Marvel Rivals Strategist Guide (2026): Healing, Ult Energy, 13 Healers

Role guide · Strategist

Every heal is ultimate charge.

Strategists build their ultimate mostly by healing. Since Season 10, healing converts at 65% and damage at 50%. Here is what that number has been, and the three ways to heal.

Ult energy reactorlive since 11 Sep 2026

65% Strategist healing (was 75% before Season 9) 50% Strategist damage (was 75%) 55% Vanguard and Duelist damage (was 70%)

Four changesin nine weeks

Green: healing. Gold: Strategist damage. Dashed: Vanguard and Duelist damage. NetEase balance posts of 6 Jul, 11 Jul and 8 Sep 2026; unchanged in Season 10.5.

ThroughputBig, steady healing that keeps a frontline alive through long fights.

UtilityHealing plus something the enemy has to play around: revives, Vulnerable, illusions, armor.

HybridHeals while dealing real damage. Strong when ahead, thin in long fights.

Conversion rates: NetEase's balance posts (Season 9, 6 Jul 2026; 11 Jul 2026; Season 10, 8 Sep 2026). Styles are BoostPirate's grouping of the 13 Strategists. Checked 8 November 2026.

Strategist is the role that decides how long a Marvel Rivals fight can last. Thirteen heroes can play it, counting Deadpool, and they range from pure healers who keep a Vanguard standing through anything to hybrids who heal while dealing real damage. This guide explains how healing turns into ultimate charge (NetEase changed that rate four times in nine weeks), the three healer styles, Strategist pairs that work in ranked, how to survive dive, healer ultimates, what Season 10.5's data says and every Strategist change in Seasons 10 and 10.5.

What a Strategist does in Marvel Rivals

A Strategist has three jobs, in this order: stay alive, keep the frontline alive, and use the ultimate at the right moment. The first is easy to forget. A healer who dies first turns a five-against-six fight into a lost one, and nothing else in this guide matters while you're waiting to respawn. The second is the obvious one: your Vanguards can only hold space while your healing outpaces the damage they take. The third is where Strategists win games, because healer ultimates are some of the strongest in the game, and they charge from your healing.

NetEase has said plainly that the job isn't yours alone. When it explained the Competitive performance rating in April 2025, the developers noted that Strategists were under pressure that season and asked the other two roles to

“provide better protection for their Strategists to achieve victory”

— NetEase Games, Dev Talk Vol.13, 25 April 2025 · source

So call for help. When a diver lands on you, say it once, early, and move toward your Vanguard rather than away from the team. Your rank points don't suffer for playing a healer either: the performance rating compares you with the average for your own hero at your rank, so a Strategist is measured against other players on the same Strategist. Our rank points guide explains the rating.

How healing becomes ultimate energy

Every role charges its ultimate by playing. Since Season 9, NetEase's balance posts give the conversion as a percentage of the healing or damage you deal. For Strategists it has moved more than for anyone else:

Two things follow for how you play. First, healing that matters charges your ultimate faster than damage does: at 65% against 50%, a Strategist who heals through a fight builds their ultimate more quickly than one who spends it shooting. That doesn't make damage useless, especially for the hybrids, but in a close fight your healing is worth more twice: once for the ally and once for your ultimate. Second, healer ultimates come up less often than they did before Season 9, when both rates were 75%. Treat each one as a resource to plan around, not something to fire the moment it's ready.

NetEase's posts list these numbers without a longer explanation, so read them as fine-tuning, and check the Season 11 balance post (due with the season on 13 November 2026) for the next change. Our ultimate economy guide covers ultimate tracking for every role.

Throughput, utility, hybrid: the 13 Strategists

NetEase groups heroes only by role. The three styles below are BoostPirate's, built from each hero's kit. Abilities and numbers come from the balance posts in the Sources.

Throughput healers keep a frontline alive through long fights. Luna Snow and Invisible Woman are the classic main healers, Jeff the Land Shark heals in big splashes and Mantis heals over time. Utility healers heal less but bring something the enemy has to respect: Adam Warlock's team revive, Cloak's Terror Cape (which makes enemies Vulnerable, 20% since Season 10), Loki's illusions, Rocket's armor packs and revive beacon. Hybrids heal while they fight. Ultron's drones heal while he shoots, Jubilee's Energy Plasmoids heal allies and hurt enemies, and Gambit's cards switch between Healing Hearts and Breaking Spades.

