Marvel Rivals Doctor Strange guide: Abilities, ultimate, tips, more

Marvel Rivals’ Doctor Strange is a flexible Vanguard that can pull off devastating combos with different heroes. Here’s everything you need to know to play him well.

Doctor Strange has always been one of the best Vanguards since the beta days of Marvel Rivals. With a massive shield, he excels in soaking up a lot of damage and pairs well with many characters that aren’t very mobile in the game.

Thanks to his kit, he can also be quite flexible in different team comps, making him a great pick overall. So, it’s unsurprising that he’s considered an S-tier in the current season.

While that’s the case, playing as him can be tricky if you’re unsure how his abilities work or the best timing to use them. In this guide, we’ve compiled everything you know to play as him effectively.

Marvel Rivals Doctor Strange stats

• Role: Vanguard
• Health: 600
• Movement speed: 6 m/s

Doctor Strange has pretty much the average stats of a Vanguard. Granted, his health is only slightly less than Captain America’s, but he has excellent potential in front lining and peeling for the team.

Season 1.5 meta changes

The only change Doctor Strange has received during the 1.5 patch is a slight reduction in his base health which has dropped from 650 to 600. This means he’s got a bit less survivability now but it shouldn’t impact him too much going forward.

Weapons

Strange’s primary fire is called Daggers of Denak, in which he consecutively fires five rounds of projectiles. These projectiles can’t deal critical shots, but the catch is that the more damage you deal with it, the better it gets for his Maelstrom of Madness ability.

His Daggers of Denak stats can be found below:

Casting	Five-round delayed hit projectiles
Damage	18
Projectile Speed	60 m/s
Fire Rate	5.56 rounds per second, with a 0.03-second interval between every two rounds
Critical Hit	No
Ammo	8 (1 dagger per release)

Abilities

Doctor Strange has a great mix of damage-dealing and protective abilities in his kit. Being able to set up portals from spawn or set up behind the enemy backline to combo with teammates can be a game-changer. 

He’s also got one of the best ults in the game, allowing him to stun enemies for a few seconds within a huge radius.

Ability	Details	What It Does
Shield of Seraphim	Maximum Shield Value: 800 Recovery Speed: 70/s Delayed Recovery After Release: 1s Cooldown After Destroyed: 3s	Create a protective barrier against damage
Maelstorm of Madness	Casting: Single-cast spell field that surrounds the caster Range: 8m spherical radius Damage: Each point of Dark Magic deals 1.3 damage, falloff begins at 5m, decreasing to 70% at 8mCooldown: 8s	Release Dark Magic to deal damage to nearby enemies
Pentagram of Farallah	Duration: 20s Cooldown: 180s	Open portals between two locations, enabling all units to travel through them
Cloak of Levitation	Dash Distance: 8m Free Flight Duration: 6s Cooldown: 15s	Ascend and then enter a brief state of sustained flight
Eye of Agamotto (Ultimate)	Casting: Single-cast spell field that surrounds the caster Range: 10m spherical radius Damage: 60 Soul Separation Duration: 3s Energy Cost: 3400	Separate nearby enemies’ Souls from their bodies. Damage dealt to these Souls is transferred to their physical bodies
Price of Magic (Passive)	Anti-Heal Duration: 2s Anti-Heal Activation Delay at Peak Dark Magic: 3s Generate Dark Magic: Daggers of Denak: Each hit generates 3.5 Dark Magic. When using the V key, every enemy hit generates 10 Dark Magic	Dark Magic accumulates with every hit on an enemy. If Dark Magic peaks for too long, Doctor Strange will be cursed with Anti-Heal
Gamma Maelstorm (Team Up Ability)	Range: 10m spherical radius Damage: Each point of Dark Magic deals 1.4 damage, falloff begins at 5m, decreasing to 70% at 8m Cooldown: 8s Special Effect: At peak Dark Magic, you will no longer be subject to Anti-Heal	Hulk charges Doctor Strange and Iron Man with gamma radiation. When Doctor Strange uses Maelstrom of Madness, he unleashes Gamma Maelstrom. When Iron Man uses Armor Overdrive, he will initiate a gamma upgrade

How to play Doctor Strange

Doctor Strange’s overall playstyle is pretty similar to Reinhardt in Overwatch 2 in a way, thanks to how his shield works. 

