It’s been considered weak since the ult change, and even before. It’s one of the easiest interupted ults in the game, on top of being one of the slowest charging ults.
No, not really. First off, it’s a reactive ult
which it doesn’t reliably do. Lucio charges his ult once for every two ults Genji charges. Dragonblade can also burn through through the barrier like it was nothing, but more on that later. Second, when used premptively, say to push through a choke, so much damage goes into the barrier that it gets melted down instantly, on top of the decay that it experiences. 500 adittional shield to 0 in 6 seconds? That’s ~83 shield gone every second, so with the fire from one Soldier 76 the shield is 3/4 gone in a single second (83 + 191 DPS +120 helix = 394 missing shield HP). Heck, let’s use Junkrat, who’s more likely to be picked. The shield for the entire team is reduced by a 1/3 83 decay + 120 DPS in a second, by a single person. There’s no deciding edge to it, just free ult charge for the enemy team and a couple seconds of inconvience.
People complain because it doesn’t defend against anything. Every ultimate that Sound Barrier is supposed to counter either outdamages it or casts faster than Sound Barrier or has the ability to wait it out.
Rip Tire? does 600 damage, variable activation time. At best, Lucio has 100 health left along with his surrounding teammates (bar tanks). At worst, Lucio died mid-air because it’s physically impossible to guess when it’s gonna explode and then react to it with Sound Barrier.
Barrage? Outdamages it
Dragonblade? Outdamages it
Pulse Bomb? On paper has a slower cast time, but in practice, with Lucio’s mobility and tendency to be near a wall or in the air on top of human reaction time Lucio’s gonna die midair or whoever got stuck is gonna die in the middle of Lucio’s cast.
Metor Strike? See Pulse Bomb
Configuration: Tank? Outdamages Sound Barrier, with the added bonus of waiting for it to decay a bit.
Tac Visor? Kills Lucio mid cast, and does enough DPS to kill one 200 HP hero through the duration.
Graviton Surge? Ha.
Dragonstrike is actually one of the few ults that Sound Barrier can counter, simply because (unless Lucio is smack dab in the center where he’s scewed either way) it gives him and anyone in the path of the dragon time to get away. High Noon is a similar case, although Lucio may die in the cast.
Molten Core? The turret essentially negates the barrier.
Any 2 DPS ults in tandem? Goodbye Sound Barrier.
All of this assuming it doesn’t get stunned, slept, hacked, booped or otherwise interupted as the ult with the only variable cast time
This is me using Sound Barrier in reaction to “big oncoming damage.” This is me using Sound Barrier as it is intended to be used, and getting punished for it.
TL;DR
- It’s been considered weak since the ult charge change, and in some cases even before.
- It is a reactive ult that doesn’t protect against anything
- When used to initiate, it gives the enemy a ton of free ult charge or decays or gets destroyed almost instantly.
- Longest charging ult with a variable cast time that’s incredibly vulnerable to stuns
The only good use for Lucio’s ult that I’ve found is to use it when Brig is using Rally, so that it gives the armor a chance to build.