Behind the curtain of every hero is a story. Behind every story is a self. The essence of heroes is an ambitious interview series that aims to uncover the nature of each hero by asking its most skilled specialists to reveal their thought processes. In doing so, we also learn a lot about the hero behind the keyboard. This time we ask: What is essential to “Lucio’s Rhythm”?

“Most pro’s do not understand the true potential of Lucio and potentially value the wrong qualities. — Grego

You became publically known during your time in “google me” which later became the Cloud9 roster that dominated the scene in beta for a bunch of weeks in the no-hero-limit era. You initially played Lucio for that line-up with a couple of hours on Ana towards the end. Most interestingly however, you played one of the best Widowmakers at the time. How does one approach his team and convince them that — against common perception of indeed all support players at the time — you should be the one mechanically carrying the team? Even more so since Reaver, certainly a top 5 Widowmaker and specialist on the hero, was also part of the roster. Can you walk us through that discussion as far as you remember?

If I recall correctly, I remember saying that Widowmaker was my favourite hero at the time (not the case anymore since the scope animation changes). My teammates trusted me to do well as I had proved myself with calling/Lucio gameplay and I suggested that Widowmaker instead of Lucio might be a more optimal pick on certain maps, and it worked! Reaver had proved himself on other DPS heroes that were picked more often, so we kept him on those for certain maps.

The roster then split up with Debett retiring from competitive play and Reaver and you departing from the roster in October after a rather disappointing performance at the Atlantic Showdown where you dropped out in groups. Back then you stated that it was due to internal conflicts and a resulting inability to improve quickly. You went shopping for teams for a while with a brief stay in Liquid and rlycoolguys. What do you imagine the ideal team structure to be for you to succeed and which social role do you inhabit in it? Are you and do you want to be a shot caller and leader personality?

For me I feel I need to be trusted with my ideas as I’m the type of person to daydream about strategies and bring them to fruition. I may not have been the type of caller to constantly be telling people what to do at all times back then, but I’ve since been working on that. I felt at the time my opinions were not respected despite having argued my strategies previously, and showed that they worked every time we actually executed them properly.

You are obviously most well known for your nutty Lucio play which you impressively showcased in your recent video in which you show a bunch of clips from scrims against high-level NA opposition. Would you say Lucio is not only the hero but also the role that fits your talent the best? Rumour has it that you even entertained the idea of being the main DPS for a team. What makes you stick with Lucio?

I think Lucio is a great role for me, I love playing him and I’m known for that, so it’s easy for me to transition to other opportunities in that role. However Lucio players don’t get the recognition or brand promotion that DPS roles can give, so I dabbled in the idea of playing main DPS role. However I can’t even get teams to try me out for damage (or when creating my own team rlycoolguys, I couldn’t find a good enough Lucio) so it seems unlikely that I could swap now. Another reason for wanting to swap was that if you are a Lucio player, you are likely never picking another hero because he is a must pick 95% of the time. Sometimes it gets boring playing one hero all the time, I’m the type of player who practices all heroes and wants to be able to have the freedom of using my knowledge to counter-pick as I feel it gives my teams a big advantage. One thing that’s bothered me for a while, teams would never doubt a DPS player moving to support, but a support moving to DPS? Well… good luck. Some weird ego related stigma there.

Grego recently published a short video showcasing his Lucio assassin antics. Notice the amount of quad head shots he pulls off.

Let’s try to examine “Lucio’s rhythm”. How would you explain your mindset when playing Lucio? Is he rather a facilitator that needs to play reactively and primarily make his teammates function better or can he playmaker too? If the latter, which tools have you found where Lucio can be very impactful?

I think Lucio’s best attribute is his ability to keep the other main support alive, via reliable healing/speed boost and peeling with boops. However mid fight as flankers/divers are delt with, Lucio can become a budget Genji in the right hands, and I do believe it to be the best way to play. It’s all about reading the situation and applying those tactics at the right time. Zoning Soldier/Ana when playing against 3 tank comps is a good example.

Lucio has seen some dramatic changes in his kit towards a more mechanically demanding and less passive but arguably more fun playstyle. How do you like those changes? Will they reduce the pick rate of Lucio? Was Lucio buffed or nerfed?

It’s hard to say right now, I think it’s both a buff and a nerf. It’s a buff in the sense that his healing output is greatly increased, Ana bombing a group of tanks and heal-boosting is basically a cheap Zenyatta ultimate. So while he got movement/damage increase, his ability to move around the map also got reduced because he will no longer be able to heal his Ana when diving in. This could potentially result in Lucio becoming an even more passive hero in high-level play. I think that depends on what compositions you end up playing against, and if you feel your Ana will be pressured or not.

As a follow up: How do the changes impact Lucio’s rhythm? Would it be fair to say that if the current changes went live it would be a massive buff to Grego?

Part of this I answered in the previous question. I think you’ll definitely see more Tracers getting blown up in one combo from me ;).

You are asked to create an RPG character. Its purpose is to be the best Lucio player in the world. You get 10 skill points you can spread across different categories. There are no limitations as to how many points you can spend per category as long as the sum is 10.

Lucio (live version)

a) Aim/Mechanical skill — 3

b) Game sense — 4

c) Shot calling — 3

Speculation: Lucio (PTR)

a) Aim/Mechanical skill — 3

b) Game sense — 4

c) Shot calling — 3

This is a hard one for me because I’m conflicted, I think for most people it’s more reliable to think putting more points into shot calling/game sense is the right way to go. However if I’m thinking dive comp vs dive comp, who would I want defending my Ana player from Tracers or Genjis? Not to mention the skill-curve to being an effective Lucio for killing flankers would look like The Wall from Game of Thrones.

For dive vs dive or some comps where Lucio has to peel flankers constantly.

a) Aim/Mechanical skill —7

b) Game sense — 2

c) Shot calling — 1

In an article I wrote which was based on tweets of yours, I made the point that Lucio is very much underappreciated. Part of it is because Lucio players rarely see the spotlight, so here’s your chance to honour your fellow Lucio mains. With all you know about the hero, which player impresses you the most on it? Are there star-player Lucios people should be more excited about?

I think Tobi is one of those Lucio’s who always seems to be putting his best foot forward and showing up on the kill feed. I haven’t seen him in first person view, but I’d assume it looks similar to my play.

Complete the sentence.

I pronounce Lucio…

a)Loo-she-o

b)Loo-see-o

The answer is b), Loo-see-o.

The player I’d like to play with in my next team would be…

…Tvique, I’m definitely the most impressed with him in the entire scene. It seem’s his play is very team oriented but on top of that, has incredible mechanical skill. He seems like the full package.

I want to be a professional Overwatch player because…

…Overwatch is an incredible fun and fresh game, It’s got a lot to look forward to and I’m excited for it’s future.

I hope the Overwatch League will…

…become a large scale successful league, with more than just 16 or so teams. I’d like to see something much bigger along the lines of traditional sports where there are more opportunities, as well as a college scene. I think it’s healthy for bringing in new players to the competitive scene as it doesn’t seem like some exclusive club that you can only get into if you know someone. I’d also like to see more management/coaches/analyst taking their jobs very seriously. I’d like to see them take more control as player made decisions can sometimes be… political, is the way I’ll put it. Players just don’t have adequate time to fully research new talent, and often times dismiss potential great picks for their team. Need true scouts who get paid to research players.

Thanks for your time!

This interview was conducted by Sascha “Yiska” Heinisch. I’m currently looking for a publication to have my content. You can contact me on twitter @Yiskaout or via email Yiskaow@gmail.com.