ThoughtsOnRivals

Life update: I’m back. ❤️ I’ve always had pretty bad social anxiety and never really been the best public speaker, but I’ve been told that maybe if I actually talk occasionally, people will stop irrationally insisting I’m a man. So… figured I’d post a small update about what I’ve been up to lately between the ghost ban drama, homemade kimchi adventures, and revisiting old-school games like Dungeon Siege.

@detachmnts One tricks? Nah, I'm sure they play a mean SG too 🤣

delete cloak and dagger from rivals so i can stop having one tricks on my team

@JustAMillenay @Em1liath Anything below 90% on C&D is abysmal. That's wild 😳

@Em1liath Pls, make it. I've had a CnD main that somehow missed on Cloak, had 68% acc at the end of the match.

How much do you think I could ragebait YouTube with a “how to aim on cloak and dagger” guide

I keep seeing people say “only Emma is playable into Dino” while completely ignoring how much of this matchup depends on supports, positioning, cooldown tracking, and team coordination. A tank is never fighting in a vacuum in Rivals. I’ve watched White Fox completely ruin Dino engages. I’ve watched Rocket and Warlock sustain through him. I’ve watched Venom players bait cooldowns and isolate his backline. Peni can literally turn choke points into a nightmare for him. People said the exact same thing about Emma at first too. Then the playerbase adapted. Not every strong tank is automatically “role-breaking” just because people haven’t solved the matchup in week one.

devil dino discourse made me realize how delusional ppl are for trying to make this a “OH DPS MAINS HATE IT WHEN OTHERS HAVE FUN!!” when it’s TANK PLAYERS that hate the reptile 😭 out of my 4 tanks ONLY EMMA is playable against him

I honestly think people have the “casual vs long-term health” argument backwards. The casual reaction is usually “I lost to the new character, nerf it immediately.” The healthier long-term approach is actually letting the meta develop long enough for counterplay, adaptations, and skill expression to form before gutting a character a week after release. And a lot of the people pushing the “Dino is ruining the game” narrative aren’t even traditional pros. They’re streamers with audiences. There’s a difference. Old-school competitive scenes were built around results first. Now a lot of balance discussion gets shaped by whoever has the biggest platform and loudest echo chamber. Meanwhile Dino is one of the first tanks in a while actually getting more people interested in playing tank. We’re seeing more frontline players, more aggressive engagement, and more variety instead of everyone avoiding the role because it feels miserable. And he absolutely has counterplay. CC disrupts him, support pressure ruins his sustain windows, mobility tanks can kite him, and coordinated teams can force swaps consistently. I’ve both countered him and BEEN countered while playing him. People are trying to stat-check a sustain tank directly, losing, and calling that “no counterplay” instead of adapting.

Long-term thinker vs. short-term thinker The long-term thinker wants the game to thrive with deep skill expression. The short-term thinker just wants instant fun without worrying about future problems.

That honestly sounds more like reflux/GERD irritation than a straight-up allergy tbh. Chocolate is notorious for triggering acid reflux and post-nasal irritation, especially if you eat it later at night. You can also try over-the-counter omeprazole for a bit and see if it helps. A lot of people don’t realize their “random sore throat every morning” is actually nighttime reflux 😭 I really hope that’s all it is and you can keep indulging in chocolate because honestly I can’t imagine not being able to eat it 💔

@VaideonX i don’t know tbh :(( i’d just wake up with such a sore and stuffy throat the next morning despite drinking lots of water already

i’m craving chocolate so bad but i cant eat it or i’ll have throat issues again💔

They really are 💀 I made the mistake of doing mine in the first two days. I went 4-6 technically, but only one of those losses felt like an actual match. The other five had people openly admitting they were throwing, AFKing in spawn, rage quitting, or soft trolling the entire game. GM placements right now genuinely feel more RNG than skill-based sometimes.

Just started my placements today, oh my god GM PLACEMENTS ARE HELL LOL

@DAKO_tsi That's pretty sexy though 😉

I just got called sexy for canceling a scarlet ult over and over 😭 bro didn’t give up either

@adamxpb Brutal 😓

imagine this team-up was still in the game and you're playing the dino

@KingOfWallnuts @magikyuri LMAO okay fair enough 😭 And honestly yeah, Dino’s hitbox on some maps does feel ridiculous. Sometimes that grab reaches around corners like the game itself wanted you kidnapped.

@ThotsOnRivals @magikyuri Im exaggerating for fun man, of course venom can swing out 🤧 unfortunately sometimes he'll catch me off guard or I'll catch a venom off guard. Plus that hit box on his kidnap is damn near playing hole in the wall on some maps

pro players : hey this dinosaur is broken and not healthy for the game people who don’t play tank or comp: FUCK YOU STUPID DPS PLAYERS WANT TO NERF EVERYTHING BUT DPS tank players who don’t play emma :

