Learn Overwatch’s most slippery hero with this Lucio guide

Lucio is 1) a dope DJ and 2) one of Overwatch’s easiest heroes to play. This guy is going to be so many players’ first experience with a healer, and he’s a perfect character to learn the art of support with, especially if you’re still mastering the rest of the game. Lucio passively speeds up and heals your allies while letting you focus on your own movement and shooting. That’s great for new players, and he may not be complex, but he makes up for it in fun.

Lucio’s goal

Lucio is a mobile group healer. While he may never be a great hero for focus healing a carry, Lucio is the perfect hero for any situation where you need to keep a group alive. Seeing how group play is the name of the game in Overwatch, you can almost always pull Lucio into your composition.

Kit Breakdown

Sonic Amplifier is Lucio’s main weapon. It has two firing modes, like most guns in Overwatch. His first shot is a three round burst of sound waves that can be used to poke enemies from far away or duel up close. His secondary fire is a push. Clicking the button will propel any and all enemies in front of Lucio backward. This can be used to propel enemies to their death off a ledge.

Lucio’s main ability is Crossfade, which has two distinct modes. Crossfade toggles between speed and healing. Whichever setting it’s sitting on, Lucio will radiate the effect around him constantly, and the only thing that will stop it is if an ally is out of line of sight.

Movement speed is great for getting places. You can use the movement effect of Crossfade out of the spawning zone or to help your allies dodge a D.Va ult or a rampaging Winston. The healing effect is going to be the default, however. Throw on Crossfade whenever your team is fighting, which should be most of the time, and you will mitigate some serious damage.

Amp It Up is Lucio’s secondary ability and essentially just buffs Crossfade. Whenever Lucio hits Amp It Up, the healing or speed output from Crossfade will be increased significantly. This can be very helpful from running away from a scary ability or quickly returning to a fight. While the amped up healing won’t save you from powerful ults, it will help you recover from a bad fight.

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Wallride is Lucio’s passive. This is pretty straightforward. Holding down the jump button while Lucio is near a wall will cause him to extend his skates out and ride along the wall instead of succumbing to gravity like the rest of us. Wallride can actually get you out of some bad situations if you fall off a ledge or need to escape a Tracer. It takes some time to master, but is essential to getting the most out of Lucio. Jumping off one wall and hitting another boosts Lucio’s speed further.

Sound Barrier is Lucio’s ultimate ability and essentially just gives him a group invulnerability. When cast, Lucio will jump into the air and slam his speaker gun onto the ground. This results in a wave of massive shields covering your allies. While these shields can be removed, they are extremely strong.

Sound Barrier is best used for negating enemy power. If Bastion drops into tank form, Sound Barrier. If you hear Junkrat ult, Sound Barrier. Lucio is able to use his ult to protect his allies from damage more efficiently than any other hero. Nothing is more demoralizing than a good Sound Barrier.

When to Pick Lucio: Teammates and Matchups

Picking Lucio is actually extremely easy. Do you need healing for your entire team? Do you have an Ana or a Mercy as your other healer? Pick Lucio to keep your entire team topped off. That may seem derivative or simple, but Lucio is the perfect hero to pick up if you’re uncomfortable with other healers. Even those who are comfortable can pick up Lucio to help support their team effectively with minimal effort.

Reinhardt and D.Va are awesome tanks for Lucio to have around him. He’s able to keep Rein up through getting poked out while also mitigating Rein’s biggest issue: speed. Lucio is able to help D.Va, a pretty exposed tank, by keeping her alive longer than average. Roadhog is another great tank that can easily benefit from Lucio’s speed.

Unlike a lot of other healers, Lucio can actually play keep away from assassins pretty easily. Where Lucio has trouble is against area damage heroes like Junkrat and Pharah. Take advantage of your mobility to avoid these AOE explosions until your team can eliminate them and open up more space for you to skate around.

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How to win with Lucio

Winning with Lucio is all about positioning. While his range is long, it isn’t long enough to keep all of your allies alive all a time. The goal is to fight near your allies and choose those who need you most. Running between groups can be good for advanced Lucio players, but staying in the middle or with a small group is best for newer players.

Lucio does not need to be particularly active, but he absolutely can be. This all depends on how effectively you use Amp It Up. Using Amp It Up too soon or too late can be disastrous, while a perfectly timed drop can save a fight. Try and learn Lucio’s rhythm (heh) so you can get comfortable with this long cooldown ability.

Tips and Tricks

• Lucio is great for Ilios and Lijiang Tower. These maps have serious booping potential, and your silly push back suddenly becomes very lethal as enemies fly over edges into the abyss.
• Lucio excels when hanging around the payload or point. He is extremely difficult to catch or hit with abilities and can save a game from timing out with his speed.
• Sound Barrier only applies a shield when Lucio’s gun hits the floor. Make sure you won’t be eliminated by a Widowmaker or Junkrat before you apply the team wide shield.
• Wall riding carefully and consistently hitting new walls when you jump makes Lucio the fastest, most slippery character in the game. Practice wall ride routes, especially around the point, to become nearly unkillable by skillshots and slow DPS.
• Use Wallride to stay on a contested point. Horizon and Illios both allow you to hit new walls and slide just out of sight while keeping the enemy from capping uncontested.