Marvel Rivals: how to deal with Iron Fist (and other dive heroes) as every Strategist
Dive heroes are some of the biggest banes of playing as a Strategist in Marvel Rivals. Enemy Duelists like Iron Fist and Vanguards like Venom can seemingly jump out of nowhere with the express purpose of eliminating your team’s backline. Here are some tips to deal with dive heroes as every Strategist currently in the game.
Cloak’s abilities make up for Dagger’s weaknesses
As the primary healer of the duo, Dagger has limited defensive options. At best, her Lightforce Dagger primary attack has some light auto-lock capabilities, while standing in her Dagger Storm impact area can provide some emergency healing as you wait for backup.
To raise your odds when up against dive heroes, you’ll want to switch over to Cloak. As Cloak, you’ll have access to his Darkforce Cloak primary attack which does continuous damage to a single targeted enemy within 20 meters. You’ll also be able to temporarily blind foes and increase the damage they receive with a well-aimed Terror Cape. If they still manage to get a lock on you, Dark Teleportation allows you to phase yourself and nearby allies, making all of you un-targetable and invisible while gaining a movement boost for a short while. Dark Teleportation is also good for protecting your team against ultimate abilities like Iron Man’s Invincible Pulse Canon and The Punisher’s Final Judgement.
While Terror Cape and Dark Teleportation can be used to help your team during decisive fights, their relatively long cooldowns mean you usually want to save them for yourself. Look at the enemy team composition and see if there are any heroes that you need to be mindful of. If a Psylocke or Black Panther makes a beeline for you or another Strategist, switch over to Cloak so you can either blind them or go invisible.
It goes without saying that while Cloak & Dagger’s ultimate ability, Eternal Bond, can damage enemies and heal teammates, you generally shouldn’t use it to fend off enemies that are diving you. The same rule applies to all the Strategists’ ultimate abilities, as proper usage of them can quickly turn the tide of a fight.
Absolute Zero is Luna Snow’s saving grace
Though she may be one of Marvel Rivals’ best Strategists when it comes to simultaneously healing and attacking, Luna Snow’s average mobility and small projectiles make it hard for her to deal with diving foes. Her survival greatly depends on hitting enemies with Absolute Zero, which momentarily freezes targets and restores your health.
Think of the ability like a shotgun blast, where you wait for the enemy to get close before freezing them with an ice ball. Hit them and you’ll be able to capitalize with either her Light & Dark Ice primary attack or Ice Arts ability. You can even run and jump away using her Smooth Skate passive. Miss the Absolute Zero ice ball, however, and you’ll quickly find yourself back in the spawn room.
Since Luna Snow’s Cryo Heart passive allows her to heal herself whenever she casts Ice Arts or Absolute Zero, you’ll find yourself surviving for longer than you might expect. Use this time to carefully assess whether you should go on the offensive or make a tactical retreat.
Mantis is the critical hit queen of Strategists
Most dive heroes want to close the distance between their targets, which is great for Mantis as all she needs to do is aim at the floor with her Spore Slumber ability. Spore Slumber emits a bomb that quickly puts the nearest enemy to sleep, allowing Mantis and her team to capitalize with an easy critical hit. Any damage done to a sleeping enemy will wake them, so a strong, single-fire shot from Black Widow’s Red Room Rifle or Hawkeye’s Piercing Arrow would be an ideal wake-up attack. Conversely, allies of the sleeping hero can attack the Mantis illusion that appears behind their comrade to preemptively wake them up.
Mantis’s attacks are no slouch either, as her Life Energy Blast primary attack has critical hit capabilities that feed directly into her Life Orb mechanic. Life Orbs can be used to heal allies with Healing Flower, but they can also power Mantis’s Natural Anger and Allied Inspiration abilities, which temporarily increase her and teammates’ damage respectively. Buffing either your allies or yourself before each fight will increase your damage potential and catch diving heroes by surprise. Continue attacking foes while your Soul Resurgence ultimate ability is up to make full use of your increased survivability and increase your team’s damage output.
Sadly, Mantis doesn’t have much in the way of mobility options. Her Nature’s Favor passive only gives her a movement boost when she is out of combat and her Soul Resurgence ultimate is best saved for team fights. You’ll be fighting diving heroes more than fleeing from them, but luckily, Mantis has more than enough offensive options to take care of herself.
Adam Warlock is an undying, resurrecting golden boy
Whereas Mantis has her Spore Slumber to put enemies to sleep, Adam Warlock can use his Soul Bond and Avatar Life Stream abilities to keep himself alive. Soul Bond spreads damage taken between nearby allies and grants healing over time, while Avatar Life Stream can heal a close ally and yourself (it can also be used as a solo heal ability if there are no targets selected). When used together, these abilities can make the hero extremely hard to eliminate provided he stays close to his teammates. While Avatar Life Stream can be used liberally due to its six-second cooldown per charge, Soul Bond’s thirty-second cooldown means you should be careful when using it.