Two Strategists: pairs that work

Most ranked teams play two Strategists. BoostPirate's rule of thumb: one throughput healer and one utility or hybrid healer. Two throughput healers keep a frontline alive but struggle when divers land on them; two hybrids hit hard but run dry in long fights. Pairs we recommend for solo queue:

Luna Snow + Rocket RaccoonBig healing from Luna, armor packs and a revive beacon from Rocket. Easy to play next to any Vanguard.

Invisible Woman + LokiGuardian Shield and steady healing; Loki's illusions and stealth make the backline hard to dive.

Mantis + UltronHealing over time from Mantis while Ultron's drones heal and he adds damage from range.

Jeff + Adam WarlockJeff's splashes sustain the brawl; Adam's revive ultimate wins the fight you were about to lose.

Team-ups add another layer: since Season 9 each team-up has a base effect, and an enhanced effect when the partner is on your team. In Season 10.5, NetEase raised Adam Warlock's Cosmic Cluster healing with Ultron from 16 to 18 and gave Jubilee a new healing effect with Blade. The team-ups guide covers the rest.

Surviving dive

Every ranked team has a plan for your healers: a Spider-Man, a Magik or a Black Panther whose whole job is to reach you. You can't stop it alone, but you can make it fail. BoostPirate's do and don't list:

Several Strategists got more self-sustain in Seasons 10 and 10.5 for exactly this reason: Luna Snow's Cryo Heart self-heal went from 30 to 35 per second, Loki's stealth self-heal from 20 to 30 per second, Ultron gained a 20-per-second self-heal after Imperative: Firewall, and Jubilee now heals herself for 25 per second during Sparking Sprint. Learn your hero's version and save it for the dive. The positioning guide goes deeper into angles and cover.

Healer ultimates and timing

A healer's ultimate usually decides the fight it's used in: it either wins a fight you're losing or wastes a fight you were already winning. Recent posts printed the energy cost of four of them:

Fate of Both WorldsLuna Snow · 11 Jul 2026 (was 5000)4800

Kumiho UnleashedWhite Fox · 4 Aug 2026 (was 4800)4300

Invisible BoundaryInvisible Woman · 11 Jul 2026 (was 4500)4300

Firework FinaleJubilee · 11 Jul 2026 (was 4500)4300

Energy cost as printed in NetEase's balance posts on those dates; later seasons may have changed it.

BoostPirate's timing rules for ranked: use a healing ultimate in answer to the enemy's damage ultimate, not before it; don't stack your ultimate with the other Strategist's in the same fight unless the fight is lost without both; and tell your team when it's ready so your Vanguards can take a fight they'd otherwise avoid. Jubilee's Firework Finale heals 180 per second since Season 10.5, up from 150, which makes it one of the strongest answers to a burst ultimate in the current patch.

What Season 10.5 data says about Strategists

NetEase doesn't publish win rates. This is RivalsTracker's Season 10.5 Competitive table for all ranks, read on 8 November 2026. It's a community figure; the site doesn't name the platform.

Strategist	Win rate	Pick rate	Ban rate	Matches
Ultron	56.97%	6.00%	0.16%	118,260
Rocket Raccoon	55.34%	14.21%	0.38%	280,044
Mantis	54.28%	5.77%	0.11%	113,819
Loki	51.44%	5.71%	0.77%	112,567
Adam Warlock	51.21%	4.62%	0.20%	91,011
Jubilee	49.95%	30.29%	1.88%	597,005
Invisible Woman	49.79%	27.29%	1.13%	537,878
White Fox	48.78%	16.31%	0.27%	321,380
Gambit	47.85%	21.13%	16.44%	416,485
Luna Snow	47.56%	23.37%	0.51%	460,654
Deadpool	47.17%	11.95%	0.22%	235,466
Jeff the Land Shark	46.47%	14.61%	0.36%	287,982
Cloak & Dagger	45.22%	25.02%	5.49%	493,140

