When choosing a Strategist to round out a team composition inMarvel Rivals, some options are better than others. With seven Strategists in total, choosing who to spend time mastering is a difficult decision, particularly because of the many fan-favorite characters who comprise the role.
Fortunately, Strategists inMarvel Rivalsare quite balanced, and for most levels of play, the rest of the team will surely appreciate any choice. However, when ranked against each other and looking to maximize the value a Strategist can add to a team,there are factors that place some Strategists squarely above the rest inMarvel Rivals.
8Jeff The Land Shark
Marvel Rivals Unanimous Mascot
The lovable land shark unfortunately finds himself in last place. It’s important to note, despite his low ranking, that Jeff is not a bad character. Similar to the solid balancing ofVanguards inMarvel Rivals,none of the strategists are badin the traditional sense but provide less utility or healing potential to the rest of the team.
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Jeff has an ult that can wipe teams single-handedly, provided there’s a cliff in sight, and it is also useful for his consistent healing. The reason for his low ranking ishis lack of utility and run-of-the-mill damage. While Jeff can certainly see the play, especially if a team needs a consistent source of healing, some characters achieve the same output but provide support in additional ways.
Jeff is a projectile-based character. His damaging secondary fire has some travel time. Conversely, hitscan refers to damage that is immediately dealt where the crosshair is aimed. It is preferred because it is more accurate.
He lacks the potential to save dire situations easily, with his only option for mounting enemy pressure being a well-timed ultimate. However, this can be countered by acutely listening enemies, who may spread out to avoid a catastrophic Jeff ult.
7Rocket Raccoon
Hyper Mobility & A Small Size Make Rocket Hard To Defeat
Rocket Raccoon is asolid strategist who can put down a consistent amount of healing and damage. Rockets ultimate, while not life-saving, can easily support a team during an offensive or defensive push, with the amplifier quickly becoming a priority target.
Oneof the benefits of Rocket is distraction, with two placeable priority targets that require the enemy to spend time dealing with. His hitbox is also small and supported by high mobility options, making Racoon challenging to pin down. In chokes, his AOE healing can also be a major boon, with the only downside being the slow-moving nature of his heels.
When looking beyond Rocket’s own ability, he also has one of themost powerful team-upswith two of the strongest duelists, Winter Solider and the Punisher.Don’t be dissuaded from playing Rocketby his relatively low ranking. He’s a solid choice, albeit with some situational caveats to his healing output due to its slow travel time.
6Adam Warlock
The Best Burst Healer In Marvel Rivals
Despite his three-star difficulty rating, Adam Warlock is a simple-to-use strategist who greatly benefits from that ease of use. Fights inMarvel Rivalscan get chaotic, which is typically when deaths occur.Adam Warlock, however, excels in these chaotic environmentsdue to both of his primary supporting abilities being AOE and targeted.
★★★
In other words, Adam does not need to aim to heal; the healing itself can potentially target the entire team. The healing is nothing to scoff at, either. It is one of the most effective sources of instant healing, perfect for situations where bursts of healing are necessary.
Adam’s ultimate can be effective, but allies will revive at Adam’s cast location. If used in the heat of combat, the revived allies can be quickly mopped up by the opposing team.
Adam’s Soul Bond is extremely useful when facing a dive composition. Combining the teams' health bars makes it extraordinarily difficult for dive characters to actually get picks. Despite this,Adam is held back by his limited healing, with the only pure source of it being a two-charge ability. Adam needs a Strategist duo who can compensate for this lack of consistency.
Requiring a second Strategist isn’t as bad as it seems, especially as thebest team compositions inMarvel Rivalsalways have at least two healers.
5Cloak And Dagger
Cancel Ultimates With Ease
Cloak and Dagger is a character that may not seem powerful immediately. This character’s form switching may be a nice benefit, but splitting up their healing and damage between two forms adds a layer of complexity that can be hard to use consistently in tense situations.
Besides the actual swapping mechanic,their ease of use is quite high, with auto-targeting damage and many AOE heals. Their ultimate can be quite effective with both offensive and defensive potential, and their utility, such as Cloak’s blind, can be useful in generating panic in the enemies hit by it.
Cloak and Dagger
However, Cloak and Dagger has potentially the single strongest non-ultimate ability among the Strategists. Cloak’s secondary attack,Dark Teleportation, provides nearby teammates with complete invulnerability on a 12-second cooldown. This ability alone raises Cloak and Dagger up the list.
Some characters whose ultimates Dark Teleportation can cancel are Groot, Dr. Strange, Scarlet Witch, and Jeff.
Typically, ultimates are needed to cancel out other ultimates. For instance, a Luna ultimate effectively shutting down multiple enemies through its healing aura. Cloak and Dagger, however,can deny ultimates with Dark Teleportation. If timed correctly, it can be used to allow a team to completely evade ultimates, generating massive value for the team.
As of theSeason 1 buffs and nerfs, Cloak & Dagger have received changes to their Ultimate as well, which remains one of the strongest Strategist techniques inMarvel Rivals. TheEternal Bond Ultimate has far greater healing potential than before, but nowdoesn’t stack as of the Season 1.5 update. This reduces its effectiveness, but it still remains a great ability that can turn the tide of a battle.
