I legitimately think we will never see Lucio meta again in his current state, while he was always strong in coordinated play, Speed Boost is legitimately the only reason to run him and I’d argue that it isn’t significantly strong enough to make a difference in most ranks.
Not only that but Blizzard seems determined to kill the off-support role altogether by introducing main supports that have the healing output 2-3 times more significant than Lucio while doing way more burst damage and also being more consistent in doing damage.
On top of that, the most fun ways of making plays with Lucio has basically been nerfed to the ground.
When the game first released, Lucio boop was strong because:
- There was less boops in the game
- People were dumber and just died easily to environmental kills
- Movement wasn’t on every character
- Steadfast didn’t exist
- Lifeweaver didn’t exist to just counter the rare boop that you did get
- Game engine has devolved and no reg boops are common
Seriously though, Boop has gone from something you associate with Lucio to a complete troll ability, Doomfist punch without even charging it at all will send you flying 3-4 times further and if you charged the punch it would send you 4-6 times further than Lucio boop. Zen kick sends people further than Boop and it doesn’t even have a cooldown.
And to top it all off, now movement is so common in the game that you have to be lacking serious cognitive function to get booped off the map on half the roster.
A good example is Hanzo, in the past you could get a boop kill on him and while he could recover, it actually required level of quick reaction time as well as luck.
Now, Hanzo just needs to double tap space bar,climb and he’s safe.
Another example is D.Va, in the past you could outplay her by baiting the booster then booping her off, now that her Booster has a 4 second cooldown AND she has steadfast, you’re basically never getting her off the map.
And these are just the existing heroes they changed, it feels like 2 in every 3 characters they release has the design philosophy of never being able to die to an environmental kill.
And they even made a character that directly counters Boop just so that the 1 in a million environmental kill can still be saved, because why not.
Overall, I think Lucio will stay a troll pick because he is designed on the old balance philosophy of being a jack of all trades, master of none, while every other new support is a jack of all trades, master of all.
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So I think Lucio is mostly OK but his value is very low outside of Junkerqueen/Rammatra rush, and you are right, one of his two most glaring issues are the nature of boop and modern map design, which is horriffically anti-Lucio.
The issues with boop from are…
Midair control has been stupid since its introduction back in OW1
The proliferation of multiple heroes with better boop
The proliferation of easy-out abilities
Tank passive
And again…horrid map design.
I don’t want to see Lucio join the support arms race, he is a really good support, but can’t keep up with the roster as itbis, but outside of boop being changed some, I would prefer to see other supports brought closer to his cyrrent power level.
Oh, and it is a serious pet peeve that an out of mech Dva has the tank passive…F that, she already gets 2 ults, that Lucio can’t boop an 80 lb teenage girl is dumb
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Yep Lucio has been completely neutered due to Steadfast. The insane map geometry in every new map has also made it very difficult do to anything but hang out on the ground with your team. Boop is cosmetic. Might as well replace it with another ability at this point. All said including your post, I can’t stop playing him and still really have fun with him. He’s become the Bastion or Orisa of support, but with cycling a single cooldown (Amp) instead of 2-3 (but not bothering the masses).
I don’t want him buffed even. I play him regardless because I’m bad with all the meta OP heroes. You won’t catch me on Ana or Illari.
His ult is still Top 3 in the game easy. Kiri and Zarya being the other I guess, unless I’m forgetting someone.
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I think another big problem is that new supports just do what he does better (at least when it comes to dueling)
Kiriko can go in, 2 tap someone (Which is easier to do than land all Lucio’s projectiles) and then TP out, and if she’s pressured she can even throw suzu down. Lucio has amp, which is good but he has no get out of jail free cards.
On top of that, playing Kiriko just lets you be more versatile in how you play the game. You can be the main support and off support depending on how well your team is doing.
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Funny, I went to Lifeweaver and find his survival mobility (which is supposed to be Lucio’s forte) is WAY better even at double Lucio’s size.
I don’t even know if I’ll ever go back.
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i never thought about how lucio boop feels after the “universal boop buff” patch, i don’t play lucio. but i know that patch ruined dva boops so i wonder if they’re not the only boops that feel way worse.
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Lucio is main support, fyi.
That’s a funny dilemma, because you’re using “main/flex” nomenclature, and I would guess they are defining “big healers” in a “main heal/off heal” way.
These two are probably never gonna come together
I’m pretty sure Brig,Lucio and Zen are what’s classed as off-support
It’s a different way of referring to them.
Generally main supports are those who don’t take much effort to heal (Lucio, Brig, Mercy, sometimes Moira) and don’t have many other tasks. They are most often shotcallers.
Flex supports are those who have more complexity, like nade, slerp dart, suzu, lamp, etc.
You’re using more traditional MMO nomenclature, of “main healer” being those who provide large value from lots of heals, while “off heals” are those who can heal in a pinch, but are usually doing other stuff.
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kiriko gets faster to point than lucio in reengages, lucio is useful in taxing rammatra
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We really need to look at the “usual suspects” is the support role. Its fine to have either good healing, good damage, useful utility or good mobility/survivability. But not everything at once.
Why play Lucio who is properly balanced when you can play a new support character with high heals/utility/damage. The only reason Zen sees use is because his damage orb helps cut through the high heals of the new supports and Ana to make things die.
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He isn’t even properly balanced, every other character has been powercrept while Lucio has had boop shadow nerfs to reduce his potency.
Yeah I’m not a fan of the tank passive preventing proper boops.
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Lucio is fine, it’s just the 3 or 4 “make the tank immortal” healers need to be brought down to his level
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Lucio is similar to zen. Both barely heals enough to keep the tank alive and is mostly used to complement the other support hero. Except with zen, his utility is more flexible and can be used in many more comps. Unlike lucio whos utility is more niche and team comp dependent. There’s nothing more to it, he is picked less because his utility is more niche.
Bap kiri being meta isn’t helping his pick rate either. Before when kiri lucio was meta, lucio was considered good. See the pattern here? If the meta supports lucio comps, lucio is good. When it doesn’t, he’s mid.
New maps in OW2 isn’t helping lucio’s pick rate either. Like Circuit Royale, how do you even make lucio work on that map without your whole team going rush? You have to swap to support that can poke or else you’d be throwing. There needs to be more maps with environmentals for lucio’s boop to be valuable.
He will always be less frequently picked than other supports because of his kits that limits his flexibility in comps. He needs to be paired with certain supports to be meta and it’ll always stay that way unless the game fundamentally changes itself.
nothing against lucio as opposed to every other boop in the game, but there was a period of time where lijiang tower was unplayable for tanks.
i’ll ios well was okay though for some reason.
Lucio is fine as it is imo.
being meta is not a good thing. It means he will need to be nerfed.
100%. When I’m playing Reinhardt I do not need a lucio. I need ample amounts of healing to survive swinging my hammer for more than 1 swing. You explode as a tank as Reinhardt since people know put pressure on Rein, stop him from swinging.
The issue is not getting into people’s faces as Rein, its surviving long enough to do it and charge is your mobility tool now since you can cancel it literally into a shatter or swing. Along with only being 7seconds.
Speed boost is equally not needed on many ‘slower’ tanks either. Speed/Lucio is mostly useful for getting back to the point faster as a team and engaging chases and disengaging chases.