Marvel Rivals has no shortage of characters to choose from, all of which fill one of three different classes. Vanguards, which are the classes the most closely resemble tanks, are some of the hardest characters to put down, and are meant to take the bulk of punishment for the team.
Magneto is a Vanguard character, and can be exceptionally powerful in the right hands. His multitude of shields can block any amount of damage, and he can put down members of the enemy team with relative ease. But poor timing and bad positioning can put him on the respawn screen often.
Magneto Overview
Magneto is generally good at preventing damage from being dealt by the enemy in the first place. He has three different shielding abilities, not including his ultimate. None of these abilities last too long, and can be completely wasted if used at the wrong moment.
Magneto Is All About Positioning And Timing
The ceiling for Magneto is going to rise the more the person using him understands timing and positioning; both of these are going to grow with experience. Knowing when the enemy team is likely to unleash a heavy attack, and knowing where that attack is going to come from, means Magneto is going to get great value out of his shields.
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Iron Volley
Iron Volley is Magneto’s default attack. It doesn’t have an incredible range but is most effective at the maximum range that it is capable of. The further the volley fires, the bigger the radius of the explosion that it creates. This ability does solid damage on a direct hit and a little less with splash damage.
The shield Magneto has access to most often is Metallic Curtain, which creates a shield in front of him that blocks all incoming damage. This shield lasts for around two seconds, but only has a cooldown of four seconds, meaning at a maximum, you can have the shield up one-third of the time.
How To Get The Most Out Of Metallic Curtain
Because of the short cooldown, Metallic Curtain is not too punishing to use at an inopportune time. Spamming it as often as you can is still likely to block a lot of incoming damage, even if it isn’t being used to its fullest potential.
But, using it this way isn’t going to make Magneto of any great use. Instead, the short cooldown should mean that you can use Metallic Curtain anytime it’s going to be of great effect.
In general, this is the shield you’ll be using to not only protect yourself but your allies, as well. This will allow them to get some damage out in relative safety, and when timed right, you can block an attack that would have dropped one of them.
Metal Bulwark and Iron Bulwark go hand-in-hand because they share a cooldown, but we’ll talk about Metal Bulwark first. Metal Bulwark creates an impenetrable shield around an ally that lasts for about two seconds, blocking all incoming damage.
Damage that the shield absorbs will add to the rings on Magneto’s back.
When To Use Metal Bulwark
For the most part, Magneto should try to be the center of attention for the enemy team. In practice, that’s not always going to be the case. When an ally is either already taking, or about to take a large amount of damage, granting them Metal Bulwark is going to keep them alive. On top of that, it’s going to provide you with a damage-dealing benefit that we’ll get into later.
Iron Bulwark
Iron Bulwark works the same as Metal Bulwark, except it provides that shield for Magneto, instead of to an ally. Because these abilities share the same 13-second cooldown and only last about two seconds, they should only be used when necessary. Damage absorbed by Iron Bulwark also adds to the rings on Magneto’s back.
When To Use Iron Bulwark
Iron Bulwark is a pretty straightforward ability; it’s best used when you’re getting hit hard. Unlike Metallic Curtain which only protects from one angle, Bulwark protects from every side, meaning you can be surrounded and negate the damage anyway.
Mag-Cannon
Mag-Cannon is where we get into the rings on Magneto’s back. Damage absorbed by the Bulwark abilities adds to the rings, and the more rings there, the more damage and knockback Mag-Cannon has.
The damage of Mag-Cannon is not incredible, but it is better than the damage of Iron Volley. Just as beneficial is the knockback effect. In the same way, it’s important to position Magneto correctly, it’s also important to position enemies correctly.
Mag-Cannon can push an enemy into a spot where you can more easily block their next attack; when used as the enemy is casting an ability, it can completely negate what they were trying to do.
Mag-Cannon can also be used to push enemies off of the map, in certain locations.
Magnetic Descent
Magnetic Descent is Magneto’s passive ability, and it allows him to glide to the ground, rather than fall to the ground. In most situations, this isn’t going to provide a strong benefit.
But, there are times when it’s going to save your life. For example, Jeff The Land Shark’s ultimate ability allows him to swallow characters and spit them back out. Oftentimes, Jeff tries to spit enemies out over the edge of a map. While this is certain death for some characters, Magneto can simply float back to the edge of the map, in most cases.
Meteor M
Meteor M is Magneto’s ultimate ability and can range in effectiveness from wildly useful to surprisingly ineffective. Part of its efficacy depends on what the enemy team does; Meteor M creates an iron meteor that Magneto launches at the enemy. Before you launch the meteor, you can absorb incoming projectiles from the enemy, which will increase the damage that the meteor does.
This means if the enemy stops firing when you activate Meteor M, it isn’t going to provide a massive amount of damage. This is, once again, going to be an ability that has more value with good positioning and perfect timing.
When And Where To Use Meteor M
Meteor M is most useful when it not only has offensive possibility, but defensive, as well. Because incoming damage charges Meteor M, you can use it to force an enemy into a choice.
Block the center of the fight while casting Meteor M, and force the enemy to choose to either stop shooting, effectively saving you and allies from incoming damage for a short time, or continue firing, and they are then dealt more damage, and possibly eliminated, by Meteor M.
Metallic Fusion is Magneto’s Team-Up ability and is active when Scarlet Witch is an ally. This is going to give Magneto a new attack option: his enchanted greatsword.
How To Use Metallic Fusion
Having a fully charged greatsword, which Scarlet Witch will passively fill with Chaos Energy, greatly increases Magneto’s damage potential. Activating the greatsword and using that to attack rather than Iron Volley effectively doubles Magneto’s damage potential.
When timed right, you can wipe multiple members of the enemy team in a few short seconds, winning the current fight and gaining some precious time on the objective.
Next
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