With Season 11 of Marvel Rivals underway, it’s time to welcome the game’s newest hero: Nightcrawler (Mathew Mercer, Overwatch). The iconic X-Man uses his trademark teleportation to aid his teammates as the game’s newest strategist. His mix of healing and movement sets him apart in the growing roster, though getting the most out of him may be tricky for some players.
To get the most out of Kurt Wagner’s kit, you need to coordinate with your teammates. His mobility largely involves him teleporting to others or bringing others to him. While this can be done smoothly in limited ways if you are not on comms with your teammates, you may want to go for safer plays that will still be useful, but not what the character is clearly intended to do.
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Like all strategists, Nightcrawler’s primary fire both heals allies and hurts foes. Taking the form of brimstone grenades, these projectiles are shot in three-round bursts. While most of the healing/damage is dealt to targets directly hit, a small AOE around them provides secondary healing/damage to targets within it. Kurt can fire a total of 21 projectiles before reloading. There is no noticeable drop-off in effect with distance, making his primary fire output very consistent.
Nightcrawler puts down solid damage and heals with Smoke Shift.
The first ability to talk about is Swift Intervention. Capable of holding two charges, Kurt can teleport to a nearby ally he can draw a line of sight to. Upon arrival, the ally gets a burst heal, a boost to healing, and healing over time. This can be equally useful for both reaching an ally in trouble or escaping to a safe ally when you are in trouble.
Nightcrawler’s second ability is Smoke Shift. When activated, the character dashes forward, spinning his sabers and creating a smoke blast that launches enemies and heals allies. He can do this a second time in short succession. If he activates the ability a third time within a few seconds, Kurt is teleported back to the point where he first activated it. This ability is great for diving into a scrum, putting down solid damage/heals, and then returning to safety to resume throwing grenades into the fray.
The next ability is Tandem Teleport. Here, Nightcrawler targets an ally to teleport them to his location. When he picks his target, the player controlling them is pinged, and if they confirm the request, they get beamed back to Kurt.
Three-Sword Style can do big crit damage if you can track an opponent’s head.
This is the biggest spot where communication is critical for this character. Not only is timing delicate if you want to move an ulting character like Iron Man or Scarlet Witch as they charge up, but a certain level of trust is required any time you use this. The possibility that a teammate will troll you off the edge of the map or just have poor judgment about where they are taking you is never zero, after all.
When not on comms, this ability is still useful, just less so. It can still serve as a great evacuation tool; pulling a Rogue or Devil Dinosaur who’s in over their head out of danger can salvage what would’ve been a losing team fight. And the controlling player will always agree, since death is imminent anyway.
The final standard ability in the kit is Three-Sword Style. By holding down the activation button, Nightcrawler continuously stabs directly ahead of him with his sabers. While active, a gauge drains, signaling when the ability will stop. Releasing the button early saves unused gauge, allowing a shorter wait for another full activation. These strikes can crit, so if you can track the opponent’s head and hit repeatedly, you can do big damage with this ability.
Kurt’s passive ability lets him climb walls, greatly increasing his mobility and giving him easy access to clear sightlines when he wants to dive into the fray.
Phasing Final is the kit’s ultimate ability. Nightcrawler selects a target on the ground. Allies near Kurt when he does this receive bonus health, a damage boost, and healing over time. Nightcrawler then teleports to the location he picked, bringing his allies with him. He can activate this ability a second time shortly after the first, allowing him to teleport to nearby enemies and slash them before grouping them to him.
This ability can be extremely disorienting for anyone affected who isn’t the activating Nightcrawler. Getting teleported unexpectedly is always confusing, and with so much going on in a match, it is easy to not register the voice line that warns the power is going off. Another time, being on comms with your teammates will help when playing this character.
Nightcrawler brings a dynamic and exciting playstyle to the strategist role.
Protective Siblings is the first team-up ability. This grants Kurt an extra power. When activated, nearby allies receive healing, and nearby enemies take damage. Then the character teleports straight up a short distance, slamming back down and dealing additional damage. When Rogue is on the team, after the slam, nearby allies gain another heal while enemies are damaged again and pulled towards Nightcrawler.
The second team-up is Demon Disciple. When this team-up is chosen, every time Kurt teleports outside his ultimate, he generates a spell field that provides healing to allies and damage to enemies. When Magik is on the team, teleporting also grants Kurt bonus health.
Nightcrawler brings a dynamic and exciting playstyle to the strategist role. However, keen judgment for when to teleport into trouble is necessary to keep yourself alive, and ample communication with your teammates feels paramount if you want to get the most out of the acrobat’s kit.
Marvel Rivals is available to play now on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
