by: AceTempest
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My Lucario has been the top Lucario on Big 5 Ban Amiibots for months now, maybe even half a year. I forget when I first achieved that, but I know it’s been at least 3-6 months. At the time of writing, he is rated at a 30.07 on Big 5 Ban Amiibots.
My Lucario also made into the group stage of Splice’s latest Professional Amiibo League in the Mid Circuit. He came in 3rd place in his division, where the top 2 advanced into the double elimination stage of Professional Amiibo League. There was a qualification to even get into the group stage of Professional Amiibo League, so to place highly in its division in just the group stage is impressive.
AI Issues
The Lucario AI struggles with something all amiibo who have charge-based abilities struggle with: properly charging them without getting punished, and then actually using them once charged.
Lucario also has a problem with spamming Neutral Special uncharged, so you’re better off avoiding this move for the most part. You can maybe get away with using it only when fully charged, but your mileage may vary.
The only other AI issue I can think of is sometimes Lucario ends up going too far with his recovery. He either recovers onto stage and gets punished for it, or in some cases recovers so far that he clears the entire stage and SDs on the other side of it. I don’t see it happen very often though.
Overall Playstyle
I would keep your Lucario amiibo grounded, other than a few exceptions I will get into later.
As far as parrying goes, in general, it’s very much hit or miss, and your mileage may vary. I think Lucario can take advantage of parrying decently, but I wouldn’t go overboard with it. Just sprinkle it in at most.
How to Train the Lucario Amiibo in Smash Ultimate
Okay, let’s start with Spirits recommendations. For Lucario, a spread of anywhere between 1700/2500 and 2100/2100 is good, especially seeing as how Lucario’s power boosts due to the Aura mechanic. You might even want them to live longer to take better advantage of that.
For the Anything Goes format, I suggest Armor Knight with either Aura Attack Up, Physical Attack Up, or Trade-Off Ability Up. Aura Attack Up is probably your best bet though, as that boosts the majority of its attacks, with Physical Attack Up following suit.
Now, for the more interesting, spirited format: Big 5 Ban. For this format, I suggest Aura Attack Up, Physical Attack Up, and your choice of another Aura Attack Up, Physical Attack Up, Air Defense Up, Trade-Off Ability Up, or an empty slot for additional stat points. Trade-Off Ability Up has had some controversy as of time of writing for how viable it is. I think Lucario is one of the amiibo it is still mostly viable for, especially if you off balance your stats in favor of defense. With Trade-Off Ability Up, you do still run the risk of your amiibo getting KO’d that much earlier due to the 30% it puts on for every stock. So, I will leave that up to trainer discretion if they want to use that Spirit effect or not.
Moves
I personally am a proponent of less Forward Smash on Lucario and more Forward Tilt. Forward Tilt should be your main damage dealer, and it should also be used as your ledge guard by angling it downwards towards the ledge in attempt to two-frame your opponents. Alternatively, Down Tilt can also be used for purposes of ledge guarding this way, but I find Forward Tilt to be more consistent and deal more knockback than Down Tilt. Forward Smash should still be used on occasion, especially more towards the higher percents, as it does take Forward Tilt a lot more time to get the KO.
Up Tilt, Up Smash, and Up Air are all good anti airs, but I would prioritize Up Tilt and Up Smash.
For landing options, I suggest Neutral Air and Back Air. Back Air is a fantastic kill option for Lucario and one of the better ones for the amiibo in my opinion. At some percents, you can even Up Throw or Down Throw into Back Air lethally. Down Air can also be a solid landing option, and I would teach that to your Lucario amiibo as well. The focus should be on Back Air at higher percents, but at low to mid percents you can cycle through all three.
Speaking of Down Throw, Lucario has a hard coded combo at low percents of Down Throw > Forward Air > Forward Air. It wouldn’t hurt to teach the amiibo this combo, as it’s decent, but it will learn the combo on its own if you don’t teach it.
I would use Forward Throw and Back Throw at the ledges for purposes of throwing amiibo off stage. You can also choose to train your amiibo to follow up with Neutral Air, Forward Air, or Back Air offstage after a throw. Up Throw can be okay, and I would mix it in maybe a little bit, but the other three throws should be prioritized.
Down Smash is a solid out of shield option, and can get the KO at decent percents, especially on characters who are very challenged on vertical recovery, such as Little Mac. Up Smash is also a nice out of shield move. Forward Tilt is probably your best option here, as it is the fastest with decent damage and knockback. Having Down Smash and Up Smash sprinkled in isn’t a bad idea, though.
Moves To Avoid
I would avoid Side Special. It’s slow and amiibo can break out of it very easily at melee range. At long range, it deals so minimal knockback and damage that I feel it’s not worth teaching, and you’re better off getting in melee range for Forward Tilt or Forward Smash. Only use Up Special for recovery, never for attacking. This is pretty fundamental of amiibo in general, regardless of specific fighter. It’s a very solid rule of thumb when it comes to training amiibo.
I would avoid Down Special entirely as well. Amiibo in general tend to struggle with counters, and Lucario’s leaves him wide open and very punishable.
Why It Works
Overall, this methodology of training really plays towards Lucario’s strengths. At its best, as far as I can tell, it mitigates Lucario’s weaknesses, most notably his overall clunkiness with Smash attacks, as well as minimizing some of the Lucario’s notable AI flaws.
I like to provide options so trainers can have variety in the way they train their Lucario amiibo, especially where a large chunk of the competitive amiibo community focuses on trying to make amiibo consistently the same as much as possible. An example of this sameness is Side Special-based Incineroars. Those Incineroars are not fun to watch, and I’m sure anybody in the amiibo community would agree with me. I feel that variety is an ingredient that helps keep the amiibo meta dynamic and unique.
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