We’ve seen plenty of cross-platform games come and go, but Marvel Rivals has a secret up its sleeve that none of those other games did: superheroes. Featuring the most powerful heroes and dastardly villains from across all Marvel franchises, this hero shooter appeals to a huge audience that other games simply can’t, free or not. That would only go far enough to get people interested, but it’s because the game itself is so fun that so many are sticking around. That makes competition high, even in the early days. You can’t expect to become a superhero overnight, but our tips and tricks will help you feel like your superpowered counterpart in no time.
Practice against bots to learn your hero
Jumping into a Quick Match or other competitive game mode in Marvel Rivals as soon as you boot it up is just asking for trouble. Even playing the tutorial first will only give you a taste of how a few characters work, which is hardly sufficient for a game with such a big roster and so much complexity. Instead, start out by going into a Custom Game and filling a game with AI bots. You can set your bots to easy, normal, or hard so start out on easy first and work your way up since the hard level is actually quite a challenge.
You can bring friends along if you want to learn together, but competing against bots is the best way to experiment with all your hero’s moves, when the best time to use them is, who they are a good counter to, who counters them, and just figuring out which ones you like. In a real match, you will be competing against players who likely are already familiar with the game and are ready to crush you before you can even learn what your hero is good at. For the sake of your own morale, and your teammate’s, play a couple of rounds against bots first.
While not as important, these bot matches also help you learn the maps. Figuring out good sightlines and angles for where your hero is best is never a bad thing.
Learn the new roles and pick based on that
We all have a favorite superhero we want to play as, but sometimes you need to learn to love a different hero if the one you love doesn’t mesh well with how you like to play. Spider-Man is a perfect example. We all love the web-slinger, and had a great time playing Spider-Man 2, but that doesn’t mean you will necessarily like him in Marvel Rivals. He can swing and zip around the maps like you would expect, but he is far more difficult to control and be effective with due to having such low HP compared to others.
Marvel Rivals uses the standard Tank, DPS, and Support roles of other hero shooters, but given new names. Duelists are your DPS, Vanguards are your Tanks, and Strategists are the Support. Start by choosing which role you like best and then start experimenting with characters within that category. Each role has a ton of options, though Duelist certainly has more than the others.
We also highly suggest having two or three characters you are comfortable with across at least two roles. This will help you fill in gaps where needed in your team, but also give you fallbacks in case someone else picks your main.
Take advantage of Team-Up Abilities
Where Marvel Rivals shakes up the formula most is in the Team-Up Abilities. These are special character-specific combo moves that tend to reference their past or if those characters share some sort of theme. For example, Rocket and Groot have a Team-Up, but so do Thor and Storm. These are essentially a second Ultra you can take advantage of, and each has a different effect. When picking your team, always pay attention to whether you have a possible Team-Up with another character.
Team-Ups can change the tide of battle, so coordinating with that teammate who you can sync up with is key to making a big push or holding back the enemy team.
Focus on the objective
Just like Overwatch, Marvel Rivals is a purely objective-based game. At least for now, there are no deathmatch-style modes. While eliminating enemy heroes helps, it should never be your primary focus. Stick with your team and keep pushing (or defending) the objective above anything else. Chasing down a kill isn’t worth it if you end up extending so far that you end up dying too.
As of now, Marvel Rivals has three main game modes: Convoy, Domination, and Convergence.
Convoy is your basic payload gametype where one team is attempting to push a payload across the map while the defending team tries to stop them. The payload moves as long as someone on the attacking team is in close proximity and no defending team member is. Defenders can also push the payload back if they stay close to it while no attackers are nearby. If the attacking team gets the payload to the end of the map before time runs out, they get a point. If time runs out, the defenders win.
Domination is the classic King of the Hill mode where a zone in the center of the map is created and teams fight to capture and control it for a specified amount of time.
Convergence is a bit of a mixture of both previous modes. One attacking team needs to capture a point like Domination while defenders attempt to stop them. If the attackers manage to capture it in time, a second appears farther along the map, followed by a third and final checkpoint.
Check the daily missions and challenges
Typically, daily missions and challenges are recommended for grinding XP as fast as possible. That’s still a great option here, but it is also a fantastic way to broaden your horizons and play the game in different ways than you would normally. Challenges like healing teammates will force you to try roles that you may not think you would enjoy. You still may end up not liking every role, but getting a base understanding of how multiple characters work is a benefit for when you encounter them in battle.
Plus, this will boost your XP and reward you with Units you can use to buy cool skins and cosmetics from the shop for the heroes you do click with.
