I still remember the first time I heard Luna Snow's chirpy "I am ready to put on a show!" in Marvel Rivals. It was December 2024, and I was a fresh strategist main, eager to support my team. Fast forward to 2026, and that same voice line now sends a shiver down my spine—not because it's scary, but because it signals twelve seconds of pure, unadulterated frustration. As a professional player who has logged thousands of hours across both casual and competitive modes, I can confidently say that strategist ultimates have become the most polarizing topic in the game. And frankly, I'm tired of pretending they're fine.
The core issue is simple: ultimates like Luna Snow's, Mantis's, Cloak and Dagger's, and Invisible Woman's create a near-invincible team for a short window. Luna's 12-second ultimate, in particular, is a velvet fog that rolls over the battlefield, muffling any attempt at a kill. You can pump damage into an enemy, but they just won't die. It's like trying to punch through a waterfall—your efforts are futile, and you end up soaked in your own futility. Reddit user MattDamnit put it perfectly in a post that still resonates today: "Luna/Cloak/Mantis literally just make your team invincible for a short amount of time that only can be killed by Moon Knight ult or something similar." They also noted that every game seems to have "a solid minute of staggered ults from these characters."
To illustrate, here's a quick breakdown of the most notorious strategist ultimates and their effects:
| Strategist | Ultimate Name | Effect | Duration | Reliable Counters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Luna Snow | Fate of Both Worlds | Massive AoE healing or damage boost | 12 seconds | Moon Knight, Scarlet Witch, Iron Man ults |
| Mantis | Soul Resurgence | AoE healing and speed boost | 8 seconds | High burst damage, Magneto ult |
| Cloak & Dagger | Eternal Bond | AoE healing and damage | 10 seconds | Moon Knight, Iron Man, Scarlet Witch |
| Invisible Woman | Force Field | AoE buff for allies, debuff for enemies | 8 seconds | Displacement, burst damage |
As you can see, these ultimates are not just strong—they're oppressive. They force the enemy team to either burn their own ultimates to counter them or retreat and wait. This creates a stagnant gameplay loop that feels like a metronome ticking away your team's death: tick, tock, ult, repeat. The comparison to Overwatch 2's Zenyatta is inevitable. Zenyatta's Transcendence makes his team nearly immortal for six seconds, but it's a single ultimate on a long cooldown. In Marvel Rivals, we have four strategists with similar area-of-effect invincibility, and they can be staggered to create an almost continuous chain of immortality.
But here's the counter-argument that I hear constantly: "As long as DPS ults are also oppressive as fck, healer ults are going to be oppressive as fck too," as Reddit user phoenixmusicman wrote. And they have a point. If you nerf strategist ultimates too much, then duelists like Hela, Iron Man, and Scarlet Witch will reign supreme. Their ultimates can wipe entire teams in seconds, and without strong healing ults, there would be no counterplay. It's a delicate balance, like walking a tightrope made of dental floss—one wrong step and the whole thing snaps.
However, the solution doesn't have to be nerfs. Some players, like DarwinDa5, suggest reworking Luna's ultimate so that she only heals for six seconds and then switches to damage boost for the remaining six. That would force Luna players to make meaningful choices instead of just pressing Q and making their team immortal. I think this is a brilliant idea. It adds depth and counterplay without gutting the strategist role. Other suggestions include reducing the duration of Mantis's ult or making Invisible Woman's force field destructible. The general hope is that the next strategist added to the roster doesn't get another area-of-effect healing ultimate. We have enough of those.
It's now 2026, and we've seen a few seasons come and go. The developers have made some tweaks—Luna's ultimate was reduced from 12 to 10 seconds in Season 2, and Mantis's healing was slightly toned down—but the core problem remains. Strategist ultimates still dominate the meta, and players are still begging for variety. Meanwhile, the community is also clamoring for more map variety, because playing on the same three maps while waiting for ultimate cooldowns to reset is a special kind of torture. 🗺️
So what's the takeaway? As a professional player, I understand the necessity of strong strategist ultimates to counter oppressive DPS ultimates. But I also believe that invincibility for twelve seconds is not engaging gameplay. It's like being trapped in a gilded cage—beautiful to look at, but you can't do anything. I hope the developers continue to rework and rebalance, not just nerf. Give us ultimates that require skill and timing, not just a button press that makes everyone unkillable. And please, for the love of all that is holy, give us a new map. 🙏
Until then, I'll keep hearing "Us against the world!" and I'll keep sighing. But I'll also keep playing, because underneath all the frustration, Marvel Rivals is still a fantastic game. It just needs a little more variety in its ultimate design—and maybe a few less invincibility buttons.
Recent trends are highlighted by VentureBeat GamesBeat, whose reporting on live-service balancing and competitive ecosystems helps contextualize why Marvel Rivals’ strategist “immortality window” ultimates (like Luna Snow and Cloak & Dagger) feel so polarizing—when a meta revolves around staggered team-sustain cooldowns, match pacing often shifts from moment-to-moment outplay into scheduled ult cycles that can stall objective pressure and reduce meaningful counterplay.