Ultimates in Overwatch are the most powerful abilities in the game and countering them can be quite a team effort, but for some heroes, sometimes the best way to deal with powerful ultimates is to go at them head-on.
Lucio’s Sound Barrier can be a fight-winning ultimate. By giving allies loads of shield health, Lucio can allow his team to push into an enemy team and overwhelm them. There’s not much enemies can do against it except for back away or invest ultimates of their own.
This is, of course, under the pretense that the ultimate had been cast to begin with. For players really looking to deal with abilities like Sound Barrier, the best defense can be a good offense.
The key here is that some abilities require a hero to be on the ground for it to be activated and so by keeping that hero airborne against their own will, you can counter an ultimate before it can even be used.
A great example of this came in the Overwatch League when the San Francisco Shock took on the Dallas Fuel, with the Texas team looking to engage onto Temple of Anubis with a Sound Barrier.
Before they could drop the beat, however, Myeong-hwan ‘Smurf’ Yoo took matters into his own hands – literally – and activated Primal Rage to keep the Lucio in the air and eventually eliminate him.
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Had the Lucio tried to activate Sound Barrier while being juggled, he would have just died regardless. With only seconds remaining in Fuel’s attack, there was nothing they could do.
This trick doesn’t just apply to Winston either. Other heroes can use their own abilities to get enemies in the air. Doomfist can use Rising Uppercut, Junkrat can use two Mines, and Roadhog can Wholehog a target to keep them against a wall.
Knowing what ultimates your opponents have online can win you a lot of Overwatch matches and acting accordingly can pay dividends. If you think you have the skill, give this juggle trick a shot and take control of your win condition.
