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Marvel RivalsMarvel Rivals Magneto Character Guide

In this Marvel Rivals Magneto guide, you’ll learn the fundamentals of his abilities, unique play styles, and fundamental tips.

Magneto Overview

One of the world’s most powerful mutants empowered with the ability to control all magnetized objects, fear Magneto. Leading his team out front, Magneto shields and protects his allies better than any other hero. Strongest in the midrange, Magneto wants to constantly be rotating around cover in order to maintain his ideal distance from the enemy.

He’s incredibly good against ranged enemies, but rather weak against melee enemies. Across all levels of play, Magento performs very consistently and with a bit of practice he can be a great asset in winning your games.

Find out where Magneto ranks in our Marvel Rivals tier list.

TLDR

As

  • Use a combination of your Shift, E, F, and cover to frontline. You have long gaps between your shield uses, so be more selective with your decisions.
  • Your ultimate can absorb damage up to an extent, keep an eye on the bar and make sure to throw it before it breaks.
  • Shielding your divers/flankers like Wolverine, Magik, and so on can greatly enable their playmaking.

Against

  • Magneto's primary attacks have a burst AoE, keep that in mind when trying to take cover as he can often hit you from behind certain areas.
  • He has to choose between bubbling himself or bubbling an ally, if you see him use one, you know he can’t use the other for a while.
  • Magneto is at his most dangerous when his rings are fully charged and at his weakest when he has no rings.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths

Infinite Health Shield

Having a shield be time resource based rather than having a health pool makes it superior at absorbing high amounts of incoming damage. No matter if Magneto is shielding a single Hawkeye arrow or Punisher’s double machine gun Ult, his Metallic Curtain lasts the same duration. Due to the infinite health, Magneto excels at countering team comps built around heavy poke damage.

Ally Ranged Shielding

The only Vanguard with the ability to protect allies at range from himself means Magneto is the perfect pick to enable aggressive team plays. Anytime a teammate goes deep in enemy territory, Metal Bulwark makes them immune to stuns and CC. Magneto’s Ally bubble can turn an ally’s feeding into a massive game-winning play.

Strong Knockback

Stuns are one of the best abilities to have in any heroes tool kit. Magneto’s Mag-Cannon gets massive value when stunning a flanker off his backline, cancelling enemy abilities, or stopping approaching enemy Vanguard in their tracks. Because he is so strong at medium ranges, his stun helps him control and maintain that distance, keeping himself always in an advantageous position.

Weaknesses

Weak Against Melee

Melee heroes attacks go through Metallic Curtain, and their speed makes it extremely difficult for Magneto to play keep away once they have closed the distance on him. Typically, Magneto has the advantage at poking down melee heroes in the beginning of fights, but get shuts down as soon as these heroes break through and get into their melee range.

Very Slow Fire Rate and Projectile Speed

With one of the slowest primary fires in all of Rivals, Magneto gets punished hard when missing his shots. Against fast and small targets it becomes even more difficult to land hits.

No Mobility Abilities

Unlike most other Vanguards, Magneto doesn’t have any movement abilities. Instead he relies on damage mitigation and his stun to survive. If Magneto gets displaced, he becomes completely reliant on his team to help keep him alive. Additionally, he is unable to reposition himself on high ground or navigate map terrain which basically every other Vanguard would be capable of traversing.


Ability Tips

Primary Fire: Iron Volley

DESCRIPTION

Fire a volley of magnetic orbs forward. The range of the resulting explosion increases based on distance flown

KEY

Left Click

CASTING

Single-cast projectile with delayed impact that also generates a spell field

PROJECTILE SPEED

80m/s

CHARGES

10

MAXIMUM DISTANCE

25m

RANGE

Initially, it produces a spell field with a 1m spherical radius; when the projectile reaches maximum distance, the explosion radius expands to a spell field with a 3m spherical radius

ATTACK INTERVAL

0.8s

DAMAGE

Projectile Damage: 35. The spell field deals 40 damage at its center, reducing to 50% within a 3m radius from the center

Tips for Iron Volley

Maintain distance

  • Take full advantage of Iron Volley’s 25m range by rotating the map, moving from one cover to another.
    Being at near max range also takes advantage of its AoE damage even when slightly missing your target.
    At max distance the AoE radius increases to 3m allowing higher total damage output potential.

Poke phase

  • During the beginning of every fight when both teams are just poking each other with range damage, continually peek around corners in between shots to minimize damage taken.

Animation Cancel

  • Magneto can cancel the recovery animation of Iron Volley with his melee sword, Team-up sword, and Mag-Cannon.

