Marvel Rivals team-up abilities explained

Winning and losing in Marvel Rivals will completely depend on how well you play as a team, and using the team-up abilities is a surefire way to give yourself an easy advantage.

While most hero shooters rely on teamwork at some level, Netease’s Marvel-themed game takes things to the next level. If you have specific combinations of heroes on your team, you’ll be granted additional abilities that can be devastating in the right hands.

Let’s go through how team-up abilities can affect your team compositions in Marvel Rivals, what each of the abilities does, and how to use them.

How to get team-up abilities

To gain access to team-up abilities, you need to have the correct combination of heroes in your team composition. Each of the combinations is contextual to the Marvel Universe. For example, pairing Venom with Spider-Man or Penny Parker will net you Symbiote abilities. Alternatively, pairing Loki and Hela together will grant a different team-up ability. 

Possible combinations can be seen in the hero selection screen towards the bottom as players start to choose their characters. New icons will appear showing potential combos of heroes, and if you click on them you can see which slots are currently filled and which are empty.

Choose the right heroes, and everyone in that group will be rewarded with an additional ability to use during the match. They usually provide some sort of synergy with the heroes involved, so make sure to play closely with your team-up mate.

It’s ideal to have at least one or two team-ups in your team composition, as the abilities can be extremely competitive when used correctly.

All team-up abilities in Marvel Rivals

There are seven different team-up abilities that you can acquire in the game, and each requires either two heroes in a team composition to unlock.

Symbiote Bond

• Heroes: Venom and Spider-Man or Penny Parker
• Team-up ability:
• Touch of Klyntar/Suit Expulsion/Armor Expulsion: Venom shares a part of his symbiotes with Spider-Man and Peni Parker, activating their symbiote abilities. Spider-Man and Peni Parker can convert the symbiotes into explosive spikes that inflict harm on nearby enemies and relentlessly drive them back.

This team-up is especially useful when you're in the middle of the fray as either Spider-Man or Penny Parker, especially given these heroes are intended to be front-line fighters.

Guardian Revival

• Heroes: Adam Warlock and Star-Lord or Mantis
• Team-up ability:
• Suol Perseverance/Leader's Soul/Nature's Soul: Adam Warlock enhances the rebirth power of Star-Lord and Mantis, granting them the power of cocooned revival.

While the description of this one might sound a little cryptic, it's actually pretty simple. If Star-Lord or Mantis dies on the battlefield and Adam Warlock uses his Soul Perseverance ability, he can revive them right there and then without needing to respawn back in the spawn room.

Ragnarok Rebirth

• Heroes: Loki and Hela
• Team-up ability:
• Queen of Hel/Laufeyson Reborn: When Hela lands a final hit in defeating an enemy, she can instantly resurrect Loki in the respawn phase. If Loki is alive, a Nastrond Crow will fly to him, granting blue armour.

This one is incredibly useful when Loki and Hela play side by side with each other. If Loki is alive when the ability is activated, it makes him much more beefy for a short amount of time. Alternatively, if can bring him back into the fray much quicker if he dies on the battlefield.

Metallic Chaos

• Heroes: Magneto and Scarlet Witch
• Team-up ability:
• Chaotic Bond/Metallic Fusion: 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.

With this team-up ability, Scarlet Witch is able to massively buff one of Magneto’s attacks, letting him deal an ungodly amount of damage with his greatsword.

Planet X Pals

• Heroes: Rocket Raccoon and Groot
• Team-up ability:
• Friendly Shoulder/Old Pals: Rocket Raccoon can ride on Groot’s shoulders, receiving damage reduction.

This ability lets you live out your ultimate Guardians of the Galaxy fantasy, as Rocket is able to mount Groot’s shoulder and fire at will. It makes Rocket a little less squishy as he’s able to take much more damage, and also improves his mobility as Groot takes his massive strides across the map.

Gamma Charge

• Heroes: Hulk and Iron Man or Doctor Strange
• Team-up ability:
• Gamma Boost/Gamma Overdrive/Gamma Maelstrom: Hulk charges Doctor Strange and Iron Man with gamma radiation. When Doctor Strange uses Maelstrom of Madness, he unleashes excess gamma energy. When Iron Man uses Armor Overdrive, he will initiate a gamma upgrade.

This team-up buffs either Iron Man or Doctor Strange, with the Gamma Energy providing a massive amount of extra damage when used.

Ammo Overload

• Heroes: Punisher and Rocket Raccoon
• Team-up ability:
• Ammo Invention/Infinite Punishment: Rocket Raccoon throws an Ammo Overload Device in the target direction. Upon entering the device’s range, The Punisher receives the buffs of Infinite Ammo and Faster Firing.

When Rocket and Punisher play together with this combo, true havoc is unleashed. Punisher is no longer limited by his ammo count, and can absolutely melt enemy health pools if you’ve got the aim to back it up.

Dimensional Shortcut

• Heroes: Black Panther and Magik
• Team-up ability:
• Disc Master/Djalia Disc: Magik opens a portal that Black Panther can use to teleport to other locations on the map.

I’m yet to find this team-up ability super useful, but it’s neat nonetheless. It means that Black Panther is much more manoeuvrable, and can pull off some neat flanking manoeuvres to get the jump on unsuspecting enemies.

Chilling Charisma

• Heroes: Namor and Luna Snow
• Team-up ability:
• Icy Disco/Frozen Spawn: Luna Snow infuses ice energy into Namor, who then can tap into the ice energy to power up abilities at will.

Much like the other team-up abilities on this list, this one massively boosts Namor’s damage output when buffed by Luna Snow. It’s basic but can be powerful when pulled off correctly.

More team-up abilities might be added to Marvel Rivals as new heroes are added. I’ll update this article accordingly when new information arises.