Who Is Lucio?
Lucio is one of the support heroes in Overwatch 2. He is known for his high utility thanks to his speed boost and AoE healing. If you want to leave a high impact on the game without having to worry about doing too much, Lucio is a great pick. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t take skill to master, but it does mean he is one of the simpler supports to play, making him perfect at most ranks for most players.
Lucio Intro
Lucio is a hero with a simple kit that manages to do a lot. He has amp it up, speed boost, healing, wall ride, boop! (I refuse to call this ability by its actual name), and his sound barrier ultimate.
Lucio pairs well with heroes like Baptiste since they maximize the efficiency of each other’s kits. He’s also good with most tanks since he encourages an aggressive play style and can protect himself when needed.
Overall, Lucio is one of the better support heroes in the game. He’s all around a good pick, and he fits what you need on most maps. And who can forget the environmental kills he can score? All that combines to make Lucio a powerful hero.
However, none of that matters unless you know how to play him. Here are fifteen tips to make you a better Lucio player.
15. Wall Riding
One of the best parts of Lucio’s kit is his wall ride passive. You can jump on a wall and ride it. It’s pretty simple—nothing extravagant. However, if you master Lucio’s movement, you can increase the effectiveness of his wall ride. Not only can you stall on point for longer, but you can get back into the fight faster.
Whenever you jump off a wall and land on a new one, you gain speed. The more you do it, the faster you go. Eventually, you’ll move as fast as a bullet. Although it’s tricky to pull off that many walls consecutively (you have to do it consecutively if you want the extra speed), it’s worth it to practice since it can save you a second. Even one second can change the course of the game.
Use your wall ride whenever you can. It’s a vital tool for staying alive and stalling on the point.
14. Boop!
Lucio has a knockback ability in his kit that everyone calls ‘boop.’ It’s his secondary fire, and it launches enemies back a short distance. It’s perfect for instilling fear in your enemies and causing them to take different paths to avoid you. Remember that if you want to be a more successful Lucio player, you need to incorporate every part of your kit into your play style.
If you see an enemy standing too close to a ledge, knock them off and take advantage of their bad positioning. The more you take advantage of their bad positioning, the better it is for your team. Even if you don’t secure a kill, you cause the enemy to panic and make them more likely to make a mistake.
Boop is also good at protecting others. Knocking enemies back causes them to lose their focus and have to adjust to the new position. It gives your teammates a couple seconds to cool down and get themselves back on their feet. It only adds a few seconds at most, but it’s better than nothing. Sometimes all it takes is one extra second.
13. Crossfade Mastery
Crossfade refers to the tool in Lucio’s kit that switches him between healing and speed boosting. It’s one of the most recognizable parts of his kit because it’s just the click of a button that changes it. There is no strategy behind it because you’re going to use it dozens of times in a game. You don’t need to think every time you change it, but there are scenarios you should be prepared for.
For example, a common mistake support players make is healing more than they have to. Lucio is not the main healer. Although you should be healing your team, you can sacrifice some heals in favor of securing a kill using your speed boost. You have a second support for a reason. Rely on them to take care of the healing while you speed boost the tank to take out an enemy squishy.
Since it only takes a button to switch between healing and speed, you should use it whenever you feel you have to. It’s a situational device that only you can know the best answer to based on the scenario you’re presented with. Don’t be scared to sacrifice healing for speed, and don’t be scared to switch as often as you need to!
12. Support Combos
The most common combo you’ll see with Lucio is Baptiste. Together, the two support heroes bring out the best of each other’s kits. Both of them have good mobility and interesting dynamics. Baptiste can heal from a distance while Lucio has to stay up close, which means the enemies are going to have a harder time killing both of the supports due to their different positions.
Along with that, Baptiste does high healing and has a strong offensive ult, while Lucio has a defensive ult and does multi-target healing. Bap and Lucio are a deadly combo you should try if you are playing Lucio with a friend.
Ana is another great pick for similar reasons. She does high healing and heals from a distance. Her ultimate is offensive, while Lucio’s is defensive, so you get the best of both worlds. Ana and Baptiste are two great pairings for Lucio, and you should give them a try.
