I was utterly blown away the first match I played as Captain America last weekend during a Marvel Rivals Gamescom press preview. As someone who is eagerly awaiting the release of Rivals this December, I figured I had my mains all locked up: Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch.
Yet after just one match with newcomer Captain America, my choice might have changed.
It makes sense that America's super soldier would be strong. I mean, that's his whole thing, right? Strong, fast, determined. Steve Rogers is all of the above here in Rivals. Yet I don't think I quite expected the level of domination I could exert with the new Vanguard hero going into my first match.
I didn't bother to jump into training mode, instead figuring I'd learn on the fly. Yet within minutes, I had pushed the enemy team - almost single-handedly - back to their spawn, while my team captured the point and played support. Slinging the Vibranium shield with wild abandon, I was knocking enemies out with a well-placed toss or a brief combo of fisticuffs. Land a melee combo, and by the third attack, Captain will toss his shield, bouncing between enemies.
Yet I think he is at his best when using his Sprint ability to run ahead of the pack. Jumping with sprint gives him an extra lift, which you can then smash the ground with your shield to deal some AOE damage and get into the fray.
This Sprint move doesn't exhaust him, nor does it run on stamina - in my experience, Captain can simply run for days, which, looking back on the scene in the movies where he is literally lapping eventual Captain America himself, Sam Wilson, makes sense.
I wasn't exactly taken with his ultimate - a skill that simply gives him more strength and health - and his nearby teammates, but everything else Cap had on offer really stole the show for me. In my few matches with Captain America during the test server's uptime, I'm not sure I died more than twice, and in that inaugural fight, I don't think I died once.
The iconic shield can also be used to shield him from enemy attacks literally. It's very different than the shield that Doctor Strange throws up. For one, it's much smaller, whereas Strange's covers a wide area. Strange's shield absorbs projectiles and can even protect from Iron Man and Scarlet Witch's ultimate AOEs if you're behind them. Captain America's shield doesn't have that latter quality, but it can deflect projectiles, even Iron Man's ultimate move.
I'm sort of expecting Captain America to eat a nerf ahead of Marvel Rivals' release date in December. He did kind of feel overwhelming, but that could also just be down to the fact that he's new and players were still figuring out how to counter him.
The Winter Soldier, on the other hand, didn't feel as overwhelming as the Cap. He's a DPS character, his two-shot shotgun putting in some work, while his mechanical arm can be used to rope characters in closer to get the kill. Team him up with Rocket Raccoon, though, and you can get spurts where he has unlimited ammo, which can just utterly wreak havoc in the right situation.
Where I think Winter Soldier is insanely good in skilled hands is his ultimate. It effectively tags enemies and deals some damage to them initially. However, if an enemy's health falls below a certain point while tagged (or dies), Bucky's ultimate immediately recharges. This, with a coordinated team, could cause so many team wipes, as enemies are dealt more damage when the ultimate move tags them. Having a nearly inexhaustible ultimate move is an insane power for what is otherwise an okay character on the roster.
It'll be interesting to see how they fit into the meta come December 6th. For my part, I'm going to have to start deciding whether to stick with good old Doctor Strange or make the jump to Captain America, barring he's not nerfed too badly ahead of time. Either way, I'm really, really looking forward to what Marvel Rivals will bring to the genre this year.
