Magik is a problem. If you’ve spent any time in the Marvel Rivals closed alpha or the recent playtests, you’ve seen it. One minute you’re holding a chokepoint, feeling good about your health bar, and the next, a teenage girl with a sword twice her size drops from a literal hole in space-time and deletes your backline. It's frustrating. It's fast.
But here’s the thing: most people playing Illyana Rasputin are actually throwing.
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They play her like Genji from Overwatch or a standard "dive" assassin. They think the goal is just to mash the attack button until someone dies. That is a one-way ticket to a respawn timer. Magik is a Duelist, sure, but she’s a Duelist with the soul of a Strategic Brawler. If you aren't managing your Limbo Shield or timing your Stepping Discs with your team’s dive, you’re just a squishy target with a cool sword.
The Soulsword Isn't Just for Damage
People see the giant sword and think "hack and slash." Wrong. The Soulsword is a resource generator. In Marvel Rivals, Magik’s kit revolves around her passive ability to generate Limbo Shield by dealing damage.
Think of it this way. You aren't hitting the enemy to kill them; you’re hitting them so you don't die.
Every swing that connects gives you a temporary health buffer. This is what allows Magik to stay in the pocket of a fight way longer than someone like Black Panther. If you engage without a plan to keep that shield up, you’ll evaporate. Most "bad" Magik players burn their dash (Umbral Blast) to get into a fight, realize they have no exit, and panic-swing.
Pro tip: Walk in. Dash out. Or, better yet, use the Stepping Discs to drop in from a height. Save that dash for the knock-up or the escape. The knock-up on Umbral Blast is a hard CC (crowd control) that interrupts abilities. You should be using it to cancel a Doctor Strange shield or stop a Punisher from shredding your tank.
The Stepping Disc Learning Curve
Let's talk about the portals. Stepping Discs are the highest skill-cap ability in the game right now.
Most players use them like a blink. They look at a spot, press the button, and go there. Boring. And inefficient. The real power of Magik's portals is that they persist. You can set a portal at a health pack, dive into the fray, and jump back through when the heat gets too high.
I’ve seen high-level players do something even nastier. They place the exit portal behind the enemy team and the entrance near their own tank. This creates a psychological pressure cooker. The enemy team can’t just look forward; they have to constantly check if a blond Russian demon is about to exit a portal behind their support.
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Honestly, the verticality is what people miss. Don't just portal on the ground. Portal to the high ground. Portal to the ceiling. Drop down with a heavy attack, get your shield up, and then use your second portal charge to vanish before they can even turn their cameras around.
Team-Up Bonuses: The Secret Sauce
NetEase added these "Team-Up" abilities, and for Magik, the synergy with Black Panther is legitimate. It’s called "Chthonian Omen." When they are on the same team, Magik can trigger a rift that empowers Black Panther.
If you're playing Magik solo, you're playing at 80% power. You need to be tracking where your Panther is. If you see him diving, that’s your cue. You aren't two separate DPS characters; you are a pincer movement.
Darkchild is a "Win Harder" Button
Magik’s Ultimate, Darkchild, transforms her into her demonic form. She gets bigger, she hits harder, and her reach is ridiculous.
But I see so many players pop this when they are at 10% health. Don't do that. Darkchild doesn't make you invincible; it makes you a massive target. If you pop it while you're dying, you’re just going to die as a bigger demon.
The best time to use Darkchild is at the start of a team fight or right as the enemy team commits to an objective. The sheer visual clutter of a giant flaming demon jumping into a pile of players causes teams to scatter. It breaks their formation. You want to use that chaos to pick off the squishy targets like Mantis or Rocket Raccoon.
- Priority 1: Kill the supports.
- Priority 2: Disrupt the channelled ultimates.
- Priority 3: Get out before the transformation ends.
When Darkchild wears off, you are very vulnerable for about a second. You need to have a Stepping Disc ready to go the moment that timer hits zero.
What Most People Get Wrong About Magik's Range
She’s a melee character, but she has "ghost range." The hitbox on the third strike of her basic attack combo is slightly longer than it looks. You can actually "poke" with the tip of the sword.
If you are fighting a character like Spider-Man, who is constantly zipping around, don't chase him. Let him come to you. Swing at the air where he's going to land. Because the Soulsword has a wide horizontal arc, you can catch flankers who think they are out of range.
Also, please stop trying to 1v1 a Hulk in an open field. You will lose. You are an assassin-brawler hybrid. You win through verticality and confusion, not by out-tanking a gamma-irradiated monster.
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How to Actually Rank Up with Magik
If you want to climb the ladder once the full game drops, you have to master the "In-and-Out" rhythm.
- Scope the backline: Find the support who isn't being protected.
- The Entry: Use a portal from an angle they aren't watching (never head-on).
- The Burst: Umbral Blast for the knock-up, two swings, and then a heavy.
- The Shield: Watch your blue bar. If it’s full, stay for one more swing. If it’s empty, leave.
- The Exit: Use your second portal charge or your dash to get behind a wall.
It sounds simple, but in the heat of a 6v6 fight with lasers and magic flying everywhere, it’s easy to get "bloodthirst." You see a low-health Iron Man and you want that kill. You chase him into his team, and suddenly you’re CC'd by Luna Snow and you're dead.
Discipline is the difference between a Gold-tier Magik and a Grandmaster-tier Magik.
Actionable Steps for Your Next Match
- Rebind your keys: If you're on PC, make sure your Stepping Disc is on a key you can hit while moving in any direction. You shouldn't have to take your fingers off the WASD keys to portal.
- Practice the "Portal Jump": Go into the practice range and practice placing a portal, walking through it, and immediately turning 180 degrees to strike. You need this muscle memory.
- Watch the floor: Magik is grounded for her main combos. If a Storm or Iron Man stays high in the air, stop trying to hit them. Switch targets. Don't waste time looking at the sky while their ground team is capping the point.
- Cooldown Management: Never, ever have both portal charges and your dash on cooldown at the same time. If you have no movement abilities left, you are just a girl with a sword in a gunfight.
Magik is easily one of the most rewarding characters in Marvel Rivals. She has the flair, the mobility, and the "hero play" potential that makes clips go viral. But she requires a brain. Stop mashing. Start portaling. The Limbo Queen is only as good as the player's timing.