Marvel Rivalsis blossoming as a 6v6 hero shooter and anyone with knowledge or familiarity with the genre will likely have a lot of opinions on how it’s performing and how it’s designed. There are already many players demanding a role queue, for example, with counter-arguments insisting that those players simply play as a healer every now and then.
Likewise, some characters are highly maligned due to how overpowered or troublesome theirUltimate abilitiescan be, such as Jeff the Land Shark, Iron Fist, or Scarlet Witch.
Another interesting element ofMarvel Rivalsthus far is how each character is rated in terms of difficulty. On the Heroes menu tab, players can see how difficult a character may be by assessing the number of stars they have out of five, with five being the hardest. This may be wholly subjective depending on players’ preferred playstyles, of course, but it also presents a novel and refreshing approach to Spider-Man in particular. Spider-Man is easily one of Marvel’s most popular characters, if not the most popular, and to make him one of the least accessible players at launch is bold, though it also gives him an incredibly high and rewarding skill ceiling.
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility in Marvel Rivals
Again, it’s possible that some players may pick up Spider-Man and instantly acclimate to his unique playstyle and ideal techniques. Still, it seems fairly clear that he’s truly one of the more challenging characters to randomly hop into a match as without a considerable amount of practice and map knowledge.
Most ofSpider-Man’s difficulty arguably comes from his spectacular mobility options—at least when automatic swinging is toggled off in the settings—and taking advantage of them to swiftly flank and target a back-line enemy, preferably a Strategist. However, even though disabling automatic swinging is helpful for traversal being more purposeful and precise, it also gives Spider-Man the ability to web-zip inMarvel Rivals.
This adds a layer of complexity to Spider-Man that players won’t have otherwise, and is vital when trying to avoid a chaotic line of fire or simply wanting to close the distance on an enemy. Different maps recontextualize how simple it may be to do so anyway, and yet it’s far easier said than done nonetheless due tohow challenging Spider-Man’s kit and maneuverability can be to master.
Spider-Man’s Popularity is Met with a Challenging Playstyle in Marvel Rivals
Spider-Man has a lot of neat, unorthodox tech, such as using his Get Over Here! ability to yank an enemy toward him while on the edge of the map to have them fall to their doom and mobility is only the tip of the iceberg to consider when attempting to learn how to best maneuver and deal with specific opponents. This, too, is a herculean feat as Spider-Man is not necessarily a projectile-focused character and his abilities have relatively long cooldowns that must be timed somewhat meticulously to ensure an effective outcome.
Spider-Man’s bread and butteris hitting an enemy with a Web-Cluster Spider-Tracer before yanking himself toward them with Get Over Here! and uppercutting them with Amazing Combo, then laying into them with his normal Spider-Power attack.
On the other hand, other popular characters such as Venom (a one-star character), Iron Man (a two-star character), or Wolverine (a three-star character) are debatably far easier to play well with standard gimmicks that can be exploited without hours of grinding. Of course, other considerations play a significant role in any character’s success, including whether or not a Strategist is there to perpetually supply them with healing.Marvel Rivalsis in its infancyand Spider-Man tech is already being digested, so it’ll be interesting to see how expertly players can navigate maps as the web-slinger a week from now, let alone a year from now.
