Overwatch's Lucio Gets A Ton Of Balance Changes In The PTR

Blizzard Entertainment's team-based shooter title has rolled out another patch update to its Public Test Realm, this time focusing the majority of bug fixes and updates on the support hero Lucio.

YouTube user Arekkz breaks down the tweaks and improvements made to Lucio in Overwatch in the video above, and gives a bit more information on the rest of the patch details.

In a post on the game's website, Overwatch developers commented on Lucio's tweaks, stating that balancing him out was key so that he can "be more active in his role" as a support hero with more focused auras.

"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 developers explained. "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."

Below is the full list of Lucio's nerfs, buff, and changes in the latest PTR patch:

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 Lucio 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
• Lucio now receives a burst of speed when leaping off a wall

The rest of the patch details—which include bug fixes, custom games and game browser information, map changes, and additional hero tweaks—can be found on Overwatch's official site.

If you've yet to play as Lucio or any of the other heroes (or are waiting on the recently-revealed hero 24, Orisa, to release), check out the rookie mistakes you'll want to avoid making when playing Overwatch.