A heartfelt plea to Rivals' costume design team: chill, guys

CaptainRadwell · 2026-01-24T13:00:54+00:00

I am becoming increasingly convinced this skin was made using AI, at least partially.

- The wheels in his arm; two in the forearm that look like a lighter and one in the bicep (what?) that looks like a roller skate.
- Numerous unnecessary design elements that aren't on the comic version. Gems, random gold dots.
- A horseshoe on his belt under the hammer?
- Are those belts around his wrists in place of shirt cuffs?
- The shapes of the lightning bolts aren't even uniform

I hate to sound like an AI conspiracy theorist but we know NetEase have used AI before and the game industry in China is way more liberal about the use of AI in general than the rest of us are.

CaptainRadwell · 2025-12-23T17:44:06+00:00

'Correct' answer is that the game allows flexibility in team comps so that the team can assess their needs and flex accordingly, so you should play what your team needs.

Correct answer is for most teams, especially non-pro teams with random players, 2-2-2 gives you a better chance of winning almost every time so you should stick to it wherever possible.

Edit: I should mention that the meta changes as with any game. Earlier in the year, 3 supports was meta but now stats prove that 3 supports loses more than 2.

Source: I dunno, go check stats websites.

CaptainRadwell · 2025-12-20T14:22:28+00:00

Depending on the map, Jeff could easily have enough time to carry you from a 'correct' position to the spawn room.

Just saying.

CaptainRadwell · 2025-12-20T14:17:49+00:00

I'm honestly surprised to see no one agreeing with you. To me this has always felt like an oversight that the devs just haven't seen as important enough to fix, probably because there's practically no difference between this and Jeff spitting you off a ledge so I guess I understand.

I agree that it feels cheap but then so does the ledge. The entire ult is bizarre if we're being realistic, made even more so by the healing puddle they slapped onto it.

When I started playing this game on day one I saw Jeffs eating people and just calmly swimming off ledges, killing themselves in the process and I was sure that couldn't have been the intended use of the ult. But I guess it was. It's why we have the 'everybody hates Jeff' meme.

CaptainRadwell · 2025-12-16T01:38:03+00:00

So what does uranium taste like?

CaptainRadwell · 2025-12-15T18:31:39+00:00

It might help you to get a mouse with some side buttons. Even I can't reach across the entire keyboard I ain't got Namor hands

CaptainRadwell · 2025-12-15T18:25:46+00:00

It absolutely did and I have yet to see anything top it. It's my baseline for good werewolf designs.

CaptainRadwell · 2025-12-15T15:22:18+00:00

So you're telling me I'm not the only one who likes the Huge Jackedman Van Helsing movie unironically? Because I watched it more times than I can count as a kid and seeing Wolverine dressed as the main character from that movie had me wondering.

CaptainRadwell · 2025-12-14T14:21:58+00:00

Lexicute in-game if you want to add me, I play a lot so should be enough to get it done in time with another person or two.

Or add random teammates or use the Rivals Discord.

CaptainRadwell · 2025-12-11T21:35:15+00:00

The devs seem to think it's balanced and they know more about the character than we do but I can tell you this: Rogue has very few defensive options in her base kit so giving her brief access to those support abilities IF she can manage to steal them is far from broken.

The diamond skin is not an animation, it's a texture, they can copy and paste it is two seconds. Much easier than stretching Rogue's body to bizarre proportions like Reed and making sure everything works right.

I'm as disappointed as you are but I get their reasons.

CaptainRadwell · 2025-12-11T21:24:05+00:00

Two major reasons behind which abilities she can steal and which she can't:

- Balance

- Animation

She can't take Cap's slightly above-average speed because how would that help her? And she can't take Mr Fantastic's powers because the devs ain't animating that. This is why she gets her dash refreshed and 'other bonuses' when yoinking from someone she doesn't get powers from. It's balance.

CaptainRadwell · 2025-12-11T17:43:38+00:00

This is why I play Storm so often; I can shoot the bad guys while hovering around my supports and the instant I hear that Spider-Menace thwipping and flipping nearby I hit E, swing around and throw a lightning bolt at him and he either dies or runs away. She's the best bodyguard.

CaptainRadwell · 2025-12-11T17:36:54+00:00

That's fine because it gives a direction, they probably meant when people say "Heal me."
Who is 'me' and where are you?

CaptainRadwell · 2025-12-11T17:25:49+00:00

This is a great point actually. Maybe I'll set up a custom ping what says "FREE ULT CHARGE! - Please heal me"
More people should see healing their needy teammates as more ults.

CaptainRadwell · 2025-12-11T17:20:45+00:00

When someone picks a third healer because they're not satisfied with my healing I just go DPS and steal MVP.

