- Lucario needs to be unlocked
Lucario has a unique moveset, almost totally different from that of Mewtwo, whom he has replaced for this game, so you will need to practice to become a master with this Pokémon.
- It has a long attack range. Its Aura-based attacks effectively double its reach.
- The higher its damage meter is, the more damage it can inflict on its opponent (a good way to measure is by charging its Aura Sphere).
- For best results, keep your opponents very close for the highest firepower and stay in the fray.
Lucario is a solid fighter with almost all of his attacks in the exact middle of the weight classes (see Statistics for brief overview). But that's not exactly his main speciality: he has the unique ability to have his attack strength altered. His Aura, which are affected by his % and place, attacks increase in damage corresponding to his current place in the match and the % he has (max being 300% and last place; at this point, anyone over 70% can be KO'd).
But this doesn't mean that you'll be able to go into a fight when an opponent is one percent higher than you and you'll be able to KO him easy. It's the margin of distance between him and the 1st-place opponent. In other words, there's a big difference of his strength when he's, for example, 5% away than 50% away from the 1st-place opponent. Around every 8%-12% he's closer to 1st place, he loses a point of his attack power. It may not seem like much, but in the example, he could have an extra 6% in attack power, which is a lot for some of the powerful moves like Force Palm.
Although the Aura attacks are well known to be powerful, there's also another special ability he has that most of the other characters don't: the ability to latch onto walls while wall-jumping. If you let go of the control stick after jumping, he will stay on there for a long amount of time. This gives you three options: stay on the wall to wait for the time to jump in, immediately jump back in to continue fighting, or unleash an attack from where you are.
Note: since his attacks vary depending on his current percentage and what place he is in (for example, 150% and Last Place), all Aura-based attacks (such as Force Palm and Aura Sphere) will increase, making him extremely varied (as in the example, attacks are roughly twice as powerful than statistics). The statistics shown here are if he's at 0% and either tied or at 1st place.
Strategies
- Use the forward+B attack for knockback then unleash the final smash. When you press the final smash button, move your control stick before hand, aim at your opponent and blast away!
- It's best for Lucario to be in a Coin Match, since he can be in last place a lot more often than in a regular match. If he is anywhere above 175% and in last place in Coins collected, for example, his down+B move might be able to instantly KO anyone over 100%.
- Charging Aura sphere is very good at luring opponents in. If there is a huge crowd of people in a free for all, one way to attack all of them at once is to jump right in and charge Aura sphere. This will attack all the opponents immediately behind you and you can also shoot it at any opponents in front of you.
- Use Double Team against Melee fighters who have two projectiles. One thing you can do is get away from them, and as they come over to attack use Double Team. This is incredibly risky because it leaves Lucario so vulnerable afterwards.
- When facing Snake, you can edge guard effectively by using Lucario's
+
from below Snake, just as he uses his +
. To get him off of the edge, either throw or Smash him.
Basic Attacks
| Wii Remote + Nunchuk | Wii Remote (sideways) | Wii Classic Controller | GameCube Controller | Standard Attack | Info |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Smash  + |
 + + |
(Smash  + ) or  |
(Smash  + ) or 
|
Aura Thrust | He thrusts out both hands in a powerful aura smash. |
Smash  + |
 ++ |
(Smash  +) or  |
(Smash  +) or 
|
Aura Twister | He shoots his hand up, then spins down. This move has a ridiculous amount of active frames. |
Smash  + |
 ++ |
(Smash  +) or  |
(Smash  +) or 
|
Aura Duo Blast | He shoves both aura-cloaked hands around him, hitting both sides at once. |
Special Attacks
| Wii Remote + Nunchuk | Wii Remote (sideways) | Wii Classic Controller | GameCube Controller | Special Attack | Info |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
|
 |
|
Aura Sphere | A single blue sphere which can be controlled by how much damage it gives by holding the special-button longer. The speed and strength of the ball will be determined by the % of Lucario: higher % is better. |
| + |
+ |
+ |
+
|
Force Palm | A single blast. Best used for close-combat. It changes from an Aura attack with decent range to a close combat move, which deals extra damage and has a powerful knockback ability. Lucario gets a pseudo-chaingrab from the close-combat version of this move. |
| + |
+ |
+ |
+
|
Extreme Speed | Super-fast and can be controlled during the whole move by the pad or stick. Best used for recovery, as it causes no damage when colliding with an opponent. |
| + |
+ |
+ |
+
|
Double Team | A reaction move, used as a counter: When struck within 3 seconds after activating the move, Lucario vanishes and then reappears with a low but powerful kick. Best used when in the fray or in the air to dodge aerial attacks, or as a combo starter/ escape move. |
Taunts
| Wii Remote + Nunchuk | Wii Remote (sideways) | Wii Classic Controller | GameCube Controller | Taunt |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
He growls and takes a stance. |
| +
|
( or )+
|
 or 
|
 or 
|
He puts one paw forward and emits aura from it. |
|
|
+
|
|
|
He goes into a crane position and holds. |
Final Smash
Aura Storm: Lucario flies into the skies and fires a large beam of aura, which can be aimed in almost any direction below him. When initialized, this attack will begin by firing straight down (however you can change this by holding the control stick to either side). It can then be angled either to the left or right by holding the control stick in the desired direction (the direction of your enemy!). You can change the angle at any time.
The problem with this attack is that Lucario turns slowly — your enemy will easily outrun the attack and hover above the beam until it dissipates. However against a non-flying opponent this is more effective (for example, against Bowser, Gannondorf, or Ike). If you know which side your enemy will be on, make sure you tilt the beam before it fires so you can lift it even higher - however this still will not guarantee a hit because the attack can be air dodged.
