Marvel Rivals has burst onto the gaming scene as a fresh and chaotic super hero team-based PvP shooter, boasting a roster of iconic characters from across the Marvel universe. Among these, Hela, the Goddess of Death, is a standout character for players looking to dominate matches with precision and power. This guide dives deep into Hela's lore, abilities, gameplay strategies, and tips for mastering her in Marvel Rivals. Whether you're a seasoned player or new to the battlefield, this guide has you covered!
As a Duelist, Hela’s primary role is to deal devastating damage from range while using her mobility to evade counterattacks. Her kit is built around precision, aerial dominance, and crowd control, making her an excellent pick for players who excel in strategic positioning and sharp aim. Hela is a duelist that thrives in the hands of a strategist who can master her playstyle. In Marvel Rivals, playing Hela as a long-range Duelist allows her to dictate fights from a safe distance.
Hela’s primary fire attack, Nightsword Thorns, is a ranged projectile that allows her to pressure opponents from a safe distance. This ability is essential for applying pressure and forcing enemies to reposition. The thorn-like projectiles make it ideal for weakening foes while maintaining her range advantage.
To move quickly and escape dangerous situations, Hela transforms into a murder of crows using Astral Flock. This ability allows her to glide in any direction, making her movement unpredictable and difficult for enemies to counter. It has a short cooldown, so timing its use carefully can save her life or grant her high ground during combat.
One of her most disruptive skills, Soul Drainer launches an explosive sphere that pulls nearby enemies together and briefly stuns them. This ability is perfect for setting up kills or disrupting tightly grouped opponents, giving her team a significant advantage in team fights.
When dealing with multiple enemies, Piercing Night releases a flurry of explosive projectiles. This ensures no foe is safe within her range, and it’s a great tool for controlling crowded areas. Pair this with Soul Drainer for insane damage and to deliver a final blow to grouped opponents.
Her ultimate ability, Goddess of Death, elevates Hela to a first-person perspective. From this vantage point, she rains down explosive Nastrond Crows onto her enemies, devastating clustered foes and potentially turning the tide of battle. Unleashing Nastrond Crows from each hand allows Hela to deal damage across the battlefield.
Adding to her arsenal, Hela’s passive ability creates explosive crows at the location of defeated enemies. These crows detonate after a short delay, punishing teams that fail to maintain their distance and further cementing Hela’s dominance in chaotic fights. When Hela lands the final hit on an enemy, a Nastrond Crow will appear, adding bonus damage.
Hela’s mobility is one of her greatest assets. Juggle her mobility skills, such as Astral Flock and Hel’s Descent, to remain unpredictable. This will make it challenging for opponents to land hits or counter her movements. By constantly moving and repositioning, you can keep enemies guessing and maintain control of the battlefield.
Hela’s abilities work best when used in tandem. Combine Soul Drainer with Nastrond Crow explosions to create devastating chain reactions. This tactic is particularly effective in team fights where enemies are clustered together. Use Piercing Night to control choke points, forcing enemies into disadvantageous positions.
The ultimate ability, Goddess of Death, can turn the tide of battle. Wait for enemies to cluster during objective pushes or team fights to maximise its impact. By carefully timing its use, you can secure multiple eliminations and shift the momentum in your favor.
Hela excels when she is elusive. Always keep moving to avoid becoming an easy target. Use Astral Flock not just for evasion but also for surprise attacks or repositioning into strategic vantage points. Staying mobile will make it harder for enemies to land consistent damage.
Hela’s abilities are most effective when used in coordination with teammates. Pair Soul Drainer with a teammate’s area-of-effect attacks to devastate enemy formations. Communication and teamwork are essential to making the most of her kit. Characters like Thor and Loki can synergise with her kit by controlling the battlefield and enabling her full potential. Team-ups with these two can lead to devastating combinations, highlighting Hela’s strengths.
While Nightsword Thorns is forgiving, practicing precision with this ability can make a significant difference. Landing consistent shots pressures opponents and forces them into defensive positions, giving your team the upper hand. Practice your aim to make the most of her hitscan projectiles.
Hela is built for long-range engagements. Engaging tankier heroes or melee specialists up close often ends poorly. Focus on maintaining distance and using her mobility to stay out of reach.
Using Goddess of Death too early or when enemies are spread out reduces its effectiveness. Wait for enemies to cluster together, such as during objective pushes, to make the most of this game-changing ability. Remember, Hela’s ultimate ability lasts for ten seconds but requires careful timing.
Failing to use Astral Flock for repositioning can leave Hela vulnerable. Always think two steps ahead and plan your movements to keep opponents guessing. Staying mobile is critical to her success.
