Lucio is one of the most effective heroes in the current metagame of Overwatch. Many players know how to play him reasonably well, positioning themselves near teammates to bolster their capabilities while tossing out damage of their own with the Sonic Amplifier, but few know how to use him to his maximum potential.
As it turns out, Lucio's mobility is his greatest strength. Between his quick movement, Crossfade, and Wall Ride abilities, he can become the most difficult hero to hit while on the move. In the case of Wall Ride, there's a unique mechanic that allows Lucio to bunny hop, dodging attacks while skating around. Speaking of the bunny hop, let's go over what it is and why you should spend time learning how to do it.
What is a "bunny hop"?
The term bunny hop dates back to a small handful of classic first-person shooters. In games such as Quake 2 and Starsiege: Tribes the goal was to move around swiftly while remaining a difficult target to hit. The term rose to popularity with the debut of the multi-million selling Counter-Strike. Built on the Half-Life engine, the game had physics that allowed you to gain speed while in the air, which was achieved by strafing mid-air and turning at the same time. In order to retain your momentum you would need to jump the moment that your feet touched the ground, creating the appearance that you were hopping around like a bunny rabbit.
The increased movement speed made players much more difficult to target. It was to a point where you were at a significant disadvantage if you didn't know how to bunny hop. Naturally, since Counter-Strike was intended to be a slower-paced, simulative experience, this era wouldn't last long. On December 20th, 2001 release 1.3 would debut. Among its change log elements was "bunny hopping removed", spelling the end of the bunny hop era. Well, at least in official servers and matches, anyway.
Despite nerfs, bunny hopping has been achievable in every version of Counter-Strike, even this generation's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Players equipped with their own unofficial servers have been able to tweak the "air accelerate" setting to mimic the conditions of early Counter-Strike, providing opportunity to play custom maps built specifically to entertain players who know how to bunny hop. Players who are particularly adept at the art are able to incorporate it into official games, albeit in a muted manner, by gaining small boost of speed and zig zagging around for short distances. So, you could say that bunny hopping is still alive and well.
How does this apply to Overwatch?
The physics in Overwatch are much different than Counter-Strike, meaning that you can't bunny hop through conventional means. However, there is one character who has a unique capability that allows him to bunny hop in his own way: Lucio.
Lucio's rollerblades allow him to Wall Ride. This is a mechanic that often goes unused by beginner and intermediate players as utilizing the environment to move around is very difficult to do while juggling ability usage and remaining near teammates for auras. As difficult as it is, the ability to jump and ride on walls provides means for a bunny hop style of play.
Lucio is allowed to ride a wall and jump off of it before riding on another. Done properly, you can chain Wall Rides together, avoiding the vulnerability of being on the ground and having a great viewpoint of the action below. This method mimics the bunny hopping that classic shooter fans are familiar with by allowing a player to move around swiftly in zig zag patterns, provided the player has a lot of skill and technique.
How do I bunny hop with Lucio?
The first thing you need to do is alter a setting. Head into the Settings menu and go the Controls section. You will want to select Lucio from the top-right drop-down menu to alter your configuration specifically for him. From here, bind Jump to mouse scroll down. By that I don't mean mouse 3, but rather flicking your mouse's scroll wheel in a downward direction as if you were trying to navigate a website page.
This might sound crazy, but binding jump to mouse scroll down is how bunny hopping has been achieved in Counter-Strike for years. The reason you do this is that when you manually press space bar you are only sending one jump command to the server, and timing that perfectly with when you land is something that can't be consistently done no matter how good you get at it. When you use scroll wheel down to jump, you send multiple jump commands to the server allowing you to precisely time your jump to Wall Ride the next wall as soon as your character model approaches it. Binding jump to your mouse also allows you to free up your left hand for movement based inputs while your right hand is in charge of aiming and jumping.
Once you have this bound head into a game and focus on finding locations that have walls that are spaced reasonably close apart, preferably with higher elevation. What you need to do is hop onto a wall and then hop off and begin scrolling your mouse wheel down once you arrive at the next wall. When done correctly, you can chain jumps between walls quickly. Your enemies will hate you for it.
Why even bother?
If you're looking to become great at Overwatch, being a difficult target to hit is a critical skill that you will need to master. You may have heard professional commentary on FPS games where a professional mentions a player having excellent movement. Having good movement isn't as easy as it sounds, as it requires not only remarkably sharp command input, but high awareness. It's a case where even the most seemingly insignificant things make a huge difference on outcomes. If you can outmaneuver your opponent even 10%, you will have the advantage. It's that simple.
In the case of Lucio, his unique Wall Ride ability allows him to become an extremely difficult target to hit. By utilizing his bunny hop potential you can get around the map in a way that no other player can. You become an absolute nightmare for certain characters to deal with, namely Pharah and others who have projectile travel times.
This bunny hopping mechanic is benefitted by Lucio's other abilities, namely Crossfade in its movement speed increasing orientation, and Amp It Up. If you find yourself needing to make a long jump to continue your bunny hop, you'll want to utilize these to increase your speed.
In addition, Lucio is currently one of the top 3 most potent heroes in the game. He is literally chosen by both teams in 99% of professional matches due to his support capabilities, control, agility, and damage output. Your time spent learning how to become a master at playing Lucio is well spent.
Can I do this on console?
No. Bunny hopping requires quick targeting and multiple jump input commands. These are not achievable with a controller.
How can I get better at bunny hopping?
There is a Practice Range available through the main menu where you can play on your own. This will allow you to practice your movement and bunny hopping as long as you want without fear of being killed by another player or losing to an opposing team. Even better, the Practice Range map has several buildings that are spaced closely together, which are perfect for practicing difficult bunny hop maneuvers.
Final Tips
Don't become too distracted by bunny hopping when in a game with other players. Your main role is to provide auras for your team and supplement their damage. You should look at bunny hopping as a defensive mechanism, as well as a means for navigating map features (i.e. getting to the second floor of a building without using stairs). Your goal should be to learn how to make bunny hopping second nature so that you instinctively do it while focused on being an effective support player for your team.
If you're having a lot of trouble with bunny hopping, you may want to look at the quality of your mouse and mouse pad. Put simply, it's easier to have great movement with a highly ergonomic mouse that has a high quality scroll wheel and a large mousepad. For a list of recommended gaming mice, see here. In regards to a mouse pad, I recommend the SteelSeries QcK+.
Lastly, a big part of being good at this is knowing the layout of maps and which textures you can and can't Wall Ride on. You'll want to be patient when you're new to bunny hopping as you learn which routes are great for using the technique, and which locations kill your momentum.
