Marvel Rivals' Nerfs Could Make One Hero Unstoppable Against Supports

Although half-way through Season 1, NetEase is making some big changes to Marvel Rivals, adding the rest of The Fantastic Four, with The Human Torch and The Thing joining the roster, while giving players a vampiric version of Central Park. This seems like it will be the formula for the title moving forward, with the beginning and mid-point of each season being where NetEase will make changes to the game. This coincides with their intention of adding a hero every forty-five days, with a season (and its corresponding Battle Pass) lasting 90 days.

It should be noted that a Battle Pass can be accessed indefinitely, but will only be current for 90days, and it seems that NetEase is listening to its fans, even on the financial side of the game. Players will be able to convert Chrono Tokens into other currencies to buy skins, which is quite surprising given how abundant Chrono Tokens are by comparison. The developer hasn't forgotten to listen to gameplay feedback too, with some changes possibly affecting the triple support meta, or at least making Strategist healing less effective in dragging on fights.

Marvel Rivals Will Be Nerfing Strategist Ults

Teams Will Be Unable To Rely On Strategist Ults To Keep Them Alive As Consistently

According to Marvel Rivals' 1.5 update video on YouTube, there are going to be a lot of little tweaks here and there, but a universal change for many supports is how quickly they will be able to charge their ultimates. Luna Snow, The Invisible Woman, Mantis, and Cloak and Dagger will have to do more to charge their ultimate. While this might be annoying for Strategist mains, it will stop the triple support meta from being able to make teams practically unkillable and drag out fights for far too long. Using Strategist ults back-to-back can make a well-organized team immortal.

Strategists aren't invincible during their ultimates. A well aimed, one-shot ultimate (like from Namor, Iron Man, and Magneto) can be saved to shut them down.

Cloak and Dagger seems to have suffered the most from these changes, having their ultimate being faster but being unable to stack it to increase the healing output. With these nerfs, it seems that NetEase is trying to stop the three-strategist meta from being too powerful, and by buffing the ult charge rate on other characters, like Magik and Venom, it seems that it wants to bring in more counters to this meta. NetEase has stated that it doesn't want to remove the meta from the game, which is likely why many Strategist are unchanged outside their ultimates.

General survivability seems to be lower too, with Doctor Strange and Magneto suffering nerfs in this regard. When paired with the Strategist nerfs and the general intention to make the triple-strategist meta easier to counter, it is obvious to see where NetEase is taking the game. Fights are intended to be faster, more intense, and characters will actually be able to die more often, lacking the constant cover of a defensive Strategist ulitmate without removing established triple-support metas (whether with one Vangard or two), although the patch's release will reveal if NetEase's intentions meet the expected results.

Magneto Will Be Even More Dangerous Against Strategists

He Is Already The Go-To Counter To Strategist Ultimates

Marvel Rivals Magneto in alternate skin MVP animation screen

For a while, Magneto's ultimate was in a limbo state of not having a specific use, but in recent weeks it has been used as an effective tool to counter Strategist ultimates, given its one shot potential. Magneto himself is extremely hard to stop while using his ultimate, given that all projectiles are absorbed while it is charging, and unlike other one-shot ultimates, like Iron Man's, he can track characters as he charges his ultimate. This proved particularly effective against Cloak and Dagger, since their ult often brings them away from teammates during its use.

Magneto's ultimate can absorb damage if it is from a projectile, but has a limit of absorbing 300 damage.

It has also proved effective against Luna Snow, The Invisible Woman, and Mantis, since when those ultimates are used, a team often go on the offensive due to the sheer healing output. Magnetos can then use their ultimate to put a stop to this healing, and because they can track their enemies with the ultimate, it has proved more useful than Namor's (because it can be easy to get out of), and Iron Man's (because he can more easily be stopped). Although there are counters to this, using Magneto this way is nerve-wracking for Strategists and can shut them down.

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This will likely be even more effective, since Strategists will take longer to charge their ultimates, meaning that Magneto players are more likely to have theirs ready to counter. Cloak and Dagger's ultimate speed might make it harder to hit them specifically, but a flying Magneto with a giant, magnetic ball is still a terrifying thing for many Supports to face. Magneto has also seen an increase to his primary fire's damage, meaning that he could charge his ultimate even faster. If not, he will at least be a bigger threat from a damage perspective.

There Will Be Less Healing In Marvel Rivals Going Forward

And Triple Support Won't Be As Powerful

Although Magneto is the pre-established counter to many support ultimates, and will likely find a lot of joy in this department with the Strategist ult charge nerfs, there will probably be other strategies to deal with them in the new update. It isn't known how The Thing and The Human Torch will affect the game yet, although The Human Torch looks very powerful if the demos are anything to go by. The rest of The Fantastic Four could completely shake up the meta, similar to how triple support coincided with The Invisible Woman's release.

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It will be interesting to see how this update affects Strategists, since many of their base kits have been unaffected or even buffed (Adam Warlock Soul Bond heals more, while his primary does more damage and Loki has more ammo). The general aim seems to be offering more counters against powerful triple-support comps at higher ranks, but healing can already be pretty miserable if diving enemies won't leave Strategists alone. This could make things worse for Strategists, but it will probably make things better for everyone else.

In general, survivability seems down with the nerfing of support ults and changes made to Magneto and Dr Strange. Magneto seems to be pushed toward heavier damage with buffs to his primary fire and could consolidate himself as a clear support killer going forward. He was already difficult enough to stop when aiming for a Strategist during their ultimate and is now more likely to have his ultimate ready in time for a counter. While the intention is clear, it will be interesting to see ifMarvel Rivals' balance pans out the way NetEase hopes with its Season 1.5 changes.

Source: Marvel Rivals/YouTube

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