The obsession over Marvel Rivals is yet another “hero shooter” looking for a slice of fame popularized by Overwatch, this time banking on the Marvel franchise. You already know the drill: team compositions and builds ultimately dictate how the game goes. And as of late, controversy has been overshadowing the community’s constructive conversations over what is acceptable and what is downright throwing. Believe me, the sphere of “Wild Takes” is overflowing.
Commentary like this picketed an otherwise petty incident with a polarizing tweet from the MarvelRivalsALT account. The account uploaded an image, which I haven’t seen, but from the replies, I understand what the account was trying to say. The image called the community out on their double standards. The double standard highlighted is that when people pick a third DPS instead of a second tank, people get mad, but when people pick a third support instead of a second tank, people are fine with it. The hashtag was #MarvelRivals, and the I captioned it “The Hypocrisy needs to be studied”. Let’s say Marvel Rivals players had a lot of thoughts.
Of course, the replies dismantle any possibility of clarity. ‘enjoyer_kiwi’, operating under the X name Emma Frost, alongside others argued, ‘3 supports is a valid team comp, 3 dps is a bad team comp. It’s not hypocrisy.’ And that seems to be the prevailing opinion from a lot of folks. People are making the argument that an extra support actually brings utility—healing, buffs, maybe some crowd control. An extra DPS? That’s just more damage, and if the team already has damage, it’s redundant. And worse, if that third DPS player isn’t absolutely cracked at the game, they’re basically just feeding the enemy team ultimate charge. One user, Ya Boi, made it seem like this: “Extra dps thinks they’re better at the game than they are, extra healer has the intention of actually helping win the game, and has the kit to compensate for 1 less tank.” Oof. Harsh, but most likely true for a lot of matches.
Now entering from the strategic side. Michael Eliade responded to someone else dissecting the matter further: “3 strategists with one tank means slower charging support ults. And still no frontline, because one tank can’t survive well enough even with 3 supports. Triple heal only works with 2 tanks. You’re not getting the actual benefit of triple support with one tank.” So it’s not even that triple support is always good—it’s that it can work under the right conditions with the right coordination. Triple DPS? That’s almost always a mess in a standard match with randoms.
Strangely enough, a large portion of the player base is still rejecting the previous logic. DPS mains have every reason to feel attacked since the original tweet of the post seemed to attack DPS players. An individual named V1510N responded with a simple, yet effective retort: “Does the dps role heal tanks better than strategists? No? Oh ok.” Which is… a point, I guess? It misses the larger picture of team strategy though. Fallonfish offered what can be considered a compromise: “The ONLY third DPS I’ll accept in place of a tank is Mr. Fantastic because he pretty much is a tank.” This is precisely the type of character-specific detail these conversations need!
The accusations also started flying. A couple of the replies outright called the original poster a DPS main, like Zatar Erso who said “that’s fucking rich coming surely from a DPS main,” and nemothe2nd, who outright called “this post reeks of dps main.” It harks back to the classic tribalism of team-based games, where tanks and supports face off against damage dealers. It is a story as old as time, or at least as old as the premier class-based shooter and the idea of class roles.
Some of the replies were just funny. One person, Arc boi, said “The hypocrisy can be studied when we find it first.” Which is a pretty solid clapback. And another, Mlepclaynos, laid down the law: “If you choose to be 3rd DPS you better be cold ASF at the game tbh, otherwise you’re throwing.” No pressure or anything.
A couple of the replies were in Arabic, saying things like “لايك يلا” meaning “Like, come on” and “اني عمش” meaning “I am working.” I am not familiar with the context, but apparently, debates about Marvel Rivals are spoken worldwide.
Competitors are still learning the dos and don’ts of the game, which causes arguments like this to take place and lets you know the expectations of the game. There will and is always the friction between the tryhards who demand extraordinary comps and the players who want to use their beloved characters. Among the few opinions, BRUNKtus had the most reasonable one: “3 strats can provide damage and heals. Sustainability. 3 dps just give more damage. And sometimes the 3rd dps doesn’t peel or help tanks. They just collect junk damage or steal kills. But eh…every game is different.”
Is this hypocrisy or just smart gameplay? It depends on the perspective. However, Marvel Rivals‘ players are already focusing on the strategy, and these are just the preliminary debates. I am curious to watch this game’s meta evolve as newer gamers start exploring and uncovering the true potential of these heroes. I do believe triple DPS will be declared the new meta, but I would be happy to be proven wrong.
