How to play Doctor Strange in Marvel Rivals

Doctor Strange is one of the best tanks in Marvel Rivals. Equipped with an incredible shield, an impactful ultimate ability, and effective output in both offensive and defensive situations, Doctor Strange can be a strong asset to any team.

In this guide on how to play Doctor Strange, we'll go over all of his abilities, his playstyle, and how you can play him to effectively lead your team into battle.

Doctor Strange's abilities in Marvel Rivals

Doctor Strange has perhaps the most versatile kit of all the tanks in Marvel Rivals, offering effective output in both offense and defensive.

Due to this, Doctor Strange is an effective pairing with any other tank in the game, and can be used to either entirely frontline or protect the backline if played with a more aggressive tank.

Doctor Strange abilities

• Daggers of Denak: Doctor Strange's basic attack is his mystic bolts, Daggers of Denak. Strange shoots on five daggers at once and has a capacity of eight shots. Dealing damage with the daggers builds up dark magic for his second damage dealing ability.
• Maelstrom of Madness: When Doctor Strange builds up dark magic through dealing damage, he is able to unleash it through the Maelstrom of Madness. This is a huge damage dealing ability when fully charged, and can be even more powerful when combined with the team up with The Hulk.
• Shield of the Seraphim: The Shield of the Seraphim is Doctor Strange's defensive ability, his shield. It has 800 health and can cover a large area, although it does limit his mobility.
• Cloak of Levitation: Doctor Strange's movement ability is his Cloak of Levitation, which allows him to fly up and down for an extended duration. Although his movement is limited compared to other flying characters, it does allow him to escape danger or block ults such as Hela's.
• Price of Magic: Doctor Strange has a passive ability in Marvel Rivals called Price of Magic. This builds up dark magic for every hit he deals on an enemy, but when it is fully charged, Doctor Strange becomes cursed with anti-heal.
• Pentagram of Ferallah: Doctor Strange has a second movement ability that allows him to set up portals across the map. While this can be used aggressively to get kills, it is best used to help get your team across the map in times of need.
• Eye of Agamotto: Doctor Strange's ultimate ability is the Eye of Agamotto, a massive AOE ultimate that separates enemies souls from their bodies. While frozen in place they are entirely vulnerable to attack.

Doctor Strange playstyle tips

Doctor Strange is best served in the frontline. With his big shield, he can be used to push your team up and block incoming damage while your dps players deal damage behind it.

This playstyle can be particularly effective when combined with a dive tank, such as Thor, Hulk, or Venom. Their extra mobility can stretch the enemy team and make it even easier to push objectives forward.

This playstyle also means that you are able to be aggressive with Doctor Strange, constantly hitting opponents with both the Daggers of Denak and with your melee ability in order to charge the Maelstrom of Madness. When enemies are weak, the Maelstrom of Madness is more than capable of finishing them off.

Because of the aforementioned points, Doctor Strange is also extremely effective at being used defensively. Not only can you be the first line of defence when the enemy team advances, you can also move backwards when your team faces a dive character, shielding them from attack while your team deals out the damage.

To effectively play Doctor Strange, you also need to have quick reactions and awareness of what is going on around you. The Shield of the Seraphim is an incredible useful ability for blocking ultimates, and can completely negate the effect of massive ults such as Hela, Iron Man, or Scarlet Witch.

When using the Eye of Agamotto, ensure that your dark magic meter is fully charged. Successful hits with the Eye of Agamotto creates two hit boxes for each character, meaning that Maelstrom of Madness will do twice its normal damage.

Best Doctor Strange hero combinations

Doctor Strange's partner in crime on Marvel Rivals is The Hulk. When paired with The Hulk, Doctor Strange gets access to the Gamma Radiation team-up ability, turning Maelstrom of Madness into Gamma Maelstrom.

Gamma Maelstrom makes Doctor Strange immune to anti-heal, as well as extends the radius and damage of Maelstrom of Madness.

If The Hulk is banned - as he often is at higher ranks - Doctor Strange can be paired effectively with any other tank. Doctor Strange is one of the best for double tank team comps due to his large shield, offering more protection for the backline when a secondary tank may be diving.

If you're duo queued with a dps player, consider telling them to play Punisher, Winter Soldier, Moon Knight, or Starlord. These are characters that work best as front-to-back dps, and all of them can benefit greatly from the protection of the Shield of the Seraphim.

As for support characters, all are viable to assist Doctor Strange. However, if you want to rank up fast with Doctor Strange, the best support characters are Luna Snow, Cloak & Dagger, and the Invisible Woman. This is because they do the most healing, which can protect you and sustain you for longer if your shield is broken.