For all Lucario fans out there, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl gives you the chance to add the dual Fighting/Steel-type to your roster. Trainers can get Lucario's pre-evolution, Riolu, in two different ways in the game. Here's a guide on where to find Riolu and how to evolve it into Lucario in Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl.

You can get Riolu either during the main game, so you can add Lucario to your party before you face the Elite Four. Alternatively, players can wait for the post-game by unlocking access to the Grand Underground caverns.

This post-game exclusive location is home to a lot of rare Pokémon, including the three Sinnoh starters, for example. You'd have to beat Cynthia and complete the Sinnoh Pokédex, expanding it to the National Dex. Then use the Explorer Kit to head over to the Grand Underground and try your luck at encountering Riolu there.

However, if you don't want to wait that long to get Riolu and Lucario, there's another way for you to obtain this strong Pokémon in Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl. And this time around, it won't be based on luck since you can receive a Riolu egg as a gift. Read on to find out how to get Riolu in the main game.

How to get Riolu in the main game of Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl

To get Riolu in the main game, you'll have to complete the story until Gym 5, or Pastoria Gym, by taking down the water-type Gym Leader Crasher Wake. You'll also need Surf so make sure you've taught the HM to one of your capable Pokémon. Once you get the Riolu egg, do note you still have to work to hatch it following the steps below.

  1. At Celestic Town, obtain HM Surf from Cynthia's grandmother. Teach the move to one of your Pokémon who can learn it (for example, if you got Piplup as your starter, you can teach it to your Prinplup or Empoleon).
  2. Defeat Gym Leader Crasher Wake at Pastoria City. You need to beat Wake before you can use Surf.
  3. Head over to Jubilife City and go west to Route 218. There, you can use Surf to travel across the water to Canalave City.
  4. Once you reach Canalave, go to the bottom left side of the city. You will find a sailor NPC whom you can talk to, and he will take you on his boat to Iron Island.
  5. At Iron Island, head into the cave and go to level 2 where you will run into another NPC called Riley. Riley will ask you to battle with him to take down Team Galactic.
  6. By defeating Team Galactic, Riley will thank you for your help by gifting you a Riolu egg.
  7. To hatch the Riolu egg, you need to accumulate a certain number of steps while having the egg equipped in your party. The fastest way to do this is by hopping onto your bike and just riding around any area in the game until the egg cracks open.
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How to evolve Riolu into Lucario

After you've hatched Riolu from the egg, you need to level it up and accumulate enough friendship points so that it will evolve into Lucario. Here's the steps players can follow to increase the friendship level as quickly as possible.

  1. Raise the friendship level by choosing Riolu to walk outside of its Pokéball as it follows your trainer around the game.
  2. You can also feed Riolu with berries so its happiness will grow.
  3. Try to avoid letting Riolu faint in battle.
  4. Once your friendship with Riolu reaches the one-heart level, it is ready to evolve—you just now need to level Riolu up during the daytime.
  5. Make sure that the clock is set between 10 am to 7:59 pm, and then allow Riolu to gain experience until it levels up. When it does so, it will evolve into Lucario!