Marvel Rivals: How to Play Nightcrawler

To play Nightcrawler in Marvel Rivals, heal from mid range with Forged Brimstone’s grenades, spend your three teleports (Swift Intervention, Tandem Teleport and Smoke Shift) to reach allies in trouble or pull them out of it, and save Phasing Finale for moving your whole team into a fight. He is a Strategist, the game’s support role, with 275 health, and he is free: he joined the roster with Season 11 on November 13, 2026.

NetEase sums him up on his official hero page: “When the battle spirals into darkness, a single instant is all it takes for Nightcrawler to teleport in and lead his allies back toward the light.” Every ability name and number below comes from that page as it read at Season 11’s launch, and the costume and event details come from the Version 20261113 patch notes. Balance patches can change the numbers, so check the hero page after each one.

Nightcrawler’s Kit at a Glance

The keys are the PC defaults NetEase lists; its hero page does not give controller buttons.

How to Unlock Nightcrawler

Nightcrawler costs nothing. NetEase’s official site promises “All Heroes Free to Unlock,” and his reveal trailer says he is “available with the Season 11 launch on November 13 UTC.”

1. Download the Season 11 update. Its maintenance began at 09:00 UTC on November 13 (4 AM Eastern) and was set to last about two hours, as our Season 11 start guide covers.
2. Open hero select and pick him from the Strategists.
3. For a story reason to play him, the new seasonal event, The Acts of Kurt Wagner, has you “team up with Nightcrawler to decipher Destiny’s prophecy” and “lead daring disaster relief ops,” per NetEase.

Nightcrawler’s Costumes and How to Get Them

• Hope Soared (free): the Season 11.0 Gold-tier rank reward. Reach Gold in Competitive before Season 11.5, which NetEase’s Season 11.0 roadmap puts on December 11.
• Steadfast Swordsman Bundle (store): on sale from 09:00 UTC on November 13.
• X-Force (store): a separate costume, also in the store from launch.
• Extras (store): a Nightcrawler Emoji Bundle, the Pickles Plush accessory and a new “Take a Seat” animation.

He is not one of the ten heroes in the official art for The Incursion, the Season 11 battle pass. Our Season 11 battle pass guide lists the heroes who do. The patch notes give no store prices, so check the store in game, and our guide to getting Units without paying covers the free ways to pay for a bundle.

Healing With Forged Brimstone

Forged Brimstone is your main healing tool. Each volley throws 3 grenades that explode on impact, and NetEase’s numbers show where the healing is:

• On impact: 10 damage to enemies, 10 healing to allies.
• In the spell field: 15 damage, 30 healing.
• Rate: one 3-grenade volley every 0.9 seconds.

NetEase lists 30 healing in the spell field against 10 on impact, so aim at the ground where your allies are standing, not at their heads, and the field forms under them. Since every grenade heals allies and hurts enemies, a volley into a mixed brawl does both jobs at once.

Three-Sword Style for Close Range

Three-Sword Style is a burst of rapid thrusts, 9 a second at 11 damage each, with critical hits at 150%. It reaches only 7 meters and runs on energy: a full bar is 60, it drains at 20 a second, and it refills at 10 a second. That gives you about three seconds of nonstop thrusting from full, and six seconds to refill from empty.

Treat it as your answer to an enemy who reaches you or your backline, or a way to finish someone low within 7 meters, then go back to healing.

When to Use Each Teleport

Nightcrawler’s value is in when and where he teleports. Each of the three does a different job.

Swift Intervention (Shift): get to an ally. Pick an ally up to 20 meters away and teleport to them. They get 50 instant healing and a 20% Healing Boost for 4 seconds, and you both get 25 healing a second for 4 seconds. NetEase also lists half a second of invincibility. It has 2 charges that each take 12 seconds to recharge, with 2 seconds between uses, so you can hop to one ally and then another, or spend one charge to reach a fight and keep the other to leave by jumping to someone behind you.

Tandem Teleport (F): pull an ally out. Send an invitation to an ally up to 20 meters away. Once they accept, you teleport to them and pull them back to where you started, up to 25 meters. Both of you get 50 instant healing and 25 healing a second for 4 seconds, and NetEase also lists a 20% Speed Boost for 4 seconds and 1 second of invincibility. Two things follow from that text: nothing happens until the ally accepts, so call it out first, and the ally lands where you were standing, so cast it from somewhere safe. The cooldown is 15 seconds.

