Lucioball is coming! My personal favorite event of the year hands down. Lucioball is dismissed by many as being luck-based buggy trash, and loved by a few that really delve into this comm’s and positioning-based masterpiece of fun.
I don;t think I can convince anyone that hates Lucioball to love it as much as I do. So I won;t try. I also don;t think I can explain the mechanical manipulations that will help a good Lucioball player to championship level. What I CAN do, is explain several things about Lucioball that will take your game from zero to actually competitive and you can take it from there.
Still with me? Lets begin.
Every rule of strategy that I am about to explain HAS exceptions.
Do NOT mindless chase the ball at all times. You need to figure out if you can get there first or not. If not, you are much better backing off a bit, it gives you better reactive position.
Ultimates are best saved for kickoffs, Ultimates can win very easy points on kickoffs (in several different ways).
If you are nominated as the goalie, stay as goalie. Even if you have Ultimate, just save it until you are rotated into a kickoff situation (ie next point). EXCEPTION in a game that you are worried about losing, you might need to rotate a goalie with ULT forward, but this should be a last ditch effort and always bring a forward player back to cover the goal!
You do not need more than one goalie. EXCEPTION if you are goalie and get pulled too forward on the sides, it is OK to call for help and let the team know you are in trouble. In that situation, one of the forwards should be moving back to the center back to temporarily guard the center while the goalie recovers position.
As goalie, when you clear the ball, call out LEFT or RIGHT to let your forwards know where you are sending the ball. Calling out where the ball is going to land is POWERFUL information especially when you are the goalie. You don’t want your forwards to have to spend a lot of time looking backwards.
I generally recommend a Y formation, that is one goalie in the back and forwards on either side. When the goalie clears the ball to the LEFT, the LEFT forward should try to pass it across the field to the RIGHT side so the RIGHT forward can strike. And vice versa.
An ‘I’ formation can work in some situations but it will be different for each point and each team depending on your abilities. ‘I’ formation is a goalie, a center, and one forward. Generally speaking, an ‘I’ formation has a bit less offense but a bit more defense. Use it when you have low faith in your goalie but high faith in your solo forward striker. ‘Y’ formation is overall best, though, in most situations.
USE THE WALLS. When contesting the ball on the sides it is tempting to strike but you should not do this. If two enemies are racing toward you but you get the ball first, if you strike toward goal it will most likely be deflected. Why not instead hit the ball against the wall so it will bounce over their heads and land right in the middle, giving your opposite side Forward teammate a MUCH EASIER strike opportunity? I’m not saying don’t strike when you have a clear shot, but I am saying, if you don’t have a clear shot it is always better to draw enemy attention and then just bounce pass it over their heads and trust your teammate to take advantage of the situation.
When contesting a kickoff, remember this above all. It is absolutely a mini head-game. If you just steamrush that ball at the same time as I do, it’s a coinflip of which way the ball will go. However… if I read you right, I can just delay a bit and counterpunch that ball back toward your goal. I also have the option of rushing the ball and shooting it up against the wall, up above and behind you. I also have the option of simply body blocking the ball. I might jump if I think you are going to blast it toward the goal, simple body block and I still have my cooldowns against you. At all times, the kickoff player with Ultimate ready has the advantage, (see #3 above), so pay attention to who has their Ults! Just like in the normal game. But also pay attention to each player’s kickoff strat. If you know how that particular player plays the kickoff, you CAN counter it and you can also signal in advance to your other forward teammate how you plan to handle the kickoff.
Honestly, I could talk about Lucioball FOREVER. But I choose to stop typing now. I hope these tips help you enjoy more of this game than you would have otherwise.
At the top level ( as you can tell from my player icon ) Many anticipate the kick off ultimate and can easily react to block it causing you to completely waste it. You’re better off using it mid field if you have the ball ( or its coming towards you ) DO NOT aim for the goal. Aim for the wall next to the goal that is on your side. Then drop your ult. Hit the ball of the same wall two or three times before going for goal is the best way.
This caaaan work. But if someone on your team isn’t great in goal it’s always better to swap places with them at kick off to avoid them letting in a goal you could have easily saved.
Always swap places with the goal keeper if they have ultimate. It’s almost worthless on defence. I see a lot of players in unranked lucioball just spam boop erratically causing them to not only waste their ult but also let in easy goals they could have saved if they slowed and took their time.
I agree 100%. Having more than one person in goal is more detrimental than helpful. Getting in eachothers way and wasting two players boops to get a ball out of a goal that only needed one boop.
Goal keepers should NEVER leave the keeper’s jumppad. The only Exception to this is if the ball is in one of your corners and nobody else can reach it.
I agree 100%
There isn’t a one shoe fits all for lucioball. I prefer the tick formation. Near left defender, keeper and far right attacker. This way you cover more bases. If you have two attackers you are leaving the keeper completely on their own and open to an opposing double attacker strike.
A very good piece of advice. The wall has many features. It can be treated as a half player ( something that will potentially set the ball up for you if you hit the right spot. ) It also speeds you up with wall riding.
ULT ADVICE : Punching the ball at a close wall repeatedly will charge your ult very fast.
Best advice from someone who has managed diamond in lucioball…never have 2 people in same area at same time…you’re just covering less space
if your teammate is making a play on the ball near the side or corner of the arena…then you should be somewhere on opposite side or the middle so you can play any rebounds/deflections…if you’re the one making a play on the ball then consider playing it off the walls towards your teammate…misdirection has value
Oh and hit the ball up…never straight along the ground…especially as goalie
I still personally feel like if you suck as goalie, switch to the guy that’s good. I do this every few games. Some days I’m a God at goalie. Other times I’m a potato and if I see a third teammate is better, I ask to switch the game before and that’s the first thing we do at the start of the match
double striker isn’t good, all it takes is one boop to score a goal. You just have to have placement, not every shot will go in even if it’s a good shot but even the best goalie (hughbenhad, jeffster) still lets goals in that he has blocked at other times, nobody is perfect. Don’t promote double striker i’m very toxic about it bc its annoying and that’s why some people aren’t in top 100
Meh, I don’t think about tactics, other than solo goalie. I just play the game with music playing, and assume ny teammates will have a couple of brainfarts. Didn’t give me any problems last year
It’s not at all complicated but there are certain principles in play which vastly separate bad players from good players from great players from genius players.
I try to do everything you said, but I’m the worst Lúcioball player since it first came out. I don’t even know what to do. I mean, when I start running with the ball in front of me it wouldn’t follow me, it just goes to the side. If I kick it it lands in random places and I only use the wall riding thing to get to places quickly.
Seriously, I’ve tried all to do better but at this time I just to the placements and forget about Lúcioball forever
By the way, thank you very much for the tips, they are very helpful.
What do you do when one of your teammates refuses to play anything but goalie when he sucks at it. If I play goalie too he stays and then we have only one offense and when I play offense we get scored on by super easy to block shots.