Honestly this list is mostly solid but I’d 100% add Sue shield and White Fox stun somewhere on here. A good Sue can completely deny kills, save teammates from ults, block entire sightlines, and farm absurd assist value off one ability. And White Fox stun straight up deletes momentum from tanks/divers if timed right. I’d also argue Cloak fade and Adam Warlock’s Soulbond are WAY stronger than people give them credit for. Those abilities singlehandedly erase mistakes. Meanwhile Punisher shotgun being here is hilarious because it basically reads: “Ability: being within 5 feet of Frank Castle” 💀

strongest abilities in rivals (no order, no ults): - strange tp - rocket res - webswing - wolverine, deadpool, adam passive - soulbond - loki lamps - cloak fade - punisher shotgun - hawkeye headshot - venom overshield - emma grab - thing slam - spidey, bucky hook - gambit cleanse

Honestly this is the healthiest tanking has felt in a while. Tanks are SUPPOSED to feel hard to kill when they’re being properly supported. That’s literally the role. For the longest time it felt like you’d explode the second two DPS looked at you. And people keep leaving out the fact Dino heavily depends on his supports. If you disrupt the healing, stun him at the right time, pressure the backline, or force cooldowns, he falls apart way faster than people pretend he does. A tank finally feeling threatening instead of cosmetic doesn’t automatically mean the game is broken.

Almost 100k defense! This is the best thing tanks have had in a long time! I can finally withstand tons of DPS and also push onto the point or carry the payload. At the same time, Dino feels properly balanced and depends on a lot of healing to comfortably stand up to opponents! God, I hope the whiners who keep yelling that he’s insanely overpowered will stop complaining and start adapting to the new conditions!

God forbid Venom players use Venom’s actual kit and just reposition before Dino slowly stomps over there 😭 Like brother you are playing one of the most mobile tanks in the game. Swing away, disrupt his supports, force cooldowns, isolate people, then re-engage. Half the “Dino is unbeatable” clips are people trying to stat-check a sustain tank directly instead of abusing mobility and backline pressure.

@magikyuri Playing venom and I see that dino slowly turn around and walk towards me while im diving this mother fucker is INSUFFERABLE TO FIGHT AS ANYONE OTHER THAN EMMA, THING, OR DINO 😭😭

I honestly agree. Rivals players call something “broken” before the community even learns how to play against it. People acted like Emma was destroying the game. Then Gambit. Then poke comps. Then triple support. Then sustain metas. Then Black Cat. Every balance patch apparently “kills the game” for 2 weeks until people adapt. Dino’s already starting to feel way more manageable once teams stop panic fighting him head-on and actually pressure his supports or disrupt his rhythm. Also I swear somewhere along the line “streamer” became interchangeable with “pro player” and I genuinely hate it. Half these people are content creators first, competitors second. A lot of modern “meta” discourse is literally just audience echo chambers reinforcing whatever the biggest creators are currently farming content from.

the rivals community overreacts to “broken” heroes way too quickly. 50% the roster gets called OP within a week of buffs, then people adapt and suddenly they’re “mid.” i’m thinking dino is gonna fall off very soon.

I’m not gonna sugarcoat it, no. Anything below 50% on Mantis isn’t good. 50-59% is acceptable if you’re newer to the character or still learning. Around the 60-69% range is where I’d expect someone who’s genuinely solid at aim-based strategists to be sitting consistently. And if you consider yourself REALLY good at the character, you should probably be pushing into the 70-79% range. For characters like Cloak & Dagger where half the kit practically aims itself, you should honestly be above 90% almost every game. Mantis, Luna, Invis, etc. all reward mechanical consistency way more than people realize. A lot of “this healer feels weak” conversations are honestly just aim issues. If you actually wanna improve, aim trainers genuinely help too. I'm not sure what there is for consoles, but for PC I use SteelSeries GG sometimes since it has Rivals-specific aiming drills and tracking exercises. Stuff like that helps way more than just grinding matches. I actually use a controller (Wolverine V3 Pro) for PC for Tanking and Support. I only use keyboard + mouse for DPS.

Is 47% accuracy on console with mantis good ? I’ve been trying her in practice against ai today

@ZenX0075 @LaniRivals @BreadyFPS @Cryptogenin1ip There's definitely skill expression on Dino. What noobs have you been playing with on Dino?

@LaniRivals @BreadyFPS @Cryptogenin1ip Gambit is broken and has to be first banned. Not banning gambit makes the game 10x harder. Teams would rather the mirror matchup, but I’m expecting the game to just be 5v5 since there is basically no skill expression on Dino, but he forces you to play a high dmg character.

I get the dinosaur is fun and you guys like shitting on pros But when ignite rolls around and everybody says the matches are boring to watch/spectate it’ll be a different story 😭

@BreadyFPS Does anyone watch longer than the minimum time to get the reward?

@KuDa_Say2105 100%

Do people who play DPS also annoy you a lot when they yell at tanks to push, even though I’m on tank and I’m not getting any healing because the supports in the backline are getting picked off by divers, and meanwhile our DPS aren’t doing anything about it but still shouting at everyone?

@solotanking You don't F with the Pain Brothers lol

the solo tank vs duo tank experience

@kaitluvsanakin Constantine. The man would get exposed by 14 exes, three demons, the Church of England, and the government simultaneously within his first week online.

which marvel/dc character would get cancelled as soon as they get twitter......?

@suestormkisser My jiggle physics mod has been working fine 😊

the new update ruining my mods physics everything is so stiff that can make me kms i swear rivals you HATE us