Alright, fellow Lúcio mains, we might need to change the way we play if the changes on the PTR (Public Test Realm) make their way to the main version of the game. Lúcio has changed dramatically.

His boost heals more and makes Amp It Up faster, but the radius of all of his area-of-effect skills is smaller. A lot smaller. The really crazy bit? Lúcio is even faster than before on walls.

Here’s exactly what’s changed, including Blizzard’s reasoning.

Lúcio

  • Sonic Amplifier
    • Projectile speed increased from 40 to 50
    • Alternate fire now considers vertical orientation when knocking targets back
  • Crossfade
    • Song’s area-of-effect radius decreased from 30 meters to 10 meters
      • A temporary in-game visual has been added to illustrate this radius (it is only visible to Lúcio and his teammates)
    • Heal Song
      • Healing-per-second has been increased by 50% (also applies to Lúcio’s Amp It Up ability)
  • Sound Barrier
    • Radius decreased from 30 meters to 20 meters
  • Wall Ride
    • Movement speed increased by 30% when wall riding
    • Lúcio now receives a burst of speed when leaping off a wall

Developer Comments: Lucio has often felt like a must-pick due to his raw healing output and the versatility of providing a speed bonus to your entire team. The goal of these changes is to keep those elements feeling strong, but making them harder to apply to everyone on your team at all times. The end result is that he should feel stronger with teams that he can stay close to but not as strong when on teams with heroes that are often spread out (such as Pharah, Widow, Genji, etc). Much of Lucio’s character power was tied up in his large passive auras, which caused other elements of his kit to be weakened over time in an attempt to balance him. Now that his auras are more focused it will allow them to be much stronger and allow Lucio to be more active in his role.

Some folks say Lúcio is way broken

Lúcio’s ability to move more quickly while wall riding, complete with a burst of speed from jumping off a wall, makes him insanely fast. Here’s some video proof.

I’m not sure these changes will make it to the full client. If they do, wowsers.