Physical vs Special Lucario/Mega Lucario?

Question

I have never had any Pokemon for competitive purposes and I'm going to IV breed and EV train Lucario but I don't know which way I should go, special or physical. Here are my two movesets:

Lucario @ Lucarionite
Ability: Justified ---> Adaptability
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 HP / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
-Close Combat (STAB)
-Iron Tail (STAB)
-Swords Dance
-Zen Headbutt or Ice Punch (coverage) / Extreme Speed or Bullet Punch (priority) / Crunch*

Lucario @ Lucarionite
Ability: Steadfast ---> Adaptability
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 HP / 252 Spd
Timid nature
-Aura Sphere (STAB)
-Flash Cannon (STAB)
-Nasty Plot
-Water Pulse (coverage) / Dark Pulse or Dragon Pulse (coverage) / Vacuum Wave (priority)*

*: means I'm not sure about which move tu use in this slot could use some advice

Physical Advantages:
-Mega Lucario has better Att than Sp. Att
-CC and IT have more power than AS and FC
-Swords Dance has a way cooler animation than Nasty Plot

Special Advantages:
-Unaffected by Burn or Intimidate
-AS and FC have better accuracy than CC and IT
-AS doesn't have the drop in both defenses like CC
-Aura Sphere is Lucario's signature move which I think each Pokemon should have

Please help me out by giving more advantages or disadvantages for each set and with the last move of each set too. Thanks in advance!!

Comments

Aura sphere was never Lucario's signature move. Otherwise, I think the special set with dark pulse is better.

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For the physical set, you could consider Drain Punch instead of Close Combat, and put in Bullet Punch instead of Iron Tail. Even though they have less power, a Swords Dance would probably do the trick plus they're very beneficial with no drawbacks other than the slight power decrease.

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Lol literally search Lucario's signature move and you will see Aura Sphere.

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There are more people who say, "Lucario's signature move is aura sphere." on the internet than people who say, "Lucario has no signature move." Google doesn't know/care about who's right, it only cares about who's more popular.

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Mixed Lucario is best Lucario. Trust ;)

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Actually I've read mixed is the worst option cause you wont be as powerful and you would have to spread ur evs differently

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Mixed IS the worst option. Focus on one stat and nuke everything with that one stat.

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Was kidding, but in-game mixed works very well. Competitively mixed can be viable, but it depends on the team you run.

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My mixed, see below, can solo a team. It 2.5s pretty often.

Answer 1

I'd say go with physical.
I encountered quite some Lucario's, and most of them either had physical or mixed movestes.
One swords dance+ close combat devestates anything.

I think Lucario is supposed to be physical too, because if you mega evolve him, the attack stat turns out better than special attack.

As for the move, if you want coverage, go with ice punch.
If you want priority, go with extreme speed, it's really good for finishing off anything.
Bullet punch gets STAB, but this doesn't matter if it's not very effective.
Both good, but extreme speed is pretty balanced, so i'd go with that.

Crunch doesn't even get STAB so forget about that.

I have a Lucario too and this moveset works just fine.
Hope I could help a bit!

Comments

The main thing about crunch is that, when combined with close combat and bullet punch, guarantees normal effectiveness on every Pokemon (ignoring abilities).

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Yeah I know Close Combat + Swords Dance is amaz buttt that drop in defenses is pretty sucky

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Drop in defenses doesn't matter since Lucario is so frail that most hits will do a lot of damage to him already.

Answer 2

Luke is rare. He actually works as a mixed attacker.

Drain punch
Bullet punch
Aura sphere
Flash cannon

Invest in the defensive EVs or Speed and HP and a neutral nature. This is precisely why mega luke was banned in Smogon. Heal up with drain punch when possible. Steel and fighting offer good coverage, and being tanky helps.

Being dual invested with good knowledge means you get advantages over mono tanks like blissey, snorlax, etc. .. while powering through set up Pokemon.

You never have to switch out, losing a turn, on walls. Being bulky keeps you from having to switch out of checks. I prefer the defense set up, personally, as drain punch or aura sphere into bullet punch usually goes unchallenged. Adaptability removes the need for any investment in the attacks. You literally have the best of both worlds.

Comments

My Lucario uses 252 Hp, 128 SPDF 128 DF

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Does the bulk investment actually make a significant difference in how Lucario takes hits? It's just so frail lol.

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Probably better off investing in offensive stats, that's what the guy was made to do.

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It makes a world of difference. Luke can be 1 shot by gengar with zero investment in hp or def. Mac invest will 1 shot with flash canon. But gengar will outspeed always. However, bulky Luke is a 2 shot death, and can kill gengar with flash canon into bullet. He can also one shot Alakazam with one bullet. He can tank threats he would usually have to switch out of as well. Example:

Special Luke vs blissey

Phys Luke vs heatran

Now these are not problems. Plus Luke finds very powerful use in drain punch when bulky. Luke is just going to get jawwed too often in any set up, so why bother with speed or attack when he can recover a third health to a half each turn while taking a quarter.

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hmmm... i never thought of it like that. turning OHKOs into 2 or 3HKOS to threaten offensive pokemon, while at the same time being able to threaten non-mixed walls with a mixed set and adaptibility. i'll have to build a team around this and see how it does.