Unfortunately, Adam Warlock’s low mobility and reliance on nearby allies to spread healing/ damage mean that he can’t afford to be caught on his own. While his Quantum Magic primary attack can eliminate most squishy targets with three critical hits and his Cosmic Cluster secondary fires a barrage of projectiles, you’ll be hard-pressed to have all of your attacks hit a fast-moving target like a Spider-Man or Captain America.
Should you get eliminated as Adam Warlock, take solace in the fact that the hero’s Regenerative Cocoon gives you a second life. You have a short time to reposition to a safe spot and respawn, but be mindful of enemies that follow your cocoon form. Regenerative Cocoon also has a lengthy 105-second cooldown, so you won’t have access to the ability for a while after using it. Be sure to read the battlefield before committing to a self-revive, as you could end up being eliminated again.
Rocket Raccoon and Jeff the Land Shark are hit-and-run characters
Rocket Raccoon’s and Jeff the Land Shark’s high mobility make it relatively easy for them to deal with dive heroes – just hit them when they are at range and run away when they get too close.
Rocket’s Jetpack Dash, Wild Crawl, and Flying Ace abilities allow him to dash, climb, and hover all over the battlefield. Add this to his small hitbox and the armor and rocket jet packs his B.R.B emplacement provides, and eliminating a Rocket that properly uses his abilities can be very difficult.
Jeff’s Hide and Seek mode makes him harder to hit than Rocket, as it shrinks his hitbox down to his dorsal fin and dramatically increases his mobility. Periodically dropping and collecting Healing Bubbles allows Jeff to restore any lost health that the Hide and Seek mode’s passive healing cannot compensate for as you make your way to a more advantageous position.
Never forget to use Rocket’s Bombard Mode and Jeff’s Aqua Burst attacks, as they can chip away at an enemy’s health and build up much needed ultimate charge. Enemies will be sorry they didn’t eliminate you once you pop out a damage-amplifying C.Y.A. or an It’s Jeff! team wipe.
One of the reasons why dive heroes are so deadly is that some of them have abilities that auto-lock onto targets. Iron Fist’s K’un-Lun Kick and Yat Jee Chung Kuen and Spider-Man’s Get Over Here are just three examples of abilities that require little to no aiming. You’ll want to use Rocket’s and Jeff’s mobility skills to break these heroes’ lines of sight to prevent enemies from scoring easy eliminations.
Use deception as Loki to mask your location
Loki’s Illusions are the cornerstones of his survival. Be sure to have at least one illusion on the battlefield so you can use Devious Exchange to swap to it when you get attacked. If you don’t have an Illusion present, Deception allows you to turn invisible and create an Illusion in your place. While Loki can remain invisible indefinitely until he attacks and can heal over time while Deception is active, he isn’t invincible. If you find yourself unable or unwilling to reposition, Regeneration Domain creates a field that provides healing over time and converts damage taken into extra healing.
Since the Illusions look exactly like Loki and can use some of his abilities, they can be used in creative ways. Try standing still after swapping places with an Illusion or going invisible to trick enemies into thinking that they are attacking the wrong target. You can also place Illusions close to each other to increase the damage and healing you deal in a small area. Dive heroes usually have a small window of opportunity to take out a few targets before returning to safety, so use your Illusions liberally to confuse them and ruin their plans.
Invisible Woman can control the battlefield or slip away undetected
As the newest Strategist in Marvel Rivals, Invisible Woman has two ways of dealing with dive heroes. The first option is to use either her Covert Advance passive or Veiled Step to go invisible and avoid getting dived on. While these abilities hide your location from enemies, you won’t be able to heal or attack without breaking invisibility.
The second, more offensive option is to use your crowd control abilities to take out whoever is diving you. Pushing enemies away with Force Physics and following up with Orb Projection can deal enough damage to make foes retreat, but if you want to be mean, drop a Psionic Vortex at your feet and stay within the affected area. If enemies try to run away, use Force Physics to pull them back into the vortex’s area of effect. Combine this cheeky tactic with Orb Projection, and you can easily eliminate a squishy target.
Invisible Woman has one more self-defense trick that involves using an ally to place a Guardian Shield. You can play around the emplaced shield by dealing damage or escaping from enemies, but its applications are so niche that you might want to forgo using the tactic altogether.
In addition to watching out for dive heroes, keep an eye on your teammates’ health and what they need for each situation. Dive heroes aren’t just out to eliminate you; they want to draw your attention away from the main fight. By combining these tips with proper game sense, you’ll spend less time focusing on getting attacked and more time supporting your team.