4Loki
Deception & Trickery
Befitting his trickster godhood,Loki is one of the most slippery Strategiststo try and achieve a kill against. With stealth, illusion swapping, and an oppressive AoE healing field, Loki can persist against these odds.
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Loki has some of the highest damage and healing potentialin the game, though getting to that point requires set-up, and maintaining it requires precise illusion locations. Like Rocket, Loki can cause a tremendous amount of mental stack with his illusions, which can soak up damage and priority from the enemy.
He also thrives against dive characters, the typical counter to Strategists. His healing field, if the rune isn’t targeted, provides near invulnerability for the team. This shares the hugely beneficial trait of Cloak and Dagger’sDark Teleportation, allowing Loki to nullify not just enemy dive characters but also certain ultimates for him and his teammates.
Besides non-healing utility, Loki has it all. If his illusions are not dealt with, which is easier to accomplish when usingLoki’s illusion ability effectively,his AoE healing and damage are consistent, strong, and useful regardless of the situation.
3Luna Snow
Luna Changes Make Her More Balanced
Marvel Rivals' Luna Snow, a relatively new addition to the IP, has seen significant changes alongside other Strategists inMarvel Rivals. Before, Luna Snow was considered the strongest Strategist in the game, but with new characters and seasonal nerfs,Luna is more in line with the other faces of her archetype.
Luna Snow has a tool for every situation, including fast movement, great healing potential, and far more damage output than other Strategists. However, Luna Snow’s Ultimate has been heavily nerfed over recent seasonal patches, making it more focused. This Ultimate creates a large AoE healing field that rapidly restores health of Luna and her allies, but Luna can switch it into a field that increases her team’s damage instead.
Thebalance changes to Luna make her Ultimate much harder to chargeand prevents her from switching between AoE types quickly. This limits the utility of what was once the strongest Ultimate in the game, making Luna a character that needs more than one Strategist to support a team completely.
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Her kit is powerful. Like Mantis,she has a strong CC suppress abilitywith the same benefits, albeit more challenging to land. Her piercing heals are consistent and can be augmented withIce Artsto cover situations where strong burst healing is necessary.
Once again, Luna has no standout flaws inMarvel Rivals,but recent balance changes make it harder for Luna to be as big as an impact as a solo Strategist on a team. That being said,Luna works in every team compositionand remains huge asset to any team she finds herself on, especially if her abilities are timed well and used to their full potential.
2The Invisible Woman
Focused Healing And Fantastic Positioning
The newest Strategist character added to Season 1 isThe Invisible Woman, the heart of the Fantastic Four whose healing output can reach ridiculous levels. Sue Storm’s primary attack is a projectile that bounces off of surfaces, healing any target and harming any enemies that it touches on its path. This gives Invisible Woman great utility right away, asshe can always be healing and fighting at the same time.
The Invisible Woman alsohas strong repositioning skillsthat allow her to pull or push allies and enemies during a fight. She can use these skills to pull back an ally diving too deeply into an enemy team, push enemies off map ledges, or even redirect enemy projectiles if she wishes. The possibilities for this technique are practically endless, but they do require knowing where your team and enemies are at all times.
By standing still, The Invisible Woman can turn invisible, disappearing from an enemy’s view until she uses an attack or ability. This invisible state can also be triggered by activating a use of the character’s limited double jump.
Another reason why this Strategist is so strong is the large AoE she can create with Psionic Vortex and her Ultimate, Invisible Boundry. Both of these abilities slow down enemies, pulling them into their space, but Sue Storm’s Ultimate has even more properties. Not only does this Ultimate heal all allies within its huge AoE, itprevents enemies on the outside of the Ultimate from seeing anyone within it.
1Mantis
The Strongest Utility In Marvel Rivals
Mantis rests as the most consistent Strategistfollowing multiple balance changes, as she received no nerfs. While she does share some flaws with Adam Warlock, Mantis has amazing utility on everyteam comp inMarvel Rivalsthrough strong damage and steadfast healling as long as she controls her primary resource.
Besides that, she is anextremely powerful healer whose success hinges on the player’s ability to maintain uptime on her damage boost and heal over time buffs. Doing so across multiple characters requires on-point aim but is a significant benefit to the team.
Mantis' Spore Slumber is one of the best abilities in the game, functioning similarly to Ana’s sleep dart inOverwatch. Its suppressing effect on an enemy has many uses and is easily applied due to its forgiving hitbox. This can stop dive characters in their tracks, allowing you to take advantage of an enemy player who has made the mistake to get trapped so far away from where their team can help.
Mantis also has the most consistent self-healing among Strategists, with the healing triggering off of essentially any ability she uses. This is a huge help when under pressure and can be tied with a self-damage boost, as well asSpore Slumberto turn enemy dives around quickly.
Despite the top characters' strengths, there is no bad Strategist inMarvel Rivals.With a core foundation of positioning and awareness, any Strategist can be effective. Learning multiple heroes will always be a good investment, as balance changes may affect character strengths, and being able to adjust to enemy compositions is vitally important inMarvel Rivals.
