During the Eastern Clash, MVP Black made use of Lucio in a way that many teams haven’t been able to do yet. He was used in multiple games, and was highly effective during the Grand Finals, defeating L5 with clutch Sound Barrier’s and brutal team play.

We can learn a lot from watching Merryday play Lucio, but before we do that, it’s important to understand his talent selection. There are subtle variations between talents that are dependent on the battleground and enemy draft, making what first appears to be a clear cut Lucio strategy much more nuanced.

Let’s start by analyzing Merryday’s talents picked during the Eastern Clash:

Level 1

We Move Together

Increase the passive movement speed bonus of Speed Boost to 20%

OR

Accelerando

Increase the Movement Speed bonus of Wall Ride from 20% to 40% over 4 seconds, and maintain that speed as long as you maintain the Wall Riding movement speed bonus.

These talents have one thing in common: they reliably increase Lucio’s speed. During the early game, Lucio’s strength comes from his ability to avoid ganks and initiate them. We Move Together is the ideal pick when facing mobile opponents like Tracer, Lunara, Valla, or any other hero your team will be chasing often.

Accelerando is best on small maps and Merryday commonly picks it on Tomb of the Spider Queen. It is particularly powerful on this battleground, as it allows Lucio to quickly pick up gems and interrupt enemy turn-ins while staying safely at 40% bonus movement speed. Avoid this talent on Battlefield of Eternity or Blackheart’s bay-- there just aren’t enough walls to ride at common teamfight locations.

In this clip, Merryday demonstrates the aggressive plays possible with Accelerando and Hard Style. Valla’s damage is negated thanks to Hard Style and his movement speed successfully stall’s L5’s turnin.

Level 4

Off the Wall

If you hit an enemy Hero while you have the Wall Riding Movement Speed bonus, reduce the cooldown by 3 seconds. 

OR

Chase the Bass

Quest: After hitting 20 enemy Heroes with Soundwave, increase the arc by 50% and the range by 20%.

Merryday’s accuracy with Soundwave is part of what makes his Lucio so powerful. During MVP Black’s Eastern Clash matches, he showed a clear understanding of when to defensively use Soundwave and when it use it offensively as well. Part of this comes from correctly choosing between these two talents.

Off the Wall is the correct pick when the enemy team has one or two aggressive heroes that will routinely dive Lucio and his allies. Soundwave’s shorter cooldown allows for more peel and more opportunities to avoid damage. It’s best to use Soundwave as often as possible with this talent against Kharazim, Illidan, Ragnaros, or any other hero that requires melee range to be effective.

Merryday also chooses Off the Wall on Infernal Shrines, as the reduced cooldown is effective in clearing shrine monsters when the enemy is directly contesting. It’s easy to hit enemy heroes and monsters with the same Soundwave.

Pick Chase the Bass when Lucio needs to interrupt game changing abilities like Mosh Pit or Sanctification. This talent benefits from more careful use of Soundwave, maximizing the chance for the clutch interrupt when it is needed most.

For example, this incredible play against L5 denies E.T.C a would-be Moshpit thanks to Merryday’s quick reactions and increased Soundwave arc.

Level 7

Party Mix

Quest: Support allies with your aura for a total of 8 minutes (supporting multiple allies rewards more time).

Reward: Increase its radius by 20%

In all of the Eastern Clash matches, Merryday picked Party Mix, and for good reason. The quest is easy to complete in organized play and the payoff is significant. A bigger radius means more heals and more room for Lucio’s allies to maneuver while inside his aura.

This talent is deceptively important in offsetting one of Lucio’s biggest weaknesses: the tendency for his team to clump up and become vulnerable to AoE abilities. Once this quest is completed, the entire team benefits and will find it easier to remain safely spread apart.

Level 10

Sound Barrier

After a 1 second delay, grant yourself and all nearby allied Heroes an X point shield that decays to 0 over 6 seconds

Reverse Amp has its uses, but it doesn’t come close to swinging team fights around in the same way that Sound Barrier does. In organized play, the massive shields Sound Barrier provides allows Lucio’s team to safely initiate team fights and can single-handedly counter multiple heroics from the enemy team.

Amateur Lucio players use Sound Barrier when charging into the enemy team, but this really isn’t utilizing its full power. A smart team will immediately disengage and wait for the shields to expire. Contrasting this common playstyle is Merryday’s use of Sound Barrier. He waits until the enemy has already committed to using multiple abilities and no longer has the option of simply retreating. When his team is shielded, an amped up speed boost forces the fight and enables reckless diving, taking full advantage of the temporary shields.

This team fight is a good example of Merryday’s mindful use of Sound Barrier and how it ensures his team can continue fighting after Sanctification ends.

Level 13

Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop

You cannot be slowed or rooted while you have the Wall Riding Movement Speed bonus. 

OR

Hard Style

Gain 25 Armor while you have the Wall Riding movement speed boost, reducing damage by 25%

These passive defensive talents are both powerful and mainly dependent on the enemies team composition. The choice is as simple as it seems: if the enemy has tons of slows and roots, pick Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop. Chances are your opponents’ instinct of CC’ing an “out of position” support hero will allow this talent to gain value and waste your opponent's’ time.

Hard style is the default talent when facing a normal team composition that hasn’t doubled down on slows or roots. Similar to how Li-Li is played during the later stages of the game, Lucio can safely absorb more damage than most supports with this talent. An aggressive, semi-forward positioning is recommended once this talent is selected, as Lucio’s incredible speed and durability when wall-riding can become a nuisance for the enemy to deal with.

Level 16

Rejuvenescência

While Amp It Up is active, Crossfade's Healing Boost heals for an additional 3% of the target's maximum health per second.

Lucio’s talent diversity stops at level 16. Rejuvenescência is simply too powerful to ever not pick, especially when Lucio is the primary support hero. Part of the reason why this ability is so powerful is how easy it is to get full value from. Just press Amp it Up and enjoy the incredible healing per second Lucio brings to his team. This talent is especially powerful when healing tanky heroes with high health pools due to the percentage-based upgrade.

Level 20

Encore

Using Crossfade while Amp It Up is active resets the duration of Amp It Up back to its max duration. This can only occur once per cast.

OR

Bossa Nova

Reduce the cooldown of Sound Barrier to 30 seconds, but the shield now decays over 4 seconds (from 6).

Under most circumstances. Merryday will choose Encore because of its synergy with Rejuvenescência. This allows Lucio to double his Amp it Up healing and brings Lucio to extremely potent healing levels. With Encore, Lucio’s team is free to trade damage, as there is simply no other Support hero in the game that can match how quickly Lucio can fully heal his team.

However, Bossa Nova has its uses and Merryday knows this. When your team has more fragile heroes than tanky ones, Sound Barrier on a 30 second cooldown allows Lucio to save isolated heroes and counter dive-heavy teams. Bossa Nova is the go-to heroic when your allies are dying too fast and too frequently. When Lucio doesn’t have the luxury of conservative Sound Barriers, Bossa Nova lets him use it during every single enemy encounter.

If you haven’t picked up Lucio, do so.

Lucio is a top-tier support that, in the right hands, can have a big impact on the game. No support player has really demonstrated a tournament-worthy Lucio besides Merryday, but MVP Black’s Eastern Clash victory has effectively put the hero on everyone's radar. Expect to see a lot more from Lucio in the future.