As one of the best parts of his kit, this is useful during team fights when all the enemies are using it. However, it can only soak up so much before it has to regenerate, so make sure not to waste it.

One way to prevent yourself from burning out of the shield is to alternate between using it and dealing damage with your primary fire. This way, you’ll also be able to build up stacks for your Dark Magic AoE attack from the Maelstrom of Madness ability.

This ability is really important because it deals so much damage once you’ve reached the maximum 100 stacks. You can use this to pressure enemies trying to get past you – or combine it with your Eye of Agamotto ultimate.

As for using Eye of Agamotto, while you can activate this right on the point, ideally, you’ll want to catch enemies off guard with it instead. There’s always a chance you might get frozen or interrupted while casting it, so it’s better to be safe than sorry.

This is exactly when setting up your portal comes in handy. Place the second portal in a way that you’d be able to jump on the enemy backline easily and cast Eye of Agamotto before they can react – all the better if you have a fully charged stack.

Alternatively, you can use the portal to help your teammates land their ults – Scarlet Witch, Iron Man, or Jeff the Land Shark.

Finally, while Doctor Strange is currently one of the best Vanguards, it’s worth knowing that he is a slow character. Cloak of Levitation is his only mobility ability, and it has a long cooldown. So, don’t just use it to get to the point faster – but to get to high grounds and harass enemies, contesting them if you can.

Best team comp

Doctor Strange is already a strong pick overall, but for the best experience, we’d recommend pairing him with:

• Hulk
• Magneto

Hulk 

Dexerto / Netease

Having a Hulk in the team is perfect because Doctor Strange can utilize his Team Up ability. Maelstrom of Madness can deal with a lot of damage when fully stacked, but now imagine it deals with extra damage and removes the anti-heal. 

To add to this, Hulk can also take the pressure off Strange by soaking up the damage in the frontline – and even if he gets transformed back into Bruce Banner, there’s a shield to fall back into.

Magneto 

Marvel Games

Doctor Strange and Magneto make a double shield comp, where both can take turns dealing damage and offer shields to the team. Just add a bunch of healing, and with the right playstyle, they can contest a point for so long or even exhaust the enemies’ resources. 

Strange can also use his portal to combo with Magneto’s ult. The only downside to this duo is that they both lack mobility, however.

Best counters

Doctor Strange’s main weakness lies in the fact that his shield cannot block melee attacks. He’s also very slow, assuming his mobility and portal abilities are on cooldown. As such, melee characters with a lot of mobility generally have no problem going against him

• Wolverine
• Iron Fist
• Luna Snow

Wolverine

Marvel Games

As an overall tank buster, Wolverine can just straight up walk to Doctor Strange and make his life miserable. Better yet, he can just Feral Leap to you and chip away at your health with Savage Claw, and from there on, you’ll just have to hope that the healers are paying attention to you. No matter how you put up the shield, the damage will go through it.

Iron Fist

netease / marvel

Iron Fist is in a similar boat to Wolverine, where he can put pressure on you by rendering the shield useless. Of course, the character isn’t quite at a good position in the tier list as of now, but a player who knows how to play him well will know exactly when to dive you and go back to safety whenever.

Luna Snow

Marvel Games

Luna Snow isn’t a melee hero, but to characters who have some delay when casting their ults or abilities, she’s a nightmare to deal with. By the press of a button, the Strategist can simply cancel your ultimate – hence why, if you’re playing as Strange, you’ll have to keep track of what CC abilities have been used to be really safe.

Overall, while knowing how his abilities work and the best times to use them are important, you’ll also have to pay attention to his matchups at the end of the day. Don’t forget to coordinate with teammates, as there are so many tricks you can pull off with his portal.

While you’re here, check out how to play some of the other Vanguards in NetEase’s free-to-play shooter, such as Venom. Captain America and Groot.