Lucario has long been one of the most popular and powerful Pokemon in the franchise, admired for its strong Fighting-Steel typing, incredible versatility in battle, and, of course, its badass design that only a handful of Pokemon can level with.
It’s no surprise that many players aim to evolve Riolu into Lucario as early as possible in Pokemon Black 2 and White 2.
However, evolving Riolu isn’t as simple as leveling it up. In fact, the first time I tried it, I trained my Riolu all the way to Level 42 and was still wondering why it wasn’t evolving.
In this guide, I’ll teach you how to evolve Riolu in Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 so you can add Lucario to your team without any confusion in the evolution process. Let’s go!
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How to Get Riolu in Pokemon Black 2 and White 2
- Location: Floccesy Ranch (north of Floccesy Town)
- Availability: Early game, after receiving your starter Pokemon
- Encounter Rate: Approximately 5% in tall grass
- Level Range: Around Level 5
If you already have a Riolu, you can just skip this part.
You can get Riolu fairly early in Pokemon Black 2 and White 2, but it’s easy to miss if you’re not intentionally searching for it.
Riolu appears as a rare encounter on Floccesy Ranch, located just north of Floccesy Town. This area is accessible soon after you receive your starter Pokemon.
It has around a 5% encounter rate in the tall grass, so patience is key when searching. The wild Riolu you’ll find here are usually around Level 5, making them easy to catch early on. If you’re struggling, bring a few Quick Balls or Great Balls to improve your odds.
If you’re an expert Trainer already, then you can also breed a Lucario later in the game to hatch Riolu from an egg.
How to Evolve Riolu in Pokemon Black 2 and White 2
Riolu’s evolution in Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 often confuses players because it doesn’t follow the usual leveling-up evolution method.
To evolve Riolu into Lucario, it must first reach high Friendship (220 or higher) and then level up during the daytime.
Daytime in-game is between 4:00 AM and 8:00 PM. Later, I’ll teach you how you can manipulate the DS time mechanics to evolve Riolu anytime you want.
Even if you level Riolu to 100, it won’t evolve unless its Friendship Value (FV) meets this threshold.
Friendship is a hidden stat that measures how happy or close your Pokemon feels toward you. Actions like walking, winning battles, and using vitamins increase it, while fainting lowers it.
Black 2 and White 2 uses the same Friendship formula from Generation 4, meaning strategies that worked in Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum will also work here.
Let’s get deeper into these methods so you can get your hands on Lucario.
Increasing Riolu’s Friendship
1. Walk With Riolu in Your Party
Every 256 steps increases Friendship by a small amount. Keep Riolu in your party as you explore around the game.
2. Win Battles Without Letting It Faint
Winning battles gives a Friendship boost, but fainting causes a loss. Avoid letting Riolu take too much damage or faint.
3. Use Vitamins and Items
Items like Protein, Iron, and Calcium raise Friendship slightly, along with stats. You can buy these at shopping malls such as Join Avenue.
4. Level up and Use Healing Items
Leveling up naturally raises Friendship slightly. Using items like Potions or status healers during battle also gives a small increase.
5. Use Massages and the Groomer
You can only do this later in your journey, but you can visit the groomer in Castelia City once per day for a free Friendship boost. Each massage adds around 30–40 Friendship points.
6. Avoid Negative Actions
Letting Riolu faint, using bitter Herbal Medicine, or storing it in the PC box for long periods decreases Friendship. Keep it in your team and take care of it like you would a real Pokemon.
Combine these methods and check Riolu’s happiness using the NPC in Nimbasa City who rates your Pokemon’s Friendship. Once Riolu reaches 220 Friendship, level it up during the day to evolve it into Lucario.
Evolving Riolu During Daytime
Riolu can only evolve into Lucario when it levels up at daytime, which is between 4:00 AM and 8:00 PM in Pokemon Black 2 and White 2.
If you try to evolve it at night, nothing will happen, even if your Friendship is maxed out. But did you know that you don’t actually have to wait for hours in-game to do this?
Here’s how you can evolve Riolu at any time, depending on your device or emulator:
For Nintendo DS
The DS’s clock directly controls in-game time, so unlike emulators, no restart or real-time clock toggling is needed.
- Save and close your game completely.
- Open System Settings – Other Settings – Date & Time. Adjust the time to any point between 4:00 AM and 8:00 PM.
- Restart your game and load your save file.
- Level up Riolu once during that in-game daytime period.
For DeSmuME
- Go to the top menu and select Config – Emulation Settings.
- Enable Use Real-Time Clock (RTC)
- Close the emulator completely.
- Change your computer’s system time to any point between 4:00 AM and 8:00 PM.
- Relaunch DeSmuME and load your game.
- Level up Riolu
For MelonDS
- Go to Config – Emu Settings and enable “Sync host clock” under the Real-Time Clock options.
- Close MelonDS.
- Adjust your PC’s clock to any point between 4:00 AM and 8:00 PM.
- Reopen the emulator and load your save file.
- Level up Riolu once more, and it should evolve into Lucario.
No matter which of these devices you are using, as long as Riolu has enough Friendship, it will evolve into Lucario.
Conclusion
Now you know how to evolve Riolu in Pokemon Black 2 and White 2. Having Lucario on your team is one of the most satisfying feelings in your Unova journey.
Not to mention its incredible typing, balanced stats, and wide move pool make it one of the strongest and most versatile Pokemon in these games.
We also have our collection of cheats for these games;
If you want more helpful guides like this or are looking for cheats for your favorite Pokemon games, then Pokemoncoders is the place for you.
