Marvel Rivals has a deep roster full of iconic Marvel characters mixed in with some extremely deep cuts. (Not to mention NetEase's own creation, Luna Snow.) All of these characters fit into one of three different classes: Vanguard, Duelist, and Strategist.

Adam Warlock, the Golden Guardian, is a Strategist character and is tasked with keeping his team alive. And if all else fails, he can bring his team back from the dead. In the right hands, he can change the course of the match in an instant, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. But in the wrong hands, he'll be a detriment to the team.

Character Overview

Adam Warlock is a 250-health Strategist character with multiple healing abilities, good damage potential, and revival possibilities. He's going to have a difficult time holding his own in fights against Duelist ambushes, but from a position where he isn't a central target, he can deal some impactful damage to the enemy team alongside his healing potential.

Positioning With Adam Warlock

Many of Adam Warlock's abilities require him to be in the right position to be able to use them at all, much less effectively. He'll need line of sight on at least one friendly character to get his healing abilities off. They'll need to be in close enough proximity to him, as well.

For the most part, this means Warlock should stick close to the central unit of the team; preferably near a Vanguard.

If Venom is the only Vanguard the team has, Warlock will need to stick closer to someone else, because of Venom's movement abilities sending him across the map.

Soul Bond

Soul Bond creates a link between allies it comes into contact with. This link is going to distribute the damage that they take across all of them, ensuring no one ally takes the brunt of the punishment. It also provides a small healing-over-time effect for everybody affected by it.

Soul Bond Giveth

Soul Bond can ensure that your entire team stays on their feet, keeping characters that are being specifically targeted for execution by enemy duelists alive. This is useful for Warlock himself, as he tends to get targeted by enemy Spider-Man and Hawkeye fairly often, but it is helpful for other characters that have low overall health.

Soul Bond can also give a friendly Vanguard the confidence to move in without worry of getting team-shot to death immediately. But, this starts to get into the territory where Soul Bond can cause a little bit of a problem.

Soul Bond Taketh Away

Soul Bond can also get lower-health characters that aren't directly getting attacked into dangerous territory, making them an easy target to finish off by enemy Duelists when the effect wears off.

Use Soul Bond on Vanguards with caution. If you've got the heals to right the ship if everybody starts taking heavy damage, it's safe. But if your heals are on cooldown, you can get your entire team into serious trouble.

Avatar Life Stream

Avatar Life Stream is going to be your bread-and-butter heal; it can be used multiple times, with its charge counter displayed above the ability. This heals a significant amount of health immediately and can bounce between teammates, making it a single-target or group-target heal.

Avatar Life Stream Has A Short Cooldown

Avatar Life Stream has a short six-second cooldown, meaning you should usually have a charge when you need it. If the damage becomes too overwhelming to be fixed by Avatar Life Stream alone, Soul Bond can keep everyone alive until you can activate the ability again.

But just because it has a short cooldown doesn't mean you should be spamming it. Certain characters can do very high damage in a short amount of time; things can be going great, and in an instant, someone needs a heal, or they're going to die. If your ability is on cooldown, you'll be watching them drop right before your eyes.

Quantum Magic And Cosmic Cluster

Quantum Magic and Cosmic Cluster are your attack abilities with Adam Warlock, one being your default attack, the other your alt-fire attack. Quantum Magic fires one damaging blast, while Cosmic Cluster charges multiple together to fire in a short burst.

Quantum Magic Is Your Spam Attack

Quantum Magic is going to be the attack you're sending at enemies with regularity. It's a constant chunk of damage if you're hitting your target, and on a critical hit, it's damage they're definitely going to take notice of.

Cosmic Cluster Is Your Confident Attack

Certain times, you're going to know an enemy is about to walk around a corner. Or, you'll be able to peek around cover and have an enemy perfectly lined up. It would be a waste in these situations to use Quantum Magic.

This is when you use Cosmic Cluster. If you know without a doubt you're going to be able to hit an enemy with the majority of this attack, then Cosmic Cluster is going to be one of the highest-damage attacks in the game.

If an enemy character uses their ultimate, in particular a character like Punisher, Cosmic Cluster can drop them before they're able to get any use out of it.

Eye On The Prize

But don't lose sight of the fact that you're a healer, first and foremost. Dealing damage is a nice bonus and can make a significant difference in the match, but dealing damage at the cost of healing allies is not using Adam Warlock to his fullest potential.

Regenerative Cocoon

Regenerative Cocoon is going to ensure that, once every 105 seconds, when you die, your soul will be able to roam freely, and you'll be able to revive yourself at a spot of your choosing.

This is often a fantastically useful ability, allowing you to get back into the action much quicker than you would otherwise and pick your healing duties right back up before your entire team wipes due to your absence.

Get Out Of Sight Before You Revive Yourself

But enemies are going to try and get right into the spot where you revive yourself to take you right back down. Get out of sight, or at least get into a position where you aren't a priority target, otherwise you're not going to get any value out of this passive.

Soul Perseverance Team-Up Ability

Soul Perseverance is going to give this self-revival ability not just to you but to a friendly Star-Lord and Mantis as a Team-Up Ability, as well. With all three active, this can turn a full wipe into only half a wipe, allowing for a much easier recovery for your team.

Karmic Revival

Karmic Revival is Adam Warlock's ultimate ability, and it allows him to revive recently dead allies in a certain vicinity. In the right situation, this can save the match, and in the wrong situation, everyone can get killed right away immediately after.

Ultimate Recovery To Save A Wipe

Karmic Revival is often best used right after an enemy uses their ultimate ability to take down a group of allies. Adam Warlock should be just a bit behind the frontline of his team, and because of this, oftentimes he can get out of the way of an enemy ultimate, like Storm, Scarlet Witch, or Magneto.

When you dodge an enemy ultimate, you can move forward right away and cast your own ultimate, bringing everybody back to life.

When you do pull this off, it's helpful to have at least one charge of Avatar Life Stream available, along with Soul Bond. Allies will be invincible for a short period right after revival, but their health will be low. Healing right away is going to help get everybody right back into fighting shape.