How to Play Wolverine in Marvel Rivals
Wolverine, one of the most iconic X-Men in the Marvel universe claws down every Vanguard in his path. The damage of Wolverine’s primary attack, Savage Claw, scales up with the max HP of the target meaning he deals higher damage to high HP heroes like Vanguards. In Ban-Ranks, (Diamond and above) he has quickly become one of the most banned heroes.
Sneaking up behind a Vanguard to Vicious Rampage → Feral Leap them into his own team is one of the fastest ways to secure an elimination on an otherwise un-killable Vanguard. A good Wolverine player needs patience as they need to take the time to set up a safe position from which to engage.
Anytime the enemy teams Vanguard’s are carrying, a swap to Wolverine can quickly turn the tides in your team’s favor. The most important skill for anyone using Logan to develop is becoming consistent in connecting Feral Leap. Throw an enemy into the cycle of – spawn, sneak and snatch, respawn, repeat – and you’ll be winning games from simple mental submission.
Find out where Wolverine ranks in our Marvel Rivals tier list.
Strengths
Tank Buster
- By far Logan’s greatest power comes from being the only true tank buster in all of Marvel Rivals. Vanguards are incredibly important to every team for their ability to take space and contest objectives. Wolverine can single-handedly shutdown a Vanguard’s ability to even play the game.
Movement Displacement Plus Stun
- While not the easiest or most consistent, Wolverine actually has one of the best displacement tools of any Duelist. Feral Leap multifunctions as a movement and CC ability for Logan. Simultaneously displacing and stunning the enemy while moving himself out of danger makes Feral Leap a win condition at all times.
High Burst Damage
- At full Rage Wolverine deals massive damage output from his primary fire and Ultimate ability. Using Feral Leap or Last Stand on a Duelist or Strategist while at full rage basically guarantees securing a KO too fast for the enemy team to react.
Weaknesses
All or Nothing
- Although his abilities have incredible potential, misusing even a single ability easily leads to a useless death. Since he has a very short range and long cooldowns, he needs to make his few opportunities count to have any value.
Long Set Up Stage
- The bread and butter of Wolverine’s gameplay revolves around literally catching the enemy front line off guard. The need to sneak up without having good mobility means Logan will be spending a good amount of every match sneaking around long off angles and hiding behind walls doing nothing.
Countered by Crowd Control
- Stuns and displacement abilities prevent Logan from getting close to his targets. Especially since the addition of Invisible Woman, Wolverine can be hard countered with a single counter pick as her Force Physics easily pulls Wolverine out of Feral Leap’s snatch.
Abilities
[Primary Fire]: Savage Claw
Tips for Savage Claw
- Focus on Vanguards
- The damage scaling of Savage Claw means Wolverine builds ult charge much faster when attacking high health pool targets than against low health pool targets.
- Without Berserk Claw Strike:
- When he doesn’t have Berserk Claw Strike from Feral Leap, Wolverine’s damage is significantly lower. Therefore, you should focus on either using the Vicious Rampage combo, or disengaging in order to survive until all cooldowns come back online.
- The fourth strike’s long animation recovery can be canceled by activating any other ability.
[SHIFT]: Feral Leap
Tips for Feral Leap
- Understand the Hitbox
- Proximity and Angle
- The hitbox where Wolverine actually snatches his target is very small. The hitbox extends farther above and behind his body than it does below him.
- If Logan is any height above his target, Feral Leap will miss.
- The hitbox where Wolverine actually snatches his target is very small. The hitbox extends farther above and behind his body than it does below him.
- Proximity and Angle
- Be EXTREMELY close
- Even a couple of meters distance between Wolverine and his target will cause him to leap over them and not snatch them.
- If his body is colliding with an enemy’s body, Feral Leap will Snatch the target when looking 180° away from them.
- Works best on big body Vanguards.
- Snatch Into Your Own Team
- Snatching into the enemy team will typically lead to the target surviving and Wolverine dying. Always snatch your target into your own team’s controlled space.
- Leap & Turn
- Turning your mouse camera immediately after snatching a target allows Wolverine to quickly change and control the direction he and the snatched enemy travel.
- When Feral Leaping straight into an enemy and their team, you can still quickly turn and bring them closer to your team or around a corner.
- Turning your mouse camera immediately after snatching a target allows Wolverine to quickly change and control the direction he and the snatched enemy travel.
[Passive]: Berserker Rage
Tips for Berserker Rage
- Higher Rage = Higher Damage
- Rage increases Ultimate Damage as well as primary fire damage
- High Rage makes Wolverine effective at eliminating Strategists and Duelists.
- With low Rage, his damage is too low without the high HP percentage based boost. When at low rage, typically avoid battling Duelists and Strategists. At high Rage, Wolverine’s damage is high enough to win these duels.
- The fastest method of building rage is to combo abilities together.
- Example: Vicious Rampage → Feral Leap → Last Stand Ultimate = Instant 65 Rage against a single target.
- Hitting 3 enemies with the ult during this combo generates 100 Rage.
- Example: Vicious Rampage → Feral Leap → Last Stand Ultimate = Instant 65 Rage against a single target.
