Support characters are the backbone of any team-based game. While some might believe you can just out-damage an enemy team to victory, if they have someone healing their team and providing utility beyond making numbers go up or down, they’re more than likely going to outplay you. That’s certainly the case in Marvel Rivals, and thankfully its roster of supportive Strategist characters is pretty varied and has a myriad of playstyles to choose from. But who are the best and worst ones in NetEase’s hero shooter right now? Let’s find out as we rank them from the weakest link to the best in the business of healing.
2 / 10
Far be it from me to tell the trickster god he’s got too many tricks in his kit, but Loki has a lot going on in his moveset and it makes him harder to nail down than most Strategists in Marvel Rivals. In the right hands, Loki is a diabolical menace of survivability and trickery, but his effectiveness feels very much determined by the specific situations in which he finds himself. His ultimate, which allows him to transform into another character on the field and use their ultimate ability, is a fun gimmick and may give you the opportunity to pull off a clutch play, but it’s so dependent on who’s around that it can make him less reliable than other heroes on the roster. Loki can keep your team alive against otherwise devastating attacks and play tricks on your foes as he creeps around undetected and pops to different locations, but I have a hard time imagining most players telling someone to switch to Loki because the current team comp isn’t working.
3 / 10
The Guardians of the Galaxy’s feisty furball is one of the most fun Strategists to play in Marvel Rivals, even if his actual utility is a bit unremarkable. He’s super mobile when climbing up walls and flying around on his jetpack. His team-up with Groot is a blast to use as he rides on the sentient tree’s back and pumps out heals, essentially making the two unstoppable. And who could forget the most useful gadget in his arsenal: the team-reviving B.R.B. machine that basically gives a teammate a second life? But while Rocket is a lot of fun to play, he’s not the most efficient healer and his power-boosting ultimate is easily destroyed. I love Rocket, he’s my main Strategist. But there are better healers on the roster.
4 / 10
Marvel Rivals’ most mischievous little guy’s not the most efficient healer, but there’s a reason he’s a pest an enemy team hates to see coming. He’s incredibly mobile, can ride on Groot’s back, and his healing bubbles allow him to disperse support without having to be up the team’s ass at all times. Best of all, his ultimate is the kind of thing that can flip a fight with minimal effort. Swallowing up entire teams to spit them off the map or just pulling them away from an objective is a quick and efficient way to completely shift a game. Players are starting to learn ways to counter him, but sending an entire team tumbling down into a chasm is still one of the most reliable strategies in Marvel Rivals.
5 / 10
Marvel’s “perfect specimen” has a pretty unique kit that offers an interesting approach to the support archetype. He’s got decent heals, excellent damage, and an ultimate that can revive an entire wiped team. Perhaps most interesting of all, his novel approach to survivability has him evenly distributing incoming damage across multiple characters. Like Loki, he’s a bit more complex than some Strategists and can easily prove useless to an inexperienced player, but a skilled one can get an insane amount of value out of his kit.
6 / 10
Sue Storm is Marvel Rivals’ newest Strategist and the latest to fall into an odd archetype of “women who throw light blobs at enemies.” At least her invisibility and shields make her distinguishable from others in the same box. Invisible Woman’s support comes in the form of not just heals but protection, with her shields radiating healing energy as they defend teammates from incoming fire. She can also use them to push and pull enemies around, making her great for plays that make use of the environment like pushing foes off a map. Her cloaking abilities are versatile, allowing her to both escape difficult situations and set up for an ambush. And her ultimate marries all of the above to create a powerful healing barrier that hides characters inside from incoming damage or heals. Sure, you can blindly fire within her ultimate, but you’re wasting time and bullets if you can’t actually see what’s inside. It also has some incredible combo potential, such as a Scarlet Witch preparing her explosive ultimate inside it, keeping enemies on the outside from seeing her and running for cover. Players are still getting the hang of her, as she’s only been in the game since Season 1 began on January 10, but even in those few short days she’s shown a lot of potential.
7 / 10
Cloak & Dagger has one of the most unique set-ups of any character in Marvel Rivals. The duo is able to freely swap between the supportive Dagger and Cloak the saboteur. The two’s duality is captured in every facet of their design, both visually and mechanically. Dagger’s dazzling as she rains down healing on a team while Cloak is enveloped in darkness and is able to blind enemies. They’re diametrically opposed characters in nearly every way, tied together by an unbreakable bond. You essentially have to master two playstyles and learn to manage each of their cooldowns to be an effective player, and skillfully swapping between the two at a moment’s notice can make the difference between a game-saving play or a quick defeat. By design they’re one of the most versatile picks in the game, and I hope they’re a sign that Marvel Rivals will continue to find innovative ways to fill out its roster.
8 / 10
The Guardians of the Galaxy account for almost half of Marvel Rivals’ Strategists, but Mantis is far and away the standout among the three, and one of the most reliable picks in the game. Her utility is some of the best, allowing her to boost damage with her empathic abilities and hard crowd control foes by putting them to sleep, all with solid damage and healing output. On top of that, her ultimate is one of the best survival abilities in Marvel Rivals. She heals surrounding foes and converts that healing to overhealth almost immediately, giving her team a tool to push through fortified enemy teams with and helping them hold their ground against the deadliest onslaught of foes. Honestly, depending on the day, I could see Mantis being tied for the number-one spot with who our first-place winner. There just aren’t really any situations in which having a good Mantis on your team is a bad play.
9 / 10
Marvel Rivals’ resident k-pop star is our pick for the hero shooter’s best strategist. Like Mantis, her kit has great healing and strong CC, and her ultimate is probably the most efficient healing ultimate in the game. It also has a slight edge on Mantis’ similar ult because of its versatility, with Luna being able to shift between near-insurmountable healing and devastating damage boosts that can help your team overcome just about anything. Some of my earliest memories of good team synergy in Marvel Rivals involved using Star-Lord’s ult over a dancing Luna Snow as she cranked up my damage output, deleting enemy teams in seconds. Luna Snow and Mantis have a lot of the same utility with different flavors, but the dancing queen just slightly comes out on top thanks to her excellent Team-up abilities, which give new tools to Namor and Jeff the Land Shark and allow her to wield Iron Fist’s Chi to keep enemies from getting too close. They’re both queens in their own right, though.
10 / 10