MookieRah
Kinda Sorta OK at Smash
Ever since we have been bombarded with videos of Brawl I've been keeping up with Lucario. Being the successor of Mewtwo I must say I am a bit biased towards his excellence; however, the info provided here is mostly collected from vids and is quite unbiased.
B Moves
Forward B: Instead of confusion he has this move which is pretty much a slower but longer ranged forward smash. Definitely could be a finisher. You probably wouldn't use this move that much, but the fact that it's there, it has insane range and power, means that when you do use it it will be very effective. When used in close range this move will perform a grab.
Update
I've been told that Force Palm's grab effect cannot be performed in the air, and it's really hard to pull off on the ground. I still haven't seen how this grab is different than his standard grab. If you have any information on this move, please PM me.
Down B: Replacing disable new down B is a counter move. Originally I thought it to have more frames for countering things than Marth's, but according to multiple sources it has less. It also has a lot of lag afterwards. It does good knockback and decent damage when you hit with it, but still, not that great.
It should be noted that when done in the air it makes you fall significantly slower, although I don't think this will have many (if any) practical applications.
Aura Sphere: Seems like it works very similar to Mewtwo's shadowball. It DOES move in a sin wave like the shadowball; however, the more power it has the straighter it gets. At max power it doesn't wave. It looks to be an effective kill move at a somewhat high percent, which makes it not quite as good as Mewtwo's, but considering what they did to Samus's charged shot we should be HAPPY that it wasn't nerfed much. This move DOES give you momentum when shot in the air when it's charged, although it's not even close to how it would slingshot Mewtwo in melee. Perhaps one of the best things about Aura Sphere is that it hits below the stage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjZxv404zFw
Check that crap out at 4:10. Olimar had JUST latched the ledge, and less than a second he is blasted by an Aura Sphere. This has A LOT of implications. For starters, you are no longer granted nearly as many invincibility frames from the ledge as you did in Melee. My guess is that they did this because they made it so easy to sweetspot in the first place. Nevertheless, because Aura Sphere can clear them off the ledge so quickly your opponent will be forced to either get off the ledge immediately or eat an hadoken to the face. This is seriously good news, cause it can be such a mind game into hanging out by the ledge CHARGIN YOUR LASERS all as a trick to just get them to jump from the ledge. Also, because it's a projectile, you could simply place yourself outside of the range of their ledge getup attacks and aerials, and potentially set it up to where they would roll into your charging aura sphere.
Update
I have yet to see Aura Sphere have this effect in any other match other than the ones with Olimar. It could be that this is something that is specific to Olimar; however, I haven't seen this done within such close proximity as it was done in this vid. My guess is that it has a larger vertical hitbox during the early part of the throw than it does later.
Up B: Sadly this doesn't look nearly as good as Mewtwo's teleport. This is the only significant nerf I've seen. It seems to have a similar distance, and he may be invincible during portions of it like Mewtwo's teleport, but the lag you have when you land is considerable. The fact that LeeHarris could take full advantage of this with Ike is proof enough of that. Still, his recovery isn't bad by any means, you will just have to actually PRACTICE using it as opposed to being able to mindlessly recover like half of the cast.
Smashes
Down Smash: OMG this is what I love the most of Lucario's new moves. This is basically a Mewtwo downsmash ON BOTH SIDES. Not only this, IT'S FASTER and almost as much range as his forward smash ON BOTH SIDES! This is RIDICULOUS. It also seems really powerful, like Mewtwo's downsmash. I'm not sure how strong it is in comparison to his other smashes though. I'm really pumped about this move overall. This was the first thing that really caught my eye when I saw the first vids of Lucario.
The best thing about this move is it's range. Apparently Lucario shares one of the most awesome traits of Mewtwo, deceptive hit boxes. The range of the downsmash extends FAR BEYOND the visible area of the attack. This makes it pretty much the SAME RANGE AS THE FORWARD SMASH ON BOTH SIDES. HOLY CRAP.
Check it out:
According to Buzz Lucario's downsmash does not hit very low to the ground :-(. It's a shame, but it's still a small price to pay for such an insane move.
