Vince Pavey is a writer from the North-East of England who has worked on comics for The Beano and Doctor Who. He likes to play video games and eat good food. Sometimes he does both at the same time, but he probably shouldn’t.
WePC is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Prices subject to change. Learn more
Last Updated:
Introduced in Generation 4 of Pokémon — that’s Pokémon Diamond, Pearl and Platinum, which have remakes releasing on Nintendo Switch later this year — Lucario quickly gained popularity with audiences. This was no doubt helped by his appearance in the anime’s eighth theatrical release, Lucario and the Mystery of Mew, in which he became one of the few creatures in the series that could speak in full sentences using powerful telepathy.
Presented as an intensely serious Pokémon with the ability to see a mysterious life energy called aura, Lucario became a fan favourite, appearing in spin-offs, media adaptations and other associated merchandise in the years that would follow. The Anubis inspired monster is also one of the regularly appearing fighters in Nintendo’s crossover fighting game series Super Smash Bros., having been in every entry released since Super Smash Bros. Brawl in 2008.
In Pokémon Unite, Lucario is an Expert Difficulty character, with mostly well-rounded stats. Lucario is good for controlling enemy character positioning and punishing stragglers with powerful attacks at varying ranges.
If you want to know where we think he ranks among the other Pokémon in Pokémon Unite, you can find out here.
Recommended Build: Aura Rush
We recommend that Lucario players play much like Zeraora players, going into the middle jungle area to level up in the early game on fodder monsters before coming out to surprise enemies and assist teammates.
As far as moves go we think you should use Power-Up Punch and Bone Rush.
Power-Up Punch lets you jump forward and push enemies around while also doing damage. Bone Rush will let you push someone from further away, but will also close the gap so you can attack up close. It will also reset your cooldown on the previously mentioned Power-Up Punch, so you can usually keep your foe from escaping.
Lucario’s UNITE move Aura Cannon does massive AoE damage. If done in sync with stun moves from a Snorlax or a Wigglytuff it can be used to basically wipe out the entire enemy team and open up the goal for some cheeky point scoring.
Items
Battle Item
Eject Button
Using the Eject Button lets you move a vast distance in the blink of an eye. It can be especially useful if you need to close a gap or escape from a tricky situation, but make sure you use it sparingly as it has a long cooldown.
Held Items
Muscle Band
Using the Muscle Band will let Lucario do extra attack damage based on how much health his opponent has. This is useful against everyone, but will definitely help to even the score against tanks like Snorlax.
Sp. Atk. Specs
These fancy specs increase your Special Attack for every point you score. If you’re playing the objective and have this item equipped then by the end of the game your Aura Cannon will make enemies on the other team think twice about going near you.
Attack Weight
Much like the Sp. Atk. Specs but for the Attack stat instead. If you equip the Attack Weight then even your regular attacks will get a boost just for playing how you would anyway. What a sweet deal!
Pokémon Unite is currently available for free on Nintendo Switch. A release on smartphones has also been announced and is set to release in September.
What do you think? Do you build Lucario like this? Is there another Pokémon Unite Lucario Build for the Aura Pokémon that you prefer? Let us know below.