[SHIFT]: Metallic Curtain

DESCRIPTION

Change the magnetic field around to form a metallic curtain, blocking all incoming projectiles

KEY

SHIFT

CASTING

Shield

MAXIMUM ENERGY

100

ENERGY COST

50/s

ENERGY RECOVERY DELAY

1s

ENERGY RECOVERY SPEED

11/s

COOLDOWN

3s

Tips for Metallic Curtain

Resource Management

  • Unlike Doctor Strange, Magneto can’t spam his shield as it’s resources deplete whether damage is taken or not.
  • Three second cool down
    • When an enemy has a block that Magneto will need to block, (Strange Ult, Iron Man Ult, etc) the enemy can watch for your shield and activate their ult as soon as Magneto drops shield knowing he won’t be able to block.
    • You’ll want to avoid using Metallic Curtain when you suspect the enemy has ults like these available and instead rely on Iron Bulwark, cover and healing to stay alive.

Be Patient

  • Considering at full energy, it still only has a max two second duration, rushing to activate shield often leads to death.
  • Don’t activate immediately in reaction to enemy ultimate ability voice lines. Instead wait for the actual damage to be a threat to yourself or your team

[E]: Metal Bulwark

DESCRIPTION

Conjure a metal shield around a chosen ally. Damage taken will transform into rings on Magneto's back

KEY

E

CASTING

Targeted

MAXIMUM DISTANCE

20m

SHIELD VALUE

300

MAX SHIELD DURATION

2.5s

COOLDOWN

12s, and sharing cooldown with Iron Bulwark

SPECIAL EFFECT

The shield grants one charge of Iron Ring for every 100 damage it absorbs

Tips for Metal Bulwark

Magneto’s most important ability

  • Metal Bulwark can save your backline from death, or enable aggressive plays from an ally Vanguard or Duelist. While simply using it to generate rings for Mag-Cannon may feel good, it wastes the massive potential of a high health bubble.
  • Save for aggressive plays.
    • If you know you have a Spider-Man about to burn all his abilities in order to confirm an elimination, make sure you save Metal Bulwark to ensure he can successfully get out alive.
  • Save for peel.
    • When the enemy team has a flanker destroying your backline, save Metal Bulwark to keep your Strategists alive. A 300 HP bubble more than doubles the effective health of any non-Vangaurd and shuts down abilities like Black Panther’s Vibranium Marks.

[F]: Iron Bulwark

DESCRIPTION

Conjure an iron shield around himself. Damage taken will transform into rings on Magneto's back

KEY

F

SHIELD VALUE

300

MAX SHIELD DURATION

2.5s

COOLDOWN

12s, and sharing cooldown with Metal Bulwark

SPECIAL EFFECT

The shield grants one charge of Iron Ring for every 100 damage it absorbs

Tips for Iron Bulwark

Counter specific attacks and abilities.

  • Rather than absorbing random damage at full health, the long 12 second cooldown means you must save this ability for times where your life is in immediate danger.

Use against melee enemies

  • Since Metallic Curtain doesn’t mitigate melee damage, Iron Bulwark is Magneto’s only means of staying alive against a flurry melee attacks.

Mag-Cannon combos

  • Using Mag-Cannon then immediately popping Iron Bulwark can quickly generate a second full energy Mag-Cannon and allow for fast eliminations against low HP targets.

Secondary Fire: Mag-Cannon

DESCRIPTION

Convert the iron rings on Magneto's back into a Mag-Cannon and launch a metallic mass forward. Higher stacks of rings increase damage, and full stacks knock back enemies

KEY

Right Click

CASTING

Single-cast projectile with delayed impact

PROJECTILE SPEED

120m/s

DAMAGE

Iron Rings' first charge deals 40 damage, the second charge deals 65 damage, and the third charge deals 90 damage

COOLDOWN

No cooldown, but the ability can only be activated when the Iron Ring has at least one charge

CRITICAL HIT

No

SPECIAL EFFECT

When fully charged, the Iron Ring has a 6m knockback distance

Tips for Mag-Cannon

Shut down approaches

  • Example: A well timed Mag-Cannon stun into a swinging Venom cancels his ability and leaves him without the ability to swing away for 8 seconds.

Get off me

  • Once a melee hero like Wolverine gets on him, Magneto can use the push back stun to create distance and prevent further melee damage against him.

Combos

  • While Magneto isn’t particularly known for combos and burst damage, Mag-Cannon does give him some really strong solo elimination potential. Be sure to learn his bread and butter combo below:
    • Primary fire → Melee →  Mag-Cannon (3 rings) → Primary Fire
    • Eliminates 275 HP heroes

[Space]: Magnetic Descent

DESCRIPTION

Hold Space to fall slowly

KEY

Space

HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT SPEED

6m/s

DESCENDING SPEED

3.5m/s

Tips for Magnetic Descent

  • Mostly used after ult to reposition or shoot over barriers.
  • Can be good for keeping away from melee attacks if Magneto was already on high ground and jumps away.