Forward Smash: This looks pretty much the same as Mewtwo's, just that because most characters aren't as fast as they used to be it makes it better overall XD. Mewtwo's forward smash has some deceptive range as well. It hits as high as Lucario himself at the beginning of the attack and still hits fairly high throughout. Check out how it works at 0:06 here: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=Nr0mNzm8bWs
Forward smash doesn't just hit higher than it seems, but also lower, check it out at 0:37 here: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=RYfudnfoK9M
Up Smash: This looks like a viable upwards kill move. The actual attack lasts will hit at any point of the duration after the startup lag and at a certain point it hits a larger area that it did previously. This is very similar to Mewtwo's upsmash, the only big difference being that Lucario's upsmash hits only once and it's a very powerful hit. Check it out at 1:24 here: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=Nr0mNzm8bWs
Aerials
Nair: Wow. It's very similar to Mewtwo's nair. Just replace electricity with blue fire and there you go. According to Buzz this move isn't very spammable like Mewtwo's. Apparently upon it's use in the air you cannot perform another aerial attack (I don't think you can do a B move either). While that is lame it is an excellent aerial and has virtually no landing lag whatsoever. It also has some deceptive range and what appears to be some decent priority, although it's hard to tell if it's the priority or just the fact that Mewtwo's hitboxes can go around other peoples attacks, so it could be that Lucario's works like this too. It's REALLY good to use close to the ground, there is almost no reason not to from this vid. Either way, check it out at 0:23 here: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=RYfudnfoK9M
Fair: This looks to be changed a lot, but it looks better overall than Mewtwo's. It hits your opponent up and away, but at low percent it can still combo. It literally looks like Lucario is smacking his opponent like a soccerball. This seems to have more range than Mewtwo's fair, which makes things sooo much easier for Lucario to make a forward aerial approach. It doesn't look like this will kill until high percents, but it does look like it will combo.
Update:
I noticed today is that his range is also deceptive, although nothing as extreme as most of his other moves. The attack will also hit for pretty much it's entire duration, so if you perform this attack about halfway through someone's air dodge you will likely hit them once they are out of it. Check it out at 0:43 here: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=HGIUY5j91gQ
It's a little hard to spot, but he has just finished performing the aeriel and his momentum catches up to Pit and it hits.
Dair: This is completely different from Mewtwo's, AND it looks like it's priority is **** and it's knockback is very good. This could be a viable kill move for opponents with somewhat high percent, but it looks pretty scary. Since it is composed of multiple hits you can use it and not have to worry too much about pin point accuracy.
It also has a very unique property in which it cancels all aerial momentum, even vertical momentum, when you use it. This allows for a lot of uses. One could use it to stall in the air, fake someone out who is pursuing with uairs, and even crazier stuff. Because it cancels momentum it has NO lag afterwards, as you just fall normally. You can use this move immediately after jumping and has a shffl like effect. This move might be the cornerstone to competitive play with Lucario.
Update
Wow, I wasn't sure if this was effective or not, but apparently it is. Check out the dair as a method to help recovery here at 3:00: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=21trerLpJXc
Check out this very fun use for dair as an edgeguard at 1:28. It also cancels out Pits arrows at around 4:33. http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=xR8J5CGDAaM
Uair: This looks like a good juggle, and is faster than Mewtwo's uair, but not nearly as much vertical range. I could be wrong about the vertical range, as Mewtwo had A LOT of hidden range in his move where his hitbox actually extends farther than how the move looks visually. It is definitely good, but I'm not sure if it's better or worse than Mewtwo's uair.
Bair: I haven't seen this used much. I'd like to see it more. It looks similar to Ganon's old bair, but probably with less knockback. I wasn't a big fan of Mewtwo's bair, so I'm glad to see it replaced with something that looks more viable and doesn't have huge startup lag. The bair has formidable deceptive range as well. Check it out at 1:09 here: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=xR8J5CGDAaM
Ground moves
AAA combo: This looks SWEET. Fast and decent knockback. It's basically a Captain Falcon's "gentleman" combo which was his 3 hit combo without the fast punch follow up. Definitely a good thing. It's got some sick range too. Looks cool to boot.
Dash A: Not bad, not good. He runs and does a kick. Decent amount of lag afterwards. Sorta meh, but that's alright. This does a decent job of setting people up. It doesn't guarantee a combo by any means, but it does put your opponent in a very bad spot.
Tilts
Mewtwo's tilts have incredible priority and tend to clang with even the most powerful of smashes. Sadly, VERY FEW people are actually using his tilts. Everything I hear about them is great, it's just that people are too busy jumping around to actually work up a decent ground game.
Up tilt: Very quick, pretty darn strong, and has huge priority. This move can juggle as well as KO, although considering how knockback decays you will want to probably use this as a method of damaging and leave the upwards KO to your upsmash.
Update
The uptilt hits a lot farther horizontal than it seems. It hits farther horizontal than it actually looks, which is more than even I predicted from this attack. Seriously, the horizontal range is almost at the same level as his ftilt. Check it out at 1:50 here: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=HGIUY5j91gQ
Down tilt: Probably not as good as Mewtwo's. Again, Marcus wasn't using tilts all that much. This move still knocks people somewhat upwards and looks like it will set people up, but it has more power than Mewtwo's dtilt so it's less suited for juggling.
