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Lucario for great league - good or not?

I'm walking with Riolu from hatch. It is of mediocre iv, but just make Lucario with CP just a few points below cp1500. Therefore, I'm thinking to give it second charge before evolution and then keep it for great league. Is it worth the investment/arrangement? If yes, what should be the two charge moves?

Asked by chameleongohk6 years ago

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A very "eh" Fighting type pokemon.

The only great thing about Lucario in PvP is its ability to resist 9 damage types thanks to his Steel-type, but other than that, it's not entirely great because of his 1-bar STAB Close Combat & Flash Cannon, since it'll take too long to charge compared to other pokemons with 2 & 3-bar moves. His only reliable Charge move is his 2-bar Shadow Ball, but sadly, it has no STAB damage & Ghost isn't really meta in Great league if I'm not wrong.

However, investing 10k Stardust before evolving is still a wise choice anyway, so if you have to, I'd say pick Close Combat & Shadow Ball.

Lucario's main selling point is Counter, not Close Combat. Get it with Shadow Ball and Flash Cannon.

Ghost will get more and more relevant in the Great League meta once more people realize Dusclops is awesome, get their Lugias and Cresselias fitting under the cap and, probably most importantly, Deoxys Defense lands into EX raids or Giratina starts being available through research. Or we get Jirachi special research, which I can't wait for.

Until I get a decent Medicham, it likely will stay as one of my two Fighters of choice - the other being Poliwrath.

Deoxys-D will make Ghost more of a relevant attacking type, but I doubt that will make Lucario better than it's now (I honestly don't know how good that is since I've never experienced it myself). It's glassy and Deoxys-D will carry Counter, which will melt Lucario. Maybe it can get off one Shadow Ball before dying, which isn't much. Better counters will probably include the dark/ghost and dark/poison types that are resistant or neutral to Counter and resist psychic while dealing double SE damage.

Sure, Lucario will never be a good counter to Deoxys-D. However, having an ability to scratch it noticeably will also have its benefit.

I thought STAB wasn't a thing in PVP

Never mind quick search looks like there is, thought i read on here before that STAB was not a part of/different for PVP

One poster found an article that mentioned damage calculations that did not include STAB (possibly a simple oversight), posted that here. Since refuted. STAB definitely in PvP per consensus of data miners and others in the know.

The number of bars on the move has little bearing to how fast it is in PvP. Check the raw data, which in this case is the energy required to use the move. Dazzling gleam (2 bar move) requires 70 energy. Flash Cannon (1 bar) requires 65. Rock Slide, Sky Attack, and Thunderbolt (all 2 bar) require 45 energy.

This data is available on this site at: https://pokemongo.gamepress.gg/pvp-charge-moves

I've used my Lucario in PVP. I have Counter, Flash Cannon and Shadow Ball. I've noticed that Flash Cannon charges up very fast for a 1 charge move, it charges up almost as fast as shadow ball.
Lucario is glassy but I use it as a sweeper when my opponent runs out of shields. Flash Cannon and Shadow ball are usually great against most things, allowing for you to have good neutral coverage.
I've found mine worth the investment of the 50 candies (and 10k stardust and 25 candies for the 2nd move)

I’m curious why you’re using FC over CC.

CC charges a bit faster for slightly less damage but is SE against more types.

I’ve noticed in my time in great league, FC hits targets more neutrally, rather than CC being resisted heavily by others. Kind of just a preference for me and it’s also just something that I noticed. Might not be the same for others but it works well for me. I also try to use Lucario last, in hopes my opponent is out of shields and I can sweep them away. Lucario is quite glassy with a great attack stat so that’s why I use mine like that.