I agree, played Lycus for the first time as antagonist and just felt useless. Antag really has no advantage anyways if at least two players are competent or decently higher level, but Lycus's is easily detected and has no range. His only use is doing what you can do with anyone, hide and tackle. Anyone can melee, he has no advantage there.
Hell I feel bad fighting a Lycus as an R. He might dominate my team if they suck, but as long as I'm not playing a sniper, there is no way it's fun for him...
I'm just now entering the level 20 area, but I can already tell some characters aren't as good as others, even if they counter one other character.