Zauron
Smash Journeyman
I tested Lucario a decent amount over the last 48 hours on my friend's import copy. Found some interesting tidbits. Here's the details.
First and foremost, Lucario has a special property no one else in Brawl has - the more damaged Lucario is, the more damage and knockback all his attacks do. It seems to max out at 200% damage. A move that normally did 15% damage did 26% damage when he was at 200%, and knocked the opponent back about twice as far as normal.
One of the events in Event Mode actually is centered around this property, probably to make sure players know about it. It puts Lucario at around 200% damage and says to use his increased power to KO his opponents (this event also unlocks a new stage, incidentally). One Side+B instantly KO'd the enemies at normal difficulty for the event, but I don't know how strong the enemies actually were since it was an event and often enemies are handicapped in them.
Special moves:
NOTE: I don't play Pokemon so I don't know the real names of these moves, sorry.
B - Charged Shot - MewTwo style. Meaning it can hurt people while charging. At low charge it moves in a wavy pattern like MewTwo's. At high charge it flies fast and straight like Samus's.
Important Note: The maximum size of the charged shot energy ball is affected by Lucario's current damage percent. At 200% damage, its almost the size of his entire body, and very very powerful.
Interesting side use: My friend and I used Lucario to beat 15 minute multi-man Brawl with ease. We each used Lucario, stood under a platform, faced each other, and started charging our nuetral B so that the energy balls overlapped. If an enemy touched the charging energy balls, they'd get permenantly stuck between them and go up to 999 damage without ever moving. Eventually, we managed to get all the enemies stuck at the same time, and just waited for the timer to run down
.
Side B - Forward energy blast. Somewhat slow, decent range, powerful when Lucario is at high damage.
Important Note: If used at point-blank range, this move becomes a quick grab and slam away, somewhat like Bowser's original Side-B from Melee. This makes it a great approach move, as if they are far away it will hit them and keep your distance, but if you get close they can't block it because its a grab move.
Down B - Counter (like Marth). If hit at the beginning, Lucario warps and hits his opponent from behind. I'm not sure how it works with Projectiles (never pulled it off) but it might warp to the person that shot it and hit them, which would be neat.
However, this move has a major downside - like Marth's, he is vulnerable after using it until the animation finishes. The big downside though is that the time the actual reflection part of the move lasts is shorter than Marth's, but the time he is vulnerable after is almost twice as long. Most of the time I used this I ended up getting hit anyway.
Up B - Fast warp. Does no damage. Works kind of like Fox's Up+B in that he pauses for a moment (not as long as Fox) then goes in the direction you are pressing. However, he can also change his trajectory while traveling, making him move in an arc, which looks pretty neat. Also, unlike other Up+B's, he can Wall Cling if he hits a wall during it, which is good for extra recovery options.
Final Smash - Big energy bolt that can be aimed in any direction with your stick, fired from far above the stage. Pretty cool looking and deadly.
I can't remember all the details of his A moves, but you can see some videos for that.
The one thing I did want to say is that he still feels like "MewTwo that doesn't suck" to me. He's about as floaty, but heavier (doesn't die as easily), he has a similar double jump, his moves are somewhat sluggish (he's not a quick character). However, his attacks are much more effective than MewTwo's, and I'm sure his special property of doing more damage when he is hurt will be an interesting component of his gameplay.
Hope you guys found this useful - I don't plan to main Lucario at the moment so likely won't post any more here, but mostly just wanted to explain about his special property since I didn't see anyone else mention it before.
First and foremost, Lucario has a special property no one else in Brawl has - the more damaged Lucario is, the more damage and knockback all his attacks do. It seems to max out at 200% damage. A move that normally did 15% damage did 26% damage when he was at 200%, and knocked the opponent back about twice as far as normal.
One of the events in Event Mode actually is centered around this property, probably to make sure players know about it. It puts Lucario at around 200% damage and says to use his increased power to KO his opponents (this event also unlocks a new stage, incidentally). One Side+B instantly KO'd the enemies at normal difficulty for the event, but I don't know how strong the enemies actually were since it was an event and often enemies are handicapped in them.
Special moves:
NOTE: I don't play Pokemon so I don't know the real names of these moves, sorry.
B - Charged Shot - MewTwo style. Meaning it can hurt people while charging. At low charge it moves in a wavy pattern like MewTwo's. At high charge it flies fast and straight like Samus's.
Important Note: The maximum size of the charged shot energy ball is affected by Lucario's current damage percent. At 200% damage, its almost the size of his entire body, and very very powerful.
Interesting side use: My friend and I used Lucario to beat 15 minute multi-man Brawl with ease. We each used Lucario, stood under a platform, faced each other, and started charging our nuetral B so that the energy balls overlapped. If an enemy touched the charging energy balls, they'd get permenantly stuck between them and go up to 999 damage without ever moving. Eventually, we managed to get all the enemies stuck at the same time, and just waited for the timer to run down
.Side B - Forward energy blast. Somewhat slow, decent range, powerful when Lucario is at high damage.
Important Note: If used at point-blank range, this move becomes a quick grab and slam away, somewhat like Bowser's original Side-B from Melee. This makes it a great approach move, as if they are far away it will hit them and keep your distance, but if you get close they can't block it because its a grab move.
Down B - Counter (like Marth). If hit at the beginning, Lucario warps and hits his opponent from behind. I'm not sure how it works with Projectiles (never pulled it off) but it might warp to the person that shot it and hit them, which would be neat.
However, this move has a major downside - like Marth's, he is vulnerable after using it until the animation finishes. The big downside though is that the time the actual reflection part of the move lasts is shorter than Marth's, but the time he is vulnerable after is almost twice as long. Most of the time I used this I ended up getting hit anyway
.Up B - Fast warp. Does no damage. Works kind of like Fox's Up+B in that he pauses for a moment (not as long as Fox) then goes in the direction you are pressing. However, he can also change his trajectory while traveling, making him move in an arc, which looks pretty neat. Also, unlike other Up+B's, he can Wall Cling if he hits a wall during it, which is good for extra recovery options.
Final Smash - Big energy bolt that can be aimed in any direction with your stick, fired from far above the stage. Pretty cool looking and deadly.
I can't remember all the details of his A moves, but you can see some videos for that.
The one thing I did want to say is that he still feels like "MewTwo that doesn't suck" to me. He's about as floaty, but heavier (doesn't die as easily), he has a similar double jump, his moves are somewhat sluggish (he's not a quick character). However, his attacks are much more effective than MewTwo's, and I'm sure his special property of doing more damage when he is hurt will be an interesting component of his gameplay.
Hope you guys found this useful - I don't plan to main Lucario at the moment so likely won't post any more here, but mostly just wanted to explain about his special property since I didn't see anyone else mention it before.