In team battles you can use this attack to assist your teammate — either as a defensive mechanism (hide inside or on the other side of the beam), or offensive (knock them into the beam).
Match-Ups
Lucario tends to fare very well with characters like Pit and Sonic who can easily rack up damage but have a hard time finishing their foes because this lets Lucario jack himself up on power to destroy his foes. Lucario unfortunately has some serious bogeys with characters like Snake who can kill at 50% and upwards.
Bowser
Ganondorf
Ike
Ike is pretty much a finisher. His attacks are very strong and with that it is very hard to attack Ike. His over+A moves are very powerful as are his over+B moves. You shouldn't use Ike if you don't know how to use him, but you can practice on the CPU at a level of about 2 or 3 to start with if you haven't really used Ike before.
He has an over be attack that teleports him and then attacks right away and the best thing is you can hold it or as long as you want until they go there, unlike the over+A attacks which have a limited time that you can hold it.
With all characters you should predict or at least try to predict what your opponent's going to do, when he's going to do it, and where he's going to go. Because Ike has maybe the strongest over+A attacks, if you can predict it and you hold over+A and the time limit runs out, it attacks at full strength and your opponent is right next to you, it is a guaranteed KO if they are over 40 percent.
And like other characters when you use Ike's up+b attack you can aim it, but not a lot, so if you're off the edge and have no jumps left, use your up+b attack and aim it whichever way you need to get to the edge and hang on.
Ike's final smash is 80 percent guaranteed to be a KO unless your opponent is under about 35-40 percent. But Ike has another thing to if you have someone that you used your final smash on and you're in the air with them attacking them and there is another com under you, it will hit them to at the end and could possibly KO them.
Therefore Ike is one of the strongest characters in the game, and if you don't know how to use him, try to practice on computers and you can move their level up or down 1-9.
Jigglypuff
Jigglypuff is light and floaty which makes it hard to catch and hit him(or) her it is easy for jigglpuff to dodge aura spheres and force palm due to its large jumps scale. mastered jigglypuff user's will keep jigglypuff in mid air (all the time) were it is most dangerous. one important thing to remember is that jigglypuff once you lay a big hit on jigglypuff, it is pretty much done for. but once your past 90% percent jigglypuffs rollout (half charged or fully) can KO you almost instantly.
King Dedede
This guy is lucario's worst nightmare. His f-smash can kill at 50% uncharged easily. Honestly, the best strategy here would be to just run from him and damage yourself by throwing smart bombs down to bolster your strength. The safest way to go is with the , aura sphere, to tack on damage. You can fight in the air, but do not come at him from behind because his powerful back aerial is fast, strong, ranged, and has high priority. You could approach him from above to use aura stomp (in the air), but you may risk taking up to 20% from his upwards hammer drill but suffer little knockback (Dedede-wise), which could be good, but he could also fake you out and hit you with another aerial.
Kirby
Lucas
Luigi
Mario
Mario is very easy and is very strong. He has attacks that are strong weak and can hit stuff back so its yours. Mario has long range attacks, but they're kind of weak if you press B, over+B, and Down+B and then over+B.
Mario has two attacks that can knock opponents attacks back. over+B can reflect Lucario's aura sphere and it can hit Lucario, Poké Balls and they will be yours, ice and it can hit them and they will freeze and many other items and attacks. Over+b can also hit opponents and if you're in the air, it will drag you over a little. B shoots little balls of fire that can hit items and attacks. If it hits an attack, it will block the attack and the fireball will also disappear, but you can use B many times in a row and if they throw a Poké Ball, it can be blocked and it will be yours.
His over+A attacks are probably the second strongest attack in the whole game. They can attack a little farther then some people's. His up+b can attack and puts damage on people. (The coins that come out do nothing to people its just for show.) It can be useful if you have no jumps left and your falling you can use up+b and maybe get to the edge.
His final smash is powerful, but you can't be too far away from the people, or it will disappear.
Marth
Marth can easily defeat Lucario if you're not carful. This is mainly because your prime fighting range, about a Lucario and a half away, is where Marth can get tippers with his sword. A tipped forward smash can easily kill you around 70. You will get completely pwn'd on the ground, so take to the skies and approach from above with the aura stomp. Remember to play super-defensively. Use aura sphere to tack on damage. Go for style by countering counter with double team!! All in all, this is purely a match of skill and experience.
Meta Knight
Meta Knight's fast attacks could prevent you from landing a single blow if you are not careful, so raise his damage percentage with Aura Sphere until he blows away. If he does get close, use Double Team to help evade him.
Mr Game and Watch
Ness
Pikachu
Pikachu is not really Lucario's match. Pikachu has a hit and run strategy which gives you little advantage to strike him back. Using force palm and double team is a great move against Pikachu and once you over at least 60% you will be a force to be reckoned with. Against small, light-weight Pikachu, light him up with small aura spears then use a force palm. When he starts running towards you, use double team and send him packing.
R.O.B.
Snake
Beware of Snake! He is known for his ridiculous smashes, specials, and mind games with his down-smash and C4. Lucario against Snake will be a tough fight, so be prepared.
When facing Snake, you can edge guard effectively by using Lucario's + from below Snake, just as he uses his +. To get him off of the edge, either throw or Smash him.
Sonic
Sonic is actually a joke to fight. He will probably kill you more with the accidental spike from his up-b than he will with any other moves. He cannot kill reliably until about 140%, at which your power will let you kill him around 100%, which is ridiculously easy to rack up at high damage.
Wario
Wolf
Wolf is a pretty even matchup with Lucario. He can outrun you, but his air game is not very good, so you should take him on there. Also, he is easy to chaingrab with force palm because of his ridiculous falling speed.
Lucario's counter attack is very useful in a fight with Wolf, as most of Wolf's attacks are slow and move him closer to his target.