[E]: Undying Animal
Tips for Undying Animal
- Use at Full Health
- Since the damage reduction is incoming damage percentage based, activating Undying Animal at full health has much higher total damage mitigation potential.
- Won’t keep you alive if you’re already at low health.
- If you find yourself already at low health, it is better to try and escape without activating Undying Animal so you can return to the fight much quicker.
- Activate right before engaging
- Activating after leaping in typically means you’ll have already taken too much damage, and you’ll have to stop attacking during the animation.
[Secondary Fire]: Vicious Rampage
Tips for Vicious Rampage
- Primarily used for Movement
- The 3m range is rather short, but the equally short 3 second cooldown means you should basically always use Vicious Rampage immediately when available to quickly move around.
- Use to access high ground during the staging phase.
- Cancel Primary Fire Recovery Animation
- The 4th swing of the standard primary fire can be animation cancelled with Vicious Rampage then into another 4 claw strikes.
Ultimate: Last Stand
Tips for Last Stand
- Damage Scales with Rage
- Unless absolutely necessary to finish off a high priority target, don’t use Last Stand when at low Rage.
- 25 Rage energy per enemy Knocked Back
- When using at low Rage, hitting multiple enemies helps to quickly build Rage for higher follow-up damage from Berserk Claw.
- Don’t Ignore Damage Overtime
- Snatching Damage over time deals 20/s. While targets are airborne and while they are in the spiraling slam, they are taking damage over time.
- Maximize Damage output on multiple targets by pausing while floating, and then choosing a distant slam location.
- Impact Percentage Damage means against an 800HP Hulk, the impact deals 50 + 80 dmg, while against a 250HP Mantis, the impact deals 50 + 25 dmg, so calculate accordingly when going for finishes.
- Snatching Damage over time deals 20/s. While targets are airborne and while they are in the spiraling slam, they are taking damage over time.
[Passive]: Regenerative Healing Factor
Tips for Regenerative Healing Factor
- Extra Aggressive Plays
- When Regenerative Healing Factor is available, Wolverine can go for extremely aggressive plays, considering he effectively has two lives to burn through.
- Watch for Cooldown reduction
- Remember, every elimination reduces the 90-second cooldown by 10 seconds. If you’ve participated in multiple KOs during this time, the passive will be available much sooner than expected.
Team-Up: Metal Cannonball
Tips for Metal Cannonball
- Staging
- On Defense or during the enemy team’s respawn phase, Hulk can throw Wolverine to a sneaky high ground position before the enemy team arrives
- Berserk Claw Strike
- Good for extending the amount of time Wolverine has access to Berserk Claw Strike
- Hulk Look Straight Up
- Rather than trying to throw Logan straight at a target, Hulk can throw Logan straight into the sky and allow him to fly with some control over his trajectory.
- Great for leaping over tall structures and surprising your true target.
- Can be thrown into ceilings and still fly forward and control trajectory.
- Rather than trying to throw Logan straight at a target, Hulk can throw Logan straight into the sky and allow him to fly with some control over his trajectory.
- A Bit Niche
- In reality, Wolverine might take a lot of damage while being held by the high HP Hulk, and during the throw animation. The throw can also be inconsistent to aim. Together, these two qualities make Metal Cannonball a niche ability rather than something you want to use every time it’s available.
Synergies
Team Comp Synergies
Ideal comp built around Wolverine makes space for him to set up his sneak and snatch playstyle. Teams want to take up resources and attention before Wolverine initiates his engagement in order to maximize his chances for success. High amounts of burst damage to follow up on a Vanguard snatch helps immensely to convert his Feral Leaps into KO’s. His movement and range is very poor, so Logan can’t help peel in most cases. Due to this limitation, Wolverine works best with self-sufficient backlines who don’t rely on their Duelists for peel.
Example of Team Comp Built Around Wolverine:
- Vanguards: Magneto, Groot
- Duelists: Wolverine, Hela
- Strategists: Mantis, Luna Snow
Individual Synergies
Vanguards: Magneto
Magneto’s Metal Bulwark ally bubble is unmatched as a tool to enable Wolverine’s hyper-aggressive playstyle. The only thing that can stop a Wolverine from running over a team is counterplay through crowd control.
Simply throwing a bubble on Logan practically guarantees he’ll be able to get into position and snatch the enemy Vanguard. When caught out of position, Magneto’s Ult can be used defensively to soak up any projectiles that would’ve taken out his adamantium ally.
Duelists: Hela
The primary weaknesses of Logan’s tank busting kit is exploitability against flyers and inconsistent damage output. Hela excels at making up for both of these weaknesses with her ranged hitscan kit. The stun of Feral Leap also gives Hela easy follow-up headshots to help convert those sweet elims. The pressure exerted from Hela also creates opportunities for Wolverine to go unnoticed while staging for his next engagement.
Strategists: Mantis
Wolverine needs aggression from his Strategists. He doesn’t need insane healing output. Instead, he benefits most from receiving quick and sudden assistance to capitalize on his small windows of opportunity. Mantis throws damage boost and passive healing on Wolverine as he engages, increasing his lethality and survivability. Moreover, her own high amounts of ranged damage further complement Wolverine’s game plan.