Marvel Rivals: Ultimate Hela Guide

Hela is a Duelist hero in Marvel Rivals. She is an amazing DPS with tailor-made abilities to make quick work of crowds. She has a bunch of exploding tricks up her sleeve that will annihilate teams stupid enough to work together in close proximity. The Queen of Hel gets three out of five stars in terms of difficulty, meaning she is easy to pick up and play, but if you spend some time mastering her moves, she can rule the match.

This detailed guide will outline practical strategies for playing Hela in Marvel Rivals. We will examine her abilities, reveal some lesser-known insights, provide helpful tips, and guide you in mastering her lethal playstyle.

All Hela Abilities In Marvel Rivals

Name	Type	Details
Nightsword Thorn	Normal Attack	She throws projectile swords at the enemy.
Piercing Night	Offensive Ability	She rapidly fires four swords at the target. After some delay, the projectiles will detonate with a slight AoE.
Soul Drainer	Control/Debuff Ability	She sends an orb that explodes and sucks in all the enemies within its radius and applies Stun.
Nastrond Crowstorm	Passive Ability	Taking out enemies will spawn a crow at their location that explodes after some delay.
Astral Flock	Movement Ability	She transforms into a crow and flies towards the targetted location.
Hel’s Descent	Movement Abilty	Holding the jumping while falling will allow her to glide down slowly. She can manueveur her self slightly while descending this way.
Goddess of Death	Ultimate Ability	She flies up and hovers, then fires exploding crows at will.
Queen of Hel	Team-Up Ability	Hela will instantly resurrect Loki and/or Thor in her team after landing the final blow on an enemy. Or if they are still alive, this will grant them some Bonus HP.

To truly understand Hela, you must know more vital details about each ability.

Nightsword Thorn:

It deals a maximum damage of 70.
The projectile does have falloff damage that begins at the 18m range and decreases to the lowest 70% damage at the 30m mark.
Has only 8 ammo counts.
Can deal Critical Hit.

Piercing Night:

This ability conjures 4 swords that fly straight towards the targetted area/enemy.
Although the swords fly out fast, you still need to maintain your aim on the enemy briefly to stick all the swords.
Each sword projectile deals 10 damage upon impact, with a maximum damage of 40 on a single target.
The subsequent detonations occur after a 3-second delay.
The number of detonations depends on the number of swords that lands on the target. The swords explode one after the other.
Each detonation deals 30 damage, with a total of 120 damage if all four swords hit the target.
The detonation has a blast radius of 3m, and anyone caught in it will receive the same explosive damage as the target.
Has a cooldown of 8 seconds.
The blades will explode even if they are not attached to enemies.

Soul Drainer:

The projectile lands in an arc and activates upon impact.
The projectile itself deals a measly one damage.
After impact, it explodes, and any enemy within a 3m radius will receive 40 damage.
The affected enemies will also get pulled towards the orb.
They will also be stunned for 0.3 seconds.
Has a cooldown of 12 seconds.

Nastrond Crowstorm:

Hela only needs to land the final blow that kills the enemy to activate this passive. It isn’t linked to any of her other abilities.
The Nastrond Crow spawns and explodes after a 1.8-second delay.
The crow spawns on the enemy’s last location before death, not where their body lands.
The blast hits everyone within its 5m radius.
The explosion deals 80 damage to all caught in it.

Astral Flock:

While in the crow form, Hela doesn’t receive free-form flight. She will only fly straight/dash where you position the crosshair.
She can fly straight for a maximum distance of 18m.
You can press the ability button anytime mid-flight to transform back into Hela.
Hela is invincible in the crow form.
Has a 12-second cooldown.

Goddess of Death:

Hela goes airborne after activating the ultimate and shifts to a first-person view.
You only have 10 seconds before the ultimate expires.
During the ultimate, she can fire straight-line crow projectiles that explode upon impact.
The fire rate is 1.79 rounds per second during this time, meaning she can fire six crows at max.
Each blast has a 6m radius that deals 125 damage at most to anyone caught in it.
The explosions do have a damage falloff of 32% at the 4m range.
Hela also receives an additional 1000 HP during the ultimate, displayed by the meter above the crosshair. Hela won’t die if this health bar is finished.
The ultimate will terminate if this additional HP is depleted or when the time expires.

Queen of Hel:

You need either a Thor or a Loki in your team to activate this ability.
Thor or Loki need to be in the respawn phase to resurrect them instantly.
Each final blow from Hela will grant 50 Bonus Health to Thor or Loki if they are alive.
Hela must land the last hit that kills an enemy to trigger this power.
The Team-Up will also grant a 15% damage boost.

How To Play Hela In Marvel Rivals

This section highlights the important aspects to keep in mind when playing as Hela in Marvel Rival:

Unlike other heroes’ attacks, the Nightsword Thorn projectile is a hitscan ability. This means that where you aim and fire is where it lands. You don’t have to lead aim when using this attack, and you have to be extremely precise to land hits where you intend to, especially for headshots.
Hela lacks close-quarter capabilities. She is in more danger when closer to the fight. It is highly advised that you stick to the medium to long range with her.
The high ground really complements Hela’s playstyle.
Take advantage of Hela’s many AoE abilities to finish off mobs of enemies.
Hela is pretty slow while walking; don’t rely on her speed to escape problematic scenarios. The Astral Flock ability is the only thing that can be useful while escaping (more on this later).
Combine Astral Flock and Hel’s Descent to easily reach farther places, like jumping between balconies.
Hela’s Team-Up ability makes her a DPS with some support capabilities. With Thor and Loki in your team, you can constantly revive them or top up their HP with your kills.
The Piercing Night ability is excellent at countering healing. When you see an enemy getting healed, throw the daggers on them and watch their new HP return to its lower status.
Prioritize healers like Cloak and Dagger and take them out of the equation before turning your attention toward the enemy DPS.
Having a few healers behind you will help out immensely. Hela has no self-sustaining powers and is likely to be targeted by enemy Black Widow snipers.

