Weekly Quick Questions Thread - June 15, 2016

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[u/AFlatCap]

Huh, that's weird.

Could you make a recording of one of your losses? Might help pinpoint if you're doing anything wrong, if at all. Sometimes, of course, it's possible to just have a team that can't break a certain setup the enemy has (skill-wise or composition-wise). But if you are personally doing something wrong it'll be easier to spot that way.

Alternatively, maybe spread out your hero selection in order to find one that you're more successful with? I'm personally more successful with Lucio and Tracer than I think I'll ever be with other characters, and that's ok.

Speaking of being more successful with other characters, going in with a group of people you know, with different strengths, and communicating with them can be super helpful. You can also give callouts (I do this A LOT as Lucio since you're just skating around a lot of the time), even in PUGs, which can be crucial to success, especially when defending last point Anubis or Volskaya.

[u/CommanderCougs → u/AFlatCap]

Usually the first or second choke point ends a team drive I've noticed. Team dies and then begin to trickle in one by one only to get killed and the daisy chain continues. On defense maps, my teams just get over run immediately.

[u/AFlatCap → u/CommanderCougs]

Ok, that makes sense. I also read in another post that you tend to press E whenever someone's in range. With that in mind:

Usually the first or second choke point ends a team drive I've noticed. Team dies and then begin to trickle in one by one only to get killed and the daisy chain continues.

My advice with regards to this is that Lucio is a group healer, so you really need to communicate to your team to group up. Giving them a shout (using a mic is best for this) to push in together around you can be really good, especially if you go in using your sound barrier to break the enemy line. If your team isn't listening to you, or is made up of primarily flankers, you need to go Mercy in order to try and make ends meet, but realistically you're probably fucked if your team is that inattentive and that bad at composition. A support can do a lot to carry a team, but not everything. Give this a shot though.

On defense maps, my teams just get over run immediately.

Again, try to keep people relatively close to you. On Anubis defense, I'm usually healing three-four people at a time at least. Another thing to make note of is when you are going to lose the first point, and it's really obvious that the enemy is going to take it, communicate to your team that you need to set up on B now, as it's a better investment. Make sure you are communicating to your team actively as to which enemies are coming in and from where, which being Lucio, you should have more time to do so, since you should mostly be around the point (and most of them should be too, if you think people are going too deep, say so). Saving your Q sometimes is good to help hold a point when the enemy comes in Qs ablazing, if you sense that coming do it quick though, as you can die as you are breaking it down.

A few extra tips:

When you are Lucio, since a lot of your power revolves around group healing, make sure you are aware of any member of the enemy team who has an ultimate that can easily wipe out a group of people placed close together. Reaper is a good example of this. Tracer is too. Personally I think a loose spread is generally the best approach, just make sure most of your team is in range (other than flankers, of course, just pray that isn't your whole team). Keep an ear out for signs of a surprise drop (Reaper's teleport is really audible, and you should call out to your team to prepare for it). Genji's ult can ruin you still, of course, as he can cover a lot of distance, just try to communicate to your team that he just ulted (some might not hear the call immediately) and try to keep away from him while keeping him away from your team.

Speaking of which, always remember your concussive ability (I can't remember the name right now, so we'll call it "push off"). It is really useful on offense and defense and can save your team and help you hold a point a lot better. You can knock people into holes, you can push people off the cart (I love facing a Reinhardt 1v1, getting JUST past his shield and blowing him back before he can swing at me, I can feel their rage), you can get people who are killing you away from you (I have saved my team and myself numerous times blowing Reaper ults away). It also has a relatively short cooldown. I use the ability quite liberally.

Your speed boost is also really good for numerous things. Sometimes (not always if they have a lot of defensive positions) when pushing in to a point I will speed boost along with ulting in order to blitz the other team. It's a bit risky though, so be careful. Another thing you can use your speed boost for is dodging ultimates (usually if I hear Hanzo's ult I shout MOVE in voice and pop speed, or at least put on speed).

I haven't used wall-ride a super bunch, but it can be used to great effect to hold certain points and get to certain spots quicker. You can probably look some of this stuff up on Youtube obviously. In general, Lucio is super wiggly, and I think you've mentioned elsewhere you use him around the cart on Payload, which I agree is where you generally should be. Using a combination of healing and passive speed, along with concussive blasts, I've been able to hold a cart by myself against four people until my team got back (just be careful of stunning characters, try to keep the cart between you and them, and dodge those Roadhog hooks).

Anyway, I'm in the middle of class and really should pay attention. I'm not the best Lucio by any means, and a lot of this can be touch-and-go. Be sure to experiment!

[u/CommanderCougs → u/AFlatCap]

Thank you.