[Analysis] Mega Lucario and Force Palm Lucario as raid attackers

Did you think there’s no way Niantic could improve Lucario (as a fighting type) even further, much less with an exclusive move? I thought so, too. Sadly, that was wrong.

Mega Lucario raid day happens on Saturday, July 27. All Lucario caught during the event will know the raid-exclusive fast move, Force Palm. Today, we will look at how well Lucario performs in raids with the new move, whether mega evolved or not.

Main Points (TL;DR)

Mega Lucario is in a tier of its own among fighting attackers, at least in individual power. With the exclusive move Force Palm, it’s 22% stronger than the next best alternative, Mega Heracross.

• Such dominance is reminiscent of other iconic megas for raids, like the Primals, Mega Charizard Y and Mega Blaziken (fire), and once-upon-a-time Mega Gengar.
• One caveat though: Mega Lucario is not the best team player. Due to its very low bulk, if your goal is to maximize group damage, Mega Lucario is slightly less ideal than bulkier alternatives, such as Mega Heracross, the eventual Mega Mewtwo X, and even a Primal hiding in the 6th slot.
• Non-legacy Counter Lucario is perfectly fine as a mega, and remains well above its competitors.

Even when not mega evolved, regular Force Palm Lucario still offers a sizable upgrade of ~8% over Counter. This allows it to approach Shadow Machamp level and greatly solidifies its position as the best regular non-legendary fighting attacker.

• Conkeldurr and Shadow Hariyama are now solidly behind Force Palm Lucario (albeit Conkeldurr is much cheaper). Terrakion remains well ahead, though.
• Rarely do raid attackers see such upgrades from a legacy fast move, which might make it a good Elite Fast TM candidate.
• (Note: If past events are any indication, you would likely be able to get Force Palm by evolving Riolu during the raid day. Don’t do this until there’s confirmation from New Zealand, though. Also, unlock a second move before evolving!)

Mega Lucario may also be a “budget” Steel attacker and mega for those who are short on resources, but it’s not a particularly good one. All things considered, it’s probably worse than Mega Aggron etc.

Future Pokemon and speculations (Shadow Lucario, Mega Mewtwo Y, and more) are discussed in its dedicated section towards the end of the article.

My analyses of other types are in this spreadsheet. You can also follow me on Twitter (X) and Threads!

Charts

Fighting attackers, in general

Fighting attackers, Comparisons

Fighting Megas

Steel attackers, in general

Steel Megas

Future and speculative Fighting attackers

A very quick note on comparisons involving regular Lucario

Lucario is very frail, which you probably…