How to play Lucio in Overwatch 2 – Tips and tricks

Lucio is one of the original Support heroes in Overwatch 2 and is one of the most iconic characters in the game. What other hero has had a brand of cereal named after them? This popular hero has consistently been one of the strongest picks throughout most of the original game, and that hasn’t changed in Overwatch 2. Lucio is still a powerful and impactful pick, with his ability to quickly speed his allies to safety or to enable an engage on the enemy. Lucio is also one of the fastest heroes in the game, and his zippy playstyle makes him a hard target to pin down and kill. In this guide, we’ll break down how to play Lucio in Overwatch 2.

Lucio can provide a lot of value for your team, but if you don’t play him correctly, he can end up providing almost no value at all. It’s important to know how to maneuver Lucio, and use his utility to the fullest.

Related: How to play Mercy in Overwatch 2 – Tips and tricks.

How to play Lucio in Overwatch 2 – Tips and tricks

In Overwatch 2, Lucio maintains most of his identity from the original game. Lucio’s ‘Primary Fire’ still shoots out a burst of four audio-based projectiles, while his secondary fire is his iconic ‘Soundwave’ ability, or “boop” as referred to by the community. This move will knock back the enemy up to eight meters away and is on a low cooldown of four seconds. His ‘Crossfade’ ability is his main support tool. Crossfade provides a wide area of effect (AoE) buff to anyone in its range. With it, you can either passively heal nearby allies or provide a slight speed buff to their movement. You can swap between healing and speed boosting by toggling this effect.

‘Amp it Up’ is Lucio’s second ability, and this will amplify the effects of Lucio’s Crossfade. Ally healing will be boosted significantly, as will their movement speed. Knowing when to use Amp it Up and which Crossfade effect to amplify is an important part of Lucio’s kit. Finally, his Ultimate ability, ‘Sound Barrier,’ causes Lucio to leap into the air. When he slams down, allies within a wide radius will gain a huge amount of temporary health. This allows Lucio to guard allies against many Ultimate abilities.

Maybe the most noteworthy aspect of Lucio’s kit is his passive: ‘Wall Ride.’ When Lucio jumps alongside a wall, he will latch onto it and have the ability to move alongside. Continuously detaching and attaching to the wall will allow Lucio to go even faster. This helps Lucio very quickly come back to a fight after dying, potentially saving the game. Additionally, the speed boost from his wall ride makes him very hard to pin down if you master his movement.

Now that you understand Lucio’s abilities, follow these tips so you can utilize them better:

Turn on ‘Allow Backwards Wall Ride’ in the settings

Screenshot by PC Invasion

If you ask any Lucio player, this is likely the first thing they will tell you as you start to learn this hero. How Lucio’s Wall Ride works by default is somewhat unintuitive to his kit. Normally, Lucio has to face a wall to latch onto it, or at least have it in his line of sight. When you turn on the “Allow Backwards Wall Ride” setting, this will let Lucio Wall Ride on a wall without facing it. This helps Lucio a ton with his mobility.

Many fans and Lucio players question why this setting is not on by default. This is just a nice quality-of-life change to Lucio and a big adjustment to how his Wall Ride works, so we highly suggest turning on this setting before starting to play him.

Your allies need to be in the line of sight for your Crossfade

Screenshot by PC Invasion

Your Crossfade ability can provide a wide AoE buff to your allies, through either passive healing or a speed boost. However, do know that your allies will not receive this buff if they are not in your line of sight. Allies behind a wall, or even behind a pillar, may not be receiving the benefits of your Crossfade if you are they are not positioned correctly. You can gauge how many allies are being benefitting from your buff using the number that appears in the middle of Lucio’s HUD.

Note: If an ally was in your line of sight, or within your AoE range, they have a couple of seconds where they still receive the buff. Crossfade takes a couple of moments to actually disconnect from your ally. In essence, this means you can peek around corners for your allies to reconnect the ability before it expires, so don’t think you constantly have to be in the presence of your ally for Crossfade. (As a side note, Mercy’s Primary Fire and Secondary Fire will work the same way.)