11. The Not-So-Great Combos
Mercy is not a good fit for Lucio, and neither is Zenyatta. Mercy Lucio can work in certain situations, but it’s rare and not great for ranked gameplay. For casual gameplay, you can make any support comp work, but it’s best to stray from it as much as you can in competitive play.
Zenyatta and Lucio are the same way. Zen does such low-level healing that Lucio cannot make up the gaps. Theoretically, the two can work well because Zen can Discord someone while Lucio speed boosts the rest of the team to end the enemy’s life. However, that’s in theory, not in execution. Unfortunately, it’s hard to pull off a play like that consistently.
It’s best to avoid those compositions if you can. Don’t play Lucio if your other support instantly locks Mercy or Zenyatta. I know it’s fun to play Lucio, but sometimes you have to make sacrifices for the sake of your team.
10. Throwing
As a wise Overwatch player once said in a TikTok comment section, "You’re not playing Lucio right if you aren’t throwing." While this is a hilarious comment and definitely true for Quick Play, throwing in ranked play is, for obvious reasons, not a good idea. But what do we define as throwing on Lucio?
Lucio players who flank constantly and never support their team are what many consider throwers. I personally grew to hate playing with Lucio players because of how often they'd leave the team to do their own thing, leaving it on me to pick up their slack by providing extra healing and utility to the team with someone like Baptiste or Kiriko.
Don’t be that Lucio player, okay? Make sure you support your team. I’m not saying you shouldn’t flank or try to get kills, but don’t do it so often that your tank gets frustrated by the lack of a speed boost.
9. Protecting Yourself
Protecting yourself on Lucio is either fun or rage-inducing. Although you have high mobility and good tools for self-defense, it seems as though the entire enemy team hates you. They jump on you and want you dead in a matter of seconds. Heroes like Winston counter Lucio because his range and constant damage make it hard to stay alive.
However, that doesn’t mean you can’t defend yourself. For example, Genji. If Genji jumps on you, you can use your boop to knock him back and your primary fire to weaken him. If he gets you low on health, amp it up to heal yourself. Or, if you’re desperate, use speed boost to wall ride away and get help.
Although you are dangerous since you move fast and can boop enemies, you need to be wary of your surroundings and how much damage the enemy does. They do more than you, which means you’re screwed if they get too close. Make sure to keep yourself safe by taking whatever precautions you need to.
8. Playing With Your Tank
Tank players like playing with Lucio because of the speed boost he provides. When you’re playing Lucio, giving your tank that speed boost is a vital part of keeping the synergy up within your team. Obviously, don’t only use your speed boost; feel free to use it whenever your tank needs the extra help to push in.
Your tank does high damage and can block a high amount of damage too. Capitalize on that by speed-boosting them and supporting them. Your job as Lucio is to work with the tank defending your frontline. The job of a tank is to create space and battle the other tank. By speed boosting, you’re giving them more opportunity to create space, and you’re also giving them an advantage over the much slower tank on the enemy team.
7. Amp It Up
Amp it up is one of Lucio’s abilities that turns up his speed boost or healing, depending on which one the player has enabled. Its uses vary depending on what you’re dealing with. For example, if your tank is close to securing a kill but the enemy is leaving, amping up speed boost can help. On the other hand, if your tank is about to die, amping up healing can save their life.
Amp it up is a powerful ability that has a long cooldown, so you shouldn’t use it whenever you want. Save it for the big situations where you need it. Considering team fights don’t last that long, you might get two uses out of it before the fight is over.
Save it for when your team needs healing or they need the extra speed to secure kills and throw off the enemy. Don’t use it whenever you get it; otherwise, you risk not having it for an important moment.
6. Positioning
Lucio has interesting positioning because he is an aggressive support. Many Lucio players end up flanking to secure picks because of how fast they are. With his fast movement speed, you can reposition yourself in seconds. So, where’s the best place to play?
