Marvel Rivals players are taking a stand and saying no to picking Strategist. Not because the role is kind of frustrating, thankless, a bit stale, or particularly punishing in the current season, thanks to buffed dive heroes. No, it's actually in response to comments made by a streamer.
Recently, Necros let loose on support players while reading a post about how certain Marvel Rivals Duelist players have a bit of a god complex: "This is why I hate support players, guys. I hate support players because they are literally allergic to good takes. They're just morons, they're idiots and I fucking hate them."
Aside from there being something hilariously poetic about a former Genji main saying that he doesn't get enough heals, Necros' rant has really sparked something in Marvel Rivals' Strategist mains.
"That kind of statement, coming from a big voice in the community, does real damage," Revolutionary-Ad6480 says. "Streamers don’t get to opt out of influence — if you have a following, what you say matters in your community. And now we’re seeing the consequences of that." The consequence is a so-called "Support Strike".
Now I haven't actually seen a dramatic drop in Strategists being picked in Marvel Rivals over the last couple of days, but maybe this is just starting to pick up now as the fallout is pretty recent. Although these movements organised by online communities rarely ever managed to push the needle significantly in a live service environment. But what I have seen is numerous support players coming out of the woodwork to share the bad experiences they've had.
The “support strike” and Necros’ comments – why this actually matters from r/marvelrivals
"I was playing support and I wasn’t doing bad — nearly 50k healing, only two deaths, same damage blocked as our DPS, and just 10k less total damage dealt," Revolutionary-Ad6480 says. "Still, someone in voice chat told me: 'Necros was right, you support players are all brain dead.' And that’s the exact problem. This mindset is being validated and amplified, and it makes playing the role feel increasingly thankless.
"We’re not asking to be glorified or seen as the 'hardest' role—because I don’t think we are. We just want basic respect. It’s tiring to be called brain-dead or worthless when your stats are solid and you’re playing your role the way it’s meant to be played."
I used to be the main DPS in the early days of Overwatch, but thanks to no role queue, I increasingly just found myself filling in for the team. Now, I play a mix of Support and DPS, and I think it's quite telling that I receive a ton of unjustified hate when playing heal, while I hardly get any slack when I'm playing poorly on DPS. I can definitely get away with more when I'm playing a damage hero.
I need healing
But Necros doesn't stop with his claims that support players are stupid—apparently, they're responsible for many more issues. "They never have any good takes, it's exactly what ruined Overwatch," Necros continues. "Why is Overwatch shit? Because it's just dominated by supports… The entire game boils down to who has the better support players. If your backline is stupid, you lose."
When I think of the reasons why Overwatch 2 has slipped in quality, I would probably have put Blizzard becoming complacent with the quality of its product, cancelling promised projects, and getting rid of veteran staff near the top of my list. But I guess an instalock Zen is pretty infuriating as well.
Overwatch 2 has always been a bit of a coin flip. All it usually takes is one player to be out of their depth or not play with the team, and chances are you'll lose the match because carrying in games is pretty difficult when you have a pineapple for a sixth or fifth player.
But the issue player could be tank, DPS, or support. I've seen players who can't make space, capitalise on vulnerabilities, or just get enough healing on the board, but for whatever reason, it always seems to be the support players who get the most hate.
I understand that it can be frustrating to feel as if you're being held back by a teammate whom you rely on in order to perform to the best of your ability. But it's also infuriating not to have a DPS who knows how to pressure the backline and target issue players, or have a tank that doesn't play the objective or make space. But that's the game—that's the coin flip you make when you enter queue.
I played a game of Overwatch 2 Stadium last night, where my poor healers spent seven rounds trying to heal a Reinhardt who used his charge on cooldown. It was impossible, and all I could think was "I'm glad that's not my problem." We lost the game despite having a couple of heroic healers and two decent DPS players who out-healed and damaged the enemy team. But that's Overwatch, baby.
If you don't want the risk of getting a bad player in your team and relying on them to fight against the current and come out alive, then don't play a team game. Instead of complaining about it any chance you get, go play Valorant, CS2, or literally any Battle Royale game where your individual skill alone is enough to carry your team or yourself to victory.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
