Storm has quickly taken over the throne as the strongest character in Marvel Rivals season 1. A recent round of improvements catapulted her from one of the least powerful damage dealers to a threat at all skill levels in the hero shooter’s ranked mode.
According to the statistics tracker site RivalsMetawhich draws its data from the game’s robust API, she has the highest win rate of all 35 heroes, at around 57%. Last season, she was only at 51% and was widely considered one of the weakest duelists, compared to popular choices like Hela, Hawkeye, and Psylocke. But a small improvement in her damage and survivability during her ultimate hurricane made the difference.
It’s not just the fact that she can rule the skies without ever having to land, it’s also the team-wide damage boost she provides that makes her extremely powerful. Storm is a support character disguised as a damage dealer, turning any team she plays on into a sharpened blade. And since true support heroes with their own damage boosts, like Mantis, are already hugely popular, teams with both are unstoppable.
At the highest ranks, Storm’s presence has increased the win rates of heroes who benefit most from her, such as Magik and Wolverine. They both need to get close to enemies to do anything and the damage boost makes it much easier for them to get in and out unscathed – much to the chagrin of all the support players. Even heroes like Black Widow, who used to struggle to get kills on characters who could survive her sniper shots, are starting to climb up the ranks at the bottom.
That’s how a handful of improvements can change the shape of a meta, even if they don’t look like much. No one is calling for Storm to be nerfed yet, but I suspect demand will increase as more players discover the impact of a hard-to-reach flying hero with team-wide benefits. Game director Guangyun Chen recently said this Subway that the team wants to let players experiment rather than impose rules on them, such as limiting the number of heroes in each role on a team. If that also means there won’t be another balance passage this season, you may want to start practicing Psionic Goddess right away.