Forward tilt: I've only seen this used a few times. It seems decently powerful, again poo on Marcus for not using his tilts more.
Throws
Down throw: This is the one I see the most. It looks like his best option overall. It doesn't set up as well as Mewtwo's did, but most throws don't XD. Still, a very good throw.
Forward throw: Massive improvement on Mewtwo's POS forward throw. This looks like it has some good knockback. It probably would take a lot to kill someone with this outright, but it could be devastating to characters with poor recoveries.
Back throw: This move definitely doesn't have the power of Mewtwo's old backthrow. It actually reminds me a lot of Marth's back throw, cept that it the knockback can be DIed in such an extreme manner to where it is more vertical than horizontal. Check it out at 4:09 here: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=xR8J5CGDAaM
But yeah. Wow. Lucario is a massively improved Mewtwo with a few changes to his mechanics. Overall he looks like a great character and I look forward to maining him. I can't wait to experiment with things myself.
Apparently Lucario only gets STRONGER as he takes more damage. This coupled with his decent weight and overall good recovery means that you can truly wreck your opponent at massive percents. This is absolutely insane against characters that have a hard time landing KOs like Meta, Diddy, Sonic, and etc. My guess is that cause of this plus his other inherent strengths Lucario will counter these speedy characters.
As Sudai pointed out in this thread, this has some negative sides to it as well. Some combos may only be possible at certain percents of Lucario at certain percents of your opponent. In other words, things get pretty crazy, and you can't really rely on set combos at pretty much any time. Personally, this doesn't bother me too much, because I was a very free form player to begin with. With time people will have a feel for Lucario and they will kinda know when they can do certain things just by experience.
Buzz has mentioned that Lucario's hitboxes are not just deceptively good, as they are also deceptively bad. In other words, sometimes things that look like they would hit don't. In his words "Lucario is tricky."
Wall clinging:
As we've known for the past few days Lucario can cling to walls. He is also unique with this skill as he is the only one that can cling to walls with his up B. This provides Lucario with even more recovery options, which is always a good thing. His wall jump is roughly the same height as his first jump, which is very impressive indeed.
It should be noted that Lucario can't perform another up B until he lands. Wall clinging does not restore his up B.
B Moves
Forward B: Instead of confusion he has this move which is pretty much a slower but longer ranged forward smash. Definitely could be a finisher. You probably wouldn't use this move that much, but the fact that it's there, it has insane range and power, means that when you do use it it will be very effective. When used in close range this move will perform a grab.
Update
I've been told that Force Palm's grab effect cannot be performed in the air, and it's really hard to pull off on the ground. I still haven't seen how this grab is different than his standard grab. If you have any information on this move, please PM me.
Down B: Replacing disable new down B is a counter move. Originally I thought it to have more frames for countering things than Marth's, but according to multiple sources it has less. It also has a lot of lag afterwards. It does good knockback and decent damage when you hit with it, but still, not that great.
It should be noted that when done in the air it makes you fall significantly slower, although I don't think this will have many (if any) practical applications.
Aura Sphere: Seems like it works very similar to Mewtwo's shadowball. It DOES move in a sin wave like the shadowball; however, the more power it has the straighter it gets. At max power it doesn't wave. It looks to be an effective kill move at a somewhat high percent, which makes it not quite as good as Mewtwo's, but considering what they did to Samus's charged shot we should be HAPPY that it wasn't nerfed much. This move DOES give you momentum when shot in the air when it's charged, although it's not even close to how it would slingshot Mewtwo in melee. Perhaps one of the best things about Aura Sphere is that it hits below the stage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjZxv404zFw
Check that crap out at 4:10. Olimar had JUST latched the ledge, and less than a second he is blasted by an Aura Sphere. This has A LOT of implications. For starters, you are no longer granted nearly as many invincibility frames from the ledge as you did in Melee. My guess is that they did this because they made it so easy to sweetspot in the first place. Nevertheless, because Aura Sphere can clear them off the ledge so quickly your opponent will be forced to either get off the ledge immediately or eat an hadoken to the face. This is seriously good news, cause it can be such a mind game into hanging out by the ledge CHARGIN YOUR LASERS all as a trick to just get them to jump from the ledge. Also, because it's a projectile, you could simply place yourself outside of the range of their ledge getup attacks and aerials, and potentially set it up to where they would roll into your charging aura sphere.