Ultron (56.97%), Rocket Raccoon (55.34%) and Mantis (54.28%) won the most among Strategists, and none of them was banned often. The most popular healers sat near or below 50%: Jubilee had a 30.29% pick rate at 49.95%, Invisible Woman 27.29% at 49.79%, Cloak & Dagger 25.02% at 45.22%. Popularity pulls a win rate toward the average, so read these figures as "safe to play" rather than "bad". Gambit was the only Strategist banned in more than one match in ten (16.44%). For how to use these numbers when you pick, see our best heroes for solo queue.

Strategist changes in Seasons 10 and 10.5

Season 10's balance post (posted 8 September 2026) touched every Strategist and cut the role's ultimate conversion. Season 10.5's post (Version 20261009, 6 October 2026) changed three more, and the patches since, up to Version 20261105 on 5 November 2026, changed no hero numbers.

Adam Warlock · Season 10.5Ultron team-up: Cosmic Cluster healing 16 → 18

buff

Gambit · Season 10.5Card charge 8 → 7 s; Ragin' Royal Flush range 40 → 30 m; jump boost 500 → 300

mixed

Jubilee · Season 10.5New 25/s self-heal in Sparking Sprint; Blind 1.5 → 0.8 s; Firework Finale 150 → 180/s

buff

Cloak & Dagger · Season 10Terror Cape Vulnerable 28 → 20%; Lightforce Dagger area healing 25 → 20

nerf

Deadpool · Season 10Base health 250 → 275; 'In Your Area' cooldown 12 → 10 s

buff

Invisible Woman · Season 10Orb Projection return healing 45 → 40; Veiled Step stealth holds for the first second

mixed

Jeff the Land Shark · Season 10Joyful Splash 130 → 140/s; Aqua Burst 25 → 30 at 150 m/s; It's Jeff! 100 → 130/s

buff

Loki · Season 10Mystical Missile healing 10 → 15; stealth self-heal 20 → 30/s

buff

Luna Snow · Season 10Cryo Heart self-heal 30 → 35/s

buff

Mantis · Season 10Life Orb charge 3 → 4 s; Adam Warlock team-up healing up

mixed

Ultron · Season 10Firewall bonus health 65 → 40 (self); new 20/s self-heal for 3 s

mixed

White Fox · Season 10Yeowoo Guseul healing 50 → 55 direct, 35 → 40 bounce

buff

The direction is clear: less ultimate charge for the role as a whole, more self-sustain for the healers who were easiest to dive (Luna Snow, Loki, Ultron, Jubilee), and a trim to Cloak & Dagger's Vulnerable. Season 11 arrives on 13 November 2026 with a new balance post; check it before you trust these numbers.

Common Strategist mistakes in ranked

• Dying first. No healing, no fight. Your survival is part of the team's plan.
• Healing full-health targets while the Vanguard in front takes the damage.
• Firing the ultimate early into a fight that wasn't lost.
• Two of the same style with no answer to dive or no healing for long fights.
• Chasing the diver instead of moving toward your team.
• Never shooting when nobody needs healing. Damage charges your ultimate too, at 50%.

A two-week Strategist practice plan

BoostPirate's plan, about 20 minutes before your ranked games:

1. D1–3
   One throughput healer

   Luna Snow or Invisible Woman in Quick Match. Say "ult ready" out loud and hold it for the enemy's ultimate.

2. D4–6
   Add one utility healer

   Rocket Raccoon or Loki. Practise the escape: when a diver lands, survive three seconds next to your Vanguard.

3. D7–10
   Ranked with a rule

   Never die first in a fight. Count how often you broke the rule and where you were standing.

4. D11–14
   Review your ultimates

   In three replays, note every ultimate you used: did it answer the enemy's, or was it fired into nothing?

Strategists win with a team around them, so read the Vanguard guide for what your tanks need from you, the Duelist guide for who should be peeling for you, and the counter-picking guide for when to change healers.

Related guides: placement matches · team comps · new heroes · the current season