Smoke Shift (E): dive in and come back. The first activation marks your starting point with brimstone smoke and dashes you 10 meters forward in a spinning slash (45 damage in a 6-meter radius). The dash sets off a smoke blast that deals 15 damage and Launches enemies while healing allies for 50. You have a 4-second window to recast, and the third activation teleports you back to the mark. Use it to knock an enemy off a teammate and heal the group, and plant the mark somewhere you want to return to. The cooldown is 15 seconds.

Crawler Cling (passive). Press Jump against a wall to cling to it and crawl freely. Walls put you above enemies on the ground and give you new lines to throw grenades onto your team.

When to Use Phasing Finale

Phasing Finale is a team teleport with a second stage:

1. Pick a spot up to 30 meters away. Your nearby allies (NetEase lists a 20-meter radius) are teleported there one by one, and a Smoke Domain forms at the destination.
2. Your team lands buffed: a 20% Damage Boost for 10 seconds, 50 healing a second for 10 seconds, and 200 Bonus Health plus another 200 on landing.
3. Cast it again to teleport to every enemy in the Smoke Domain (NetEase lists a 15-meter radius), slash them for 60 damage and pull them to your location.

Vanguards land within 4 meters of the point, Duelists within 2.5 meters and Strategists within 0.75 meters. It costs 4,500 energy.

The kit points to two uses. It only takes allies near you, so group up before you cast. And the second stage drags enemies to you, so cast it once your team is ready to fight on top of them, while their Damage Boost is still running. Good targets are an objective your team needs to reach, high ground, or a flank.

Which Team-Up to Equip

Nightcrawler has two Team-Ups. You equip one before the match and can swap in the spawn room, and each has a Base Effect that always works and an Enhanced Effect when its partner is on your team, as our Team-Ups guide explains.

Protective Siblings (C), partner Rogue. Base: you vanish, and a burst from that spot deals 15 damage and heals allies for 50 in a 5-meter radius. After a short delay you reappear above it and slam down for 40 damage in a 3-meter radius, Slowing enemies. Enhanced, with Rogue: the power is recalled after the slam, healing allies for 30, dealing 30 damage and Launching enemies toward you in an 8-meter radius. Cooldown: 15 seconds.

Demon Disciple (passive), partner Magik. Base: every teleport creates a spell field that deals 10 damage and heals allies for 40 in an 8-meter radius. That counts all 3 stages of Smoke Shift, both stages of Tandem Teleport and each Swift Intervention. Enhanced, with Magik: each teleport also gives you 25 Bonus Health.

How to choose: Demon Disciple adds healing to teleports you were already going to use and needs no extra button, while Protective Siblings gives you one more active ability with its own cooldown and a Slow, plus a Launch that pulls enemies toward you when Rogue is on your team. If your team has Rogue (a Vanguard) or Magik (a Duelist), the matching Enhanced Effect is the easy pick.

Mistakes to Avoid

• Sending Tandem Teleport with no warning. It waits for the ally to accept, so tell them first.
• Planting the Smoke Shift mark in a bad spot. The third activation brings you back to it, so the mark should be somewhere safe.
• Spending both Swift Intervention charges at once. Keeping one gives you a way out by teleporting to a teammate.
• Recasting Phasing Finale alone. The second stage pulls enemies to you, so do it with your team around you.

Once you settle on him, our guide to reaching Lord rank on a hero covers the long grind. The other free Season 11 costume is Devil Dinosaur’s Will of Galacta, from the Twitch drops, and our redeem codes page lists anything else free. For the rest of the season, our Marvel guide hub collects every guide we have.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Nightcrawler a Strategist in Marvel Rivals? Yes. NetEase’s official hero page lists him as a Strategist, the support role, with 275 health.

Is Nightcrawler free in Marvel Rivals? Yes. NetEase promises all heroes are free to unlock, and he arrived with the Season 11 update on November 13, 2026.

What are Nightcrawler’s Team-Ups? Protective Siblings, enhanced when Rogue is on your team, and Demon Disciple, enhanced when Magik is on your team. You equip one at a time.

What is Nightcrawler’s ultimate? Phasing Finale. It teleports nearby allies to a spot you pick and buffs them, and a second cast pulls enemies in its Smoke Domain to you.

Can Nightcrawler climb walls? Yes. His passive, Crawler Cling, lets you press Jump to cling to vertical surfaces and crawl freely.

How do you get Nightcrawler’s Hope Soared costume? Reach Gold in Competitive during Season 11.0, which runs until Season 11.5 on December 11 on NetEase’s roadmap. Hope Soared is that half-season’s Gold-tier rank reward.