Riolu and Lucario have been one of the most iconic fighting Pokémon in the franchise. Lucario has great stats, which combines one of the best offensive types with one of the best defensive types, and moves that can potentially change the course of a battle. Before we get into training and evolving Riolu into Lucario, we need to first get ourselves a Riolu. Here are the steps mentioned below:
Steps to Acquire Riolu:
- Obtain HM Surf from Cynthia’s grandmother in Celestic Town. Teach the move to a Pokémon that can learn it.
- Canalave City, located in the far west of the Sinnoh map, will be accessible to players after beating the fifth gym leader. There, A sailor will take players on a boat to Iron Island, an island far north of the city.
- Players will need to navigate through the cave till they reach an NPC named Riley who teams up with you. After going through a battle with Team Galactic, he will reward you with a mysterious egg.
- The player will have to hatch the egg by either carrying it for 6,000 steps. The quickest way to hatch an egg is to find a straight path that allows you to ride your bike back and forth without stopping. This specific egg will hatch a Riolu.
- Players can also wait for the post-game by unlocking access to the Grand Underground caverns to encounter many rare Pokémon including Riolu.
Evolving Riolu to Lucario:
During the day, players can evolve their Riolu into a Lucario by increasing its happiness level to a certain value. So, make sure to have Riolu walking with you to increase happiness.
To quicken this process, head to Yellowstone city departmental store and get protein, iron and calcium for Riolu. Make Riolu consume these vitamins in the same order, which will result in a sharp increase in happiness. You can also further enhance happiness by making Riolu carry Soothe Bell which can be acquired from Route 212 in the Pokémon mansion by talking to one of the maids. This step is optional, but will definitely quicken the process of evolution.
The next step after this is to get Riolu some experience. This can be done more quickly if you put Riolu in front of the party and swap it on the first turn during battle. The experience from the battle and accumulated happiness will most likely trigger an evolution to Lucario.