Black Widow: The Unfinished Hero
Every game has that one character who feels a little underdeveloped, and in Marvel Rivals, Black Widow stands out as the hero who never quite clicks. Players often pick her in a match, only to regret their choice moments later, left to wonder if the developers ever truly tested her capabilities. Despite her potential, she frequently falls short, leading to frustrations and doubts about her design. The community on the Marvel Rivals subreddit has been vocal about this, with many threads highlighting her as the weakest hero in the lineup. The criticisms are both numerous and specific, painting a picture of a hero who, while intriguing on paper, struggles to deliver in practice.
On Paper vs. In Practice
On paper, Black Widow’s design looks promising. She is a duelist hero with a versatile toolkit, capable of switching between melee and ranged combat. Her primary weapon is a pair of batons for close-quarters fights, and she carries a rifle for long-range engagements. One of her key abilities, Edge Dancer, allows her to kick enemies back and quickly follow up with another attack. Her ultimate, Electro-Plasma Explosion, slows enemies by 80 percent in a large radius, making her a powerful tool for crowd control. When paired with Hawkeye, she gains access to Supersensory Hunt, which reveals enemy afterimages for additional damage. However, the reality of playing as Black Widow is far from these theoretical strengths.
The Melee Disappointment
Despite her impressive kit, Black Widow’s melee and ranged abilities don’t flow together seamlessly. One of the primary gripes is that her batons, intended to be her main weapon, feel weak and disconnected from the rest of her abilities. "Her melee attacks are abysmal and have no synergy with her abilities. It feels like she’s missing the better half of her kit," a player commented. Another user added, "You cannot convince me Black Widow in Rivals is a completed design." The batons lack the punch and fluidity that melee combat should offer, which makes her close-range encounters frustrating and ineffective. This disconnect between her intended role and actual gameplay is a major roadblock to her becoming a viable hero.
Issues with Her Ultimate
Even her ultimate ability, which should be one of her strongest assets, is marred by significant flaws. The slowing effect, while powerful, can be easily countered by heroes with high mobility tools like Overkill or Spider-Gwen. Moreover, physical shields from heroes like Doctor Strange, Captain America, and Magneto can nullify its impact entirely. The ultimate’s voice line, "Mind the exploding plasma," fails to convey the menacing or clever tone that would befit a character like Black Widow. "She needs a rework entirely because her ult line is ridiculous in every way imaginable," another player noted, and the consensus is that the ultimate’s design and execution need a major overhaul.
Questionable Balance Changes
With the mid-season update set to drop on February 21, some balance changes for Black Widow have been leaked, but they seem to do more harm than good. She is receiving a buff that increases her rifle capacity from eight to 15, which is a welcome improvement. However, this is accompanied by a significant nerf: the slow effect from her ultimate is reduced from 80 percent to 55 percent. While more ammo is always a plus, this change barely addresses the core issues with her kit. The reduction in the slow effect of her ultimate, which was already a point of contention, will likely make her even less effective in controlling the battlefield. "The last thing she needed was a nerf," one player wrote, and many in the community share this sentiment. The update seems to prioritize a minor ranged improvement over addressing the fundamental problems with her melee and ultimate mechanics.
What Black Widow Needs
To make Black Widow a viable hero, the community has suggested several changes that could substantially improve her gameplay. First and foremost, she should be more firmly rooted in close-combat. One user summed it up perfectly: "Black Widow should not be and has never been primarily a sniper. She can have a rifle as an option, but she is almost always represented as a close-range combatant using ranged weapons opportunistically." Buffing her melee attacks to make her a more significant threat up close, reducing the cooldown on Edge Dancer so she can engage in combat more frequently, and introducing an ability that powers up her batons would make her a more balanced and enjoyable character. Additionally, her ultimate should either hit harder or retain its original slow effect to maintain its crowd control utility. Players are currently struggling to justify picking her over other heroes, and these changes could help bridge that gap.
A Call for Action
Marvel Rivals has a robust roster of characters, each with their own unique strengths and playstyles. However, Black Widow remains a standout example of a hero who needs a comprehensive redesign. As the game’s first major balance patch approaches, there is a genuine hope that NetEase will listen to the community’s feedback and give Black Widow the rework she desperately needs. The game has demonstrated that a hero’s effectiveness is directly tied to the tools they are given, and right now, Black Widow’s kit simply doesn’t measure up to the expectations set by her character and her peers. With the right adjustments, Black Widow could become a formidable and beloved hero, bringing a new level of depth and excitement to the Marvel Rivals experience.