Pro Tips

Having explored Hela’s abilities, let’s focus on getting the most out of her skills. Below are valuable tips and strategies from expert Hela players in Marvel Rivals:

1) Group Destroyer

Hela’s kit is designed to decimate enemies bunched up together. You should actively seek out groups of enemies and use her AoE skills to take them all out in mere instances. Here are some skills or combos that work well for enemy clusters:

The Soul Drainer and Night Piercer combo synergizes well together. Throw the Soul Drainer orb in the middle to line up a bunch of foes, then fire the Night Piercer while they are stunned. The explosion from the Soul Drainer and the subsequent explosions from Night Piercer will damage the nearby enemies, possibly taking out most weaker opponents.
Make sure to get the final hit on weaker enemies close to their allies to take advantage of the Nastrond Crowstorm passive. The following explosions will hit their unsuspecting comrades, significantly chipping away their HP.
Her ultimate, Goddess of Death, is pretty self-explanatory in this use case. Fire the crows in groups or pairs of enemies to try and get multiple hits/kills.

2) Save Soul Drain For Divers

The Soul Drain ability is obviously good for crowd control, but there is another way you can use it, which might just convince you to save it for the right time rather than throwing it willy-nilly.

As Hela, you are mostly going to stay at the backline with other Strategists and pissing off your enemies from afar. Occasionally, opponents will turn their attention toward your antics and start diving at you, disrupting your backline. This is when you should bring out the Soul Drain ability.

When you see an enemy Black Panther, Iron Fist, or Psylocke charging at you, you should chuck the Soul Drain orb near them to stop their dive midway and damage them from the explosion. Follow it up quickly with Nightsword Thorn headshots to get a kill while they are stunned.

This is the perfect way to thwart any attempts of diving from the enemy, and your backline will be grateful for your actions.

3) Astral Flock For Repositioning

Hela’s movement ability, Astral Flock, can be used to pull off some nifty maneuvers during combat. Do note that when you transform, you cannot control the crow, so wherever you aim will be where you end up going.

The most apparent use is to take flight and get on top of buildings or perches for a better vantage point. Hela is a fine sniper, so higher ground can work in her favor. You can even seamlessly reach battles happening on upper floors and aid your allies.

Another application is for escaping sticky situations. In cases where you end up too far into the enemy lines, this ability can help you flee faster and take alternate routes to shrug off any enemy pursuer. It shines when you see an enemy hero charging up their ultimate, like the Scarlet Witch. You can quickly flick your camera around and activate the ability to evade the lethal AoE. This is true for any near-death situations. Consider Astral Flock as your get-out-of-jail-free card.

However, you need to be a bit more aware of your surroundings to utilize this tactic better.

4) Pop Goddess of Death At The Right Time

Hela Pop Goddess of Death At The Right Time

The Goddess of Death is one of the most deadly ultimate in Marvel Rivals. Depending on the scenario, this can wipe out the entire enemy team. However, everyone will know when you activate this power and quickly look for cover, ultimately wasting your big play if there aren’t any targets to put down.

For the greatest outcome, you need to hold the ultimate until you witness the maximum number of enemies are out in the open. Leap in the middle and pop off the ultimate to ensure you have the widest view of the enemies, and then gun them down with ease. The element of surprise paired with this ultimate can turn the tide of the battle. You shouldn’t worry about getting killed owing to the massive extra HP you receive during this point.

Yet, you must be mindful of the arena before activating this. Low ceilings and cramped spaces will ruin its potential and straight up stop you from using this skill. Look for vast open areas in the arena with big skirmishes taking place to get the most out of this ultimate.

Side Tip: While using this power, try to target the enemies’ Strategists or backline and leave the Vanguards. Not only will it take more shots to bring down a tank, but if they retreat, they can get out-healed from their supports. By killing off the backline, you are more likely to leave the frontline unsupported, making them easy pickings for your team.

5) Piercing Night + Nightsword Thorn Combo

Hela Piercing Night + Nightsword Thorn Combo

Although the Nightsword Thorn’s headshots are enough to down most enemies, Hela can deal even more efficient damage by weaving in the Piercing Night ability. This is more useful when you are lasering down a single foe.

When you come face to face, fire the Piercing Night dagger at the enemy and quickly shoot the Nightsword Thorn at their head. The damage from the ensuing explosions from the struck daggers and the damage from the Nightsword Thorn Critical Hit will surely bring down most enemies without any downtime. Mix in a Soul Drain orb to stun the enemy to make things more manageable, and you can land your shots without worrying about them moving.

For more mobile heroes, you can fire Piercing Night daggers on the ground where they might land, and the delayed explosion will get them.

There is another combo that can take out most tanks, like Captain America, in mere seconds. Headshot Nightsword Thorn once, then use Piercing Night to stick all daggers, throw a Soul Drain orb at them, and finish with two to three Nightsword Thorn headshots.

Hela is considered a top-tier hero in Marvel Rivals, and for good reason. She has a relatively easy kit to master and, in the right hands, can decimate anyone who dares to stand in her path. Her crowd-melting abilities will force the enemies to break apart, denting their collective efforts.