Marvel Rivals is the new shooter that pits teams of Marvel heroes and villains against each other, fighting for objectives. If you’ve ever wanted to see Black Widow fight alongside Magneto against Captain America and Loki, your time has come.
Rivals follows in the gaming footsteps of Surveillance 2which was inspired by Team Fortress 2 and other predecessors. If you’ve played any of these predecessors, you’ll probably quickly become immersed in the game – the objective-based gameplay and general roles will be familiar to you. The third-person perspective may take some getting used to, and the destructible environments can add enough chaos to disorient even experienced players, but it shouldn’t take long to adjust and feel comfortable in the fray.
If you don’t have hundreds or thousands of hours in PvP shooters, that’s fine. When I first started playing Overwatch, I had no idea what was happening. But a few thousand hours later, I have a completely different take on the game. Marvel Rivals will probably feel overwhelming at first, but the key is to focus on one piece of the game at a time until it becomes second nature. Soon, you’ll be anticipating plays you didn’t even notice, scoring victories for your team and experiencing the full thrill of the game.
It’s a lot to get used to, but here’s a quick set of tips to get you started playing Marvel Rivals.
First, find your heroes
The best way to settle into the game is to find a hero or two you really like and stick with them for a long time. It reduces some of the chaos by giving you more consistency from game to game. Once you learn your character’s movements and abilities, you’ll have less information to digest. Instead, you can use the extra brain power to sift through things like “What does that inimical vocal line mean?” “Where should I go on this map?” and “How do I see through all these particle effects?”
Maybe you’re going into the game saying “I want to play Spider-Man” because you really love Spidey and the rest of the roster isn’t particularly important to you. Live your web-slinging dreams, my friend. But if you’re starting the game unsure of which hero you want to play as, I highly recommend trying out each hero a bit, even if only in the practice field, so you get a feel for how each character works. Find a hero or two whose roles and abilities best suit what you want to do. Check out my guide to Marvel Rivals Heroes and Roles for more in-depth advice.
Rivals will launch with 33 heroes, so you’ll have plenty of options to choose from.
Focus on your unique skills
At any given time in Marvel Rivals, you’ll have a lot of information to consider: where your six opponents are, what abilities each of them has available, whether any teammates or enemies will use their ultimate abilities in this fight, where that fight is in course, whether that fight is actually over or still up in the air, and whether the destructible environment will respawn right in front of you.
Don’t worry about any of that for now. When you first start playing, you spend the first few games learning the ins and outs of your abilities. Find out which ones are best to open with and which ones you need to save to escape from bad situations. Experiment with using them in different sequences and situations: when does Loki’s Doppelganger work as a way to aggressively teleport, and when is it better to give you an escape button?
The results won’t be identical from game to game, but you’ll start to find patterns that will inform you how you should play to get the most value out of your hero and how to best contribute to the team’s victories.
The driving range is useful for getting familiar with a hero’s kit.
Practice the push and pull of the game
One of the defining characteristics of hero shooters is the ebb and flow of gameplay, which gives them a different feel than Call of Duty deathmatches. As your team gains advantages in map position, health, or ultimate abilities, you can push more aggressively against the enemy team… at least until you run out of those resources or the other side turns the tables. At that point, you’ll have a short window of time to safely return, stock up on these benefits, and push on again. Rinse and repeat until one team is eliminated.
Sometimes, the triggers to push or pull are obvious. Maybe your Doctor Strange just stunned the entire enemy team with his ult (push!) or maybe the enemy Scarlet Witch is trying to blow up your team with her ult (shot). But there are smaller things that you will only learn through trial and error. Don’t use your Iron Man ult when enemy Magneto probably has his ult available. Once you see that Adam Warlock’s damage-thinning Soulbind ability is over, it means it will be much harder for him to keep an ally alive despite increased damage, so go all-in!
Remember the goal
Rivals is an objective-based game, whether the goal is to capture a mission area, push a payload across the map, or do a little of both. Getting kills helps your team progress towards the objective, but won’t win you the game outright. Watch out for the dreaded back cap (a player completing an objective while the enemy team is distracted elsewhere). Once you have mastered your skills and the constant ebb and flow, constantly keep your eye on the goal.
With this setup, Loki can damage and heal from safety, but quickly teleports to his target if enemies threaten to capture him.
Accept that not all games are winnable and focus on what’s fun
Even after you master the main one, learn to follow the tide of battle and maintain constant vigilance on the objective, you will still lose some games. All right. In any competitive game, you will trade wins and losses.
Sometimes, you’ll have great matches and lose because your Venom spends five minutes dying 1v6 repeatedly. Other times, you won’t be able to hit the broad side of a Hulk, but you’ll still win because your team’s Magik player eviscerated opponents without dying once. It’s all part of the experience.
Try to focus on what makes the game fun for you. For me, that means learning and mastering new heroes – thankfully, this game gives me nearly three dozen of them at launch. For you, that might be playing with friends (highly recommended) or swinging as Spidey throughout the game, even if the enemy Namor makes killing seem impossible. Whatever it is, focus on the fun stuff and remember that it’s ultimately just a video game with aliens, mutants, gods, and a regular dude with a bow.
For more on Marvel Rivals, check out my practical with Cap and Bucky and my insights guide on how to find your role and your heroes.
