Marvel Rivals Rogue is the coolest hero you'll probably never get a chance to play

It's important to be able to admit when you're wrong, and I can certainly say that I was wrong about Rogue i Marvel Rivals. Like others, I expected her to become a strategist, joining Remy Lebeau in the back line to keep her team in the fight. And while this would have been fine, two strategists in a row would have resulted in a pretty bland season for the other two roles. But in reality, Rogue will be at the forefront of every battlefield because she's a Vanguard, and an incredibly interesting one to boot. While I previously predicted it Overwatch 2's Vendetta was going to steal the show in December, I no longer believe that to be the case. The Rogue really looks perfect, but now I'm just worried that NetEase may have accidentally cooked too well with their kit.

When Marvel Rivals When Rogue releases on December 12th, she'll bring her iconic Savage Land look as an alternate costume, an outfit that will likely be seen a lot given how many people will inevitably try to hold her. Rogue may have a five-star difficulty rating, indicating that she's by far the hardest Vanguard to master and that she's in the same character tier as Spider-Man, but the sheer potential of her kit means players won't be put off by her high skill floor and similarly high ceiling. In the right hands, Rogue has the potential to be menacing, which means there are two big reasons why she's going to be hard to get playing time with.

Problem 1: The usual release cycle for new heroes, but beefed up

Some Marvel Rivals gamers – or hero shooter fans, for that matter – will be well aware of what happens when a new character is released. Although the excitement is palpable and everyone wants their chance to try out a new addition, only one person per team can have access to the newcomer. This involves a race to insta-lock whoever the latest hero is, with multiple players hovering over said character and only one lucky enough to get there first. For more niche heroes, this insta-lock only lasts a few days, but for popular ones like Gambit, it's hard to get access to the hero during their first week of availability. Unfortunately for Vanguard networks like myself doing the hype around Rogue it seems likely that she will be hard to use until mid December.

Players even have technology that makes it easier to quickly pick one Marvel Rivals hero, assigns the character to their strike team and memorizes exactly where to place their marker. This makes it difficult for casual players to try additional heroes until sweatier players “get bored” of the latest character.

This is particularly problematic given the complexity of Rogue's kit. Due to her iconic power-leeching being captured in the game, Rogue users basically have to grab an ability from almost every hero on the roster. This will take time, as few players can say they have mastered every member of the massive Marvel Rivals throw. But if players can't use Rogue consistently until later in its launch month, and then need weeks of practice to know for sure whose abilities to steal and when to take them, Rogue won't be viable in competitive play until Season 6 for most players. And even then, the second barrier to using her will rear its ugly head.

Marvel Rivals Reveals Its Season 5 Battle Pass

Rogue can copy the following abilities into Marvel Rivals:

Hulk's Thunderclap
Doctor Strange's shield
Groot's Great Wall
Magneto's Self Bubble
Venom's tendrils
Emma's Diamond Form (without chokes and kicks)
The case's damage reduction
Thor's awakening state
Storm's Speed/Damage buffs
Hela's Stun
Scarlet Witch's Stun
Magik's Demon Teleport
Squirrel Girl's Hop
Spider-Man's Uppercut
Namor's octopuses
Psychlocke's invisibility
Wolverine's cry
Blade's Lifesteal/Healing Reduction
Daredevil's Mark
Human Torch's Self-Fire Shield
Iron Fist's Meditation
The Runes of Loki
Mantis sleep
Cloak and Dagger's Blind and Bubble (depends on which character is copied)
Luna's Snowball
Jeff's bubble
Gambit's spades (damage) deck
Invisible woman's push/pull
Adam Warlock's Soul Bond

For any heroes that Rogue can't take an ability from, she just passively takes their role. A general role is that a character is human and has no proper superhero abilities, they are not worth copying.

Problem 2: Marvel Rivals Rogue will be a prime target for bans

Marvel Rivals Rogue Vanguard Wallpaper-1

IN Marvel Rivalsthere are certain heroes who regularly fall victim to non-competes. In the low ranks, Peni Parker is regularly picked because her pods are considered annoying, while Black Panther and The Hulk have had several seasons where they're basically trapped on the bench. Sometimes it's a team-up that causes these insta-bans, like Wolverine and Phoenix, while other times it has to do with a new buff, or even a character like Jeff being banned because they're seen as a cast choice. In the case of Rogue, it probably won't be her ability to steal or melee combos that cause all the bans, but her ultimate.

Dubbed Heartbreaker, this Marvel Rivals Ultimate sees Rogue steal stats from those captured in Ultimate to buff their allies, with the buffs determined by the roles of the affected enemies. More importantly, any enemies caught in Rogue's Ult will have their own Ultimate charges drained, essentially allowing Rogue to prevent powerful Strategist Ultimates from being used if she has a good handle on the enemy team's Ult economy. If players find Peni Parker annoying, there's no doubt they'll hate playing against a Vanguard that can negate their team's Ultimates, ensuring that Rogue will be a common target for suspensions. Essentially, she's destined to be a “choose or ban” character.

This worries me, as I'm dying to try Rogue, but I know I won't get many chances in the next few days. And then when I do get to use her, I have to wonder if it's even worth mastering her, since I probably won't get to use her much in comps due to how controversial her Ultimate is likely to be. While Rogue looks cooler than I ever imagined, her addition is somewhat bittersweet, as NetEase's take on Anna Marie may be too strong for her own good.