Overwatch Character Lucio Joins Heroes of the Storm
By Dalton Cooper 04 February 2017
Blizzard reveals that Lucio, one of the original support characters from Overwatch, will be wall-riding his way to Heroes of the Storm in a future update.
Blizzard has been drawing players to its free-to-play MOBA Heroes of the Storm by populating it with characters from its popular franchises since the game launched in 2015. One game that has been well-represented in Heroes of the Storm is Overwatch, with two characters from the shooter already appearing in the MOBA, with a third debuting later this week.
As announced in a new gameplay trailer, Overwatch‘s Lucio is coming to Heroes of the Storm in a future update. The character will be tested in the Heroes of the Storm Public Test Realm beginning February 6th, and will then be added to the main roster at some point later on. Similarly to the role he plays in Overwatch, Lucio will be a support character when he’s added in Heroes of the Storm.
Fans of Lucio should be happy to learn that his moveset is largely unchanged in the transition from Overwatch to Heroes of the Storm. Just like in Overwatch, he is able to switch between abilities that either heal nearby allies or give them a speed boost. His ultimate ability from Overwatch, Sound Barrier, also makes an appearance in Heroes of the Storm as one of his Heroic abilities, and it functions the same, providing Lucio’s teammates with a powerful shield.
Not only does Lucio retain his abilities from Overwatch, but he also has a brand new one as well in the form of a second Heroic ability called Reverse Amp. With the Reverse Amp ability activated, Lucio can either slow down nearby foes or chip away at their health, which gives him more potential as an offensive character than his Overwatch counterpart.
Lucio’s new ability in Heroes of the Storm seems like it could be an interesting way to expand on his character in Overwatch. While it could create unforeseen balancing issues, giving Lucio a second ultimate ability could make him a more popular character in general. Plus, it’s not like Lucio would be the first Overwatch character with two ultimate abilities; the Symmetra rework gave her both a teleporter and a shield generator to deploy.
So far, Heroes of the Storm and Overwatch have had a one-sided relationship, so it’s doubtful that Lucio’s new ability will actually show up in his game of origin. Whereas Heroes of the Storm has added Overwatch characters to its roster like Tracer, Zarya, and Lucio, Overwatch hasn’t been influenced much by the MOBA, outside of letting players unlock a special Genji skin by playing it. Perhaps we’ll see Heroes of the Storm referenced more in Overwatch in future events and content updates, but in the meantime, fans should be able to expect even more Overwatch characters to show up in Blizzard’s MOBA.
Heroes of the Storm is available now for PC.
