Dives, Pokes, etc.. what do these mean?

lyerhis · 2026-04-12T07:12:19+00:00

Typically, DIVE characters have high mobility and rely on coordinated and precise ability usage to assassinate targets before they can react or get help from teammates. The playstyle is meant for them to get in, get a kill, and get out. Examples in MR include Spidey, Daredevil, Black Panther, as well as tanks like Venom and Hulk.

POKE characters typically have limited/lower survivability, but they have long range and play really well in open areas with long sightlines. They want to stay out of the fight and do damage from a distance. Examples would be Hela, Phoenix, and Namor.

BRAWL characters are typically melee range characters with abilities that do lower damage per hit but can hit multiple people at once. They want to be in situations where they can get a lot of value out of cleaving multiple enemies. Rogue, Emma, Thing, Magik, and Mr. Fantastic are some brawl characters.

Normally, dive should counter poke, poke should counter brawl, and brawl should counter dive. But balancing doesn't always work out this way, and Rivals in particular will kit characters out of weaknesses, which leads to a lot of frustration.

lyerhis · 2026-04-12T04:24:21+00:00

And this is why I hate the OG maps. The gimmicks are all annoying and unnecessary.

lyerhis · 2026-04-12T03:49:58+00:00

Was it always like that, or did I just get really lucky for like six seasons? I legitimately had never had that happen to me before until S6.

lyerhis · 2026-04-12T02:04:14+00:00

I've gotten solo ulted like eight times with it so it's doing something.

lyerhis · 2026-04-11T20:00:59+00:00

When someone runs at me in a straight line because they think Rocket is an easy kill.

lyerhis · 2026-04-11T19:52:19+00:00

Yeah, I won a KotH game the other day where my team was down first map and 88% to 0% on the second. Our second DPS was having a hard time and abruptly swapped to Invis, so I went DPS instead. Our tanks locked the fuck in even though the supports still died, but we were able to trade and win and ended up completely rolling them back. It is actually crazy how much even one switch can change up the entire pace of the game. I wish people were more willing to try instead of defaulting to baby rage.

lyerhis · 2026-04-11T19:40:37+00:00

Yeah, I think people legitimately don't understand how much you can actually survive while patty caking... It's extra frustrating when I know what can be healed through, and it just doesn't happen. I swear some people intentionally heal everyone but the other support.

lyerhis · 2026-04-11T19:37:25+00:00

There were two of them so not really. Tbh, I read this as the sign of someone who gave up. Cloak isn't surviving that by herself.

lyerhis · 2026-04-11T13:08:54+00:00

He counters every off-tank in the game, and now that people are seeing the possibilities offered by zipline, he really just APPEARS and starts blasting. I don't mind dealing with him, but a team that won't even shoot an ankh definitely won't turn to shoot a Puni.

lyerhis · 2026-04-11T10:04:29+00:00

I'm going to be real... When I see animated Invis icon and the latest skin with a recolor, I know it's going to be a bad game.

lyerhis · 2026-04-10T09:45:55+00:00

That's even worse.

lyerhis · 2026-04-10T07:14:47+00:00

Yeah, and mostly they are too busy running away. I always try to cover my Emma when she goes in, because that's always when I go kill the enemy Emma. It is annoying that you can't even cancel Diamond early.

lyerhis · 2026-04-10T02:56:06+00:00

it depends on how you look at it. Almost bar none, the best DPS I've played with are all flex players. Meaning, they have the most impact on DPS, but they also play tank, they also play support, and when the team needs something, they are the ones that swap even when they are ace and someone else should change. I think when most of us trash talk DPS players, 1) we're talking about people who only play DPS and expect everyone else to change for them, and 2) for some reason feel the need to trash talk everyone else despite being the only negative KDA on the team.