Hela’s abilities are powerful but work best when coordinated with your team. Going solo and ignoring team dynamics can lead to missed opportunities and reduced effectiveness in fights. Always work with your team to achieve victory.
Hela thrives alongside teammates who can complement her long-range damage and disruptive abilities. Doctor Strange’s portals are a perfect match, offering her quick repositioning options and the ability to escape tight situations. Similarly, Magneto can shield her and draw enemy fire, allowing her to focus entirely on dealing damage. Rocket Raccoon’s traps and zoning tools also pair well with Hela’s AoE capabilities, creating chaos on the battlefield. Team-ups with Loki and Thor add extra power, with Thor providing control and Loki enabling high-damage combos. Characters like Luna Snow and Spider-Man also bring unique synergies.
However, Hela is not without her weaknesses. Iron Man’s aerial mobility and consistent damage output make him a challenging opponent, as he can evade her attacks while retaliating from above. Black Widow’s stealth and sniper precision can catch Hela off guard, especially when she’s focused on other targets. Finally, Hulk’s tankiness and crowd control abilities can quickly neutralise Hela if she’s caught in close range, so it’s vital to maintain distance and rely on her team for support. Vanguard characters like Punisher or Flanker heroes such as Spider-Man can also exploit Hela’s squishy nature.
Hela is a central figure in the Marvel universe, representing the ultimate embodiment of death and power. As the ruler of Hel and Niflheim, her authority over the dead is unmatched, and her name inspires fear across realms. Known for her cunning and ruthlessness, Hela is not just a character of immense power but also a tactical genius who uses her intellect to outmaneuver her enemies. Hela is one of the duelists in Marvel Rivals who exemplifies precision and strategy.
Hela, the Asgardian Goddess of Death, wields supreme power over the dead and controls an endless army of fallen souls. Her ambition is as boundless as her power, aiming to extend her dominion across all realms. With her haunting whispers and deadly crows, Hela is as intimidating as she is fascinating.
In Marvel Rivals, Hela’s lore ties her ambitions to the events of the Timestream Entanglement. She aligns herself temporarily with Loki, offering her aid in his schemes, all while secretly plotting to seize the throne of Yggsgard and claim dominion over both the living and the dead. She is not just a powerful foe but a tactical mastermind, making her an exhilarating character to play.
From the throne atop her realm, the Queen of Hel recalled feeling the shattering of worlds, the sundering of realities as unknown forces knit them together again. Differently. She remembered venturing forth into her kingdom, only to discover that in Hel little had changed. However, Hela suspected once she traveled beyond her realm, she would see profound changes - and when she had worked enchantments to gaze upon worlds newly interwoven with the Ten Realms, her suspicions were confirmed. Mortals had done this? Remade time itself? Broken it and rewound different streams into a different braid or worlds?
What power was this for men to wield?
Immediately, Hela set about scheming a way to make it hers.
First, she knew, she must understand Chronovium. One of her thralls, in life a great wizard-king, had brought to her a stone of a sort she had never seen before in Hel. She had paid it little mind until she grasped what the mortal Victor von Doom had done. Then, she sent the flock. Her crows scouted other realms, all returning bearing samples of Chronovium, the crystallized residue of the monstrous shocks to the space-time continuum. And yet, they all differed slightly from the version in Hel and from one another.
Whoever learned best to control it, Hela knew, would rule worlds beyond Asgard. Beyond the Ten Realms.
Hela's intrigue deepened. New lands meant expanding the borders of Hel and welcoming vast numbers of new creatures into her ever-growing legions, perhaps even claiming the souls of the great beings known as Celestials. Only recently had she become aware of them, and then only through a new soul in Hel, cast there from another universe by the - what had he called it? - the Timestream Entanglement. This pitiful mortal, who met their end in the event, spilled forth knowledge of vast realms of space filled with fantastic creatures.
At a wave of her hand, Hela's crows feasted on the mortal's soul, her mind settling on a goal. The souls, and thus the power, of these great beings would belong to her. And when they did, she would sweep unchallenged through the Ten Realms, uniting them under the banner of Hel. Undoubtedly, Loki was hatching his own schemes to utilize Chronovium to increase his own power and ensure Asgard never slipped from his grasp, but Loki's schemes never worried Hela. Often, his petty obsessions and caprices benefited her by causing conflicts that added to her legions. At some point, she suspected, he would approach her proposing some sort of arrangement. Perhaps an alliance. Perhaps she would consent, and they would begin the dance of waiting for the right moment to betray each other. The joys of family.
Until then, she would proceed with her own plans, which led her to the current moment, as a messenger from a distant place she had never heard of before. Her initial response was to annihilate it for the arrogant crime of trespassing in her realm. However, it seemed to her that these disruptions of time and space could be a gift. Had it not opened vast new possibilities for Hel? Surely, she should learn what new worlds - new universes! - now lay within her grasp.
