You can evolve Riolu into Lucario in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, but it’s not as simple as just hitting the right level. You need to hit level up while also hitting two other requirements.

Lucario is one of the Special Evolutions found in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, and makes use of the friendship and time mechanics introduced in previous generations.

Here's where to find a Riolu if you haven't caught one already, and then how to evolve it into Lucario in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.

Where to find Riolu in Pokémon Scarlet and VioletHow to evolve Riolu into LucarioRiolu and Lucario Pokédex entries7 Things We Liked (& 4 Things We Didn't) About Pokemon Scarlet & Violet - Scarlet & Violet Review

If you'd like to learn more about your Paldea adventure, visit our Pokémon Scarlet and Violet walkthrough.

Where to find Riolu in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

Riolu is an unsurprisingly rare Pokémon. Living in southwestern Paldea, it is technically possible to get this early in the game, but without the right sandwich ability this will be difficult unless you're very lucky.

Lucario, meanwhile, lives on the opposite end of Paldea and is even rarer. You may spot it kicking about the northeast of the map, but this is highly unlikely without the right sandwich abilities.

Both Riolu and Lucario are Fighting-type Pokémon (although Lucario is technically both Fighting and Steel), so if you want to speed up the process, eat a meal that increases the encounter chance of either type.

How to evolve Riolu into Lucario

If you can’t be bothered to hunt down the very rare Lucario, or if you just prefer to evolve Pokémon yourself, you need to know the three requirements for adding the Aura Pokémon to your Pokédex.

To evolve Riolu into Lucario, you must level with high friendship during the daytime.

Levelling up during the daytime is straightforward enough — it's the high friendship that’s tricky. There are several ways to increase your friendship level, but simply having Lucario in your party holding a Soothe Bell is the quickest and easiest way. If you don't have one, you can pick one up from Levincia’s Delibird Presents for 5000 Pokédollars.

Buy a Soothe Bell – it will make your Pokémon friendlier and your life easier.

Other things you can do to level up your friendship include catching Riolu in a Friend Ball, giving it a wash, giving it items it likes (not bitter medicines), leveling it up, having a picnic... basically anything that makes you look like a good trainer.

You want to be at the max tier for friendship for evolution to occur. If you like, you can check your friendship level in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet in Cascarrafa, but since it's impossible to mess up this evolution, your best bet is simply to keep training and hanging out with the Emanation Pokémon until it's ready to evolve!

Riolu and Lucario Pokédex entries

If you're itching to see what the Pokédex entries for the Emination Pokémon and the Aura Pokémon look like, we’ve included them for you below:

Riolu Pokédex entry. Lucario Pokédex entry.

For more help in Paldea, we've got a walkthrough, including help with the Starfall Street, Victory Road, and Path of Legends stories.

To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Manage cookie settings