The Team-Up feature in Marvel Rivals provides the 6v6 hero shooter with some of its most thrilling opportunities mid-match. Ultimates may be where a lot of characters demonstrate how overpowered they can be, but a team synergy composed of Heroes who are collaborating with one another can be what secures most points and earns them the victory. Some characters don’t receive an additional ability during their Team-Up and simply provide it to other characters, so of course it is situational and not everyone will want to play a certain character if only to activate that niche power-up.
Moreover, some characters like Rocket Raccoon or Spider-Man are involved in more than one Team-Up, which thankfully gives a bit more flexibility to team composition possibilities. It’ll be interesting to see what Team-Ups are introduced when new characters arrive in Marvel Rivals’ future; in the meantime, though, it’d be neat to see current characters’ Team-Ups reassessed as well. Indeed, while he is arguably overpowered as is, Star-Lord wields rare pistols that could potentially marry well with the unique elemental powers that quite a few characters on the launch roster wield.
Marvel Rivals Tier List (Best Marvel Rivals Characters, Ranked)
With 33 heroes at launch, Marvel Rivals has many characters to choose from to try and win games. Here are all the heroes ranked best to worst.
Star-Lord’s Element Guns Need Some Love in Marvel Rivals
It’s not terribly important what the precise energy is that his element guns are firing, but with a handful more of Team-Ups it could be incredibly enticing to play as Marvel Rivals’ Star-Lord to see which attack or ability might be enhanced. As of right now, Ultimate is more than enough to alarm opponents in a choke—or wherever they may be for that matter. Still, Star-Lord is only as strong as his teammates and can be melted fairly quickly if he’s not taking advantage of his excellent mobility options.
The element guns’ rapid rate of fire is terrific if players can isolate opponents and keep a bead on them via hitscan, but the tremendously short bursts he blasts means his guns must be reloaded frequently—ensuring that Star-Lord’s Stellar Shift evasion is tactically vital.
Theoretically, Star-Lord’s element guns paired with other characters’ unique elemental powers could make for various Team-Up abilities where he inherits them for supplementary effects:
- Thor’s electrifying Thorforce applying to Star-Lord as well as Storm and Captain America via the Voltaic Union Team-Up.
- Luna Snow’s ice energy applying to Star-Lord as well as Namor and Jeff the Land Shark via the Chilling Charisma Team-Up.
- Potential future characters who would wield elemental powers, such as Marvel Rivals’ leaked Human Torch.
Team-Ups Have a Long Way to Go in Marvel Rivals
Going as far as giving him Team-Ups with several characters might be unwieldy and disproportionate, though, given that he’d need to accommodate for multiple power-ups on his element guns if both Thor and Luna joined him. In this case, perhaps one character’s power could enhance his primary Element Guns attack while the other enhances his Blaster Barrage ability, leaving enough room even for a third elemental Team-Up to possibly enhance Star-Lord’s Galactic Legend Ultimate.
Of course, it would be ideal if many characters had such phenomenal Team-Ups whether or not they debatably deserve or need them. Hulk is presently featured in two Team-Ups (Gamma Charge and Fastball Special), for example, but he is the catalyst in both while his Team-Up participants get to reap the reward for having him present. It would be excellent, then if Hulk was a buff recipient in another Team-Up. Likewise, Star-Lord would be a formidable powerhouse across the board if he could bolster his element guns with various characters’ collaborations.
Rather, the novelty and strategy of Team-Ups would wear away and become too ubiquitous if every character had multiple of them. Marvel Rivals’ meta balancing act will be fascinating to observe as the game evolves with future seasons and characters who don’t get to make the most out of Team-Ups will hopefully be given chances to later on.
Marvel Rivals
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 78 /100 Critics Rec: 84%
- Released
- December 6, 2024
- ESRB
- T For Teen // Violence
- Developer(s)
- NetEase Games
- Publisher(s)
- NetEase Games
WHERE TO PLAY
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
- Cross-Platform Play
- Limited - console crossplay, no PC crossplay
- Cross Save
- No
- Franchise
- Marvel
- Number of Players
- 1-6
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Unknown
- PC Release Date
- December 6, 2024
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- December 6, 2024
- PS5 Release Date
- December 6, 2024
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
- Genre(s)
- Third-Person Shooter, Action, Multiplayer
- How Long To Beat
- 7.5 hours
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
- File Size Xbox Series
- 20 GB
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
