Lucario

Lucario.png

**Lucario** (ルカリオ, *Lucario*) is a playable character in *Super Smash Bros. All Stars*. Its return to the series was announced on August 23rd 2018, five years to the day of the year that *Super Smash Bros. 4* was released in Japan. According to an extra post for its Miiverse reveal, this timing was done to commend the *Brawl* developers for succeeding in adding Lucario to *Brawl*.

Lucario is now voiced by Sean Schemmel in the English version, who replaces Bill Rogers from *Brawl* and voiced Sir Aaron's Lucario in *Lucario and the Mystery of Mew*. As in *Brawl*, Lucario is also voiced by different voice actors for *SSB4'*s Spanish, French, German and Italian versions. However, Daisuke Namikawa reprises its role for the Japanese version.

Lucario is currently ranked 19th out of 58 on the tier list, placing it in the B tier. While this is a very small drop from its placement in *Brawl*, where it was ranked 11th out of 38, its placement renders it as a high-tier character in comparison to its mid-tier placement in *Brawl*. Lucario's signature Aura has been strengthened, which is further supplemented by the new rage mechanic. This makes most of its attacks among the strongest in the game when it is highly damaged, with its smash attacks, up and back throws, and its up and back aerials each being easily capable of KOing.

The new Aura mechanics also grant new benefits to Lucario's special moves: with high Aura, Aura Sphere grows even larger than Lucario itself, Force Palm's blast possesses significantly more range, Extreme Speed covers much farther distance, and Double Team becomes one of the strongest counterattacks in the game. As a result, Lucario boasts very potent comeback potential, with a single opening being enough for it to KO careless opponents.

However, Lucario still maintains its below average mobility, making it difficult for it to force an approach. Lucario's new Aura mechanics also cause its moves to deal drastically lower knockback and damage at low percentages, making it almost impossible to KO opponents until 150%. While this allows Lucario to combo reliably at low percentages, this makes it much harder for it to combo or create set-ups when it is highly damaged, due to the aforementioned strength of its attacks at high Aura.

Additionally, some of Lucario's moves have been worsened in other ways, making it more dependent on Aura to secure KOs and thus giving it a riskier playstyle than before. Some examples are its smash attacks, which are significantly laggier, and Force Palm's grab, which can be escaped at low Aura. Finally, Extreme Speed now gains so much speed at max Aura that it can inadvertently cause a self-destruct if used recklessly, and the move has two seconds of landing lag if it ends in the air, making Lucario heavily open for punishment.

Overall, Lucario has below average representation and decent results in the competitive scene, although its dependence on its Aura mechanic has caused its viability to be viewed contentiously. While some players view it as a capable fighter who can hold its own at combos or KOing depending on the strength of its Aura, others view its reliance on Aura as too volatile to be dependable. Regardless, it is still considered a solid pick in competitive play, with dedicated mains like Serge and Day continuing to expand its metagame. Additionally, a huge upset occurred at Frostbite 2017, where Japanese Lucario player Tsu- placed 2nd while defeating many top players like ZeRo, VoiD, Kameme and Salem.