How to get Riolu & Lucario in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl

Brent Koepp
Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl Riolu & Lucario where to find screenshot

In the Sinnoh remakes, players can only find Riolu in a special location. Here is how to get it and Lucario in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl.

While Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl bring many new additions to Gen IV, Studio ILCA has largely chosen to stay faithful with its adaptation, including going with the Sinnoh Pokedex over the Platinum version.

This means that getting Riolu and Lucario have once again become tricky to get. Fret not though – below we will break down the quickest ways to get the popular Fighting/Steel-type on your team.

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Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl Riolu and Lucario Pokedex entry screenshot
Players can get their hands on the Fighting-type ‘mon in a special location.

Where to find Riolu & Lucario in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl

Lucario remains a fan-favorite of Gen IV as its dual-typing of Fighting and Steel makes it a potent combination. In order to get the ‘mon on your team, players will have to wait a fair bit into the story.

Trainers will first need to go to Canalave City which requires you to have already unlocked the Surf HM after beating Gym 5 in the Pokemon League. Follow the below steps to find Riolu and Lucario:

  1. Get the Surf HM from Cynthia’s grandmother at Celestic Town. Then defeat Gym Leader Crasher Wake at Pastoria City.
  2. Head back to Jubilife City and take the west exit to Route 218 and use Surf to make your way to Canalave City.
  3. At the bottom left side of Canalave will be a sailor NPC standing in front of his boat. Talk to him.
  4. The sailor will take you to Iron Island where Riolu can ONLY be found in its Egg form.
Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl Lucario map location
Riolu can be found on Iron Island.

How to get Riolu Egg

Once you step off the boat at Iron Island, make your way into the cave. While exploring level two of the cavern, you will eventually run into an NPC named Riley.

He will ask you to team up with him to battle Team Galactic. After defeating Galactic Grunts in dual battles, he will thank you for your help by giving you a Riolu Egg.

You will now need to hatch it. The quickest way to hatch eggs in Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl is to equip the item to your Party and then ride back and forth on your Bicycle until the Egg starts to crack open.

Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl screenshot of Riley giving Riolu egg
Riley will give you the Riolu Egg in the Sinnoh remakes.

How to evolve Riolu into Lucario

Now that Riolu has hatched from your Egg, you just need to level it up to get Lucario… Right? Not so fast! The Fighting-type has some specific steps that need to be taken in order to evolve it.

  1. After hatching Riolu, you need to get raise its friendship level.
  2. You can increase your friendship level either by having Riolu walk outside of its Poke Ball, or giving it Berries to make it happier.
  3. Once you have a one-heart friendship level, you need to level up Riolu during the daytime.
  4. If it’s not the daytime, you can go into your Nintendo Switch settings and adjust your system’s clock between 10AM – 7:59 PM.
  5. And that’s it, Riolu will evolve into Lucario!
Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl screenshot of Lucario Evolution
Riolu will evolve into Lucario after getting its friendship level up high enough.

Although the Grand Underground has allowed players to catch many rare Pokemon in the new location, the only way to get Lucario before the post-game is through the Riolu Egg on Iron Island.

While fans of the Fighting-type will have to wait a while to get the ‘mon, it’s still worth adding to your team as it is a great counter to the Elite 4 and the Sinnoh Champion.


Now that you know how to get Riolu and evolve it into Lucario in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl, take a look at our other BDSP guides and walkthroughs:

How to get Jirachi | How to get Mew | Version exclusives | All Legendary Pokemon | How to get the Poketch | Best starter to pick | All Styles | How to beat all Gym Leaders | How to walk with your Pokemon