Lucio is one of those heroes that you can play anywhere, but he works best when he’s playing center with his team or with the tank. Since he is the perfect support to pair with most tanks, playing with the tank is a smart idea that makes Lucio an effective pick. However, playing center isn’t a bad idea either since you can use your AoE healing and speed to benefit most of your team.
Although he has AoE healing and speed, the range isn’t the largest in the world. Brig actually has twice as much AoE range as him. That’s why playing center isn’t a bad idea. You should play where you need to, depending on the situation, but the default I would recommend is either near the tank or toward the center of the entire team.
5. Passive And Aggressive
Many players confuse frontlining with playing aggressively. You can be aggressive without being on the front lines. Aggressiveness depends on what you’re doing to initiate the fight, not how deep in the enemy’s backline you are. I would consider that playing risky, not aggressively.
You can play aggressively by securing boops, flanking Widowmakers, and firing from over the tank’s shoulder. Aggressive does not only mean jumping in and shooting everything you see. If that were the case, then Overwatch 2 would be even more of a mess than it already is. You should play both passively and aggressively. Yes, I am encouraging you to be passive-aggressive.
4. Helping Supports
Lucio is a good hero for moving fast, and I don’t think I need to explain why. However, what I should explain is Lucio’s role in the game. He can move between the front and backlines in seconds, which makes him useful for helping the entire team stay safe. His AoE healing can keep everyone alive, but sometimes the backline might be out of range.
You can use Lucio to speed back to your struggling second support. When the backline is suffering, Brig and Lucio are great picks for securing it. You can support your fellow support. You shouldn’t leave your support to die for obvious reasons, but I’ll explain them anyway.
For starters, you need the extra healing since you don’t have enough to cover two DPS and a tank, not to mention yourself. You need the extra player for the utility and distribution of focus and damage. Lastly, why would you want your teammates to die? When playing support, you need to support the whole team, which includes your fellow support.
3. Mastering Boop
I mentioned boop earlier because it is an important part of his kit. Now, I’d like to go more advanced and talk about mastering this unique ability. Although using it to knock enemies back or knock them off ledges is important, you’ll become a better player if you start using it in unexpected ways.
A good Lucio will see their teammates using their ults and recognize they can do something to maximize efficiency. For example, if your D.Va uses ult, boop the enemies out of cover at the last second so the bomb kills more people. Or if enemies are fleeing from your Mei’s ult, boop them back in.
These small acts won’t always be effective, but it’s better to try and fail than not try at all. The enemies will be so distracted with running that you likely won’t get hurt, so why not try? It can secure extra kills and give you brownie points with your teammates. Go for it; you won’t regret it.
2. Widowmaker
Lucio’s greatest enemy is Widowmaker. Well, it’s more like Widowmaker’s greatest enemy is Lucio, and Lucio’s favorite target is Widowmaker. Lucio players adore jumping on Widow players and torturing them. And, you know what? I respect and encourage it.
Targeting the enemy Widowmaker isn’t a bad idea. She’s sitting in the backline, vulnerable to attacks. If you sneak up behind her and land a volley of headshots, you have a high chance of killing her and making it back to your team in a matter of seconds.
The only issue to keep in mind is that you’re leaving your team. Although it’s a great idea to get rid of the annoying Widow, make sure you communicate with your team before doing so. Don’t just jump in and leave your teammates behind. Communicate, then attack.
1. Sound Barrier
Sound Barrier is Lucio’s defensive ultimate. He can use it to defend his team from incoming damage. It is one of the only counters to Sigma’s ultimate. It can be used whenever your team is about to die due to large amounts of damage. It can even counter Junkrat’s ult if Lucio times it well enough.
Make sure not to waste it on small things. Use it only when necessary, not just because you feel like it. It’s such a valuable tool that can change the course of the game. Don’t use it because it sounds cool; use it because you want to make an impact on the game.
Along with that, Sound Barrier is useful for helping your team initiate fights. It can prevent incoming damage from killing your team, which leads to better synergy. Make sure you’re only using it to help your team, not because you want to sound cool.
