If you’ve ever played a hero shooter, you’re likely aware of the nuisance dive characters are capable of causing in matches. I didn’t expect Marvel Rivals to be any different—but as a Strategist main, it has turned out to be way more than I can take.
Before you read my rant any further, this perspective is of a Gold One player trying hard to defeat Elo hell. Sure, your Celestial and above games are much more coordinated and ready to tackle “minor” challenges like “petty” dive heroes. But let’s not forget that only a small percentage of us have managed to get past the Elo hell so far. Also, not all of us have the privilege of landing a bunch of five communicative nerds who actually care about winning and ranking up.
Now, for anyone wondering what dive means in Marvel Rivals, I’ve got a definition you’ll likely relate to. These are highly mobile aggressive heroes who’ll ignore everything—including a group of four extremely motivated Duelists and Vanguards trying to take them down—to kill that one over-performing healer. So, probably all the enemy Ironfists, Black Panthers, Psylockes, Venoms, Spidermans, Captain Americas, Thors, and Magiks you’ve faced to date. They don’t care if they die trying; they’ll most definitely take their target with them. Even if they have to pop their ultimate to kill one guy.
If you main a Strategist in Marvel Rivals, you’d likely relate to my description very hard. I just had my friend say, “thank you for your sacrifice,” after a game of me aggressively healing my teammates as Cloak & Dagger and dying eight times to that one Captain America who refused to leave me alone. Just for reference, my friend, as Doctor Strange, went 27-0 and we won the game.
I’m sure a lot of you will relate when I say, I’m a competitive gamer. I like winning but also want my mechanical skills to show in my stats. I definitely don’t like going 6-10 with the highest healing and assists in Marvel Rivals. So, even if I’m winning the match against those stubborn dive mains, I can’t seem to stop raging, especially when my teammates couldn’t care less about my life.
The irony is that most low and mid-Elo players who play dive heroes don’t know when to stop picking on the backline. They don’t care if their team needs them to focus on the objective and play together. They don’t care if they don’t win the game. They’ll still come after the supports—like me—so I end up wanting to uninstall this game for good.
To top it off, players in my Elo don’t know how to counter dive heroes—or they simply don’t care enough to switch to an anti-dive hero to help the backline. Believe it or not, the teammates I usually get are too fixated on racking up their stats, so they never look back to see what the backline is facing. That said, they never fail to call Strategists out for not providing them impossible, death-defying healing boosts every time they get tickled by an enemy.
Some of you would suggest picking Strategists who can counter dive heroes selectively. So, if you’re being picked on too much, you can switch to the highly mobile Rocket Racoon—or Mantis who can put the dive to sleep. But here’s the thing: if your Strategist is focused on saving themselves from the enemy dive, who will heal your team? Playing two Strategists can help, but what if there are multiple dives focusing on both of them?
Need a tip to rank up fast? If you duo or trio queue in Marvel Rivals and are losing too many games in an Elo between Bronze and Platinum, just pick dive heroes and jump into the enemy backline. Your win rate will be back up, I promise.
Ideally, if you see multiple dive heroes on the enemy team, you’d want your teammates to adapt and switch to anti-dive Duelists or Vanguards like Namor or Peni Parker. Namor’s octopuses can melt through dives, and so can Peni’s mines.
Or, switch to a tank-heavy team composition, like three Vanguards, one Duelist, and two healers. No dive hero can break through that amount of total health. But who’s ready to give up their one-trick egos in low or mid Elo? Unless you are playing in a stack of four or above, most of Marvel Rivals’ Competitive mode is a nightmarish experience.
Many of you would say, “It’s not us. It’s the game.” Well, that’s true. While all hero shooters have a dive character or two, Marvel Rivals has too many of them, causing too much annoyance. In fact, almost every Duelist and most Tanks can play like a dive hero by hyper focusing on your team’s backline if they want to, with little to no consequence. In comparison, there aren’t many anti-dive heroes to pick.
Every hero in this NetEase IP is broken in their own way, causing chaotic and unpredictable scenes. It’s just difficult not to lose your sanity while playing Marvel Rivals, but I still can’t stop hitting that launch button every time I switch on my PC. The only solution? More anti-dive Duelists and Vanguards, please.
