Lúcio in Overwatch
Lúcio is an interesting addition to Overwatch’s Support heroes. Unlike his peers, Lúcio’s support ability is a constantly active passive ability that effects himself and all nearby allies. Lúcio therefore has the ability to provide support to multiple allies at any given time, the only healer currently available that allows you to do so.
This is due to Lúcio’s primary ability, Crossfade. Although constant and passive, the player is given control of the effect Crossfade is providing, switching it between healing and buffing speed by pressing the primary ability button. This makes Lúcio a devastating Support on Offense, especially on Control maps, as the speed buff Crossfade provides can ensure your team get to the capture point first.
Lúcio’s second ability is Amp It Up. This ability provides a temporary boost to the effects of Crossfade. This can be used with Crossfade’s speed buff at the start of a map to help your team push right from the start. It can also be used to boost Lúcio’s healing output, which can save a team on Defense that has just been hit by a particularly nasty push.
Lúcio is the Support character in Overwatch most at home in the think of battle. his constant heal makes him able to take real punishment from high DPS characters, allowing Lúcio to engage them close range. His weapon, the Sonic Amplifier, shoots sonic projectiles in bursts of three with a secondary fire that is a close range blast that knocks enemies back. This makes Lúcio very good at pushing tanks like Roadhog and Reinhardt off of the objective and staying out of range of their weapons. This secondary fire is also the most reliable way of getting Environment Kills (by ring out) in the game. On maps like Ilios and Nepal, Lúcio excels at drawing enemies in and then blasting them off of the map.
Key to using Lúcio is mastering his movement. Lúcio rides around on sonic roller blades which give him a slight skid to his movement. This enables Lúcio to move erratically,making it hard for enemies with tight bullet spread to hit him. They also allow Lucio to Wallride. Jumping onto a wall while moving lets Lúcio glide along it, adding another dimension of movement to his dodging. By moving in irregular, zigzag patterns and switching Crossfade to change the speed of movement, Lúcio is able to counter most sniper characters. He also acts as a good counter to Offense characters like Reaper, Genji, and Tracer, especially if you can keep them off balance with Lúcio’s secondary fire.
Lúcio’s Ultimate, Sound Barrier, provides massive shielding to Lúcio and nearby allies. This makes it a great tool to have when defending a control point as it can provide much-needed protection in a dire situation. It is often best used if you hear an opponent using their Ultimate, as it provides enough shield to protect from Hanzo’s Dragonstrike, Reaper’s Death Blossom or Pharah’s Barrage.
Lucio makes a great partner for Tanks like Reinhardt and Roadhog, as Crossfade’s speed buff makes these usually slow characters fast enough to move to allies in need and, if they start taking too much damage, a switch to his healing ability buffed by Amp It Up can extend their life greatly.
