Lucario neutral game discussion

[ZaloMonkada]

I've been having some trouble with lucarios neutral game. I know this is one of the weaker aspects of the character so let's talk about the options we have to work with! Right now I usually do one of the following:

-dash dance into dash attack
-dash dance into full hop / short hop fair
-space bairs
-fair or nair through them or fair/ nair > down b away

Discuss!

 

[bec]

if they shield a short hop nair you can usually get a free force palm if you space it right.
now that he starts with aura though, i would say don't be afraid to down b + aerial or tilt to approach. i don't know how you play but burning aura is no big deal because of how easy it is to rack up another charge as long as you can get in. i've played exercises before where i have to use aura very soon after getting it rather than store it up like i used to and it is so much more fun and more interesting to play that way.

and! aura spheres. use aura spheres to force an approach on your terms if you can. grounded aura spheres force an aerial approach and vice versa. and some people just don't know how to deal with constant projectiles. this isn't the most fun way to play but it can be good for matchups you're not sure about by making them come to you in a predictable manner.

 

[~Frozen~]

If you have an aura charge, which Lucario now gets at the start of the match and on respawns, know that just the thought of DownB cancel as an approach option can make opponents feel uncomfortable/unsafe, and can cause them to be more open to Lucario's other options. I'd recommend getting to know DownB cancel thoroughly as it's the best use of his aura charges imo.

 

[AbstractLogic]

I would like to add that most of lucario's advantage comes from his ground speed so make liberal use of DD. His Down-B is possibly the best approach tool out there atm. Lucario's Side-B/Grab mixups are very soild and honestly underutilized imo. Do not be afraid to cancel normals into side-B when an opponent shields.

 

[Giygacoal]

Yo Frozen, Zygarde is pretty based.

Also, you can buffer cancel in both up b and down b. just hold the a button and cancel activates asap. good for offense.

 

[bec]

something we were playing with tonight was cancelling up b to approach. get a hit with up b and cancel by pressing A and then you can act right away to pick up a combo. there's less lag and you can act quickly with just about anything from that. i need to try it out more but approaching that way could be super viable.

 

[AbstractLogic]

As a side-note, the biggest way to improve your neutral game as a player is to just watch your opponent more closely. Lucario has plenty of fast options to punish whiffs or even poorly spaced attacks so that shouldn't be the issue. Try to look more into baiting unsafe options that you can for sure capitalize on. The way you do this is entirely up to you, but from what I've seen empty full/short hops are effective along with "random" down-b approaches. Dash attack is solid and especially works well with OHC but try to not use it much as it can become easy to read after a while. Lucario has a lot of potential for a great neutral game, the key is just not be predictable.

 

[Darkgun]

As Nausicaa noted in the Official Discussion thread, a pretty solid option for approach with Lucario is DD>grab/JCgrab. You get some pretty reliably follow-ups with throws. Most of the fancy things come out of dash dancing in fact, so whatever you end up using, it will likely also feature a liberal amount of DD to get there.

I am now kind of to the point where I would say that approaching with Dash Attack is actually a poor approach option, unless used against an opponent who is not grounded. The move can set up into some decent combo opportunities, but the percentages in which it does this also usually are the percentages in which the opponent can CC and punish, and lord have mercy should you fail to connect. I wouldn't go so far as to say never use the move, but it's use should be sparingly, in my opinion. (I will not deny that this view might be swayed by my practicing buddy CCing everything. :T)