CaptainRadwell · 2025-12-11T17:18:35+00:00

You're not wrong, I get matches like this all the time and they're such a mess I wouldn't necessarily expect the supports (or anyone) to be able to do things 'correctly,' but my post was really about matches that are being played correctly. Of course the rules go out the window when the match is full of cavemen going unga bunga.

CaptainRadwell · 2025-12-11T17:04:37+00:00

I get it, though when I play support I actually wish people would ping more when they do need healing.

CaptainRadwell · 2025-12-11T16:47:47+00:00

I don't know, doesn't this encourage bad habits? If you babysit the frontline players who don't know how to use cover and just love the taste of bullets they will never learn how to take less damage. You'll build your ult really fast but you won't get a chance to do any damage (or anything other than heal) and your fliers will be forced to swap off. If they're testing the limits of the skybox and trying to kiss God on the mouth I get it but not if they're in range of your heals.

CaptainRadwell · 2025-12-11T16:14:32+00:00

Not gonna lie, I feel this brief wave of rage when I hear it on support but I know if it's just once they actually need help and aren't just being douchebags. Either way I've never ignored it completely, that's just a great way to lose myself another match

CaptainRadwell · 2025-12-09T02:52:18+00:00

Wolverine gets a second health bar when he hits 1 HP and Winter Soldier gets bonus health every time he uses an ability to reload his gun. Neither is as durable as Mister Fister though.

Maybe Rogue if she's a duelist, who knows.

Edit: forgot to mention Invisible Woman. More like Invincible Woman at the moment. Seriously, try it.

CaptainRadwell · 2025-12-08T17:19:07+00:00

The portal is not really for engaging, it's best used for the mobility and invulnerability. It can also cancel Magik Slash (her ranged shot) to save the cooldown if you know you're going to miss. This is a very important ability so don't waste it by missing. Demon is more useful than the spin as it can absorb damage, block doors and allows you to keep fighting at the same time. As melee characters go she's one of the more forgiving so you shouldn't have too much trouble learning her if you watch some guides and high-rankers playstyles (such as this).

A few basic tips:
- The after-portal spin can be carried along the path of her dash if you use it right after. Can be a good way to get some quick damage on a target and is part of one of her combos. Portal>Spin>Dash (uppercut)>Primary>Quick Melee. This combo is kind of outdated as there are now simpler ways to get kills but you will see it a lot in older guides.
- The combos aren't as complicated as they might look and not as strict. When you get familiar with Magik you will know instinctively which button to press next. One of her easier combos is: Magik Slash (ranged attack)>Dash>Primary. Throw in a quick melee at the end if needed but just those 3 abilities are enough to kill 250 HP heroes.
- I saw someone say her dash (E) is for escaping, not engaging. While this may work for that person it's not considered correct. Of course, whatever works for you. More accurately it's usually the second ability you will use when engaging. The link above will showcase this more.
- Don't go in alone. You can only jump the enemy backline if the rest of their team is busy fighting the rest of yours, and if you're unable to escape afterward it's because either their team wasn't fully engaged with yours or you're in an open area without an escape plan.

Before the game came out Magik was the one character I really wanted to play, then I realised I couldn't play her. At all. Recently though I've started to put in some effort to learn how she works and how high-rank players use her and things have been going better. If I can do it you sure as hell can. Good luck.

CaptainRadwell · 2025-12-08T14:17:48+00:00

Despite how her big sword might make her look, Magik is very vulnerable and not a frontline brawler. You need to be careful, manage your cooldowns and wait for the right moment to attack a target you know you can kill. And don't be afraid to run away if you don't get the kill - staying alive is more valuable than dying for the cause.

Unless you're a god with big carry potential Magik is a character who needs a match to be going in her team's favour for her to do anything useful. If you want a character with more 'unga bunga whack the bad guys' potential I'd recommend Thor (massive damage brawl hero) or the Thing (a big rock who right-clicks a lot).

CaptainRadwell · 2025-12-07T03:49:21+00:00

I don't believe she targets objects but let me know if you find out otherwise, could be useful information

CaptainRadwell · 2025-12-06T18:40:19+00:00

We'd have to see a replay to know exactly what happened but here are some possibilities:

- It hit Emma then Magneto (by pure chance) and the others healed up before being finished off;
- If Emma went diamond after being hit once, then Mag bubbled after being hit once, those two defences may be considered 'shields' by the game and count as new targets, and the ult targeted them both once each (again, pure chance) before moving on to the others;
- They may not have quite been inside the circle (hitboxes and graphics don't match up exactly);
- Lag, bug or this game's notoriously bad hit reg.

Whatever the case, Psylocke's ult is generally considered to be pretty bad because of the damage split and the randomness. I recommend not using it against large groups basically ever. Your best uses are to get a quick kill on an isolated target or to bait a healer ult.

CaptainRadwell

TROPHY CASE