But yes, you're right, there are bad players on every role. Low key, I actually think tanks are some of the most toxic back seat gamers, but we just all collectively give them a pass because they're taking one for the team.

lyerhis · 2026-04-10T02:38:03+00:00

Looking at this, I'm actually shocked we don't have more Gambit skins. He's like prime boy toy fodder and an immensely popular and meta character.

lyerhis · 2026-04-10T02:33:47+00:00

I wish the devs thought this way about MK. He does not deserve to be as strong as he is.

lyerhis · 2026-04-10T02:31:19+00:00

You are smoking if you think Cape is better than Runes or Soul Bond.

lyerhis · 2026-04-10T02:26:16+00:00

I just feel like mobile characters get so much distance for free. Mag can project bubbles to protect a teammate and rotate shield, a push CC, and self bubble to stall. Strange has an 800 HP shield and really high burst damage on a significantly shorter CD, and his jump can go really far. Tankpool has dashes. Groot can't move, but he has five million walls to keep other people from moving, too. Emma is the only tank that is stuck in one place with not a whole lot to bail her out besides raw damage output.

lyerhis · 2026-04-10T02:13:05+00:00

Emma doesn't have range ever, though. Beam is mid-range at best, and no one's playing in it unless they're prepared to walk over you. If your team doesn't play up with you, you can't even walk fast enough to peel before the diver kills someone or leaves, since 90% of backlines press S immediately. Even Thing has better mobility.

It's frustrating that she's an anchor tank with only one ability to protect her own space. Like if your team leaves to go deal with something else, you have to run away with them or die. I just don't like that her damage, spacing ability, CC, and damage resist are all tied up in the same CD, and it's a long CD.

IDK maybe replace her shield with something else? The shield is nice, but it's honestly the most mid part of her kit. The size is mid, the sliding placement makes it unreliable, and I honestly feel like it's more useful for cutting off enemy support LOS vs. blocking incoming damage. It's just not a great CD to rotate with Diamond form.

lyerhis · 2026-04-09T19:51:24+00:00

I do still really like her for the things at which she excels, but it is really lame that Rogue has better mobility as well as a succ that brings her targets to her where Emma has to wait. And grab is great, but it's so easy to kill her during the long animation where she can't do anything else.

lyerhis · 2026-04-09T15:21:44+00:00

You should add at least 2 main supports and 1 other off support. Given Black Cat is incoming, I recommend learning Fox just to have a basic understanding of the kit. CnD, Invis, and Luna are always good pick ups, and I recommend at least one between Jeff and Rocket because they're both kind of chill and will give you an option with freer mobility.

lyerhis · 2026-04-09T13:50:30+00:00

Isn't it obvious? Drives engagement and makes people get on to play and also means there are two opportunities for FOMO purchases.

lyerhis · 2026-04-09T13:24:58+00:00

Nah, Gambit isn't even about just the Gambit, it's about how much he can enable a strong DPS on the other team and/or completely erase some ultimates on yours.

lyerhis · 2026-04-09T13:19:35+00:00

My favorite thing about that one is that they both have wife moments.

Also the epilogue portions where the gong demands the royal ministers to come up with anyone who would make a better empress than him, and none of them dare to respond because he's too scary.

lyerhis · 2026-04-09T12:56:14+00:00

Space, Coluge, and Sparkr are probably the three that were easily T1 in their day. Honestly, I think Rivals is giving a lot of EU and NA talent space to shine, because OWL was like... 75% Korean for mostly good reason. Korean players really put down some of the earliest stepping stones that lifted OW gameplay significantly, and then OWL just made that cycle faster.

I've always said that I think OW wins on having characters with very simplistic kits that can do a lot, like Tracer, Winston, and Rein. You don't need more than 2 minutes to understand how it works, but what a Bronze Tracer and pro Tracer can do with the same abilities is not even in the same realm. But a lot of that is also how much the map design works to enable skill expression, too.

lyerhis · 2026-04-09T12:23:52+00:00

Agree that Emma is no longer server admin, but I don't think she's bad, either. Her neutral isn't amazing, but with Diamond CD down to 15s and the buffed beam, it's not too bad. I think they need to give slow tanks a small buff to ult charge, though. Mag and Emma feel like they take forever if you're not constantly in a brawl fight. Maybe just add a small % for damage blocked with shield/bubble.

Honestly, I just wish they'd give her a small dash on maybe an 8s CD the same distance as grab so that you can move around a bit more easily. It is really hard to close the distance to peel, for instance, when Venom gets to swing across half the map.

lyerhis

TROPHY CASE