Summary
Marvel Rivals’Hellfire Gala brought a bunch of meta shifts in the form of buffs, nerfs,team-ups, new maps, and, of course, the mutant telepath,Emma Frost, making her dazzling debut. However, in addition to the new team-ups, old ones were removed, and some effects were made semi-basekit, like Thor’s +100 health from Voltaic Union.
To put it another way, returning and new players may have questions about the current state of the game and its meta, as well as about theteam-ups they can utilize in Season 2to gain an edge in their next ranked game. This article will cover all the current team-ups, identifying the best, as well as those that are situationally good or mediocre.
Emma Frost: Magneto And Psylocke
Positives
This is the best team-up in the game,for a plethora of reasons, most notably because every character included is currently running the meta. Emma Frost is the anchor and gains 100 HP from this team-up. Additionally,Emma is arguably the bestbrawler in the game and can bully other Vanguards.Notably, she denies Hulk’s Ultimate in her Diamond Form. She can Carbon Crush, which does hard CC, throw in some Basic Attacks, and Crystal Kick for knockback, damaging him and wasting Hulk’s Ultimate. Additionally, she bullies Thor and Strange through the virtue of CC and being melee in Diamond Form. Moreover, she has displaced The Thing from the current meta, as she too cannot be kidnapped by Wolverine in her Diamond Form, brings far more utility with her shield, CC, knockback, and Ultimate denial, and she deals more damage. She is a Tank-DPS and rather broken.
Magneto and Psylocke gain the ability to create illusory projections of themselves that mimic their attacks (except their Ultimates). These can be destroyed and last around 7 seconds. This benefits Psylocke most, giving her eye-watering burst damage that can eliminate the backline in seconds. Psylocke is the best dive character in the current meta. Meanwhile, Magneto lost the Metallic Chaos team-up with Scarlet Witch, which was better for him and got a slight nerf to his Ultimate cost, going from 3100 to 3400. Nevertheless, he remains one of the best tanks. He is good in any team comp due to his shields, ability to save enemies with Metal Bulwark, and can outright kill healers in their Ultimate with his Ultimate Meteor M.Overall, it just makes great characters better.
Negatives
This team-up makes Hela better, if that’s even possible. Hela is the best hitscan character and is the best current counter to flying Duelists. She has been meta since Season 0, and that has not changed. Loki is in the top three supports right now. He is strong, has great healing, DPS, and can take any Ultimate in the game. This is why Luna and Loki are so dominant as a support team.
A goodThor is strong and scary,but Thor provides very little as a Vanguard and is more selfish, being one of the worst-performing characters right now. Nevertheless, he can play at high ranks and do very well, and the ability to revive Loki and Thor multiple times is invaluable, making thisthe second-best team-up in the game.
The Hulk is the anchor in this team-up; he gets a bonus 150 max HP, which is big, but he is hard countered by Emma Frost, meaning she should be at the top of the ban priority. Namor is great for anti-dive and solid all-around. Iron Man is not as good as other flying Duelists like Storm or Human Torch, but he is not bad either.
This is overall a great team-up. Hulk is not the strongest tank, but triple tank is rather strong, and if Emma is banned, that benefits this team-up significantly. Plus,Hulk can tearwithout much fear.It is definitely worth having these heroes on a team.
Rocket, the anchor, receives a 5% healing boost, but it is very minimal; it could be impactful in some cases, though. The main thing is Rocket’s Ammo Invention. This gives The Punisher infinite ammo and an increased fire rate for a brief period.
This is great, and Rocket is very popular in the meta, so it’s an easy team-up to get, and The Punisher does well against Groot and his walls. However, Ammo Invention is a weaker ability now because Winter Soldier can no longer use it. Nonetheless,it is one of the best in the game, so long as Rocket places it in an area with a good line of sight.
Giving Wanda scary damage that shreds enemies is always beneficial. Overall, she is much better this season than in previous seasons, all thanks to the buffs to her Primary and Secondary Fire. This means that this team-up could be oppressive in the right hands.
However, Strange is just bad against all the meta tanks right now, who are outperforming him, and the nerfs to his basic attacks and Maelstrom of Madness do not help. Overall, use this team-up, but if there is a Dr. Strange on the team, know that he is weak right now.
Venom is the anchor in the team-up, gaining a hefty 150 max HP, which allows him to dive and disrupt the enemy backline for that little bit longer.Spider-Man gets an easy combo, Web Cluster, Get Over Here, into Amazing Combo, and finishes with the ability Suit Explosion.
Peni may not be as meta as the other two, but she is good in the domination mode and at holding chokes, and she was buffed recently. Her Primary Fire has a chance to crit, she is not as slow while firing it, and her base health has been increased from 650 to 750 HP. She also brings anti-dive and, arguably, provides more of it than Thor. Overall, this isan excellent team-up.
Invisible Woman: The Thing, Human Torch, & Mr. Fantastic
This team-up is flawless.It gives Invisible Woman—who is not a top-three healer but is relevant in the met—15% healing. More importantly, it gives three characters a shield, and all of those characters are good, especiallyHuman Torch, who is oppressiveand tearing up the scene right now in Ranked.
He is strong against tanks and can even beat three tank comps.This is a great team-up, and any Strategist player would be foolish to pass it up if there were multiple Fantastic Four members on their team.
Adam Warlock is a pseudo-DPS that can heal, and having 15% more healing suits him well. However, Adam and Mantis are overshadowed by the other Strategist characters. Despite not being bad character choices, it does not help that both were nerfed; most prominently, Adam’s ability, Soul Bond, got an additional 10 seconds added to it.
Star-Lord is good, though, despite the nerf to his Primary Fire and the introduction of damage falloff. A team could run Adam and Star-Lord in triple support, which isa solid team-up.
Storm gets a 5% damage boost here, which is useful but minimal. The main benefit to this team-up is Storm and Human Torch’s fiery tornado, which does insane damage when executed properly.
It is pretty easy to communicate the timing of these Ultimates, even without a mic, given how obvious they are on the battlefield. Further,Marvel Rivalshas in-game communications to announce Ultimate charges.Overall, this is a flashy and great team-up, unless Hela is in the game.However, most games have Human Torch banned.
This is a strong team-up.Luna is the anchor and a top-three support in the game, inarguably great in any team composition, so more healing is welcome. Jeff’s Frozen Spitball allows him to deal more damage and get a wider AOE on his Secondary Attack.
However, Jeff’s scary Ultimate, It’s Jeff!, can be countered. This does not take away from his viability in teams with two strategists, as he can play effectively as a healing Duelist, but it is something to keep in mind.
