20 Dec 2024 11:05 AM +00:00 UTC

Marvel Rivals: How To Play as Mantis

Mantis may not always be in the limelight in Marvel Rivals, but she can become the MVP your team never expected with the right play.

She’s the perfect support for your team with her ability to heal, buff, and control enemies.

This article will show you how to make Mantis your secret weapon.

How To Play as Mantis

Mantis might not be the flashiest hero in Marvel Rivals, but don't let that trick you.

As a support hero, she ensures your team stays at their best through healing, buffs, and crowd control.

Mantis brings the tools to make a difference, whether you're healing your squad or using her spore abilities to control enemies.

Here’s how to play as Mantis and help your team stay on top:

1. Keep Close to Your Crew

Mantis thrives in a support role, but keeping her in the right position is key to her survival and ability to do her job.

She is quite squishy and can easily be overwhelmed if exposed, especially by high-mobility enemies like Spider-Man or Venom.

As such, it's best to stay behind your team, either in the middle or at the back, so you can help from a safe distance.

Use your Life Energy Blast to poke at enemies, but avoid getting into fights unless necessary.

Mantis' passive ability, Nature's Favor, boosts her speed as long as she's unharmed.

Use it to stay on the move and switch positions when needed.

Thanks to this passive, she stays quick and can avoid assassins or heavy hitters.

2. Don’t Let Your Life Orbs Run Dry

Mantis' strategy mostly relies on how she handles her Life Orbs.

You’ll want to make sure there’s a steady stream of these orbs to heal your team and boost their damage.

Life Orbs fill up over time, but you can speed that up by landing critical hits with Life Energy Blast.

Every critical hit will restore a Life Orb, which can be spent on healing or buffing allies.

But don’t use your Life Orbs recklessly, especially when you don’t need healing.

You should aim to use your orbs strategically for critical heals or to help deal more damage when your allies are in the thick of it.

Consider the current battle situation and decide whether healing or buffing is better.

3. Play Aggressive, But Only When It’s Safe

Even though Mantis is a support hero, she can still chip in offensively in certain situations.

Natural Anger gives Mantis a quick damage boost, so she can be more aggressive when healing isn't a top priority.

Use this ability when your team controls the fight or engaging with low-priority targets you can safely finish off.

Mantis should not also overextend offensively since she doesn’t have the durability for extended fights.

However, if you play it right, her offensive power can throw off enemies and give your team an edge.

4. Make Sure Your Team’s Always at Their Best

Mantis does her best as a support person, boosting her team and making sure they can survive the toughest fights.

To get the best out of her support, use it at the right time for the biggest effect.

The Healing Flower is a game-changer for keeping your team in top shape, especially for the frontline or in longer fights.

It doesn’t give instant healing, but the effect over time can help your teammates stick around longer.

Don’t throw away orbs on healing if you can use them to boost your team's damage with Allied Inspiration.

This ability ramps up damage, making it a solid choice for heroes who deal burst or steady damage.

Use it on damage dealers like duelists or tanks getting stuck in with the enemy.

Remember that Mantis shines when she helps others reach their full potential, so make sure her abilities enhance your team’s strategy.

5. Put Enemies to Sleep and Catch a Break

Mantis is mostly a healer and buffer, but she can also handle some battlefield control with her crowd control abilities.

Spore Slumber is a solid way to disable enemies, especially tanks or flankers trying to disrupt your team.

It makes an enemy fall asleep so your team can focus on other threats or regroup for a counterattack.

However, Spore Slumber is a single-target ability with a long cooldown, so use it wisely.

It can drastically alter the outcome when you use it to take out enemy tanks or dodge fast heroes chasing you.

Using Spore Slumber can give you enough time to escape or regroup with your team if you're being chased.

6. Play It By Ear and Help Out

Mantis is at her best with good team synergy as with other heroes.

How you play her depends on the composition of your squad.

If you're with a team with high burst damage, focus on using Allied Inspiration to amplify their damage potential.

For teams that lean on tanky heroes, toss out Healing Flower to keep them going in long fights.

Keep your team informed about the fight, especially if you need to shift positions to heal or buff certain teammates.

You should adjust your playstyle based on the situation.

Sometimes, you'll focus on healing and other times; you'll boost your teammates' damage.

7. Know When to Retreat

Mantis has limited defenses and can be susceptible to powerful enemies.

Retaining and regrouping with your squad is usually the best call if you're attacked.

Use Spore Slumber to incapacitate chasing enemies and buy yourself time to escape.

When you find yourself in a 1v1 situation against a strong enemy hero, Mantis is at a disadvantage.

She doesn't have the same survivability or damage output as tank or duelist heroes, so always bail instead of getting into a fight.

For more articles like this, take a look at our Guides and Marvel Rivals page.