Marvel Rivals players are so starved for Vanguard options one person has decided to take matters into their own hands: 'We need more Vanguards, so I made one'

Thor charging up his hammer.
(Image credit: NetEase)

Despite NetEase's promise that Marvel Rivals will get a couple of new heroes every half of a season, some players still think there are too many Duelists compared to the amount of Vanguards and Strategists on offer. There's no sign of this being solved just yet, so in the meantime, one player has decided to take matters into their own hands.

"We need more Vanguards, so I made one," Wickedcube says. The new Vanguard concept is for Doctor Octopus, but we don't just have an outline of how the character would act in the game. Instead, Wickedcube has provided a detailed video explainer.

We need more vanguards, so i made one (Doctor Octopus) from r/marvelrivals

The concept video demonstrates how Doc Ock would use his tentacles to move around the map, using them to not only cross over the ground but also climb around the walls, similar to Venom and Spider-Man's passive abilities. There are also some rough outlines of the kinds of abilities this hero could have.

There's Havoc Claw, which would just entail Doc Ock hitting enemy players with his tentacles, Wrecking Grip, which would allow him to pick up debris and launch it at enemy players, Cephalopod Dash, which just provides increased movement speed, and Tentacle Aegis, which lets Doc use his extra arms as a temporary shield. All of this means that Doc Ock will at least have the basics to make him a good Vanguard: decent mobility, a shield, and a buttload of health.

Finally, for his ultimate (Wrath of the Master), Doc Ock would use his tentacles to grab enemy players within a close radius and hit them into the floor repeatedly. It may look goofy, but this ultimate has the potential to be one of the most lethal Vanguard ultimates currently in the game. So far, the scariest Vanguard ult I've come across would have to be Magneto's. Meteor M can puncture through support ults like Luna Snow's and Cloak and Dagger's while also protecting him from incoming fire as the metal meteor eats up bullets and projectiles like a giant magnet. But other than this, a lot of Vanguard ults are more annoying than dangerous. Venom and Thor only really work in a small area and are effective if players are already low on health, while Doctor Strange needs a decent amount of prep to pull it off effectively.

But regardless of how good this concept of Vanguard Doc Ock looks, it's pretty unlikely that he'll be added to the game. I'm not saying Doc Ock is on the list of heroes who'll never make it into Marvel Rivals but the devs have recently said they're not looking to tease any more heroes right now. Instead, they would just rather focus on addressing current issues and tasks, like how they've made the strongest Duelist in the game even more powerful thanks to a ridiculous team-up.

Elie Gould
News Writer

Elie is a news writer with an unhealthy love of horror games—even though their greatest fear is being chased. When they're not screaming or hiding, there's a good chance you'll find them testing their metal in metroidvanias or just admiring their Pokemon TCG collection. Elie has previously worked at TechRadar Gaming as a staff writer and studied at JOMEC in International Journalism and Documentaries – spending their free time filming short docs about Smash Bros. or any indie game that crossed their path.

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