So, her crows stood perched while the otherworldly emissary trudged into her throne room.
It was a strange creature, appearing like blobs and tendrils of a tarry black substance bonded with a host. Its liquid flesh mingled aspects of its own nature and that of its host - currently a Jotun priestess. Even though she was no longer alive, enough of the Jotun's soul was still present for Hela to feel her horror at being bound to such a monstrosity. How curious.
The creature, however - the symbiote - had no such misgivings, or at least did not betray them.
"Tell me, little creature. What brings you to this place?"
"You would do well to listen, Queen of Death," it said. "I bring tidings from Knull, mightly lord of the abyss."
"And what is a 'Knull'? Is he the god of all creatures such as you?" She made no effort to hide her scorn. This Knull was, in all likelihood, as debased and parasitic as its worshipper who stood before her.
"His power is eons older than yours, ancient before light existed, and he has his own claims on creatures whose essences he has consumed."
Ah, Hela thought. Of course. "I take it he means to claim the Celestials as well?"
The symbiote nodded and flicked out its tongue. "Knull has learned that one of the Celestials is now in this realm. You cannot keep it, Asgardian. It is his to claim and it will be the key to his freedom."
"I cannot?" Hela stood from her throne. "Bold of you, parasite, to tell me what I can and cannot do in my own realm. What enters Hel is mine, forever. In fact," she said, giving the symbiote a closer look, "perhaps I will even keep you. What manner of soul does a creature like you possess?"
The symbiote remained still. Hela let it wonder for quite a while, as she pondered what she had already learned. The key to his freedom, the emissary had said. So, this Knull was a god in chains, yet he still possessed the reach to send a message to Hel. He knew the power of Celestials. He knew that the tangled worlds had brought new souls into Hel.
Therefore, there must now be a way from Hel to... "What is the world you come from, creature?"
"Klyntar, O Queen."
A name she knew vaguely. People from a culture long since annihilated had once come to her realm from there. She considered a little longer.
"I release you," she said. "Now, release your host."
The symbiote did, peeling and secreting and withdrawing from the skeletal form of the Jotun priestess. "Return to your master," Hela went on, "and tell him that he may rule Klyntar, but Hela rules Hel. And if he wishes to fight me..." she smiled. "Then he too will become one of my subjects. Do you have that, messenger?"
The symbiote mass quivered, but without a host it could not speak. Hela worked a spell, drawing forth knowledge from its mind. She swirled open a gateway to a world of darkness, an impenetrable jungle where no sane mortal would tread. "Go," Hela said, "before I change my mind."
The symbiote sprang through the gateway and was gone. Hela let the gateway close. Now, Knull knew that she could reach out to his world directly. Let him think on that and consider his next move.
Hela gathered up a mass of Chronovium, imbued with the essence of Hel. Just as all lives must end, she reflected, all things must move through time. Did it not follow that all time ended in Hel as well? And did it not follow that Hel could grow through this crystallized time, encompassing new realms brought near by the entanglement of worlds?
The Hel-Chronovium was shot through with black and green. She spoke to it, shaping it into an enchantment, the first of many. "All living beings," she said, "in all realms, in all universes. They shall be thralls of Hel. They need not come to me. I will use you, Chronovium, to expand Hel not through space but through time. Beings more ancient than stars will be mine, and beings not yet born will be mine. This is a powerful magic and will take some time to work. But it shall be done, and then Knull? She smiled. "He will be mine as well."
She suspected that the symbiote emissary was not Knull's only gambit. Doubtless he was plotting against her, seeking ways to undermine her and the reach of Hel. Let him, she thought. Let him beguile mortals and persuade greedy gods that they can band together against me. That would bring them all the closer - and as she had already told the symbiote emissary, whatever entered Hel was Hela's. Unless she chose to let it go.
And soon, souls would no longer come to Hel, Hel would come to them. Her realm would grow outward through time, drawing in numberless souls until she had an army so vast not even gods could hope to resist it. The Ten Realms were just the beginning.
She spun the black and green Chronovium jewel over her palm. "Yield to me your secrets," she commanded. "Bring to me the future, as I already rule the past."
Hela is a force to be reckoned with in Marvel Rivals, combining deadly precision, unmatched mobility, and powerful crowd control. By mastering her abilities and employing strategic gameplay, you can dominate the battlefield and leave a trail of devastation in your wake. Whether you’re a newcomer or a seasoned Duelist, Hela offers a rewarding and thrilling experience for players who dare to embrace the Goddess of Death.
So gear up, take to the skies, and show your enemies the true meaning of despair with Hela!
