The worst DPS hero in Marvel Rivals is OP with one secret strategy

Despite having a win rate that, at times, dips below 40%, Marvel Rivals’ worst DPS hero is just a few steps away from being game-breakingly good if you know what you’re doing.

Marvel Rivals is lacking something that has plagued Overwatch 2 since the game originally released in 2016: A one-shot kill sniper. Widowmaker has dominated the meta in Blizzard’s hero shooter several times, with some matches devolving into Widow duels at high MMR.

Black Widow doesn’t have that one-shot, which is probably why she’s sitting at an alarmingly low 40.93% win rate at the time of writing. She’s bad bad, with people joking that they’re never going to use the free Widow skin with the current Marvel Rivals event.

The only way to realistically make her more viable is to buff her one-shot capability. And, if Widow could reliably get that instant TTK, she’d be completely broken in the hands of skilled players. However, due to some damage boost combos, there are a variety of ways to give Black Widow what she deserves.

Giving Black Widow a true one-shot

Marvel Rivals has several ways to boost damage, all of which stack without diminishing returns. The way that damage boosts function is that every single one gives a flat increase, one that applies only to the base damage of an ability.

For example, Mantis’ damage boost is a 12% increase, and Storm’s base damage boost for allies is 10%. So, someone who’d normally do 100 damage with an attack would do 122 damage when under the effect of both boosts – they don’t stack multiplicatively.

There are several break points in Marvel Rivals, some of which do things like allowing Venom’s ultimate to instantly one-shot an entire team. With proper coordination, the numerous damage boosts available in this game allow you to pass most break points put in place by devs to keep things from one-shotting.

So, what does it take to make Black Widow one shot?

NetEase

Black Widow’s headshot does a base damage of 240, putting it just below the threshold of taking out 250 HP targets. Mantis is the most common solution to giving Black Widow that clean kill, and it’s the most common strategy to achieve this.

So few people play Black Widow that the fact she has an easily achievable way to instantly kill supports is not common knowledge. Sure, you have to be able to hit those headshots, but this immediately counters several support Ultimates.

Storm’s AoE damage boost also gives Black Widow enough damage to one-shot, but getting your hands on Storm in a high-ranked match isn’t exactly common once hero bans become a factor.

Meanwhile, Rocket Raccoon and Luna’s ultimates both provide a 40% damage boost. This introduces some break points that make Widow even better. Here are just a few:

• Storm’s enhanced damage boost (12%) + Mantis Inspire (12%): 297.6 damage, just shy of one-shotting 300 HP targets. However, considering any DPS with 300 HP tends to play up close, odds are they’re missing that 3 HP if you hit them.
  • Storm’s base damage boost is 10%, so you’ll still kill 275 HP targets in one hit even if she doesn’t have it enhanced
• Rocket ult (40%) + Mantis Inspire (12%): 364.8 damage, enough to kill Mister Fantastic and, more importantly, to immediately one-shot through the max overheal on Mantis’ ult, allowing you to kill her instantly.
• Luna Snow ult (40%) + Rocket ult (40%) + Mantis Inspire (12%) + Storm enhanced damage boost (12%): 489.6 damage, this is incredibly unrealistic to achieve in a real match but very funny if you want to give a tank player a heart attack.
  • Even at this high of a damage boost, Black Widow’s body shots won’t instantly kill a target since they only do 120 damage. You’re going to need a headshot no matter what.

Out of all these examples, the Storm and Mantis combos are the most practical and effective. Being buffed by just one of them immediately lets you take out supports in one hit. Every flying hero also has 250 HP base, so taking out heroes like Storm, Human Torch, and Iron Man is made easy. This is especially true of Iron Man considering how slow he moves with his beam active.

With how easy it is to coordinate a Mantis damage boost considering her Inspire lasts eight seconds, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Black Widow creep into the top level meta in the coming months.