In Marvel Rivals, all Ultimate abilities can be strategically powerful, but those possessed by Strategist characters often redefine the game. Many would argue that Strategists feature the most formidable Ultimates, ranging from rapid healing auras to substantial damage enhancements. As the game’s meta increasingly favors teams with three Strategists, it’s crucial to learn how to effectively counter each Strategist Ultimate using specific characters.
Understanding how to counter a Strategist Ultimate not only allows your team to diminish the effectiveness of your opponents but also enhances your support for your allies. Recognizing the ways to disable a Strategist’s strongest abilities will give you insights into how enemy teams might strategize against your team’s Strategists. By grasping the potential counteractions of opponents, you can devise better strategies to safeguard your Strategists in Marvel Rivals.
What Are the Strongest Strategist Ultimates in Marvel Rivals?
Abilities That Instantly Heal Allies
When compared to the Ultimates of the Vanguard and Duelist archetypes, Strategist Ultimates tend to have a greater influence on the outcomes of matches. Take Luna Snow, for example; if her Ultimate is timed perfectly, she can create a healing field that quickly restores the health of nearby allies. This can thwart an enemy’s advance, help maintain a point, or aggressively assist Luna’s team in controlling a specific zone on the map.
With the recent adjustments to characters in Season 1, some Strategist Ultimates have undergone modifications. While certain character Ultimates have been enhanced, others have been dialed back to create a more balanced landscape among the Strategist class.
The table below lists each Strategist character’s Ultimate ability, ranked from the strongest to the weakest:
Character |
Ultimate |
Description |
---|---|---|
Adam Warlock |
Karmic Revival |
Restores allies by reviving them, though they come back with lower health but enjoy a short period of invulnerability. |
Luna Snow |
Fate of Both Worlds |
Step into the spotlight to switch between two performances: restore health to allies or empower them with a damage boost. |
Loki |
God of Mischief |
Transform into any chosen ally or enemy, utilizing all of their abilities except Team-Up powers. |
Mantis |
Soul Resurgence |
Release healing energy while in motion, providing continuous healing and mobility boosts to nearby allies. Extra healing adds to bonus health. |
Cloak & Dagger |
Eternal Bond |
Execute rapid dashes, healing allies and damaging enemies in the path. |
Invisible Woman |
Invisible Boundary |
Create an invisible force field that conceals allies within and provides healing over time while slowing enemies who enter it. |
Jeff the Land Shark |
It’s Jeff! |
Dive into the battlefield, swallowing both enemies and allies, activating Hide and Seek briefly before launching swallowed heroes forward. |
Rocket Raccoon |
C.Y.A. |
Deploy a Cosmic Yarn Amplifier that boosts allies’ damage output. |
The impact of even the so-called “weaker” Strategist Ultimates can be significant in gameplay. Strategist Ultimates recharge more quickly than many other characters’ abilities, allowing for multiple activations even in fast-paced matches. The most effective Ultimates are those that enhance team survivability, such as Mantis’ healing field or Adam Warlock’s revival move in Marvel Rivals.
Depending on your team composition, some Strategist Ultimates can be leveraged more effectively. For instance, featuring both Loki and Luna Snow can allow Loki to imitate Luna’s Ultimate, permitting the use of two powerful abilities successively.
How to Counter Every Strategist Ultimate
Employ High-Impact Damage That Surpasses Healing
To effectively counter Strategist Ultimates, the most effective approach is to either incapacitate the character or deal more damage than they can heal during encounters. Certain moves in Marvel Rivals inflict significant instant damage, potentially eliminating characters with lower health. Given that low health is a chief vulnerability of Strategists, knowing which moves can quickly dispatch them is essential in neutralizing Ultimates.
Additionally, disrupting static buffs generated by Strategist Ultimates is another effective counter. Taking out Loki clones or Rocket Raccoon’s gadgets can weaken their overall effectiveness, making it more difficult for them to recharge their Ultimates.
Characters like Magneto and Iron Man are particularly effective against any Strategist Ultimate. Their Ultimates deliver substantial damage in a single hit, often eliminating most low-health Strategists regardless of their healing abilities.
The following strategies can help counter each Strategist Ultimate in Marvel Rivals, along with the best characters to implement them:
Character |
How to Counter Ultimate |
Best Counter Characters |
---|---|---|
Adam Warlock |
Eliminate Adam Warlock swiftly before he can revive allies. If he revives anyone, target them quickly while their health is still low. |
|
Luna Snow |
Inflict substantial damage in one blow to Luna to exceed her healing capacity. Alternatively, wait until she shifts her aura to damage and strike during that window. |
|
Loki |
Predict which character Loki will transform into based on the match’s roster, and devise countermeasures against those characters and their Ultimates. |
Varies |
Mantis |
Similar to Luna, deliver a focused, heavy blow to take out Mantis during her Ultimate. You can also apply sufficient DPS to outpace Mantis’ healing, especially if you erase her Bonus Health. |
|
Character |
How to Counter Ultimate |
Best Counter Characters |
---|---|---|
Cloak & Dagger |
When Cloak and Dagger pause during their dashes, deliver a hefty blow. Alternatively, use obstacles to obstruct their path and limit their healing range. |
|
Invisible Woman |
Knock enemies out of the healing field created by Invisible Woman. Stay clear of the field to avoid being slowed, and deal significant damage rapidly to enemies within. |
|
Jeff the Land Shark |
Maximize damage on Jeff before he can fling your allies. Use AoE abilities or powerful melee attacks to dispatch Jeff quickly and release caught characters. |
|
Rocket Raccoon |
Take down the C.Y.A. device since it has a health meter, or find ways to hide behind obstacles to limit the use of the damage boost. |
|
By effectively navigating counters to some of the game’s most powerful Ultimates, you can dismantle your opponents’ teams. Successfully neutralizing Strategists or rendering their Ultimates ineffective can shift the tide of battles in your favor in Marvel Rivals, leading you to a well-deserved victory.