Update
I have yet to see Aura Sphere have this effect in any other match other than the ones with Olimar. It could be that this is something that is specific to Olimar; however, I haven't seen this done within such close proximity as it was done in this vid. My guess is that it has a larger vertical hitbox during the early part of the throw than it does later.
Up B: Sadly this doesn't look nearly as good as Mewtwo's teleport. This is the only significant nerf I've seen. It seems to have a similar distance, and he may be invincible during portions of it like Mewtwo's teleport, but the lag you have when you land is considerable. The fact that LeeHarris could take full advantage of this with Ike is proof enough of that. Still, his recovery isn't bad by any means, you will just have to actually PRACTICE using it as opposed to being able to mindlessly recover like half of the cast.
Smashes
Down Smash: OMG this is what I love the most of Lucario's new moves. This is basically a Mewtwo downsmash ON BOTH SIDES. Not only this, IT'S FASTER and almost as much range as his forward smash ON BOTH SIDES! This is RIDICULOUS. It also seems really powerful, like Mewtwo's downsmash. I'm not sure how strong it is in comparison to his other smashes though. I'm really pumped about this move overall. This was the first thing that really caught my eye when I saw the first vids of Lucario.
The best thing about this move is it's range. Apparently Lucario shares one of the most awesome traits of Mewtwo, deceptive hit boxes. The range of the downsmash extends FAR BEYOND the visible area of the attack. This makes it pretty much the SAME RANGE AS THE FORWARD SMASH ON BOTH SIDES. HOLY CRAP.
Check it out:
According to Buzz Lucario's downsmash does not hit very low to the ground :-(. It's a shame, but it's still a small price to pay for such an insane move.
Forward Smash: This looks pretty much the same as Mewtwo's, just that because most characters aren't as fast as they used to be it makes it better overall XD. Mewtwo's forward smash has some deceptive range as well. It hits as high as Lucario himself at the beginning of the attack and still hits fairly high throughout. Check out how it works at 0:06 here: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=Nr0mNzm8bWs
Forward smash doesn't just hit higher than it seems, but also lower, check it out at 0:37 here: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=RYfudnfoK9M
Up Smash: This looks like a viable upwards kill move. The actual attack lasts will hit at any point of the duration after the startup lag and at a certain point it hits a larger area that it did previously. This is very similar to Mewtwo's upsmash, the only big difference being that Lucario's upsmash hits only once and it's a very powerful hit. Check it out at 1:24 here: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=Nr0mNzm8bWs
Aerials
Nair: Wow. It's very similar to Mewtwo's nair. Just replace electricity with blue fire and there you go. According to Buzz this move isn't very spammable like Mewtwo's. Apparently upon it's use in the air you cannot perform another aerial attack (I don't think you can do a B move either). While that is lame it is an excellent aerial and has virtually no landing lag whatsoever. It also has some deceptive range and what appears to be some decent priority, although it's hard to tell if it's the priority or just the fact that Mewtwo's hitboxes can go around other peoples attacks, so it could be that Lucario's works like this too. It's REALLY good to use close to the ground, there is almost no reason not to from this vid. Either way, check it out at 0:23 here: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=RYfudnfoK9M
Fair: This looks to be changed a lot, but it looks better overall than Mewtwo's. It hits your opponent up and away, but at low percent it can still combo. It literally looks like Lucario is smacking his opponent like a soccerball. This seems to have more range than Mewtwo's fair, which makes things sooo much easier for Lucario to make a forward aerial approach. It doesn't look like this will kill until high percents, but it does look like it will combo.
Update:
I noticed today is that his range is also deceptive, although nothing as extreme as most of his other moves. The attack will also hit for pretty much it's entire duration, so if you perform this attack about halfway through someone's air dodge you will likely hit them once they are out of it. Check it out at 0:43 here: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=HGIUY5j91gQ
It's a little hard to spot, but he has just finished performing the aeriel and his momentum catches up to Pit and it hits.
Dair: This is completely different from Mewtwo's, AND it looks like it's priority is **** and it's knockback is very good. This could be a viable kill move for opponents with somewhat high percent, but it looks pretty scary. Since it is composed of multiple hits you can use it and not have to worry too much about pin point accuracy.
It also has a very unique property in which it cancels all aerial momentum, even vertical momentum, when you use it. This allows for a lot of uses. One could use it to stall in the air, fake someone out who is pursuing with uairs, and even crazier stuff. Because it cancels momentum it has NO lag afterwards, as you just fall normally. You can use this move immediately after jumping and has a shffl like effect. This move might be the cornerstone to competitive play with Lucario.
