Marvel Rivals Dr. Strange guide: How to make better portal placements
As one of Dr. Strange’s two mobility options in Marvel Rivals (the other being Cloak of Levitation), Pentagram of Farallah allows you to connect two locations with portals, allowing anyone to pass through them for 20 seconds. But with a lengthy 180-second cooldown, you want to make sure you’re using those portals correctly. Here are some of the better ways to utilize Dr. Strange’s frame-dropping ability:
Getting to an objective from the spawn room isn’t always the best idea
Considering Dr. Strange must remain still for the duration of the ability’s cast time, the simplest way to use Pentagram of Farallah is to create a portal from your spawn room to the objective. Not only does this cut down on the commute time for your allies, but it can save your team the entire game, provided a match is about to go into overtime.
It is for the latter reason that you might want to save Pentagram of Farallah for emergencies. Many Dr. Strange players tend to use Pentagram of Farallah once the match starts, so that their team can get either onto the objective or high ground. While this initially leaves the enemy team at a disadvantage, certain objectives (like the ones on Domination maps) don’t activate immediately. Consider walking to the objective like mere mortals first before using Pentagram of Farallah. You might find a more opportune moment to use the ability later.
Surprise ultimates from a portal are fun, but use them with caution
Instead of placing a portal near solid ground, some Dr. Strange players like to set their exit portals high above the enemy team or objective. Doing so gives their team the element of surprise when they drop down and use their abilities.
Before committing to such a maneuver, make sure that the enemy team isn’t aware of your plan. Many surprise attacks and ultimates (Dr. Strange’s Eye of Agamotto included) can be ruined with quick repositioning or defensive ability utilization (Invisible Woman’s Invisible Boundary ultimate is one such example). Since you and your teammates will be coming out of a single choke point (the exit portal), an enemy team that is aware of your position will find it very easy to focus all its firepower on you.
You could start by getting your team to shoot through the portal. Not only will this lower the enemy team’s defenses, but if you manage to split your team into two groups (one shooting from the portal and another from the front lines), you’ll be able to divide the enemy team’s attention and increase the likelihood of a successful portal drop. This trick works no matter the portal’s location, be it high above the enemy or right on the objective. That said…
Playing with portals on objectives makes for frantic gameplay
Placing a portal on an objective can allow your teammates to quickly shift between momentarily touching the point and coming back through the portal to safety. This allows them to stall the match while building up their potentially game-winning ultimates. While placing a portal on the point is extremely risky as you are still giving the enemy team a single choke point to focus on, it can serve as a last-ditch effort in case you’re getting desperate and still have your Pentagram of Farallah available.
Use choke points and spawn room exits to your advantage
Inversely, you can use Pentagram of Farallah to limit the enemy team’s options. Almost everyone already knows the “portal into nothingness” trick, whereby a Dr. Strange places one portal in front of the enemy team’s spawn room and another over a bottomless pit (resulting in a quick elimination of whoever goes through the first portal), but you can also adjust the portals in such a way that they can be used to create a loop.
Many spawn rooms have multiple exits that can be covered by portals. By looping one exit into another, you are limiting the enemy team’s options for 20 seconds (provided you placed the portals correctly). Some maps, like Klyntar: Synbiotic Surface and Empire of Eternal Night: Midtown, have choke points that can easily be covered by portals as well. You can either throw your enemies into a loop or off a cliff with a properly placed Pentagram of Farallah.
For the best results, place your exit portal right as a group of enemies starts to pass your trap. The portals take some time to open, but some enemies tend to be so focused on getting back to the objective that they won’t realize they’ve taken a detour until it’s too late.
Dr. Strange’s Pentagram of Farallah can be a very strong repositioning tool given the right circumstances. No other ability can link two points on a map together, but its lengthy cast time and long cooldown mean you have to be mindful of when to use the ability. Be sure to learn all of the maps and don’t be afraid to get experimental in Quick Match or Practice VS. AI. Your practice will be rewarded once you start thinking with portals and use them in Competitive play.
For more Marvel Rivals guides, consider checking out our guide to becoming a better Wolverine, a smart wall-placing Groot, or a dive hero-dealing Strategist.
