by JR Cook - 7 years ago     show comments

Lucio has arrived in the Nexus and he is ready to get the party started. Whether you need a body moving bass line or a spirit soothing melody, this freedom fighting DJ knows just what song to play.

Lucio is a mobile Support Hero who provides sustained AOE healing. What he lacks in damage he more than makes up for in utility.

In this guide will go over Lucio’s kit as well as a solid all around Lucio Build that will put your enemies into a trance and have your teammates cheering your name.

Basic Abilities

Soundwave (Q): Deal moderate damage to enemies in a cone shaped area and knock them back.

Crossfade (W): Play either a Healing Boost track (yellow circle) to heal nearby Heroes or a Speed Boost track (green circle) to increase the movement of nearby Heroes.

Amp It Up (E): Increase the volume of Lucio’s Crossfade track and increase its benefit for 3 seconds.

Wall Ride (D): Lucio gains Movement Speed when moving alongside impassable terrain or Structures and can move thru other units.

Heroic Abilities

Sound Barrier (R): After 1 second, give a large shield to Lucio and nearby teammates.

Reverse Amp (R): Lucio blasts his Crossfade track at enemy Heroes for 4 seconds, either dealing damage or inflicting a slow.

The Build

Level 1: We Move Together – Increase the passive movement speed bonus of Speed Boost.

You could make a case for Maximum Tempo at this level, but since Amp It Up will mostly be used to enhance the benefit of Healing Boost, I prefer We Move Together. The additional passive Speed Boost it provides will help your team to engage or disengage, allowing you to save Amp It Up to buff Healing Boost as needed.

Level 4: Subwoofer – Enemies within the first half of Shockwave’s range are knocked back 50% farther.

Chasing The Base is a tempting alternative, but being able to knock enemies back farther can help save Lucio or a teammate and help to reposition an enemy for an easy kill.

Level 7: Boombox – Place a boombox that plays Lucio’s active Crossfade track, lasts for 20 seconds or until destroyed.

This Talent greatly increases Lucio’s effective area, allowing Lucio to support both the front and back lines simultaneously. It will also be helpful on control the point maps, allowing Lucio to potentially provide coverage of the point and a lane at the same time. Similar to Healing Ward, Boombox can be killed so proper placement is key. It also benefits from Amp It Up, so play accordingly.

Level 10: Sound Barrier – After 1 second, Lucio and nearby enemies gain a large shield that rapidly decays over 6 seconds.

The shield provided is massive and 6 seconds is an eternity. Given the slow nature of Lucio’s AOE healing, the extra damage mitigation provided by the shields is quite valuable.

Level 13: Back in the Mix – Stun, Silence, or Time Stop effects provide a small heal to Lucio.

There are several appealing Talents at this level, especially if you become good at using your Wall Ride Trait (D). Given the stun heavy nature of the current Meta, Back in the Mix is the most appealing and easiest of the options available.

Level 16: Rejuvenescencia – Crossfade’s Healing Boost heals for an additional 3% of the targets maximum health while Amp It Up is active.

Again, this is another level where you could make a case for any of the options in the right situation. In the end, Lucio is a healer and if you plan on solo healing with him you are going to need all the healing buffs you can get. As your skill ceiling improves you may opt for a different choice, but new Lucio players will benefit most from Rejuvenescensia.

Level 20: Bossa Nova – Reduce the cooldown of Sound Barrier to 30 seconds, but it now decays over 4 seconds.

Being able to reduce the cooldown on Sound Barrier to 30 seconds is a huge buff. It also means you don’t just need to save this this Heroic for team fights anymore. You can be much more liberal about when you use it knowing it will be back up again soon. If Lucio falls behind on healing a well timed Sound Barrier into Amp It Up can help him get caught back up.

Strategy

If you are going to be an effective Lucio player you need to focus on two things: maximizing the benefits of Wall Ride (D) and staying on top of your healing.

Much of Lucio’s kit is centered around his Trait, Wall Ride (D). If you are not regularly taking advantage of the benefits of Wall Ride then you are playing Lucio wrong. As Lucio you should always be on the move, and while you are moving you should be regularly using Wall Ride. The movement speed increase it provides remains in effect for several seconds after using the Trait so you don’t need to continually be on a wall to keep it active. Just occasionally hop up on a wall to refresh the duration. The status of your movement speed buff is displayed via a small winged foot icon located next to your Hero portrait.

You will have plenty of time to practice your wall riding skills since Lucio doesn’t have a mount. If you hope to move around the Battleground effectively you are going to have to master Wall Ride. Since you don’t have a mount and your movement is dependent on terrain, it is imperative that you be situationally aware when playing Lucio. It is going to take you a little longer to get to Objectives and team fights so you can’t afford to get a late start. Don’t forget that Wall Ride also allows you to pass thru other Heroes, so use it as an escape if you find yourself in a bad position. One tip to make Wall Ride easier to use is to hold down the right mouse button to move rather than repeatedly clicking near the wall.

As Lucio, you don’t just need to be proactive with your rotations; you also need to be proactive with your healing as well. Lucio doesn’t have a burst heal anywhere in his kit. He has a small periodic heal that can occasionally be boosted into a medium periodic heal. As a result, if you let someone get low on health you are going to have a difficult time catching up, even with Amp It Up. As a general rule, you should keep Crossfade on Healing Boost whenever you are engaged with the enemy. Save the Speed Boost aspect of Crossfade for those times that you need to chase down a fleeing enemy, help your team disengage, or help them move faster to a specific location. Consider Heroes who have their own healing mechanics, like Muradin, Raynor, and Nazeebo when building a team around Lucio.

I prefer to keep it simple when first learning a new Hero. This means prioritizing passive Talents and avoiding Talents that require extra buttons or various Ability interactions.

Lucio has a lot of interesting Talents, and as your skill and experience with Lucio improve you can start to pick these when the situation seems right. His Levels 13, 16, and 20 Talents in particular really allow you to customize your build. There are also several Talents related to Wall Ride (D), which should open up playmaking possibilities for players who excel with that skill.