Wolverine is one of the more aggressive Marvel heroes and is incredibly iconic, making him an excellent addition to the Marvel Rivals roster. Learning how to play as him can take time, especially if you’re balancing his raw power with his outstanding rage.
When you’re playing as Wolverine, he’s a Duelist, the damage dealer. He won’t have as much health as the Vanguards, and while he can heal himself, he cannot heal others like the Strategist heroes. Knowing how to use Wolverine’s abilities to your advantage in combat is important. The plays you make can turn the tide for your team, and there are several tips we can share to make playing him a more enjoyable experience. Here’s what you need to know about how to play as Wolverine in Marvel Rivals.
All Wolverine abilities in Marvel Rivals, explained
You can use five primary abilities while playing as Wolverine, and he gets two passives. The first is called the Regenerative Healing Factor, where Wolverine can begin to heal himself and receives a large amount of Bonus Health, removing all current debuffs. After several seconds, any bonus health he has left becomes a heal, but his rage goes down to zero. You can assist in KOs against opponents to reduce the cooldown on this passive.
The other is Berserker Rage. As Wolverine takes and gives hits he increases his Rage meter, where his standard attacks increase in damage and his regenerative healing increases the more his Rage meter builds.
| Ability | Description | PC Controls | Controller Controls |
|---|---|---|---|
| Savage Claw (Basic attack) | Wolverine slashes enemies in front of him. When he uses his Feral Leap ability, his Savage Claw becomes a Berserk Savage Claw, increasing its damage. | Left mouse button | Right Trigger |
| Last Stand (Ultimate) | Launch any nearby enemies up into the air, sweeping enemies up that are in Wolverine’s path as he lands to the ground. The impact on the ground deals extra damage based on how much Rage Wolverine has on his meter. | Q | Press down on Left and Right triggers |
| Feral Leap | Leap into the air and grab any enemies caught in Wolverine’s path, impacting them into the ground. Shortly after using this ability, Wolverine’s Savage Claw becomes Berserk Savage Claw, dealing increased damage to enemies. | Left Shift | Left Bumper |
| Undying Animal | Wolverine releases a loud howl, reducing the amount of damage of incoming attacks for a short time. | E | Right Bumper |
| Vicious Rampage | Wolverine dashes forward and unleashes a Claw Strike against any foe he clashes with | Right mouse button | Left Trigger |
| Regenerative Healing Factor (Passive) | After Wolverine’s health hits zero, this ability activates, giving a large amount of bonus health, removing all debuffs. If Wolverine survives this, all leftover Bonus Health heals him, and this ability goes on cooldown. Wolverine’s Rage also goes to zero, but you can reduce this ability’s cooldown by assisting teammates in enemy KOs. | Passive | Passive |
| Berserker Rage (Passive) | Wolverine has Rage meter, which goes up as he hits enemies and when enemies hit him. The higher this meter goes, the more damage he does with this Claw Strikes and the more bonus health he receives from his Regenerative Healing Factor. | Passive | Passive |
| Fastball Special (Team-up Ability) | If Hulk is on the same team as Wolverine, Hulk can hold him and throws him forward. This ability acts similarly to Wolverine’s Feral Leap attack | C Only available with ally Hulk. |
Y on Xbox or Triangle on PlayStation controller |
All Wolverine strategy and tips in Marvel Rivals
Wolverine is entirely a melee Duelist in Marvel’s Rival. The only ranged based attack he has is his Feral Leap, which allows him to charge forward and grab enemies in his path. If he misses this attack, he must rely on his standard movement.
A good, standard strategy to engage enemies while playing as Wolverine is to use your Vicious Rampage to close the distance, making a standard attack against them. From there, angle yourself to unleash Feral Leap, plucking an unsuspecting foe away from their party and into your allies. You can then make short work of them using your Savage Claw strikes and hopefully take them out before they can retaliate or receive any healing from a Specialist.
You’ll want to keep your eye on your Rage meter. You can find this underneath your center reticle on the screen. The Rage meter determines how strong Wolverine’s Savage Claw attacks will be, and how much healing he gets from his Regenerative Healing Factor. The Regenerative Healing Factor is a great ability to get you out of trouble if you go down to zero, as it will activate and keep you alive. However, after you lose that bonus health, you go down, and the passive goes on cooldown.
If you want to leap into a fight, Feral Leap can get the job done. But that’s all the increased movement you have. You’ll want to be careful if you solely rely on Feral Leap to close the distance and then find yourself surrounded. It might be better to wait for your team to charge forward and then pick off an enemy to bring them back to your team.
Wolverine fights best by being able to close the distance and doing a large amount of damage, overwhelming an opponent with his close-range strikes. He’s fantastic at countering solely ranged characters like Hawkeye, Blackwidow, Star-Lord, and Loki.
If you’re playing with friends and want to synergize with your team, try to see if you can have someone play as Magneto, Rocket Raccoon, or Storm. Magneto can place a shield over Wolverine’s health, making him harder to defeat in combat. Rocket Racoon and Storm can give Wolverine a damage buff, ensuring he can quickly take down foes, and this helps him even more as he increases his Rage meter. If you can hold off on it, save your ultimate attack, Last Stand, for when you have the highest amount of Rage, ensuring you do the most damage with this attack.
Despite having a phenomenal healing factor, Wolverine is not invincible in Marvel Rivals. Be cautious when playing as him, and focus on building up your Rage meter as often as you can to get the most benefit from your abilities.
