll after completing Classic Mode. Completing it as Lucario has  accompany the credits.

Role in World of Light
Lucario was among the fighters summoned to the cliffside to fight against the army of Master Hands.

During the opening cutscene, Lucario was present on the cliffside when Galeem unleashed his beams of light. Lucario dodged a beam of light using Double Team, but was hit by a beam avoided a moment later, vaporizing it and placing it under Galeem's imprisonment along with the rest of the fighters, excluding.

In the mode proper, Lucario can be found on the corner of a stone wall, guarded by the spirits of Pico, Merric, and Lloid.

Spirits
Lucario's fighter spirit can be obtained by completing. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 300 Gold, but only after Lucario has been unlocked. Unlocking Lucario in World of Light allows the player to preview the first spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "???". As a fighter spirit, it cannot be used in Spirit Battles and is purely aesthetic. Its fighter spirit has an alternate version that replaces it with its artwork in Ultimate.

Additionally, Lucario's Mega Evolved form appears as a primary spirit.

Trivia

 * Lucario and are the only characters to have had their Final Smash change between games only to have it revert back to the original Final Smash. In Lucario's case, it had Aura Storm in Brawl, changed to Mega Lucario in Smash 4, and then reverted back to Aura Storm in Ultimate. However, it does transform into Mega Lucario for the duration of Aura Storm. In Charizard's case, it had Triple Finish in Brawl, changed to Mega Charizard X (as it was a standalone character) in Smash 4, and reverted back to Triple Finish in Ultimate (as a consequence of being regrouped back into 's party).
 * Both characters are also characters from the universe.
 * Despite also having a type of counter,, , , , , and do not appear in Lucario's Classic Mode route.
 * The Tip about Lucario's Aura being able to reach a multiplier of 2.5x is inaccurate and outdated: in the base game, 1.6x is the maximum multiplier, and 0.6x is the base multiplier attacks, making the net change about ×2.7. However, as of 9.0.0, the maximum multiplier is now 1.67x, making the change now roughly 2.8x.
 * Lucario is the only Pokémon character whose animations are not mirrored.
 * Ultimate is the first game where Lucario doesn't have the highest traction of any character since its debut in Brawl, with the title instead being held by.
 * The aura surrounding Lucario’s hands are missing in its clapping animation when losing a match but appears in the no contest screen.