Fun with Lucioball

Aiman Maulana offers some tips on how to play Overwatch’s seasonal sport Lucioball

LUCIOBALL is a football-based game mode featuring two teams of three Lucios each. Unlike your usual Overwatch game modes, it has no violence whatsoever. Your objective is simply to push the ball into the goal and the team with the most points win.

In other words, this is Overwatch’s take on Rocket League but with Lucio instead of cars.

This isn’t exactly new as Lucioball did appear in last year’s Overwatch Summer Games but this time around, there is a competitive Lucioball game mode called Copa Lucioball.

It plays exactly as the regular version but you can gain competitive points and a global ranking. You can play either version to gain those weekly loot boxes in Arcade Mode.

Now, let’s get down to what you need to do in order to maximise your chances.

TIP NO. 1: BE AWARE OF YOUR TEAMMATES

The first thing to remember is that like every other game mode in Overwatch, this is a team-based activity.

This may sound silly but you’d be surprised how many people tend to focus on their own efforts rather than working together with the group.

You need to be aware of your teammates for two main reasons: Scoring a goals and defence.

It’s much easier to score if you and your teammates are passing the ball to each other. Lucioball is a football-based game mode featuring two teams of three Lucios each.

You can hit the ball to bounce off the wall near where you need to score so your teammate can shoot it into the goal, like a setter and spiker in volleyball.

As far as defence is concerned, there will always be one goalkeeper and two Lucios freely attacking or defending.

Always be ready to cover for your teammates, especially the goalkeeper if he moves away from the goal post, so your team’s defence isn’t compromised.

TIP NO. 2: YOU CAN’T TAKE OUT

YOUR ENEMIES BUT YOU CAN BLOCK THEM

As mentioned earlier, there is no violence in Lucioball and therefore, you

The objective of the game is simply to push the ball into the goal.

can’t just kill them and make the game easier for yourself.

However, that doesn’t mean that there’s no reason to get close to your opponents. If you are standing in front of where the opponent is moving, you will effectively block them. This is especially useful if you know that they’re moving towards the ball in an attempt to score a goal.

This is more of slowing the opponents down rather than blocking them completely but it can be enough to intercept the ball.

TIP NO. 3: DON’T JUST RELY ON YOUR SOUNDWAVE (SECONDARY ATTACK)

In Lucioball, you still have your gun but it is only used for Lucio’s secondary attack called Soundwave.

It’s an effective tool to push the ball away and to score but the downside is that it has a four-second cooldown.

So what can you do while you wait for the skill to finish its cooldown period? Use your primary attack.

Lucio’s primary attack has been replaced with the standard melee attack. It won’t do damage to the opponents and it’s not as effective as Soundwave but this move has no cooldown. This is especially important when you are the goalkeeper and you’re trying to save the ball.

I have made the critical mistake of letting the ball in my goal area as my Soundwave was on cooldown.

The primary attack works just as well to save the ball and it could mean the difference between winning and losing.

TIP NO. 4: COVER MORE AREAS IN THE MAP DURING ATTACK

In this situation, think of the map as having three general areas: left, centre and right.

If your teammate is on the right area, do not stay on the same side as him.

If you were to wait on the left or centre area, there’s a much higher chance of you scoring as the ball is awfully bouncy.

Always be on a different area from your teammate as it’s much easier to coordinate your attack, be it intentional or not.

TIP NO. 5: DON’T FORGET TO WALLRIDE

Lucio has a passive skill which enables him to ride the walls on any given map.

For Lucioball, there’s a drastic speed increase when you ride walls. This is incredibly helpful for when you need to close in on a scoring attempt or when you quickly need to shift back to defence. All you have to do is jump towards the wall and keep holding the jump button to ride it.

TIP NO. 6: USE YOUR ULTIMATE

SKILL AT THE RIGHT TIME

Lucio’s ultimate skill in this game mode enables him to move much faster than usual and practically removes the cooldown for his Soundwave technique.

As the duration of this ultimate skill is pretty short, it’s important to use it at the right time.

It’s quite effective if you were to use it right after the kick-off as you will usually catch your opponents off-guard and you can reach the ball easily thanks to your increased movement speed.

Another good time to use it is when you are on the attack. You can utilise the wall-bounce strategy I mentioned earlier by yourself instead of relying on your teammate, or just continuously blast the ball and hope for it to go in.

Hopefully, the tips given will give you more consistent wins and a better chance of getting a higher rank in the competitive version.

It will take time to get used to but once you’ve drilled it into your head, you’ll find the game much easier to play.