How To Play Strategist In Marvel Rivals

During Marvel Rival’s initial launch, out of all three roles, Strategist had the lowest number of characters. Even after that, this is the most important role in the game, and your team can’t possibly win without them. Strategists are essentially the support system that the Duelists and Vanguards rely on.

A photo of Mantis sleeping Iron Fist in Marvel Rivals.

Marvel Rivals: How To Counter Iron Fist

Iron Fist might hit hard, but with the right moves, you’ll have him punching air in no time.

Each Strategist has a unique set of abilities incentivizing different play styles, but one thing they all have in common is the ability to provide massive healing to the team. However, you have to be wary of your surroundings while doing that.

You Are The Main Target

Imagine a situation where you’re trying to defeat an enemy and hitting all your shots while doing so, but one of their teammates keeps healing up that damage continuously. Your first instinct would be to go after this teammate first, and that’s how the enemy usually thinks while going against one or two Strategists.

It’s an unsaid rule in the game to always get the Strategists out of the picture so that the entire team can focus on the rest of the enemies, which makes you the main target. You should always remember this and position yourself well to avoid any hits or flanks.

This also means that you have to keep an eye on your teammates marking the enemies since you can easily avoid getting ambushed this way.

Even though you’re just a support, you’re also the main character in the battle since your team isn’t getting anywhere without you. Your life is the most precious out of all three roles.

Prioritize Allies Over Enemies

Marvel Rivals healing an ally from cover.

While playing Strategist, you’ll get an exclusive component on your screen that shows you the current health of your allies even through walls. Here’s how you can figure this health out:

If the ally’s aura has the normal color that you see even on other roles, it means that they’re barely damaged.
If the aura turns yellow, they have some damage and you’ll likely see their HP bar between 50 to 90 percent filled.
Finally, if the ally has a red heart on their body with critical written on it, they’re in very low health.

Of course, if you see any ally with a red heart, you should always prioritize them for healing.

Even while playing support, you can still damage enemies, though this is a secondary objective for you. First, you have to make sure that all your allies are in good condition before focusing your attacks on the enemies. This might mean that you spend most of your games tending to your allies, but that’s also your main role.

Coordinate Your Ultimates

Marvel Rivals using Jeff's ultimate on multiple enemies.

Most Strategists in the game have ultimates that can turn the tides in battle, but it’s also easy to make them completely insignificant. The best way to get the most value out of these abilities is by using them at the correct time and coordinating with your team. For example, there’s no point in eliminating five enemies as Jeff if your team isn’t ready to push.

Similarly, you wouldn’t want to use Luna Snow’s or Mantis’ ultimate for the massive heal if your team doesn’t have some other abilities ready to facilitate the push. As a Strategist, you essentially have to take care of your team’s position and ultimate situation before using your own.

Don’t Go Into Battle Alone

Marvel Rivals Loki starting animation in menu.

As you play the Strategist role, you’ll commonly face situations where your entire team is eliminated right after you, and you’re the first one to respawn. In these situations, it’s best to just wait for the rest of the team to respawn and stay behind them while you get back to the objective. Of course, there are some exceptions to this.

For example, if you’re playing Adam Warlock or Loki, two of the slower Strategists, you can start heading out early and your teammates will catch up to you with their movement abilities. On the other hand, fast Strategists like Luna Snow, Mantis, or Jeff, can even go out much after the team and still catch up to them.

You Can Decide How Much You Want To Try

Marvel Rivals all vanguards on the same screen.

Apart from being the most important role in the game, Strategist is also the most flexible one when it comes to how much you want to try. This role consists of characters that require a lot of skill and positioning while also having cozy characters that you simply stand still with and heal your team from a distance.

Here’s the order of how hard a Strategist is to play from the coziest to the hardest: