Captain America is a Vanguard hero in Marvel Rivals. His speed and offensive capabilities make him an odd yet great Dive/Tank hybrid. He’s excellent at facing the enemy frontline head-on while swiftly engaging the backline and pulling off outstanding plays that will disorient the enemy team. Captain Rogers gets two stars out of five in terms of difficulty, meaning he is a relatively easy hero to pick up and master.
In this ultimate guide, we’ll discuss how to play Captain America in Marvel Rivals correctly. We’ll explore his abilities, lesser-known details, tips, and how to play with him like a pro.
All Captain America Abilities In Marvel Rivals
| Name | Type | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Sentinel Strike | Normal Attack | A simple fist-based melee attack. Hitting twice allows for a shield- throw up to four times that can bounce off surfaces. |
| Freedom Charge | Ultimate Ability | With shield raised, forge a path ahead, bestowing ongoing Bonus Health and Movement Boosts to both himself and allies. Activating Living Legend or Leading Dash while this ability is in effect can Launch Up enemies. |
| Leading Dash | Movement Ability | Boost speed and enable Fearless Leap to leap into the air |
| Vibranium Energy Saw | Offensive Ability | Throw the shield filled with energy to hit foes along a trajectory. |
| Liberty Rush | Movement & Offensive Ability | He raises his shield and charges forward. |
| Super-Soldier Slam | Offensive Aerial Ability | While airborne, slam down in a targetted area and Launching Up enemies. |
| Living Legend | Defensive Ability | He puts his shield up to deflect incoming projectiles, sending them ricocheting in random directions |
| Charged Aegis | Team-Up Ability | Thor infuses Thorforce into Captain America, granting him an electrifying enhancement. With the buff, Captain America gains a Movement Boost, and his shield is imbued with thunder power, electrocuting nearby enemies |
Each ability has more pertinent details that you must know to make Captain America great again:
Sentinel Strike:
- You need to melee punch enemies twice before you can throw your shield.
- The melee range is 4m.
- The melee attack deals 40 damage per hit.
- After landing two melee strikes, you will have 5 seconds to utilize the shield throws.
- He can throw his shield a maximum of four times within this window.
- Each shield throw does 45 damage.
- The shield throw has a maximum distance of 25m.
- The shield throws can’t Critical Hit.
- The shield throw will automatically target the nearest enemy to the crosshair.
- Despite the description, the shield throw does not ricochet to other enemies.
Freedom Charge:
- Upon casting, Captain America will receive 150 Bonus HP and allies within a 4m radius will also receive 100 Bonus HP.
- Every second after activation, Captain America will receive 100 Bonus HP while his allies receive 60 Bonus HP if they are within 4m from the trail he leaves behind.
- The ability will also grant Captain America and his allies a 30% Movement Speed boost on top of the bonus HP.
- The ultimate lasts for 10 seconds.
- The trail left behind, or the spell area duration lasts for 5 seconds.
Leading Dash:
- This ability gives Captain America a 33.4% boost to his speed.
- It has no cool-down nor a stamina bar that depletes over time.
- While sprinting with this ability, Captain America can perform a 5m high Fearless Leap.
Vibranium Energy Saw:
- This special shield throw will travel 25m.
- The shield can ricochet three times in total on any surface, including both walls/ground and enemies.
- The shield loses damage output with each subsequent ricochet. The initial direct strike deals 70 damage, with each successive bounce lowering the damage by 20% (70>56>45.2>36.16 respectively).
- It has an 8-second cooldown.
Liberty Rush:
- Captain America will travel a maximum of 12m while using this charge.
- It deals 30 damage upon hit.
- Has a cooldown of 10 seconds.
- It can used while airborne.
Super-Soldier Slam:
- This ability can only be used when airborne.
- The ability can be used at a maximum distance of 20m.
- It deals 30 damage upon impact.
- Has a cooldown of 12 seconds.
- While airborne, the impact zone is indicated by a blue circle on the targeted ground.
- The impacted enemies will be launched into the air after the hit.
Living Legend:
- The shield can absorb 400 HP worth of damage before it breaks.
- The shield recovers at a rate of 50 HP per second.
- Although this ability has a one-second cooldown, if you release it before it breaks, the cooldown will effectively take two seconds to recover.
- If the shield breaks, it will take five seconds to recover.
- Deflected projectiles will deal 50% return damage.
- The projectile ricochet is random, meaning you cannot reliably aim it back at the enemies.
- The ability can be used while using the Leading Dash sprint.
- It can’t be used while airborne. However, you can keep it up while falling from a ledge.
- This is the only shield ability in Marvel Rivals that can block melee attacks.
Charged Aegis:
- You’ll need a Thor in the team to activate this power.
- The buff lasts for six seconds.
- It buffs the Sentinel Strike shield throw, granting the thrown shield more speed and 50 damage.
- During the buff, the shield throw will ricochet once from the point of impact. However, the bounce will reduce damage by 50%.
- Captain America also receive a minor speed boost while it’s active.
- It has a cooldown of 20 seconds.
How To Play Captain America In Marvel Rivals
This section will cover what things you need to consider before you start playing as Captain America in Marvel Rivals:
- Captain America should be played differently than other Vanguards in the game. He can break through the enemy frontline using his charge and shield abilities. He can use his movement abilities to scale buildings to dive the enemy backline better, causing an upheaval in the enemy formation.
- Unlike other heroes, Captain America’s shield is smaller and thus struggles to block a larger barrage of projectiles.
- His shield can’t block AoE damage. However, he can deflect said abilities if they are aimed directly at his shield.
- Captain America can easily jump over most medium-height buildings using his Leading Dash ability, making him one of the few Vanguards that can take unconventional routes and dive into enemy backlines.
- His abilities are better suited for using a hit-and-run tactic. You can zip around the map, engage the enemy, retreat and target backline and frontline on the go.
- His Freedom Charge Ultimate is one of the best ultimates in the game. It can buff allies, save trapped teammates, and pull off some fantastic selfish plays that will confuse the enemy.
Pro Tips
Having understood Captain America’s abilities, let’s explore how to utilize his powers optimally. Here are some valuable tips and tricks from the leading Captain America players in Marvel Rivals:
1) Leading Dash Leap Frogging
Judging which higher ground Captain America can reach using the Fearless Leap is harder. In the thick of the battle, we recommend that you leapfrog from surfaces of shorter height onto more elevated ground.
This will allow your movement to be a bit more unpredictable when getting chased or targeted by an enemy. Also, this will let you reach higher places to jump unsuspecting enemy support heroes and make quick work of them.
You’d be surprised by the heights Captain can reach if you perfect this leapfrogging mechanic. He can comfortably jump across roofs and flank the enemy team.
2) Vibranium Energy Saw For Invisible Foes
We hate it when heroes like Loki go invisible right before us and throw our strategic play down the gutter. This is where Captain America’s Vibranium Energy Saw comes in extremely handy.
This ability will automatically target even the invisible heroes. Anytime you see a Psylocke or Loki poof away, throw the vibranium shield on the ground, and it will instantly ricochet towards the invisible hero, forcing them out of their cloak.
3) Shielding A Group Of Enemies
The ideal time to use the Vibranium Energy Saw ability is when you see a bunch of enemies clumped together. This is the right time to Fearless Leap towards them or approach from a higher ground and use this ability. The shield throw will most likely hit all the enemies simultaneously, dizzying them in one fell swoop.
Before you employ this tactic, you must practice this ability’s travel distance and ricochet potential. The shield will travel a maximum of 25m, including the ricocheting distance. If you throw the shield from afar, it might not bounce to other enemies and might end up hitting only one. You need to know the optimal distance and location from which to throw it to hit the enemy squad.
4) Sentinel Strike Double Whammy
Although Sentinel Strike is Captain America’s normal attack, it is highly versatile if used correctly. The best way to do it is by punching any charging enemy tanks to gain the shield throw, then quickly turn your attention towards accompanying smaller more agile characters like Iron Man or Star-Lord and throw your shield at them.
Other Vanguards struggle to catch these extremely mobile heroes, so you can stand back and deal with them with your shield throws.
5) Understanding Living Legend Nuances
The Living Legend ability has a tricky cooldown mechanic, throwing your game off if you don’t understand it properly. By default, if you lower your shield normally, its “one-second” cooldown will initiate after a slight delay, effectively increasing its cooldown to two seconds.
To counter this, you should tap the ability button again right after releasing it. Doing so will instantly start the cooldown without that pesky delay.
The cooldown delay makes the shield less reliable when you are in the thick of the battle, getting bombarded by loads of enemies, and the cooldown hinders your defensive move. Tapping the ability allows you to bring up the shield earlier and fend off the enemy onslaught.
6) Pulling The Rug With Super-Soldier Slam
The Super-Soldier Slam is excellent at destroying structures. The best use case for this is when you witness an enemy on top of those mini collapsable bridges, like those found in Tokyo.
You can use the Fearless Leap to reach the roofs near the unsuspecting enemy. Then position yourself and use the Super-Soldier Slam to destroy the bridge, taking out the enemy and their vantage point in one hit.
The Super-Soldier Slam is also great at cancelling charge abilities. When you see heroes like Hulk charging to use his devastating leaping attack, you can slam into them to nullify the wind-up, throwing them off kilter.
7) Freedom Charge And Living Legend Combo
After activating the Freedom Charge ultimate and gaining that heightened speed, you can put up your Living Legend shield and rush into an enemy. The shield will shove the enemy back, and if you keep charging into them, you can continually boop them while they have no control.
This is a neat trick to single out an opponent, push them out of a fight or off of you, and deal with them mano e mano once they are isolated. You also can use it to push an enemy hell-bent on a teammate to give them time to recover. You can even push enemies off the map if you time this combo right.
8) Freedom Charge Ultimate Tip
The Freedom Charge Ultimate can defend any team from a Punisher, Star-Lord, Groot, Bucky, and a ton of basic ultimates you wouldn’t expect. That bonus HP every second, plus your healers, is enough to survive any skirmish.
It can be used during basic team fights or as a tool to deep dive into the enemy territory and single out an opponent before the fight begins.
It is excellent at saving allies that have been Agamotto’d by Doctor Strange or entangled by Groot. You can run around the trapped teammate in circles, and the bonus HP will ensure they survive the ordeal.
Your allies can’t always be forced to benefit from the ultimate’s buff, and in that case, this is great at pulling off some high-risk selfish plays. Rush into the enemies, plough them down with your abilities, pick off the more troublesome heroes and retreat. It’s all possible with the speed boost and bonus HP from the ultimate.
9) Super-Soldier Slam and Liberty Rush Importance
These two abilities are Captain America’s bread and butter when it comes to engagements. You need to track their cooldowns and always try to have one of them on you at all times. Don’t exhaust them both at once. Both of these abilities are great at initiating a rush towards the enemies. By charging into the battle this way, you will surprise the enemy (especially if initiated from an off angle) and throw off their game.
On the flip side, these abilities are also extraordinary at escaping. When the battle seems hopeless, or you want to change your tactic on the fly, these abilities can help you retreat and quickly take a different route.
Try to have at least one on hand and weave them into your strategy.
Captain America is a pest of a hero in Marvel Rivals that can annoy so many enemies at the same time. The trick is to be confident and creative with your plays. Rogers can ping pong through all the ranks of the enemies comfortably with his shield up and charge on.