Turn Riolu into Lucario in Minutes with this Cheap Café Trick in Pokémon Legends: Z-A
Evolving Riolu into Lucario in Pokémon Legends: Z-A is driven by friendship, not a simple level-up. In short, you need Riolu to be very friendly during the daytime, and there are a few clear ways to raise that friendship until it evolves.
- How to evolve Riolu
- Ways to increase friendship
- Fastest method (testing results)
- Checking for evolution
- Extra tips
How to evolve Riolu in Pokémon Legends: Z-A
To get Riolu to evolve into Lucario, you must raise its friendship level and then trigger the evolution while it is daytime in-game. Unlike many Pokémon that evolve purely by reaching a certain level, Riolu requires a high bond with you first. Once friendship is high enough, Riolu will evolve the next time it would normally level up during daytime, or when the game recognizes the friendship trigger.
Ways to increase friendship
There are several reliable methods to boost Riolu’s friendship. Use them together for faster results.
- Get a drink for Riolu at a café.
- Hang out with Riolu on a bench in the city.
- Level up Riolu through battles.
- Use friendship-raising items directly on Riolu.
Fastest method (testing results)
In practice, the quickest and cheapest method is to use the café drinks. Specifically, Fresh Water or Sparkling Water each cost $100 and grant the same friendship increase per serving. During testing, a newly caught Riolu evolved after four café drinks, so expect to spend about $400 if you start from low friendship.
Checking for evolution
After each café visit, open the Pokémon menu and look at Riolu’s portrait. If there’s an arrow next to its picture, that indicates Riolu is ready to evolve. Then make sure it’s daytime and either level it up or perform the action that would normally trigger evolution.
Extra tips
Also, keep these practical points in mind: the process is gradual, so patience helps. Furthermore, combining café drinks with bench hangouts or a few levels will speed things up. Finally, once Riolu evolves, it becomes Lucario — a strong fighting/steel-type that’s useful early and mid-game.
