One of Marvel Rivals’ best Strategists is in the wrong role

Marvel Rivals has three distinct roles and, for the most part, the characters on offer slot into their positions very well. There is one possible exception to that, and some in the community think their current position in the meta doesn’t fit.

To bring you up to speed, Marvel Rivals has three distinct roles that follow a similar pattern to the Tank, Healer, DPS setup that we see in so many other competitive shooters.

Duelists are the major damage dealers, shredding enemies quickly either up close or at range. Vanguard characters are the tankiest, with significantly larger health pools than most, usually designed to be the first into the fight.

Lastly, Strategists are there to serve as support for their allies, often with an emphasis on healing or damage boosts. Among their number are characters like Loki, Mantis and Rocket Raccoon, but it’s the latter’s place in this category that players are beginning to question.

Rocket Raccoon is one of the best Strategists around, but why?

NetEase Games

The cutest member of the Guardians of the Galaxy is also one of the better support characters in the game. Though he doesn’t have the range of kit that a character like Luna Snow has, his healing is second to none.

The issue that some now have with this is that it’s arguably the least thematically appropriate hero in the game. Anyone who has read the comics or seen the movies will know that (outside of his excellent tinkering) Rocket is a character who is all about dealing damage.

Whether it’s while sitting on Groot’s shoulder with a machine gun or setting up some kind of explosion, Rocket is an absolute menace in a fight. That’s why his total focus on healing feels a little out of place in Marvel Rivals.

Over on Reddit, many have begun to raise this as an issue, with some hoping for a bit of a redesign in the future.

“I still one-tricked his ass to GM, but man, it’s so insanely disappointing that somehow Rocket Raccoon, of all characters, ended up as the non-damage-focused heal bot. It feels like such a waste of his character,” one said.

Another suggested a possible solution, saying, “What he needs is a less committal heal. One of the reasons Adam and Mantis get to do so much damage is their healing doesn’t take that much time to do. You could DPS a lot more on Rocket if he shot BIG heal balls once every second or two.”

A third contended that he is in the right role, but with the wrong design focus, “Him being a strategist makes a whole lot of sense, but I expected him to be more utility-focused than heal-focused.”

Whatever NetEase does decide to do with Rocket in the future, a complete redesign is unlikely. As we’ve seen with other competitive hero shooters, changes tend to be subtle rather than particularly overt.