Lucio
Role: Support
Difficulty: Medium
The quintessential support character, all of Lucio’s music based abilities center around bolstering your team and helping them reach victory.
Abilities
Sonic Amplifier: A stream of sonic fire, or a burst of sound that can send your enemies flying back.
Crossfade: Two variations of a team bolstering ability, this can either speed you and your teammates up, which is great for objective acquisition, or regenerate your team’s health to give an edge in the heat of battle.
Amp It Up: Lucio cranks the volume to 11, boosting the effects of his other abilities.
Sound Barrier: Lucio’s Sonic Amplifier creates personal shields for him and his teammates.
Tactics
Lucio's soundwave based abilities are speed improvements and health boosts, both of which can prove to be immensely useful. Lucio, as a support character, is only truly useful when relying heavily on teamwork. Stay with the bulk of your team as often as possible, and use your abilities as frequently as you can. His Crossfade ability has no cooldown, and can be used to instantly to aid in battle. Since Lucio doesn't target specific teammates to boost and instead provides bonuses to all around him, he is best played in the thick of the battle, using his immense personal speed to remain a difficult target. For the most part, you're going to want to be using the health boost, giving your teammates an edge while fending off foes. This doesn't mean you should count the speed boost out, as it is incredibly useful in two ways; reaching a capture point or payload, and escaping ultimates during battle. If you hear a character like Pharah or Winston engage their ultimates, it's a great idea to initiate speed boost so that you and your teammates can escape the danger zone. As for your primary weapons alternate ability, soundwave, it should also be used whenever possible. It has a cooldown of 4 seconds, and it can be used to send enemies careening off the map and to their demise, or at the very least can knock them back and give you time to escape or fire at them.
Amp It Up is a boost to your abilities that has a very short duration, and must be timed correctly for the best effect. You should use this immediately when entering the battlefield to give your teammates the best speed effect possible while attempting to reach the objective. As for using Amp It Up when paired with the healing boost, save it for when you in the heat of battle and are having trouble eliminating the opposing team. If you are outnumbered, pairing Amp It Up with a healing boost, and using Soundwave is your best bet for keeping you and your teammates alive.
Lucio's Ultimate is another power that should be saved for the right moment. It engulfs the members of your team caught in the vicinity in a green protective shield. Its effect is time-limited, so waiting for the appropriate moment is paramount. Save it for the thick of a firefight.
Always stay with members of your team and you will do well, it's the moments you stray from the pack that you leave yourself open to an easy elimination.
Pro-Tip
Switch between your two primary abilities constantly, you'll need both to succeed. If you're running low on your speed boost, you can bunny hop to prolong it's effect and sustain a higher speed for a longer period.
Strong Against
Reaper: There are a few ways to protect you and yours from the “Reaps”. Firstly, you can use your Sonic Amplifier to send him back, keeping him out of his preferred high-damage close range. Second, boosting your teammate's speed can help them maneuver away from him, or you can bolster their shields to give them an edge in a head to head fight. Lastly, you can use your sound barrier to protect your team if Reaper closes in and uses Death Blossom.
Mei: She can easily be knocked back by Lucio to keep her Endothermic Blaster out of range, plus she will have difficulty hitting Lucio with her Icicle shot variation, as Lucio can move tremendously fast.
Weak Against
Roadhog: Though Roadhog can be avoided relatively easily, if you catch yourself within close range of him, it can be devastating. You can easily be eliminated if he can Chain Hook you and follow through with a shot from his primary. To counter him, you’re going to want to keep your speed (and your teammates speed) up. This will make you a difficult target for his chain hook but, if you happen to be hooked, use sound blast to send him back and make some distance between you and him.
Zarya: Another close range dominator that can easily take you down, it’s best to avoid her altogether. If you come into contact with her, bolster your shields, and use Sound Wave to create some distance.
Biography
Real Name: Lúcio Correia dos Santos
Age: 26
Occupation: DJ, Freedom Fighter
Base of Operations: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Affiliation: None
Story
Lúcio is an international celebrity who inspires social change through his music and actions.
Lúcio Correia dos Santos grew up in Rio de Janeiro, in a poor and crowded favela that was hit hard by the financial upheaval following the Omnic Crisis. As Brazil began the long process of recovery, he wanted to find a way to lift the spirits of those around him. He found his answer in music and its power to bring people together and even help them forget their troubles, if only for a short time. He performed on street corners, in block parties, and as he got older, at a string of legendary underground shows.
But Lúcio's close-knit community was thrown into chaos when the multinational Vishkar Corporation secured a contract to redevelop large tracts of the city. Lúcio and his neighbors had been told that the development would improve their lives. However, that promise never became a reality. Vishkar imposed controls on the residents in the name of building a more orderly society: enforcing curfews, cracking down on what the company perceived as lawless behavior, and exploiting the populace as a cheap labor force.
Lúcio wouldn't stand for it. He stole Vishkar sonic technology that had been used to suppress the people, and he converted it into a tool to rally them to action. In a popular uprising, they drove Vishkar out of their neighborhoods. Lúcio's leadership made him a star overnight and a symbol for positive social change. His music skyrocketed in popularity. Whereas he had once performed locally, he was now filling arenas across the world.
With his newfound fame, Lúcio realizes that he has an opportunity to make a difference and change the world for the better.