Your ultimate works the same way

Screenshot by PC Invasion

Your Ultimate ability, Sound Barrier, works the same way as Crossfade. If allies are not in your line of sight as you use Sound Barrier, they will not receive temporary health from this ability. Do not use Sound Barrier expecting to save an ally if they’re behind geometry. The radius for your Sound Barrier is also a bit wider than your Crossfade radius, so do not rely on the number in the middle of your HUD to tell you how many allies will be affected by Sound Barrier.

Note: As with Crossfade disconnecting from allies, there is a bit of leniency with how Sound Barrier’s temporary health is applied. You can actually apply the temporary health for your allies for a couple of moments after you land. This means, if you are behind a wall, you can actually shimmy out towards an ally and give them temporary health. However, at a certain point, you will have to actually have your ally in your line of sight for this ability to land, so keep that in mind as well.

Your Soundwave is a powerful initiation tool, but it can peel as well

Screenshot by PC Invasion

When people think of Lucio’s Soundwave ability or his “boop,” most of the time they think of a potential environmental kill. Booping an enemy into the well on Illios is a serotonin-boosting event, especially in Overwatch 2 with the new tank passive and the abundance of movement abilities. Therefore, it’s more prudent than ever to understand how to use his Soundwave and the applications it can have on his team. The obvious usage is to boop damage away from your allies. Alter Reinhardt’s trajectory during his charge, boop away an ulting Reaper, etc.

However, Lucio’s movement allows him to get behind the enemy team as well, and perhaps boop an enemy away from an advantageous position. For example, a popular strategy is to Wall Ride on Watchpoint: Gibraltar to the enemy high ground, allowing you to safely get behind the enemy and boop them off of the common high ground position. This will ruin their defense, and allow your team to go all-in on the attack. Plays like these can separate a Lucio who is just using their Soundwave to peel for themselves, from a Lucio who is able to use Soundwave as an impactful tool all around.

You can swap around your Crossfade while using Amp it Up

Screenshot by PC Invasion

You might think that Amp it Up only boosts the effect of one buff at a time. For instance, if you are using your Heal Crossfade and Amp it Up, you can actually swap to your Speed Boost Crossfade and get an increased effect. Naturally, you will stop healing, but there are ways for you to mix it up that might be beneficial depending on the situation. If you are alone on the point and contesting a retake, for example, you can potentially keep yourself alive with a mixture of speed boosting, wall riding, and healing.

One of the best ways on how to play Lucio in Overwatch 2 is knowing when to change the flow. If a fight isn’t going your way, change to Speed Boost to get your team to move back toward a safer position.

Sound Barrier is not just a defensive tool

Screenshot by PC Invasion

Many people have popularized the idea that Lucio and Zenyatta’s ult are “defensive ults.” This is because a common usage of these ultimate abilities is to counter other enemy ultimates. This is a good reason, and a smart way to use these ultimates. Using Sound Barrier while in Zarya’s ‘Graviton Surge’ ultimate, for example, can save your team and turn the tides of a fight. However, don’t be afraid to use your Sound Barrier to initiate a fight as well.

Speed Boosting in combination with your Sound Barrier can get your team straight into the action, and naturally, having nearly 700 health more than your opponent will help swing the fight in your favor. There’s not much an enemy team can do when a Ramattra with bonus health is flying straight into the enemy team at a breakneck pace. You’ll have to understand the situation of your game carefully to apply this, as you might have no tools against other enemy engages as well. Keep track of enemy ultimates, and use this Ultimate offensively when you can.

That’s our tips and tricks guide on how to play Lucio in Overwatch 2. For our thoughts on the game’s heroes, check out our tier lists on best DPS, best Tanks, and best Support.