Two months since its release, Marvel Rivals has amassed a huge player base full of Marvel fans and competitive sweats. It has certainly grown into a gaming phenomenon, drawing in the same crowd and enthusiasm that Blizzard’s Overwatch did in its early years.
Since it’s still new, players continue to experiment with various team compositions. In fact, even in Quick Play, you can always find players insta-locking five Duelists.
In Ranked Matches, hero bans have been introduced, and players — particularly those in Diamond and above — are constantly discovering new ways to shift the meta. One such discovery is that a triple support meta can actually be effective.
The fun of this strategy was evident during the first few weeks, but over time, it has become a drag in higher elos. Former professional Overwatch player Seagull, now a Marvel Rivals aficionado, took to YouTube to explain a new issue with the game’s meta.
He stated that the 'triple support' meta has turned Marvel Rivals into a slog, describing it as a “waiting game.”
For example, imagine facing an enemy team consisting of Cloak & Dagger, Rocket Raccoon, and Luna Snow, while you're ready to unleash your beefy high-damage ult. Unfortunately, Luna is now dancing in the middle of the battle, and everyone is effectively immortal. No one dies. And if someone does, Rocket’s revival machine brings them back to life. This results in a frustrating wait of 10 to 30 seconds until players fully deplete their ult economy and eventually return to the fight again.
As you can imagine, this has led to a lot of issues, with many players voicing their complaints on Marvel Rivals’ subreddit.
This is why, in higher elos, where bans are available, most players prioritize banning Luna Snow and Cloak & Dagger. Doing so makes the game more fun to play. Besides, it's also enjoyable to play a match without hearing "I am ready to put on a show!" or "Us against the world!" repeated every 10 minutes.
This creates frustration on both sides: while the enemy team is running a triple support composition, it's almost certain your team will do the same.
Of course, hero counters exist, but they are often skill-dependent and don’t always guarantee success. Defensive ultimates from Cloak & Dagger and Luna Snow can be countered with a well-timed Magneto or Moon Knight ult, but the outcome isn’t always certain.
The triple healer composition is particularly odd because, according to the Rivals Tracker website, the win rate for three strategists isn’t particularly high compared to a standard 2-2-2 setup.
Overwatch players are familiar with this problem, most notably with the traumatic GOATS meta that negatively impacted the game during its final years. Marvel Rivals, despite being a completely different game, has begun to foster discourse that invites toxicity within the community all thanks to this issue.
If the triple support meta isn't addressed by the developers, we may soon see more players advocating for a Role Queue system, and NetEase could ultimately cave to that demand despite their initial reluctance.