The Marvel Rivals team has finally acknowledged the widespread player discontent regarding the game’s Strategist characters. After weeks of the so-called “support strike” gaining momentum across the game’s community, NetEase has announced plans to buff this underperforming class in upcoming patches.
For those unfamiliar with the situation, players have been boycotting Strategist heroes to protest their perceived weakness compared to other character classes in the game. The uprising began shortly after the title launched in October, with community members highlighting the glaring imbalance between the game’s four character classes. The development team addressed these concerns in their latest “Dev Insights” blog post on the official Marvel Rivals website. They acknowledged that Strategists have been struggling to find their place in the meta and confirmed plans to roll out buffs in the coming updates. Player data seems to support these grievances. According to figures highlighted by the developers, Strategists have the lowest pick rate across all character types, with only Rocket Raccoon maintaining any significant presence in high-level play. To illustrate the scope of the problem, NetEase revealed that Strategists account for only about 14% of character picks in competitive matches.
Core Issues with Strategist Characters
The developer post outlined several issues with the current state of Strategists, noting they “excel in controlling the battlefield” but lack the durability or impact to match other character types. The team stated that players frequently complain about feeling like “free eliminations” when playing these heroes despite their vital support capabilities. This movement gained considerable traction across social media platforms, particularly on sites like Reddit and Twitter. Players organized under hashtags like #StrategistStrike and #BuffSupports, sharing screenshots of team compositions deliberately excluding Strategist characters.
The Marvel Rivals team promised “significant changes” would be implemented in upcoming patches, addressing both the survivability and impact of Strategist characters. They specifically mentioned looking at improving crowd control abilities and enhancing support functions to make these characters more viable options. This situation reveals the substantial influence player communities can wield over live service games. The developers explicitly mentioned the support strike in their communications, acknowledging that the organized player action directly influenced their decision to prioritize these balance adjustments.
Marvel Rivals launched as a free-to-play hero shooter on Steam and console platforms last month, quickly accumulating a substantial player base. The game features iconic Marvel characters battling across team-based objective modes, with heroes divided into four distinct classes: Assault, Vanguard, Strategist, and Duelist. Each class serves a specific role within team compositions. Assault characters focus on dealing consistent damage, Vanguards act as frontline tanks, Duelists excel at confirming eliminations, while Strategists provide healing and crowd control support. The latter category includes fan-favorite characters like Rocket Raccoon, Mantis, and Doctor Strange.
The Marvel Rivals team promised to continue monitoring player feedback and game data to ensure all character classes feel properly balanced. They’ve also established more regular communication channels through their Discord server to keep players informed about upcoming changes. Whether these promised buffs will satisfy the community remains to be seen, but the developers have at least acknowledged the validity of player concerns. For now, the support strike continues, with many players maintaining their boycott until the actual balance changes are implemented and proven effective.
The team indicated that the first wave of Strategist buffs would arrive in the next major patch, though they declined to provide a specific release date. They did, however, promise to share more detailed patch notes in the coming weeks as they finalize the balance adjustments.