Yes. It needs to drop faster so it’s not as easily interrupted.
2 Likes
Supercharger, Meteor Strike, Sound Barrier, and Blizzard are all lackluster.
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were you here when non-transformation ults got a net nerf
Lucio suffered probably the most
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I was. Imo, Lucio is shifty enough to the point where if you get killed using your ult, then that’s a fair punishment. Teaches players to use it more preemptively, not reactionary. And plus, that’s not the ult being considered weak, that’s the opinion that the mechanic is unfair to Lucio.
Like I said, I don’t think the ult itself is weak. Fighting into a team that just dropped the beat is one of the most disheartening things. I think it arguably takes too long for him to get it though. I think it’s like the second longest ult to get behind Zarya’s. It should be slightly faster than transcendence. Or at least the same ult charge requirement.
Agreed. It needs good timing to be effective. Better add a 1+ second cast time to it, right?
Please, either speed up/get rid of the cast time, or make the shields dissipate slower.
1 Like
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.
16 Likes
I only ever use it to tell my team to go in, I know it won’t actually do anything to help, it goes away in a second and it really just feels like a worse brig ult. Actually, Lucio as a whole feels like bad brig.
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Your only (anecdotal) evidence to back up how unhelpful it is is one of the 2 ults that out damages it. No ult can save you from riptire or dva bomb.
ANother thing, I already said I think he should build ult faster. But that’s about the only part I agree with.
To see this from an objective viewpoint you have to look at how it feels to play into a sound wave, not just when you’re the one using it. It renders the best offensive ult in the game (genji blade) useless. Or they spend the entire duration slashing down one person.
Sometimes it’s not about how bad things sound on paper or what anecdotal clips you can get of, for some reason, expecting a sound wave to stop a rip tire (don’t you know the damages?) Sometimes you have to balance things off of how they actually feel. It’s great to initiate a fight and unless you’re the one being focused (which shouldn’t matter because of Lucio’s insane mobility) it’s helpful against most types of burst damage.
My only problem is like I said I don’t think it should be the 2nd longest charging ult in the game. Should be on par with trans. Trans has a better effect but with lucio ult you don’t have to stay close to him.
It’s a terrible preemptive ability, considering the barrier only lasts 6 seconds, if even that, assuming the enemy team doesn’t chew at it. It almost feels like a normal ability sometimes.
He should be immune while casting it
1 Like
Increasing the ramp up time for the ult and it should help nullify the Grav/Dragon or Tire combo better than it does now.
It’s still really impactful. It defends well against incoming burst damage and straight-up makes people immune to death from many would-be one-shot sources in the time right after it’s activated. It does what it’s supposed to do.
I see a lot of people compare it directly to Trans, but they have different purposes. Trans defends against sustained damage. Sound barrier defends against burst. Sound barrier will not save you from dragon/grav, but it’s not supposed to. That’s a sustained damage ult combo. On the other hand, Trans won’t save you from D.Va bomb, sniper headshots, or Junk tire.
Sound barrier requires a bit more skill as to knowing when to activate it, though. It can be used proactively or reactively. I mostly use to to engage.
In that video clip, you used your ult while in a grav with an incoming tire. Trans wouldn’t have saved the team either. Don’t use it to defend against grav unless there are no other incoming ults.
I think it’s “suboptimal”
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A) Not anecdotal. I gave evidence of every burst damage ult, and they all beat out Sound Barrier. The only anectodal evidence was a clip of Sound Barrier in action, used against high burst damage as it’s supposed to be, and not working anyway. B) You literally said it’s desgined to deal with burst damage, except it really doesn’t work well against it.
Woo. One ult, if that. Assuming Genji doesn’t hit multiple people with his blade, which odds are he will, he’ll be able to kill two people through the barrier. 170 damage Dragonblade + Dash with 83 decay in the first second and another 200 damage in the next second means the barrier is gone, allowing him to easily kill the 200 HP target in a couple more swings, at which point everyone elses barrier is almost gone from decay (removed with Dash + Dragonblade) and they’re also dead in the next second. Two people dead, all assuming that Genji is the only person doing damage to the team and only hits one person per swing.
On paper Lucio’s ult is incredibly strong. In practice it isn’t. Also, I didn’t use Sound Barrier in response to the rip Tire, I used it in response to the Graviton Surge, knowing that there would be some sort of follow up and it was all I could do. It was used as it is supposed to be used.
This is incredibly stupid. This is how we got Valk Mercy, this is why Doomfist got gutted for half a year, this is why Sombra got a kneejerk nerf that left her in the gutter covered in bugs since her buf. You don’t balance an ability soley on how it feels to play against. If the job is done correctly, whoever uses it will be having a blast and those fighting against it are going to hate fighting it, but be able to anyway. Huge Rez is a great example of this; it sucks to have the enemy rezed, but you’re happy if it happens to you and gives you that second chance. No one likes losing a game.
I mean, it isn’t. It doesn’t reliably defend against any burst damage ultimates. Sure it’ll stop a headshot from Widowmaker, but so will Rein’s shield. Yeah it’ll save someone from Junkrat’s combos, but he gets those every 7 seconds. Doomfist’s combos? Every 4 to 7 seconds. It doesn’t defend against burst damage, against ultimates. It’s a second-long buffer that won’t change the outcome of a fight, just delay it. I’ve given multiple examples of how Lucio’s ult sucks in relation to burst damage. Where’s your proof it works?
4 Likes
When the game was first released, I think his ultimate was great. But so many heroes have gotten boosts in damage, had their ultimates boosted, heroes buffed, etc. that I think it’s just been powercrept.
A temporary boost in shields is just…not as impactful anymore. Especially when burst healing is a thing. I feel like the shields should either decay or the boost of shields should just be higher and the decay stays the same, that way it serves its purpose better.
2 Likes
Not going to address everything you mentioned because I don’t care that much but just try to be objective. I see you’re a lucio main and it probably doesn’t feel great being outshined by mercy and zen in this meta. I get that. But lucios ult has never been a problem. It’s great at what it does which is offset a good amount of damage during a team fight. You’re not going to be able to use it to counter every ult in the game but it’s a good 1 for 1 defensive ult.
Lucio hasn’t been changed since he was the most prominent support in the game. Buffing him because the meta doesn’t favor him or because you just want your main to be better is exactly how a power creep starts.
The only questionable thing about the ult is why it takes so long to build.
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damage against a barrier does not generate any ult charge.
It’s been a problem for months. It doesn’t offset a good amount of damage, it just delays the inevitable for a second or two.
That has nothing to do with this. I’ve given you the numbers, the scenarios, all without bringing up my playstyle as Lucio once. My second most played is also the hero that counters Lucio the hardest.
It isn’t. I’ve stated why it isn’t twice now. On top of that, why do Defensive ults need to be 1 for 1?. There’s only 2 defensive ults in the game, and there’s 19 that do damage. 1 for 1 doesn’t cut it.
You’re out of the loop. Since his rework last year, every blanket change has been an indirect nerf to Lucio. Moira and Brigitte counter and are better than Lucio in almost every way. Sombra shuts him down so hard, and he becomes the only healer who can’t heal when Hacked. All he’s gotten in return is some QOL changes that should have been part of the game to begin with.
None of this is based off of my feelings. This is all objective fact. The game has moved on, and Lucio hasn’t.
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Damage against sound barrier generates ult charge, because it’s coded as a form of shield health like Sym and Zarya have.