Master The Thing’s tank abilities, team synergies, and advanced strategies to dominate Marvel Rivals battles
The Thing Character Overview
Ben Grimm, better known as The Thing, joins Marvel Rivals as a formidable Vanguard Tank character in Season 1.5, completing the Fantastic Four roster alongside Human Torch. This rock-skinned brawler brings unparalleled durability and team support capabilities to the battlefield.
The Thing’s arrival significantly impacts the current meta with his exceptional resilience, powerful team buffs, and robust defensive toolkit. Mastering this character requires understanding his unique mechanics and strategic role within team compositions.
As an extremely durable Vanguard, The Thing boasts one of the largest health pools in Marvel Rivals, complemented by numerous defensive abilities that make him exceptionally difficult to eliminate. His rock-solid composition provides natural damage resistance while enabling devastating close-quarters combat potential.
The Thing specializes in both protecting allies through damage reduction buffs and aggressively pursuing enemies with relentless pressure. His kit allows him to absorb immense punishment while creating space for damage dealers to operate safely.
Weapons & Basic Attacks
The Thing’s primary offensive capability comes from his massive rocky fists, utilized through the Rocky Jab ability. This rapid punching attack delivers consistent damage to enemies directly in front of him, making him particularly effective in close-range engagements.
Rocky Jab functions as your bread-and-button damage tool, with moderate damage per hit but high overall DPS when landing consecutive punches. The attack has limited range but excellent area coverage in melee distance, allowing you to hit multiple clustered enemies simultaneously.
Advanced players should note that Rocky Jab can be animation-canceled into other abilities, creating fluid combat sequences. Practice weaving basic attacks between ability activations to maximize damage output during engagements.
Abilities & Ultimate Breakdown
The Thing’s ability kit revolves around team protection and relentless pursuit. His passive provides complete immunity to knockback effects, making him exceptionally difficult to displace from objectives or favorable positions.
Yancy Street Charge serves as your primary engagement tool, allowing rapid initiation into combat. When timed correctly, this charge lifts enemies caught in your path, dealing damage and creating crowd control opportunities for your team to follow up.
Embattled Leap provides crucial team support by granting damage reduction to nearby allies upon landing. This ability requires strategic positioning to maximize its protective benefits while maintaining offensive pressure.
The Thing’s ultimate ability, Clobberin’ Time, enables him to grab and throw multiple enemies into the air, disrupting formations and creating elimination opportunities. Proper ultimate timing can single-handedly win team fights by isolating key targets.
Ability management is crucial – avoid using all cooldowns simultaneously. Instead, stagger your abilities to maintain constant pressure and defensive coverage throughout engagements.
Advanced Gameplay Strategies
Mastering The Thing requires understanding optimal engagement patterns and positioning. Initiate fights with Yancy Street Charge to disrupt enemy formations, but be mindful of overextending without team support.
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Once engaged, maintain pressure with Rocky Jab combos while conserving Embattled Leap for crucial moments when allies take significant damage. The damage reduction can save teammates from elimination during intense exchanges.
Use your ultimate strategically when enemy teams cluster together or when you need to create space for objective control. The aerial displacement provides valuable seconds for your team to reposition or secure kills.
Common mistakes include: initiating without team follow-up, wasting Embattled Leap when no allies are endangered, and using ultimate on single targets instead of grouped enemies. Always maintain awareness of your team’s positioning to maximize your protective capabilities.
As a Vanguard, your primary responsibility involves creating space and absorbing damage while enabling damage dealers to operate safely. Balance aggressive plays with defensive positioning based on your team’s current needs and cooldown availability.
Optimal Team Compositions
The Thing excels in compositions that capitalize on his durability and team support capabilities. Strategic partnerships amplify his strengths while covering his mobility limitations.
Wolverine represents an ideal frontline partner thanks to their Team-Up ability. Both Hulk and The Thing can throw Wolverine into battle, creating devastating initiation combinations. This badass tank synergizes perfectly with The Thing’s anti-tank capabilities and crowd control resistance.
Coordinate with your Wolverine player to execute throw combinations into enemy backlines, then follow up with Furious Charge to join the fray and wreak havoc together.
Hulk provides another excellent tank partnership, creating an nearly unbreakable frontline. These two characters can stand back-to-back against entire enemy teams, with Hulk’s Incredible Leap complementing The Thing’s engagement tools by knocking aerial targets to the ground.
This combination enables both heroes to ground flying opponents, setting them up for devastating melee combinations from two sets of powerful fists supported by massive health pools.
Mantis serves as the ideal healer companion for The Thing. As one of Marvel Rivals’ strongest Strategists, she provides crucial sustain through Life Orbs that increase damage, boost health, and grant Healing Over Time effects.
Her long-range healing capabilities ensure The Thing remains combat-effective even when surrounded by multiple enemies, making their partnership exceptionally difficult for opponents to break.
Invisible Woman enhances The Thing’s survivability through their shared Team-Up Ability. She grants Fantastic Four members damage resistance while enabling The Thing to generate Bonus Health during ability activation.
This partnership transforms The Thing from merely durable to virtually indestructible for short periods, creating windows of near-invulnerability that can swing team fights decisively.
Counter Strategies & Matchups
Understanding The Thing’s weaknesses is crucial both when playing as him and against him. Several heroes can effectively counter his limited mobility and ground-based kit.
Iron Man represents a primary counter due to his aerial mobility and ranged damage capabilities. The Thing struggles significantly against enemies who can maintain vertical distance, making Iron Man’s Repulsor Rifle particularly effective for whittling down his health pool from safety.
Activate Armor Overdrive to boost damage output when engaging The Thing, and use your ultimate to deal substantial damage chunks despite his durability. Maintain altitude advantage to avoid his melee attacks entirely.
Star-Lord counters The Thing through superior mobility and evasion capabilities. His free-flight ability keeps him safely out of melee range while allowing consistent damage application through Element Guns.
When you notice The Thing preparing to leap or charge, quickly reposition to avoid engagement and create flanking opportunities. His hit-and-run playstyle perfectly exploits The Thing’s limited chase potential.
Groot provides strategic counterplay by disrupting The Thing’s team support capabilities. Since Embattled Leap’s damage reduction requires proximity to allies, Groot’s Ironwood Wall can effectively isolate The Thing from his teammates.
Strategic wall placement not only prevents buff application but also damages The Thing while creating elimination windows for your team. This is particularly effective when he attempts to assist low-health allies.
When facing these counters as The Thing, focus on controlling engagement spaces and using terrain to limit aerial advantage. Coordinate with teammates who can handle mobile threats while you dominate ground control and objective play.
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