Pokemon Legends Z-A Riolu Locations Guide

Lucario’s appeal remains strong in Pokemon Legends: Z-A, blending Fighting and Steel types with versatile stats that reward diverse move sets. After testing the waters with Mega Lucario in your first Rogue Mega Evolution encounter, you’re bound to want one on your team. But that means tracking down Riolu — luckily, it’s pretty accessible, and you can even snag one through trade. Tracking one down is part of what makes this game’s exploration so rewarding.

The quickest way to get a Riolu is by trading with an NPC named Bond, tied to the side quest An Abra Playmate . This mission unlocks after you finish the main story mission Chase That Mysterious Pokemon! Once unlocked, head to Academie Etoile , near Wild Zone 3 , where Bond will be waiting.

You’ll need to catch an Abra first to complete Bond’s trade. Abra can be found on the rooftops of Wild Zone 5, accessed via the ladder on the top left side of that zone. Once you’ve snagged Abra, return to Bond to make the trade. You’ll receive 300 Pokedollars, 5 Exp. Candy XS, and a Riolu affectionately nicknamed Riolouie.

Bond’s Riolu comes with a preset nickname you can’t change, which might be a dealbreaker if you want a Riolu with a name of your own choosing. That’s where wild Riolu hunting comes in.

That being said, Bond’s Riolu has an nickname you can’t change. As clever a nickname Riolouie may be, I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted a Riolu to truly call your own. So here’s all you need to know to catch one in the wild.

Tracking Riolu in the wild means paying close attention to weather and time, as it only appears when it’s sunny . Check this at any time by opening your menu and looking at the top right corner for a sun icon. If conditions aren’t right — if it’s cloudy or nighttime — sitting on a bench will advance time and potentially shift the weather to sunny.

Rouge Sector 4 is a reliable spot to spot Riolu. You’ll find it atop the long building there, located by first using the Holovator left of Wild Zone 3 to reach a nearby rooftop, then gliding with your Roto-Glide to Rouge Sector 4’s building. Once on the roof, look to the bottom left corner for Riolu.

Rouge Sector 4

Accessing Rouge Sector 4’s rooftop means you need to have unlocked Roto-Glide, which becomes available after beginning main mission A Rogue Mega Beedrill. If you haven’t reached this point yet, you’ll want to advance the story before trying this method.

Because Roto-Glide is required to make it to this rooftop, you won’t be able to reach it until you’ve started Main Mission 16, A Rogue Mega Beedrill. So if you’re not far enough in the main story, progress a bit before trying to catch Riolu this way.

Another good location is the blue rooftop in Magenta Sector 9 . This rectangular building is found near Wild Zone 18 . From there, head down the street between Magenta Sector 9 and Quasartico Inc., enter the second alleyway on your right, and climb the scaffolding to reach the rooftop.

Once on the rooftop, turn right, cross to a red rooftop, then use the small bridge to reach the adjacent blue rooftop (some players may need to enter and exit Wild Zone 18 to access the bridge). The Riolu will be waiting there, and occasionally you might even encounter an alpha Riolu.

Once you’ve reached the top, turn right and make your way across to a red rooftop, then across a small bridge to a blue rooftop after that (this will require entering and exiting Wild Zone 18 for some folks). Just turn right and run to the blue rooftop on the other side, and a Riolu will be there — sometimes even an alpha!

To evolve Riolu into Lucario, it must be daytime and your Riolu must have high friendship . Friendship starts at zero, and you need to raise it to 160 points for the evolution to trigger.

Friendship gains slow as your Pokémon gets closer to max, so to gauge where you stand, visit the trainer with her Roselia at Cafe Pokemon Amie after completing Side Mission 25, Trubblesome Patrons. She provides general feedback on your Pokémon’s friendship.

The points accumulated for some activities that raise friendship will get lower as a Pokemon’s friendship increases. You can’t see the exact friendship level, but you can always check a Pokemon’s general friendship range by talking to a trainer sitting with her Roselia at Cafe Pokemon Amie, after completing Side Mission 25, Trubblesome Patrons.

There are multiple ways to increase friendship: battling (leveling up), feeding Exp. Candies, and using feathers or vitamins all help. Equipping your Riolu with a Soothe Bell further boosts friendship gains. Watch out though — frequent fainting, especially against much stronger foes, decreases friendship.

The fastest friendship boosters are relaxing on benches or grabbing a drink from cafés or food trucks with your Riolu. These activities raise friendship significantly with no diminishing returns as friendship grows. Make sure Riolu’s active when you do these.

If you need to speed things up, you can feed friendship-raising berries: Pomeg, Kelpsy, Qualot, Hondew, Grepa, and Tamato Berries. These cost 200 Pokedollars each in Magenta Sector 6.

Berries come at the cost of lowering certain stats, so only use them if you’re willing to manage the trade-off with other items or if evolving for the Pokédex is your goal. Starting at zero friendship, expect to feed around 22 berries to reach evolution threshold.