Lucario verses Ike. Personally, this is no less than a 60-40 for Lucario (in my own twisted opinion).
Let's get started. Ike's Jab is very good. It seems like one of his fastest, and one of his best moves to use. Unless we're just barely far back enough for our Aura to just barely out range it, his Jab beats ours when used at the same time. It will clank with us at mid range, and will outright damage us at close range, so you're going to have to try to stay out of his range (if that's even possible). Lucario's floaty enough to not have to worry about his Jab Cancel, though. His Dash has Good Range, but he himself is very slow, and it takes a little bit of time to use it, so it's easy to dodge. His Forward Tilt outranges ours by a little bit, but ours is much faster than his. His Down Tilt is good to try to kill us if we grab the ledge, but otherwise, it feels a bit too slow to use. Beware of his Uptilt. It's kinda fast, and can allow him to follow up with one of his Aerials.
Speaking of which, because of that blasted sword, his Aerials all are actually good. His Forward Aerial has the LONGEST Range of Any Aerial in the Game, and there's very little we can say or do about it. The Ike Boards consider their Neutral Aerial their best move, being able to hit all around most of Ike's body for good range and damage, as well as being canceled on the ground into his jabs or grabs. His Down Aerial is great at Spiking, and some Ikes like to use it on the stage by running, short hoping, and then using it so that you get hit by the end of the move. Up Aerial lasts a dang long time and kills pretty quickly. He can get you while you're falling back down with this move. And HOLY**** is his Back Aerial Fast! Another good kill move, too. I don't like trying to fight Ike in the air unless you're starting the fight.
Ike's Forward Smash is BEAST GANON POWERFUL, but also very ....sssssssssllllllllooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww..... so it's probably your fault if you get hit by it. That being said, DON'T GET HIT BY IT! A kill on the edge of Final Destination at 50% is nothing to be toyed with. His Up Smash is probably his best Smash, hitting all around him and doing moderate damage and knock back. His Down Smash destroys Rolls (.... **** ...), so don't get too Rolly around Ike. Eruption has a nifty Super Armor Effect, plus it can help stall him in the air, not to mention to keep us from desstroying him upon landing. Counter is... a better version of our Double Team, but still, virtually the same weaknesses apply. Quick Draw is an okay move, but since it's laggy when used on the ground (but not as much lag upon use in the air and landing), not to mention we can gimp his recovery if he has to use this to get back to stage, Ike will mainly use this while over the stage, just to get around. Aether is probably the better of his recovery moves, not to mention it can combo you if you've been freshly launched into the air, so try to avoid that. Ike doesn't seem to use his grabs as much as his other moves, but they're still there. A Good Pummel and his Forward Throw are the biggest things to look out for, though.
Against Ike, he'll have to Approach you, or else you can simply Aura Sphere him to Death. Don't try to use too many slow moves: (Slow-Moves-That-Are-Strong-When-You're-About-To-Die) vs (Slow-Moves-That-Are-Automatically-Strong-And-Can-Kill-You-Very-Early) seems to be in Ike's favor. Use Faster moves against him. Tilts and Short Hoped Aerials are very good for the Soul. Ike is another one of those Fatty-Fat-Fat-Fats that gets easily stringed by our Force Palm, so don't let that go to waste. Shield Grabing him to abuse any non fast attack he uses is a great way to battle him (in my opinion). But don't fight him in the Air. (In my opinion) Ike will dominate us if we try to battle him in a glorious battle amoungst the clouds. Try to keep his Fat *** ground bound, where he's **** food for your graby little hands. Feel free to use your many short-hoped Aerials on him, though.
In Total, Ike in Brawl is what Ganondorf SHOULD HAVE BEEN: A Slow Power House with a Sword. Ikendorf will keep you on your toes, and can slaughter you incredibly quick if you aren't constantly on alert. Thankfully, you can outspeed him and decimate him with your combo attacks, so he's not too much of a threat. Again, I think this matchup is a 60:40 Lucario.
. Then again, Lucario is a wifi character himself. *sigh* I wish I had the ability to play offline.
