A huge chunk of the characters added to Marvel Rivals post-launch have been X-Men, and it’s fitting that we finally get their on-field leader. Scott Summers, better known as Cyclops, was confirmed as the Season 8.5 Hero weeks ago. And now we finally have a gameplay reveal trailer for him, which confirms that he’ll be a Duelist/DPS. All his abilities, Ultimate, and even a brand-new Team-Up with Wolverine with him as the anchor have been revealed in the trailer.
To summarise it in one sentence, his kit (ability) is a lot like Moon Knight but with lasers. It’s straightforward and looks easy to learn, which is a relief given how complicated new characters have been recently. Keep reading if you want to know what his abilities do, and check out LootBar if you want to grab Cyclops’ Weapon M skin for the best price as soon as he’s available.
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Cyclops’ Abilities From the Marvel Rivals Character Reveal Trailer
Left Click and Right Click: Primary and Secondary Optic Blasts
As you can guess, Cyclops’ primary fire revolves around his laser eyes (or “portals to the punch dimension”, if you prefer that explanation). He can fire 8 single-shot blasts, before he has to reload his own eyes, somehow. These 8 shots are hitscan and deal a decent amount of damage, especially with headshot crits. Based off of the trailer, it doesn’t seem like his primary is as busted as top-tier hitscans like Hela and Pheonix, though.
His secondary fire is a lot like Iron Man’s. Right clicking leads to a continuous optic blast that does devastating damage. It can apparently even bounce off of enemies standing close to each other, similar to the effect Moon Knight’s Ankhs have on his primary. His secondary fire has a charge of 100 rounds, and seems independent of his primary fire as it recharges without needing to reload.
Based off his primary and secondary alone Cyclopes seems like a poke-based DPS that’s especially good for attacking the enemy backline from a safe distance. A really good counter to teams that like sitting back and playing defensive. His secondary can help you attack enemies behind shields if you find a good angle, and seems great for crowd control. Especially if you take his other abilities into account, which we’ll go through next.
E Ability: Physics-Based Deflecting Projectiles
Scott Summers is known for getting creative with his Optic Blasts, and his E ability is exactly that. It seems quite similar to Hanzo’s old Scatter Shot ability from Overwatch. Pressing E will fire a powerful Optic Blast that bounces off of walls and even between enemies. It looks amazing for attacking groups of enemies holding point, especially if you immediately follow up with his secondary fire. You can even fire his E ability on walls to get enemies behind cover. He has two charges for these deflecting Optic Blasts, with a cooldown of 3 seconds between each blast.
F Ability: Temporary Flight/High Jump
Pressing F allows Cyclops to fire his Optic Blasts into the ground, using the momentum to launch high into the air. He can stay suspended for a few seconds, giving him time to get an angle behind enemy shields or cover. Then you can use his E ability or secondary fire to deal damage to multiple foes at once from a new angle. It’s like a better Hawkeye double jump, as he goes higher up and stays there for longer.
L-Shift Ability: Pushback and Retreat Simultaneously
Pressing L-Shift makes Cyclops fire out an Optic Blast that both pushes enemies back while launched Cyclops backwards too. If your enemies are on close to a ledge, it’s a great way to boop them off the map. But even centrally, it’s a pretty good ability for getting away from crowds since it shifts both your position and your enemy’s. That should give you an extra second to get healed or pull back. The beam also does small but continuous damage while pushing the target back.
Q Ability/Ultimate: High-Damaging Optic Fury!
Cyclops’ ultimate fires an unstable Optic Blast straight ahead that deals good damage to all enemies in range. Then, a second after, the entire area hit by the ultimate suddenly experiences a second explosion that also does high damage. It’s quite similar to the second burst of damage in Pheonix’s ultimate, which is kind of cute given the two are a couple. Paired with his F ability to get the higher ground, it looks like a great ultimate for scattering opponents or clearing point, or even team wipes.
Conclusion
A lot of people will be disappointed that he’s not a Vanguard since lots of people are tired of getting Duelists, but Cyclops fits the role like a glove and seems like a fun addition so far. Whether he’ll be broken or not remains to be seen when he finally releases alongside Season 8.5 of Marvel Rivals on Friday, June 12. Along with him, there’s new skins coming to the shop as well as returning ones, so get Marvel Rivals lattice and skins from LootBar if you want them at the best prices.
