Marvel Rivals' new PvE game mode, Marvel Zombies, is a fun and addictive way to get some reprieve from the competitive grind.
Prepare to face off against endless hordes, escalating waves, and epic boss fights. We got you covered with the best Blessings, Abilities, and Traits, so you can take down Queen of the Dead every run!
The build layout closely follows Ultron's Battle Matrix. If you played this previous limited-time game mode, you'll already be familiar with some of the Blessing upgrades.
Below, we'll give you simple build strategies you can follow for each Hero. Even if you've never played a game with skill trees, you should be able to catch on quick, and branch off into your own personalization with these starting foundations.
Gameplay Faq
How long is a Round of Zombies?
Depending on the difficulty level, and on the Hero upgrades of yourself and your teammates, rounds typically last about 15 minutes.
The best way to experience the zombie thrill is to que up with 3 of your friends, but you'll fill a team super quick on solo-que as well.
Are There Hero Limits?
No, you're entire team can be four Jeff The Land Sharks. There's no need to rush and try to beat your teammates on the hero select screen.
Is Hero Progress Individual?
Everything you can see on the "Prepare" screen is permanent progress. You'll need to rank up to level 25 before you have access upgrading all Traits and Abilities.
The good news is that level progress is shared across all heroes, so you are feel to switch between them and not have to start entirely over.
The Trait upgrades are individual, however, making the quickest method of maxing your stats sticking to one hero.
Ranking up is pretty fast as long as you are winning most of your runs. You should also check the Challenges, as the rewards will greatly increase your progress rate.
Be sure to go back to the "Prepare" screen between matches to rank up traits before queuing you're next round!
Spend Points Every Round
Between every wave, you'll be lead to a glowing circle. The game gives you less than a minute to go in and spend points. Don't stockpile your cash. Instead buy everything you can afford, and remember it's worth it to Refresh rather than waste points on Blessings you don't need.
Ability Perks
After spending 20/60/120 points into one color, your Ability will gain a unique perk. These are incredibly strong, and are vital to power scaling in the later rounds.
Best Marvel Zombie Hero
The Punisher, Magik, Thor, Blade, and Jeff the Land Shark are the 5 heroes you can chose to play.
Every single one of these heroes is viable for beating Zombies on Nightmare IV. Don't feel you need to stick to the "strongest" hero to have success in this fun PvE mode.
With that said, The Punisher seems to be the strongest and easiest hero to beat max difficulty, but Blade is a close 2nd. Punisher's damage is insane, and compared to Blade, his range makes it easy to sit back and farm zombie hordes and the two bosses from a safe distance.
Once you get his fully upgraded Rifle, the DPS is so crazy that using his ult is a massive nerf. As you progress through the waves, you'll notice that weapon and ult buffs are separate. Depending on your hero and build, Ults won't get much use in the later rounds for anything other than health refill.
In early game, he'll likely be behind his team in damage stats, but in the final location he becomes so OP, expect him to take MVP.
When you first start out, you can only play Normal difficulty. You'll need to complete each level before you can que for the next one.
Normal difficulty is designed to be nearly impossible to lose, so if you haven't started, use your first game to experiment with playstyle and Blessings.
When you get into Extreme and Nightmare, you're build really starts to matter. If you just select random upgrades, it's going to be a struggle to get the dub.
Be a One Trick Pony
All the best builds in Rivals Zombies are heavily invested into a single aspect of your heroes kit. Don't try to make a well-rounded hero, because you'll just end up being super weak at everything.
Damage is king, don't spend too many tokens on HP and damage reduction. As the waves become more difficult, you're offensive power and life steal will carry you.
Random is Bait
Do not waste 15 coins on a random Perk. Again, the best builds are very focused and narrow, not wide. You'd be better off spending 10 refreshes to get the Blessing you're looking for, than risking it on RNG.
Build Strategy
The Punisher
Build into Adjudication (Assault Rifle) and not Deliverance (Shotgun). You're going to unlock a wide spread anyway so his shotgun feels pretty pointless.
Hero Traits and Abilities should be his Red Trait tree and stick to the Green Abilities. Don't sit in the turret, always use the deployable Turret.
Snare Beacon is "monkey bombs" and decoy grenades from COD Zombies. Anytime you're team is getting overwhelmed, send the Zombies away from you with the Zipline. Great for Punisher because he wants to play keep away all game.
For Blessings, invest in everything that boosts Assault Rifle damage, with life steal and reload speed as secondary choices.
Smartlocking is the best Blessing in the final battle against Wanda because it turns his spread into a beam and you end up melting with headshots.
Magik
Magik needs to chose between a build where she is permanently Dark Child, and one where she can never use Dark Child. Both are relatively equal, but don't fall for the trap of trying to invest into both modes.
We suggest going for Mortal Will that locks you out of using Dark Child. Then, go for the Red Blessing to get Phantom Edge. Dark Child has more difficulty against the final boss, but has better AoE for standard zombies.
Next invest into attack speed and damage, and go for the demon sword bonus. Her Dash Ability upgrades are quite good, but seeing as Magik's specialty is dealing with the hordes, try out the piercing Dash to maximize your AoE damage with each use.
Thor
Thor has one build everyone is loving for how fun and powerful it is. You're going to build into maximizing his Awakening Rune state.
When building for Thor, select everything Blue on both Traits and Blessings. Once you get his legendary Blues, Endstorm and Rune Recycle together, it's game over for the zombies.
Blade
Stick to his Sword, and invest everything into its damage and your life steal.
Hero Traits and Abilities should be his Red Trait tree and chose every Ability with life steal so you never die.
For Blessings, prioritize attack speed and damage, sword range for AoE, then start grabbing Moon Knight's Ankhs. Lighting and freeze will also be helpful.
Avoid ult upgrades, and your life steal is so busted you don't need a lot of max HP.
Jeff
In the Prepare menu, select Hydro Grenade, Vitality Bubble, and either It's Jeff! or Hazardous Depths.
All traits go Blue. Same for Blessings. Just pick everything blue with his Fin icon and you're set to have the ultimate Hide and Seek build!
Collision damage is the main priority as the combat loop is ramming into everyone. Stay submerged, and reel in these adorable wins.
How To Beat Both Bosses
Namor
Namor has 2 phases. During the first phase he is invulnerable. Focus on taking out his squids as quickly as possible.
During his second phase, switch your attention to Namor himself. When he flies out of melee range, have melee teammates focus the squids, while those with range keep on Namor.
Wanda
Wanda 3 has phases. Between each one she'll become stunned and you can get in a ton of free damage.
Melee Heroes like Blade and Magik have a hard time against Wanda 2nd and 3rd phase because she'll cover herself in Dark Seals that will repeatedly stun you. If you're not careful, you'll get CC stacked and will likely die.
Reality Erasure Bar
Notice under Wanda's main HP bar, she has a bar that constantly fills and depletes. She fills it up by damaging you, and it depletes as she takes damage.
If her bar fills and you don't kill her in time before she detonates her final ult, everyone will die and its game over.
Have everyone unload damage, and shoot the crystals that float around her, and you should be able to get the clear.
