Marvel Rivals is available now and can be played for free on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. The hero shooter takes some pretty shameless inspiration Overwatch. Therefore, for long-time Blizzard players, NetEase’s entry into the genre feels like putting on a familiar glove. However, there are a few little things that differ that you should keep in mind, even if you’ve spent hundreds of hours playing similar games. I put in about 15 hours Marvel Rivals during the testing periods and about a few additional hours since the December 5th release. So here are a few tips for newbies when you first get into the game.

Spend some time on the practice field

Marvel Rivals started with a respectable squad. With 33 characters right off the bat, it can be overwhelming to figure out which heroes you live with. Rivals The games are so fast-paced that it can also be confusing to decipher what each character is doing. To find a hero you’re drawn to, it’s best to first spend some time on the training ground. Here you have full access to the entire squad and can train on some robot dummies. Just a few minutes here will give you a starting point before you start playing online games. This way you’re not completely in the dark without having a frame of reference for how the characters play. Of course, the best way to learn all the intricacies is to play real combat, but going in blind will make it harder to get started.

Actually read your hero profile

Part of getting to know all the heroes is learning their moves, but some of them have passive abilities that you can never activate with the press of a button, but are still worth knowing about. In the hero selection screen, you can access each character’s hero profile, which contains an at-a-glance overview of all of their active and passive abilities. Read these before you actually get into a fight. Trying out someone new will make the difference between taking it to heart and thinking up a few tactics on how to handle a fight.

Here you will find an overview of the currencies

Marvel Rivals is free to play and makes most of its money from microtransactions. None of the heroes are locked behind a paywall, but cosmetics like costumes, emotes, and highlight intros cost currency. There are two main currencies that have essentially the same value: the gold one is called Lattice and can be purchased with real money, and the blue one is called Unit and can be earned by playing and completing challenges. Lattice can be exchanged for units 1:1, with $1 equaling 100 Lattice. You can only purchase Lattice in packages, meaning you may have to pay more for something cheaper. I bought the Star-Lord Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 costume that cost 1800 units, but the only package that could cover that cost was the $20 Lattice package. So keep this in mind when purchasing in-game currency. Additionally, there are also Chrono Tokens that are specifically used to unlock Battle Pass rewards that you receive through events and tasks.

The Battle Pass is not timed

Speaking of battle passes: Marvel Rivals takes the FOMO out of its luxury Battle Passes by allowing you to unlock their content at any time as long as you purchase them during the season. The pass itself costs 490 Lattices and includes costumes and other cosmetic items. So if you plan to play Marvel Rivals If you’re a long-term player and want to unlock everything in the Battle Pass, but maybe need to take a break every now and then, you can just buy the Battle Pass and come back to it whenever you feel like it.

Here is a free Iron Man skin

If you are reading this before March 5, 2025, NetEase is this Distribute a free Iron Man skin. Redeem the code nwarh4k3xqy in-game and equip Tony Stark with the black and gold Armor Model 42.

Team formations can give you an advantage, but don’t feel pressured to choose heroes just for them

One of the big differentiators Marvel Rivals is teamwork. These give certain combinations of heroes an additional ability that can give you an advantage in battle. Some are an extra ability in your back pocket, like Adam Warlock, who gives Mantis and Star-Lord a second life, while others, like Rocket and Jeff, who ride on Groot’s back and lose their independent movement in exchange for improved defense, are yours The way the game is played will fundamentally change in some cases. These are great when they arise naturally and it’s a good tactic to build your team’s composition around them. However, they are not the be-all and end-all of the strategy Marvel Rivals. Many games can be won without characters that are artificially designed to work better together. It’s about recognizing the situation you’re in and sticking to the characters you can play well enough to defeat the opposing team.

Be flexible

This wealth comes from a Star-Lord One trick. But do as I say, not as I do. Hero switching is key to games like Marvel Rivals And Overwatchbut it’s very easy to get stuck on a character you can really identify with. However, if you’re losing a game and just can’t get the upper hand, it might be time to switch. Part of the toxicity that permeates these games is the insistence that someone else on the team should tune out who they’re playing against, and a toxic player can’t possibly be the problem. The truth is that sometimes it doesn’t depend on the player’s skills, some heroes just aren’t suitable for every situation. If the opposing team is playing Black Widow, you won’t win the fight if you have a bunch of flying heroes that she can easily cut off their wings, no matter how good you are. You can have your main character, but take the time to learn at least a few characters that you can switch to in a pinch.

You don’t have to cover every role, but you should always have a healer

Role distribution is another controversial topic in hero shooters, as some fans value the flexibility to create team compositions that don’t have to follow an even-handed 2-2-2 formation. At the moment, Marvel Rivals There is no role queue that forces the team to choose two of each (Vanguard, Duelist, Strategist), but having at least one of each is a good rule of thumb when deciding who plays. I had a team that consisted of three duelists and three strategists, and we still did well. However, the key role in all of this that you should ensure you have at least one (preferably several) is the Strategist. Honestly, you won’t win fights against a decent enemy team if you don’t have anyone who can heal your teammates and if the randos you team up with aren’t willing to do that and you might want to have a chance at victory You to switch to one yourself. Yes, that sometimes means you end up having to act as a babysitter, but if there’s no one to play medic, nothing gets done.

Don’t dribble in

When you’re drowning in the sauce after a chaotic fight and your adrenaline is getting the best of you, it’s easy to run out of spawn to get back into the fray. The problem is, if you and all five of your teammates do this but don’t die at the same time, you end up landing one at a time for the enemy team to pick off as soon as you get into their line of sight. If you and your team don’t all pull together and push forward as a unit toward a goal, you won’t accomplish anything. Always try to move as a group, and if you’re trying to go lone wolf, make sure you have a plan like flanking the enemy team or surprising them with an ultimate ability.

The ultimate charge remains between rounds

One of the nice differences between Marvel Rivals And Overwatch is that Ultimate transfers charge between rounds. This means that if you had your ultimate ready or at least close to it in one round, you will still have the same percentage at the start of the next round. As Overwatch Players, it became a habit to use an ult at the end of a round because I might as well hear a cool voice. It was almost celebratory to win a victory lap. I did that once Marvel Rivals on launch night and realized that I had completely forgotten that I would still have it when the loading screen was finished between rounds. So use this to your advantage as it can give you a head start as you and the opposing team advance to the next point.

Get together with friends for health reasons

This is generally a good idea for most team-based multiplayer games. Grab at least one or two friends before you go online. Marvel Rivals is a pretty chaotic game, even with a team of people in voice chat, and so far I’ve had even less luck than usual with solo queuing Overwatch. I’ve always believed that the idea of ​​one person playing in a team game is a power fantasy that’s rarely achieved, but it feels particularly difficult to pull off Marvel Rivals at the moment. Maybe the games will become more one-sided as players learn the game, but first try to find people to coordinate with. This way you will have a much better experience.

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We will have a full review of Marvel Rivals will appear in the next few days, but here for now our thoughts about how NetEase’s comic book hero shooter holds up to its obvious inspiration.