Pokemon Scarlet & Violet feature a range of Pokemon new and old for players to catch, train, and utilize in battle. One such Pokemon is Riolu, a fighting type from generation IV who evolves into the fighting/steel type Lucario, which got its own movie alongside Mew prior to the release of Diamond and Pearl.
Riolu in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet is a Fighting type Pokemon with decent attack and speed stats, but low Special attack and fairly mediocre HP, Special Defense, and Defense. It has a decent move pool from the offset, consisting of decent fighting moves like Force Palm, Metal Claw for Steel type coverage and STAB after it evolves, and useful buffing moves like Swords Dance and Work Up. It can also learn some very dangerous attacks like Close Combat and Drain Punch via TMs. It can also learn Crunch to give it an easy counter to Psychic types, one of its main weaknesses, in the same way.
How To Find A Riolu
Riolu is a rarely seen Pokemon and can be found in South Province Area 4. It can be found by flying to west Cortondo and then heading south towards the area seen on the map above. It can be found under a naturally forming stone arch and caught in the usual way. If it is defeated it will eventually respawn, and this can be forced by heading far enough away from that spot for a full day (waiting a full day/night cycle in Mesagoza should do it).
How To Evolve Riolu
Now that players have found a Riolu they'll need to get it to evolve, and this requires its friendship to be increased. Riolu needs almost maximum friendship in order to evolve into Lucario and achieve its full power. If you want exact numbers, its friendship needs to be 220 or higher. There are a number of ways to raise friendship, but the easiest and least costly method is simply battling and earning experience with Riolu, which will steadily raise its friendship while also helping it to grow stronger.
Washing Pokemon during picnics and allowing them to wander around freely in Let's Go Mode are other excellent ways to improve friendship, and giving a Pokemon the "Soothe Bell" to hold will improve the effectiveness of all friendship-increasing activities. A Soothe bell can be acquired from a Delibird Presents shop. Catching Riolu in a Friend Ball will also boost its friendship gain rate, so using both is ideal.
Pokémon Scarlet & Violet are available for Nintendo Switch.