Most people agree that Lucio is a very strong hero, but playing him in a way that brings value to your team can be difficult to do. Follow these tips and level up your Lucio!
The communities perception of Lucio wobbled for the first couple of days after his release, but after seeing clip after clip of high heal numbers and the incredible power of group movement speed, we can firmly place Lucio in a tier 1 spot.
Popular streamer and recent strategy guide writer made his thoughts clear on how powerful he thinks Lucio is and just recently Dreadnaught went on a tweeting spree acknowledging the Heroes strength:
And of course, it wouldn't be Dreadnaught if he didn't mention Cleanse.
Some tips to amp it up
If you want to get in on this positive MMR train and bring your Lucio into Hero League, here are 4 tips I think you should know. These are tips I've compiled watching pro players (including Sake and Hide) play effective Lucio's and experience from my own games as well:
1. Speed is damage Negation
This is the most basic truth that everyone playing Lucio must understand. It is almost aways preferably that you use speed to help your allies avoid damage (or run away from it) then trying to stubbornly out-heal it. Lucio's passive heal is powerful, but very ineffective against focus fire. Amp it up is a decent amount of burst, but is a waste when only healing one ally under enemy fire.
Instead, find opportunities to switch to Speed and negate damage entirely. Lucio has no Cleanse, but he does have increased movement speed to help allies flee after a stun or a root.
2. Your fast and wall-riding is fun, but don't forget basic positioning.
Lucio can attack while moving and it's very fun. You got a nice beat playing in the background, Lucio is effortlessly gliding around the battlefield, and those rhythmic wump-wumps are so satisfying. More often than not, Lucio players get caught up in the magic of it all and make some pretty obvious positioning mistakes.
For one, Lucio has a ranged attack-- use it. Lucio's moving attack should be used to always stay AWAY from danger, not so you can glide towards it. The same goes for the temptation to always be wall-riding. While this is the optimal way to travel around the battleground, wall-riding for long periods of time during a team-fight or skirmish makes Lucio's movement speed very predictable and leads to some bad habits.
In short, Lucio players take too much free damage. His kit allows him to be extremely elusive. If you focus on never dying, you will likely accrue ton of value for your team.
3. Solo-chasing is usually a bad idea.
If you are by yourself chasing down an enemy hero, you are likely doing something wrong. While there are always fringe cases where Lucio can and should clean up after extremely low HP fleeing heroes, his non-existent damage and CC make it very hard to kill even a half-hp hero on the run.
Instead, find a bruiser or melee assassin and stick with them. A Lucio granting Arthas, Thrall, or Ragnaros increased movement speed is much much more adept at chasing down enemy heroes than Lucio solo.
4. Switch between Speed and Healing often!
One of the best part's of Lucio's kit is how quickly he can switch from granting movement speed and health regen. The temptation for new Lucio players is to always keep healing up during a team fight, but this is a linear use of Lucio's abilities and negates the offensive momentum he provides.
It takes some practice, but the best Lucio players look for moments and opportunities where even 1 second of increased movement speed can help secure a kill or peel for an ally. Crossfading between both his auras is one of Lucio's biggest strategic strengths and if you aren't swapping routinely, I suggest watching a replay of a lost Lucio game. The number of opportunities you will notice where the wrong aura is being used will shock you.
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