Update
Wow, I wasn't sure if this was effective or not, but apparently it is. Check out the dair as a method to help recovery here at 3:00: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=21trerLpJXc
Check out this very fun use for dair as an edgeguard at 1:28. It also cancels out Pits arrows at around 4:33. http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=xR8J5CGDAaM
Uair: This looks like a good juggle, and is faster than Mewtwo's uair, but not nearly as much vertical range. I could be wrong about the vertical range, as Mewtwo had A LOT of hidden range in his move where his hitbox actually extends farther than how the move looks visually. It is definitely good, but I'm not sure if it's better or worse than Mewtwo's uair.
Bair: I haven't seen this used much. I'd like to see it more. It looks similar to Ganon's old bair, but probably with less knockback. I wasn't a big fan of Mewtwo's bair, so I'm glad to see it replaced with something that looks more viable and doesn't have huge startup lag. The bair has formidable deceptive range as well. Check it out at 1:09 here: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=xR8J5CGDAaM
Ground moves
AAA combo: This looks SWEET. Fast and decent knockback. It's basically a Captain Falcon's "gentleman" combo which was his 3 hit combo without the fast punch follow up. Definitely a good thing. It's got some sick range too. Looks cool to boot.
Dash A: Not bad, not good. He runs and does a kick. Decent amount of lag afterwards. Sorta meh, but that's alright. This does a decent job of setting people up. It doesn't guarantee a combo by any means, but it does put your opponent in a very bad spot.
Tilts
Mewtwo's tilts have incredible priority and tend to clang with even the most powerful of smashes. Sadly, VERY FEW people are actually using his tilts. Everything I hear about them is great, it's just that people are too busy jumping around to actually work up a decent ground game.
Up tilt: Very quick, pretty darn strong, and has huge priority. This move can juggle as well as KO, although considering how knockback decays you will want to probably use this as a method of damaging and leave the upwards KO to your upsmash.
Update
The uptilt hits a lot farther horizontal than it seems. It hits farther horizontal than it actually looks, which is more than even I predicted from this attack. Seriously, the horizontal range is almost at the same level as his ftilt. Check it out at 1:50 here: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=HGIUY5j91gQ
Down tilt: Probably not as good as Mewtwo's. Again, Marcus wasn't using tilts all that much. This move still knocks people somewhat upwards and looks like it will set people up, but it has more power than Mewtwo's dtilt so it's less suited for juggling.
Forward tilt: I've only seen this used a few times. It seems decently powerful, again poo on Marcus for not using his tilts more.
Throws
Down throw: This is the one I see the most. It looks like his best option overall. It doesn't set up as well as Mewtwo's did, but most throws don't XD. Still, a very good throw.
Forward throw: Massive improvement on Mewtwo's POS forward throw. This looks like it has some good knockback. It probably would take a lot to kill someone with this outright, but it could be devastating to characters with poor recoveries.
Back throw: This move definitely doesn't have the power of Mewtwo's old backthrow. It actually reminds me a lot of Marth's back throw, cept that it the knockback can be DIed in such an extreme manner to where it is more vertical than horizontal. Check it out at 4:09 here: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=xR8J5CGDAaM
But yeah. Wow. Lucario is a massively improved Mewtwo with a few changes to his mechanics. Overall he looks like a great character and I look forward to maining him. I can't wait to experiment with things myself.
Apparently Lucario only gets STRONGER as he takes more damage. This coupled with his decent weight and overall good recovery means that you can truly wreck your opponent at massive percents. This is absolutely insane against characters that have a hard time landing KOs like Meta, Diddy, Sonic, and etc. My guess is that cause of this plus his other inherent strengths Lucario will counter these speedy characters.
As Sudai pointed out in this thread, this has some negative sides to it as well. Some combos may only be possible at certain percents of Lucario at certain percents of your opponent. In other words, things get pretty crazy, and you can't really rely on set combos at pretty much any time. Personally, this doesn't bother me too much, because I was a very free form player to begin with. With time people will have a feel for Lucario and they will kinda know when they can do certain things just by experience.
Buzz has mentioned that Lucario's hitboxes are not just deceptively good, as they are also deceptively bad. In other words, sometimes things that look like they would hit don't. In his words "Lucario is tricky."
Wall clinging:
As we've known for the past few days Lucario can cling to walls. He is also unique with this skill as he is the only one that can cling to walls with his up B. This provides Lucario with even more recovery options, which is always a good thing. His wall jump is roughly the same height as his first jump, which is very impressive indeed.
It should be noted that Lucario can't perform another up B until he lands. Wall clinging does not restore his up B.
