Adam Warlock is a three-star hero in the Strategist category of Marvel Rivals. Even though considered as a support, he can dish out unexpected amounts of damage, and can turn the tide of a game with his abilities. This guide provides an in-depth look at his abilities, optimal companions, and gameplay tips to maximize his potential on the battlefield.
How To Play Adam Warlock In Marvel Rivals
You should learn effective cooldown management to make the most out of Adam Warlock. He has more damage output than a lot of heroes on the roster, but requires you to learn the correct time to be offensive or defensive. His primary fire is “Quantum Magic”, a hitscan based attack that does 55 damage on a body shot and 110 as a critical hit. Past the 25M mark, his damage starts falling off and it caps at 40M with the least damage dealt being 27.5 for body shots.
His alternate fire is “Cosmic Cluster”, and is the main reason for his high amount of burst damage. Adam Warlock charges up his staff and fires 5 projectiles that deal 35 damage each, without any damage fall off penalty or critical bonus. This means he can deal up to 175 damage with a single ability that has no cooldown, but only a very short charge-up duration. Because of this, the most effective one-shot combo is fully charging cosmic cluster into a critical primary fire. This will take down most squishy characters in a matter of seconds.
Adam also has a passive called “Regenerative Cocoon“, where he can revive himself right on the battlefield. However, it can only be done within a 4 second duration initially, and has a cooldown of 105 seconds.
Let us take a look at his abilities
Ability #1: Soul Bond
This is arguably Adam’s strongest ability in his entire kit. After casting the ability, he forms a soul link with nearby allies, distributing incoming damage among linked members and providing healing over time. The link lasts for six seconds or until the damage threshold is reached. If Adam takes fatal damage through the link, it breaks early leaving him with one health point. Although rare, it is possible to get a 6-man Soul Bond which will make the job for your other strategist much easier. Soul Bond has a 30-second cooldown which starts at the end of the ability’s duration.
Ability #2: Avatar Life Stream
This is Adam’s primary healing ability. He releases a beam that bounces to a maximum of three allies within a 20-meter range, restoring 97 health, while also healing Adam himself. This ability has up to two charges, with each charge regenerating every six seconds. If no ally is targeted, Adam heals himself. Additionally, if there is no one near the ally you are healing, this ability heals for three times its normal value. If there are only two allies, the heal bounces between them prioritizing the one on low health.
Ultimate Ability: Karmic Revival
Adam’s ultimate is a game-changer, allowing him to resurrect fallen allies. Resurrected teammates return with reduced health but are invincible for a brief period. This ultimate can turn the tide of battle by reviving an entire team in some cases at crucial moments. The duration of his ultimate is 10 seconds, and any teammate can be only revived once per use.
Team-up Ability: Soul Perseverance
If a Star Lord or Mantis is on his team, Adam Warlock can revive them through the cocoon form with full health. They have 13 seconds to decide where they want to get revived, if at all. Interestingly, this can also be done high up in the air, where most of the roster cannot reach. However, the ability has a very punishing cooldown of 120 seconds and unfortunately is a passive one. This means that Adam cannot control when or who to revive between the two, the one who dies first instantly gets the option to do so.
Gameplay Tips
Tip #1
Never charge your Cosmic Cluster in the open. Any decent player is going to take advantage of the vulnerable state you go in while charging, and instantly eliminate you. Instead, charge it from behind cover or as you are approaching the objective, then reveal yourself for the devastating one-shot combo.
Tip #2
Learn to manage your cooldowns. Adam’s abilities are strong but have long cooldowns, which is why it is important to know the exact situation to use them. Don’t use Avatar Life Stream prematurely when you see an ally who is only slightly low. Instead, wait for them to get around half HP, then heal them for that massive chunk of health. This will let you almost always keep at least one charge up to use in intense situations. Same goes with Soul Bond — you shouldn’t use it as soon as it is off cooldown. Save it for an important enemy ultimate or burst damage to get the maximum value.
Tip #3
Don’t hesitate to use your ultimate to revive even one teammate. You won’t always get those juicy 5-man revives, so if your ally has an important ultimate like Luna Snow or Hela, use Karmic Revival to get them back to life so they can help you win the fight. Additionally, what most people don’t realize is that it has 30M range based off Adam, and not from the location from where he cast the ultimate. So use it in a safe place and return to fight to aid teammates who are still alive. Also make sure to have one charge of Avatar Life Stream, as your teammates are revived with low health.
Best Team Compositions With Adam Warlock
- Star Lord: This is an obvious one. Their team-up ability allows Star Lord to have a second life every 120 seconds.
- Mantis: Same as Star Lord. Having two lives as a strategist can prove to be very valuable for the team.
- Magik: Magik likes to play up close to the enemies. The division of damage with Soul Bond combined with her ability to generate bonus health works wonders for her.
- Venom: Venom’s playstyle mostly revolves around diving in, disrupting the enemy team, and getting out. But he can often get busted down quickly, so he benefits greatly from Adam’s ultimate because even if he is low, he can generate bonus health for himself with Symbiotic Resilience.
- Storm: Storm isn’t always in the line of sight of her healers, so the damage distribution and healing over time from Soul Bond is greatly beneficial for her.
