Lucario, the Fighting and Steel-type Pokémon, is a fan favorite known for its powerful moves and cool design. But before you can unleash its full potential, you need to know how to evolve its pre-evolution, Riolu. This guide provides a concise summary of the evolution process.
The Key to Lucario's Evolution: Friendship
Unlike many Pokémon that evolve through leveling up or using specific items, Riolu's evolution hinges entirely on friendship. This means you need to build a strong bond with your Riolu before it will evolve into Lucario.
Building Friendship: Practical Steps
There are several ways to increase your Riolu's friendship level:
- Leveling Up: While not directly increasing friendship, battling and winning alongside Riolu provides experience and subtly boosts its happiness.
- Using Vitamins: Items like Carbos, Calcium, Iron, Zinc, Protein, and HP Up increase Riolu's stats and contribute to its overall happiness.
- Winning Battles: Success in battles significantly boosts Riolu's happiness.
- Grooming: Using items like the Soothe Bell significantly accelerates friendship growth. The Soothe Bell is a key item that you should attach to your Riolu.
- Feeding Berries: Some berries can also increase happiness, making them useful to your friendship-building efforts.
- Talking to it: Regularly checking on your Pokémon and interacting with it through the Poké-Amie or similar features can help build your bond. Even though Riolu may not seem to respond, it's still very effective.
The Evolution Trigger: Leveling Up at High Friendship
Once your Riolu's friendship level is sufficiently high, leveling it up to level 30 will trigger its evolution into Lucario.
Determining Friendship Level
While there's no direct meter to show your Riolu's friendship level, observing its behavior in battle and outside of battle will provide clues. For example, a happy Riolu might display increased loyalty and effectiveness in battle.
Conclusion: Patience and Care Yield Results
Evolving Riolu into Lucario requires patience and nurturing. Focus on building a strong bond with your Riolu through consistent care and engagement. Once your friendship is high enough, the evolution is guaranteed upon reaching level 30. Good luck, Trainer!
