Very Marvel Rivals the tier lists agree: Scarlet Witch is one of the worst champions if you plan on climbing the competitive rankings in the game. Just like Moira Overwatchit is destructive if left unchecked, but it falls apart once people know how to deal with it. In the top rankings, where the meta revolves around Storm, no one bothers to pick her – except one player who dedicated an entire account solely to playing Scarlet Witch and Scarlet Witch.
Byou has over 200 hours in the game and has spent 47 hours playing matches as Scarlet Witch. He said that high-ranking players were the most skeptical of his choice, but when he put in enough time to get her Lord icon, they began to respect his choice.
Most heroes need to focus on aiming their skills and aiming their weapons rather than anticipating their opponent’s next move. Scarlet Witch doesn’t do that and Byou said that’s why he does so well with her. “It allows you to put the ‘brain power’ you’ve put into the character into play,” he said. “Paying more attention to your surroundings, voice calls, tracking cooldowns, etc.”
Unlike other heroes, Scarlet Witch can easily fly into the air and harass people from above. Her damage is low, but she can still be a nuisance enough to assist with kills for her team. Byou said most players don’t realize how vital it is: “You’re creating a lot of pressure and a distraction that your team won’t notice because it doesn’t show up on the scoreboard.”
Her Dark Seal ability can stun enemies on the spot so your team can eliminate them. It can be a bit fiddly to apply, but Byou said that’s crucial if you want to get better with it, especially at higher levels where players are more likely to apply it. He likes to sit near the enemy spawn door and throw it at Doctor Strange players trying to place their portal, stopping the team’s surprise attack.
As for her ultimate, which is an explosion pure chaos which can tidy an entire room, Byou found it unreliable. If you don’t get eliminated before it explodes, people will simply run out of its reach, he said. Byou said that this can only work if used while a support champion is healing with his ultimate, or if used against an enemy support champion that is doing the same, “because he can’t heal more than one-shot.”
Byou discovered that the best way to play Scarlet Witch was to act like a mosquito, circling the battlefield and harassing people when they weren’t expecting it. He’s great at hovering over other fighters when they’re looking for fragile targets, he said, adding that when the fight involves close-quarters heroes like Magik and Thor, he can ruin their day before they even touch it.
Despite being the weakest champion on the roster, Byou said he doesn’t think she needs much assist. There are bugs to fix, such as the one that causes her main fire beam to focus on terrain rather than enemies, but otherwise she’s pretty balanced, he said, adding: “Aside from a few champions and all healing ultimates are over-tuned, The game is in a great place in Season 1.”
