Lucario (PM)

Lucario is a playable character in the Brawl mod Project M. Its mechanics between Brawl and Project M have been nearly entirely reimagined.

Lucario ranks 18th out of 41 on the official tier list, toward the top of the B tier. This is a considerable drop from their placement in Brawl, where it was 11th out of 38. In the Project+, Lucario is ranked 12th near the top of the A tier, more in line with its placement in Brawl.

Attributes
In Brawl, Lucario's aura system increased the damage and knockback of its attacks as its own damage climbed. In Project M, however, this system has been discarded in favor of giving the Steel/Fighting-type Pokémon two mechanics similar to those found in traditional fighting games, while some of its moves were altered to be reminiscent of the shotoclone, a popular fighting game archetype.

Lucario's moves deal the damage and knockback of its Brawl counterpart when at only 88% damage, but thanks to their decreased, consistent knockback and Lucario's new magic series, they are much more suitable for extensive combos. The magic series gives Lucario limited control over order-based interruptibility, where each stage in the chain can be cancelled into anything further down. On the ground, this chain is neutral/dash attack → tilt → smash attack → special move, while in the air the chain is aerial → special move. While a stage cannot be cancelled into itself, Lucario's jab, tilts, and some of its aerials can reliably link into themselves. Additionally, some setups allow for the ground chain to be started again, such as up-smash into aerial side-special grab, which can set up a tech-chase and thus an opportunity to start the magic series over with a neutral or dash attack.

Similar to the "super meter" present in the vast majority of fighting games, Lucario can build up energy through successful hits and "spend" it on powerful attacks or combo setups. Every attack Lucario lands nets it a number of "aura points" equal to the amount of damage dealt on a successful hit or 70% of the damage a shielded hit would have dealt. After amassing fifty points, Lucario will gain an aura charge, signaled to the player through a blue flash of light. Players can also remind themselves of any aura charge by examining the energy glow and trails on Lucario's hands (compare the appearance of no charges, one charge, and two charges). Lucario can store up to one hundred aura points, or two charges, and retains whatever it has stored even if it loses a stock.

Aura charges are spent by pressing the standard attack button while executing the special move the player wishes to power up. Aura Sphere and Force Palm receive drastic power boosts; "Aura Bomb" is a massive, powerful, slow-moving Aura Sphere that can hit foes trying to recover through a ledge and lasts long enough for Lucario to easily throw enemies into it for a KO, while "Force Blast" becomes significantly more powerful and becomes a spike when foes are grabbed with it in the air. Meanwhile, spending an aura charge on ExtremeSpeed or Double Team will allow the player to cancel out of it using any attack other than itself, making powerful combo, chasing, recovery, or edgeguarding options possible.

Lucario has some reworked moves reminiscent of the shotoclone, a character archetype popularized by Ryu and Ken of. Its up-smash is now a multi-hitting Shoryuken, a leaping uppercut that can be reversed, comes out quickly, and can be cancelled into aerial grab Force Palm to set up a tech-chase. Force Palm, when used as a grab in the air, now meteor-smashes opponents powerfully in a spinning throw. Meanwhile, Lucario's ineffectual neutral-aerial from Brawl has been replaced with a powerful hurricane kick that can KO at reasonably low percentages despite its quick startup. Double Team, while a counterattack in Brawl, now functions as a command-dash that deals no damage and instead serves as a versatile movement option that provides Lucario with invincibility. Extremespeed now deals multiple weak hits while keeping foes close enough for more combos, especially when used horizontally across a stage.

With these new techniques and mechanics, Lucario can deal massive amounts of damage over extended periods of time if it can get close enough to an opponent. However, Lucario has the same problems that would later befall its moveset inspiration ; Lucario is held back by average movement speed outside of its combos and struggles when approaching foes, as Aura Sphere is short-ranged and easily intercepted. Compared to Brawl Lucario, the comparative lack of power in its attacks also holds it back from getting KOs at regular percentages, forcing Lucario to rack up more damage than other characters would need to in order to secure a KO. In turn, these flaws force Lucario to keep close to the opponent so that it never misses a chance to punish and tack on damage, which is a problem against faster close-range fighters or ones like, who can use disjointed reach to keep Lucario from getting close enough.

Changes from Brawl to PM
Lucario has a revamped aura mechanic that allows it to strengthen its special moves rather than increasing its power the more it is hurt. In addition, Lucario's fighting style is more combo oriented. Many of Lucario's moves have less startup and its combo game is significantly more deadly. One downside to Lucario's new moveset however is that most of its moves have shorter durations.

Moveset
Up to date as of version 3.6.

Notable tech
Labbing Discord Tech Post

Most historically significant players
Any number following the Smasher name indicates placement on the PMRank 2019, which recognizes the official top 50 players in the world in Project M during 2019.

See also: Category:Lucario players (PM)
 * (#9) - Co-mains with  and is considered the best  player in the world, notably winning the first major with  at the unofficial Riptide 2022 side event, Undertow 2022.
 * (#15, 2016) - "IPK" was widely considered to be the best during his active years. His highly optimized use of Aura Sphere Canceling (ASC) revolutionized 's punish game.
 * (#19) - Ranked 1st on the Houston Project M Power Rankings, Fearless is known for his strong neutral game utilizing dash dancing.
 * (#22) - Was formerly ranked 1st on the European Project M Power Rankings prior to moving to Canada. Known for his unconventional use of ExtremeSpeed as a low-percent kill option.
 * (#15) - Achieved a high ranking on PMRank 2019 while co-maining, , and.
 * - Notable labber and creator of many guides and tech posts driving the development of 's metagame.

Project M
Lucario has more variety with its palettes, which stand out more in team battles.

3.5 included a costume inspired by the Black Belt class from the Pokémon franchise. It has the Fighting and Steel type emblems from the TCG on the back, an Expert Belt, and a Focus Band. This costume also has a black variation with a Choice Band and the Cobble Badge replacing the type emblems on the back.

Project+
In Project+, Lucario received an updated shiny costume, which most notably has accurate eyes to the actual shiny. The additional Black Belt costumes reference Dan, Ken, and Sean from the Street Fighter series.

Z-Secret Costume: Mega Lucario

R-Secret Costume: Aaron Lucario

Trivia

 * Lucario's yellow palette swap resembles its coloration. A minor cosmetic error, however, gives Lucario blue eyes instead of red, like its appearance from the main Pokémon series.
 * Since Version 2.3 of Project+, this cosmetic error has been fixed.
 * Also in Project+, the color scheme emits sparkles for its entrance similar to the mainline games.
 * Coincidentally, Lucario gains a similar black palette swap in Super Smash Bros. 4.
 * Lucario's appearance in Project M onward draws heavy inspiration from Ryu, one of the main characters of Capcom's series. Coincidentally, he would later appear in Super Smash Bros. 4 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a playable fighter.
 * Lucario's alternate costume loosely resembles the character's attire, despite it being meant to reference the Black Belt class from the Pokémon series. Addtionally, Project+ introduced recolors for this costume that are loosely inspired by characters related to Ryu, such as Dan Hibiki, Ken Masters and Sean Matsuda, with the former two appearing in Ultimate.
 * Lucario has attacks that match the 3 staple moves of the "shoto" characters from Street Fighter; its neutral special Aura Sphere resembles the Hadouken, its new up-smash is an uppercut reminiscent of the Shoryuken, and its neutral aerial is a spinning kick which looks like the Tatsumaki Senpukyaku. Ryu has used all of the aforementioned moves throughout the Street Fighter series.