Ultimate: Meteor M

DESCRIPTION

Draw in all materials around to forge an iron meteor that deals massive damage upon impact. Absorbing enemy projectiles can enhance the meteor's power, yet overloading will cause it to self-destruct

KEY

Q

CASTING

Create a persistent spell field that launches a projectile upon completion, which generates another spell field on impact

PROJECTILE ABSORPTION RANGE

15m spherical radius

PROJECTILE SPEED

30m/s

EXPLOSION RANGE

Initially, the ability has a spherical range with a radius of 5m. After charging for 4s, it expands to an 8m radius

MAXIMUM DURATION

4s

DAMAGE

The projectile deals no damage. The base damage at the center of the spell field starts at 100 and increases to 300 when fully charged. Each point of Energy adds an extra 3 points of damage to the spell field, with damage reducing to 50% at a distance of 6m from the center

ENERGY COST

3100

SPECIAL EFFECT

For each point of projectile damage absorbed, the power increases by 0.125, with a maximum absorption of 800 projectile damage

Tips for Meteor M

Counter enemy ultimates

  • The best use of Meteor M is to counter enemy ultimates such as Star-Lord,Hela, Rocket Racoon boosted damage, etc.

Secure Eliminations through healing

  • The 300 burst damage means Magneto can still eliminate 300 HP enemies through healing from ultimates like Invisible Woman and Luna Snow.
    • Teams typically group up during these ults making Magneto’s ult a great way to counter such enemy abilities.
  • Any Enemies within the AoE can’t be healed by projectiles which gives your team extra time to finish off targets.

Area of Effect

  • The circle you see below Magneto as he flies into the air is the range where all projectiles within will be absorbed.
  • Absorbs all standard enemy projectiles including damage projectiles, healing projectiles, stun projectiles, etc.
    • Does NOT absorb beams like Luna Snow SHIFT or Iron Man Unibeam.

Meteor M breaks at 100 absorption so be sure to fire the projectile just before maxing out.

Team-up: Metallic Fusion

DESCRIPTION

Scarlet Witch can infuse Chaos Energy into Magneto to enchant his greatsword. Upon receiving the Chaos Energy, Magneto can unleash its full force, striking down enemies with his enchanted greatsword

KEY

C

CASTING

Grant Ability

KEY (ENHANCED)

Left Click

ATTACK INTERVAL

The first two stages each take 0.615s, while the third stage takes 0.954s

PROJECTILE SPEED

80m/s

RANGE

3m spherical radius

DAMAGE

Projectile Damage: 60, Spell Field Damage: 35

DURATION

10s

Tips for Metallic Fusion

  • Season 1 buff now makes three direct hits eliminate 275 HP heroes like Luna Snow.
  • Cancel 3rd swing with Mag-Cannon
    • The long recovery animation of the third stage can be cancelled with Mag-Cannon at any charge level.
      • Extremely high burst damage combo:
      • Metallic Fusion Swing (x3) → Mag-Cannon → Metallic Fusion Swing (x3)

Synergies

Team Comp Synergies

Ideal team comps built around Magneto have a combination of aggressive allies and backline ranged heroes. When playing with flankers or melee heroes, Metallic Bulwark is the the most powerful enabling ability in all of Rivals to extend the amount of time an ally can stay behind enemy lines.

Paired with ranged heroes, Magneto’s damage mitigation lets his team stand directly behind him and fire into the enemy without fear of getting eliminated. Additionally Magneto plays well with Strategists like Invisible Woman who rely on team peel to survive and counter attack enemy flanks.

Team Comp Example

  • Vanguards: Magneto, Thor
  • Duelists: Scarlet Witch, Winter Soldier
  • Strategists: Invisible Woman, Luna Snow

Hero Synergies

Vanguards: Thor

Thor has amazing burst damage when activating Awakening Rune, but he’s very squishy for a Vanguard. Magneto makes up for Thor’s weaknesses by being his protector and enabling to bypass enemy frontlines and go for quick blackline elims. When playing with Thor, Save every single Bulwark to use on him and Magneto will be passively carrying your games.

Duelists: Scarlet Witch

Wanda’s only problem right now is weak damage stats, and a horrifically bad ultimate. Her ultimate is so slow and so easy to shut down with any stun ability. What if there was a way to make her CC immune while channeling her ultimate? Magneto does exactly that with his ally bubble, which transforms Scarlet Witch ult from useless into the game winning condition. Moreover, their Team-Up greatly raises Magneto’s threat level and helps him farm ult quicker. Uses their ults together also creates two massive kill zones while simutaneously absorbing the projectiles which would typically shut down Wanda’s ult.

Strategists: Invisible Woman

Invisible Woman wants her Vanguards to stay directly in front of her, stand in her ult, and keep her alive during team fights. Magneto does all three of these things by default which gives them great synergy. Ally bubbles let her take duels against flankers, and Invisible Woman’s multiple cc abilities help keep the melee attackers off of Magneto. As long as they are keeping an eye on each other, this duo is a great challenge to eliminate.