Marvel Rivals Iron Man guide: Abilities, how to play, and more

Marvel Rivals Iron Man is a Duelist character. He is turning out to be a fan favorite due to his playstyle. Duelists are primarily damage-healing Heroes, who are also popularly called DPS characters. Generally, their key role is to inflict damage and destabilize the enemy team by securing eliminations. Iron Man is undoubtedly one of the best at this job. His kit is extremely beginner-friendly and offers players numerous abilities to wreak havoc on the battlefield.

This article will provide players with a detailed guide on wielding Iron Man in Marvel Rivals. To know more, read below.

Editor's Note: This guide is updated until the December 19 patch of Marvel Rivals. We will update it whenever a new balance update for the character is released.

---

Marvel Rivals Iron Man: All abilities

Marvel Rivals Iron Man is a Duelist character (Image via NetEase Games)

In Marvel Rivals, Iron Man has two distinct default attacks and four abilities. Here's a detailed look into all of them:

Abilities	Effect
Repulsor Blast (LMB)	Fire nano pulse cannons forward
Unibeam (RMB)	Fire a Unibeam forward
Armor Overdrive (E)	Activate Armor Overdrive state, enhancing the damage of Repulsor Blast and Unibeam
Hyper-Velocity (L-Shift)	Activate Hyper-Velocity state for swift forward flight
Micro-Missile Barrage (F)	When Hyper-Velocity or Armor Overdrive is used, Iron Man can launch a missile bombardment
Invincible Pulse Cannon (Ultimate)	Fire a devastating pulse cannon in the targeted direction, delivering catastrophic damage to the targeted area upon impact

---

How to play as Iron Man in Marvel Rivals?

Mobility

Iron Man abilities (Image via NetEase Games)

Iron Man is one of the few characters in Marvel Rivals that can fly in the air, and play in a vertical space. Naturally, you should try to keep your distance from the ground and use your air time to be a constant hindrance to the enemy team.

Unlike most characters that have a short timer for their air-time, this hero can constantly stay up in the air. This offers you with the opportunity to slink in and out of cover, and make use of space that will simply be unavailable to a lot of characters.

We urge you to use as much natural cover as you can, and if you see hit-scan characters in the game, try to avoid them by slipping in-and-out of said cover.

Hyper-Velocity (Image via NetEase Games)

Make sure you're always on the move to evade incoming attacks. Your Hyper-Velocity is a great tool to help you scale heights and reposition to desired locations on the map.

---

Playstyle

Marvel Rivals Iron Man Armor Overdrive ability (Image via NetEase Games)

Iron Man in Marvel Rivals is designed to be played at a certain tempo. Your range of abilities allows you to deal both poke damage, and burst damage when required.

A great way to understand the tempo is to pay close attention to your cooldowns. Your Armor Overdrive ability enhances the damage of Repulsor Blast and Unibeam. We recommend you poke from a distance until this ability is available for use, When Armor Overdrive is ready to be engaged, use it and quickly swoop in for a round of burst damage. You can either escape on foot or use your Hyper-Velocity to quickly evade enemy attacks.

---

Ultimate

Marvel Rivals Iron Man Invincible Pulse Cannon ability (Image via NetEase Games)

Iron Man's Invincible Pulse Cannon, i.e., his Ultimate ability, fires a devastating pulse cannon in the direction you're facing. It deals massive amounts of damage in the impacted area and also causes AOE damage. You can use it to wipe out teams from choke points or synergize with other characters to make for a devastating team-wiping combo.

---

Best Team-ups for Iron Man in Marvel Rivals

1) Hulk and Doctor Strange

Hulk is a great partner for Marvel Rivals Iron Man (Image via NetEase Games)

Hulk and Doctor Strange are possibly the best teammates for Iron Man because these three heroes together form the Gamma Charge team-up in Marvel Rivals. This grants Iron Man the ability, Gamma Overdrive.

Whenever Gamma Overdrive is active, Iron Man initiates a gamma upgrade upon using Armor Overdrive.

2) Luna Snow

Luna Snow is a great duo for Marvel Rivals Iron Man (Image via NetEase Games)

A high-damaging character like Iron Man is best paired with the Strategist, Luna Snow. Duelists in Marvel Rivals are glass cannons, meaning they have low health and are dependant on their team’s healer. Luna Snow has excellent healing capabilities owing to her Ice Arts and Share the Stage abilities.

Moreover, her Fate of Both Worlds can boost the damage of Iron Man and her Absolute Zero ability can freeze enemies, making them easy targets for Iron Man to take down.

---

Best Marvel Rivals Iron Man counters

1) Star-Lord

Star-Lord is a counter to Marvel Rivals Iron Man (Image via NetEase Games)

Star-Lord is one of the best counters to Iron Man in Marvel Rivals. Also a Duelist with similar movement mechanics as Iron Man, Star-Lord can dish out heavy damage in mere seconds thereby melting the low-health Iron Man. Moreover, since Star-Lord’s flying ability does not have a cooldown, you can use it to dodge Iron Man’s attacks whenever necessary.

Additionally, Star-Lord’s ultimate is also a direct counter to the playstyle of Iron Man.

2) Black Widow

Black Widow is a counter to Marvel Rivals Iron Man (Image via NetEase Games)

Black Widow in Marvel Rivals is also a Duelist. Her primary sniper rifle, Red Room Rifle, is extremely powerful and can take down Iron Man in two shots, making her a deadly opponent to face off against.

Moreover, if Hawkeye and Black Widow are on the same team, Widow is granted the ability to shoot afterimages, further strengthening her kit to fight low-hp heroes like Iron Man.

---

Marvel Rivals Iron Man Lore

With all his abilities dealt with, it is only fair that we explore the rich lore behind the fan-favorite character, Iron Man. If you're unfamiliar with this hero, you should read this excerpt for better clarity into the character's back story:

"Wounded by a weapon of his own design, billionaire inventor Tony Stark created a custom-made suit of armor to keep himself alive. Though his wounds have healed, his upgraded armor now saves the lives of countless others when Tony dons it to become the world's greatest fighting machine—the invincible Iron Man! When the legions of the night descended upon New York City, Iron Man and his fellow Avengers turned their tower into a stronghold. From there, Tony leads the effort to unravel the mysteries of Chronovium and to reverse the Timestream Entanglement."

---

That's all there is to know about learning how to play as Iron Man in Marvel Rivals. For more related news, check these links below:

• Is Marvel Rivals coming to PS5 and Xbox?
• Is Marvel Rivals coming to consoles?

Check out our Hero guides:

• How to play as Black Panther in Marvel Rivals
• How to play as Rocket Raccoon in Marvel Rivals
• How to play as Scarlet Witch in Marvel Rivals
• How to play as Magneto in Marvel Rivals