Riolu and Lucario were added to the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Pokémon roster in Generation IV. The critter immediately became a fan favorite, and Game Freak wasted no time in exploiting this fact. In the years that followed, it gained a Mega Evolution (one heck of a Mega Evo💜luti༒on it was too), a spot in the cast of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Pokkén Tournament and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Super Smash Bros. and many other perks.
As ℱwell as some may know this evolution line, there’s still so much more to learn. Here’s how to evolve Riolu, as well as some interesting and obscure trivia about the Pokémon.
10 Its Evolution I💝s Tied To Friendship, Not🦂 Levelling Up
As we’ll see, Riolu is incredibly attuned to emotions felt by others around it. As a result, it makes sense that merely leveling up isn’t enough to trigger its evolution into Lucario. Instead, it nꦕeeds to have formed a strong bondꦇ with its Trainer.
Like several other Pokémon, Riolu evolves with high friendship. In this case, when leveled up with high friendship during the day. Luckily, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:building this hidden꧅ ‘stat’ is quite easy and isn’t as time-consuming as you might think.
9 It’s The on🐟ly B🔯aby Pokémon That Can Mega Evolve (Eventually)
Well, this isn’t to say that a Mega Riolu exists (though that would be a heck of an adorable/terrifying sight). Instead, Lucario is the only Pokémon with 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:a baby pre-evolution that can Mega Evolve.
Surprising as it is that Mega Pikachu never hit our 3DS screens (tho♐ugh Gigantamax Pikachu gives us a good idea of how that might’ve🐎 looked), this is another interesting little distinction that sets the Riolu line apart.
8 🥂 It Has A Great Selection Of Abilities
Between Riolu, Lucario, and Mega Lucario, the line has access to some of the best Abilities in the series. Firstly, Riolu has a choice of Steadfast, Inner Focus, or Prankster (its Hidden Ability). While the former two don’t offer it very much utility (giving ⛦it a Speed boost when it flinches or preventing it from flinching entirely, respectively), Inner Focus can be nice to prevent Fake Out shenanigans in doubles play.
Prankster, meanwhile, can be invaluable, and it’s a shame that Lucario misses out on it on evolution (not that it really wants to be using many status moves). It’s replaced by Justified, which increases its Attack when it’s hit by a Dark-type move. Again, in doubles matches, the classic Beat Up combo can make this thing a monster in seconds. Most importantly of all, Mega Lꩵucario’s Ability was Adaptability, which increased the STAB bonus and was the key to its offensive success.
7 ꧋ Its Stats Are Actually Very Sub-Par
There was a lot of pre- and post-release hype for Riolu and its evolved form, and it remains a huge fan favorite. Even so, the fact remains that without its neat design, they wouldn’t have caught on nearly so much. Stats-wise, Riolu really isn’t up to mu𓄧ch.
Yes, it’s a baby Pokémon, but it’s still very weak. With woeful base 40 defenses, it narrowly missed out on appearing in our listꦓ of critters with the lowest base Defeওnse ever. 70 Attack is the best stat it can muster, with its base Special Attack being its worst (only 35). This fact is often forgotten in the wake of Riolu’s poℱpularity.
6 It Has A Super🐻 Interestin🔯g Movepool
As you’re surely starting to appreci𝓀ate, Riolu is a very interesting little Pokémon. From a gameplay standpoint, it’s very versatile, boasting a m🌜ovepool unlike anything its fellow Fighting- or Steel-types bring to the table.
Despite its access to Prankster, it can’t do a grea🌄t deal with status moves, though it does learn Copycat, Counter, Quick Guard, Helping Hand, and the like. None of these are remotely practical to use with the Ability most of the time (if you haven’t evolved Riolu for some curious reason), but it also gets priority, a variety of mixed attacking moves, some of the best-boosting moves, and even weather moves!
5 💎 Luc𒆙ario’s Aura Is Very, Very Strong In Super Smash Bros.
As we’ve already mentioned, Lucario is one of the select Pokémon chosen to be playable in later entries of the Super Smash Bros. series. While it may seem that it was simply shoehorned in because it’s a popular critter, the fact is that it fits very well with ♐the style of🎃 the game.
Lucario’s Smash style revolves around the aura mechanic: it’s rather weak at the start of a match, but gains strength and launching power as it s🎃ustains damage. The frightening thing is that this stacks with rage, a comeback mechanic in the series that has this same effect already. Wh⛎ile Lucario’s aura has been toned down, a Lucario at high damage percentage is still one of the most fragile yet super dangerous opponents in the series.
4 Only Select Riolu Are Discip𝔍lined Enough To Ma🍨ster Their Aura
Following on from that last point, by the time Riolu has evolved, it’s very skilled with the power of Aura. Enough so, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:in the Smash series, to blast out huge beams that even 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Goku of Dragon Ball fame would be envious of.
We’ve established that, but it’s also important to remember that Riolu hasn’t yet mastered its powers. It cannot use advanced techniques like Aura Sphere and isn’t able to learn the move in the games. One very special exception is the Aura Sphere Riolu, which lives in the anime’s Lucario Kingdom and was carefully✱ trained to learn the move in order to defend its home. The exceptional little critter bonded with Ash, after the young trainer rescued it from kidnappers in "Pokémon Ranger and the Kidnapped Riolu! (Part 2)," and was seen proudly using the move to defend him.
3 🙈 Lucario Is A Ve🎃ry Rare Fighting-Type Special Attacker
Generally speaking, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Fighting-types aren’t the most complex Pokémon around. Their gameplan is generally this: use tℱhat sky-high Attack🅷 stat to pummel the opposing team into sad, defeated hunks of salty failure.
This physical focus means that few Fighting Pokémon have a worthy Special Attack stat (or Fighting-type special STAB beyond the risky Focus Blast). Lucario is one of the rare exceptions to this rule, boasting similar assets to Infernape: solid mixed offenses and access to Vacuum Wave, the only special priority mo𝓡ve in the series to date. You can never quite predict what these Pokémon are going to be running, which is the key to their success most of the time.
2 It Evolves Into An Incredibly V⛎ersatile Battler
Following on from that last entry, it’s surprising just how versatile Lucario can be. Its defenses are 𝕴very lackluster, and its Speed often falls short, but if you can support it and play to its strengths, it’ll leave the opponent reeling.
Physical attacker, special attack🌊er or a mix of both? You won’t know. Nasty Plot booster, Swords Dance booster, or neither? You won’t know until the carnage begins. Is it about to Dynamax? Granted, that’s a guessing game we have to play with most Pokémon, but it’s a great asset for Lucario too. It might have priority, it might not. Maybe it’🐼ll take a more supporting role (harder to pull off, but certainly possible). This Pokémon is a tough customer to predict.
1 ♓ Lucario Was Voted The Most Populaཧr Generation IV Pokémon (And Second Overall)
As we’ve mentioned, Lucario is definitely a fan favorite Pokémon. Just how beloved is this particular critter? Well, in🔯 held back in February, it was determined t🌊o be the most popular Generation IV Pokémon of all.
That’s not all, though. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:As we reported at the time, it almost won the entire poll outright. It came in second place overall, out-voted only by Greninja.♎ That’s an incredible performance, especially considerin𓃲g how beloved Kanto’s original 151 Pokémon are in particular.