Alright, friend, let's get you plugged into the metallic mind of Ultron! He's the new shiny (and slightly terrifying) toy in Marvel Rivals, and you're here to learn how to make him sing – or, more accurately, unleash devastating Encephalo-Rays. Consider this your personal coaching session to becoming an Ultron virtuoso. We'll skip the boring tech manuals and get straight to the good stuff: how to make this flying fortress of a Strategist a game-winning asset.
Ultron touched down in the Marvel Rivals arena with the Season 2.5 update on May 30th, and while he's known in the wider Marvel universe as a genocidal maniac, in this game, he's a unique support character who brings a fascinating blend of aerial damage and healing capabilities. This isn't your typical heal-bot; Ultron is about calculated aggression and smart, sustained support. So, let's boot up your Ultron programming and get you ready to dominate!
Master Plan
First things first: Ultron isn't here to just top off health bars. He's a hybrid hero, a "DPS-focused Strategist", or as some put it, a "damage-dealer with a single supportive ability you need to use wisely". This means your brain needs to be in two places at once – scanning for enemies to zap and allies to patch up. He's not about just sitting back; he's an active participant in the fight, capable of both offensive pressure and supportive actions.
So, what's his job on the team? Think of him as an "off-healer" or a potent third Strategist. He truly shines when he's not the only one responsible for keeping the team alive. His healing is more about consistent, area-of-effect (AoE) top-ups rather than massive, life-saving burst heals. This is why he often fits best into "3 strategist compositions". In these setups, other supports can handle the emergency burst healing, freeing Ultron to contribute significant damage while his drone provides steady, widespread healing.
If your team composition does rely on Ultron as one of only two healers, then his team-up ability with Iron Man becomes absolutely crucial for that extra healing punch. This design has a subtle but important impact on how teams are built. If Ultron is on the field, it often signals a team's intention to run multiple supports, or it means the other heroes (Duelists and Vanguards) need to be more self-reliant or adept at avoiding damage, as they won't have a dedicated burst healer unless another Strategist fills that niche.
- Unique aerial positioning and sightlines
- Consistent AoE healing with drone
- Significant long-range poke damage
- Excellent for protecting flying heroes
- Powerful team-up with Iron Man
- Vulnerable to long-range hitscan
- Requires good positioning awareness
- Limited burst healing capabilities
- Only 250 health makes him squishy
- Drone requires line of sight management
Abilities Unleashed
Understanding Ultron's kit is like learning the schematics to a super-weapon. Each ability has a specific purpose, and using them in concert is key to your success.
Passive: Flight
Effect: Ultron is in a constant state of free flight. Players can make him ascend (L2/LT) and descend (L1/LB) at will.
Encephalo-Ray (Primary Fire)
Effect: Ultron fires a precise energy beam from his hand-cannon. The beam deals several small ticks of damage for about a second, followed by a single, more powerful blast. The total damage is around 150 per full sequence (e.g., six hits of 12 damage each, then a final blast of 75). He has an ammo capacity of 6 shots before needing to reload.
Range/Falloff: While some early reports suggested no damage drop-off, more detailed analyses and game data indicate that there is damage falloff. It typically starts at 20 meters, with damage reducing to about 75% by 30 meters.
Dynamic Flight (Mobility)
Effect: Ultron performs a quick dash (around 10-12 meters) in the direction he is moving and then gains increased movement speed for a short duration (8 seconds). Activating this ability also grants Ultron 50 bonus health. The 8-second cooldown begins once the speed boost effect expires.
Imperative: Patch (Healing Drone)
Effect: Ultron commands a large drone to follow a selected ally. This drone continuously heals the targeted ally (at a rate of 45 health per second) and also heals other nearby allies within its 8-meter radius (at 30 health per second). The designated ally always receives the more potent healing. This ability has no cooldown, allowing for instant retargeting. However, the drone will self-destruct if Ultron moves further than 40 meters away from the ally it's attached to, or if the drone loses line of sight with Ultron himself for more than 5 seconds.
Imperative: Firewall (Bonus Health)
Effect: Ultron summons micro-drones that grant instant bonus health to himself (75 bonus HP) and any allies within an 8-meter radius around him (55 bonus HP). Importantly, this bonus health is also granted to allies within range of the currently active Imperative: Patch drone. This ability is excellent for mitigating incoming burst damage and has a 10-second cooldown.
ULTIMATE: Rage of Ultron
Effect: Ultron fabricates a squad of combat drones that, alongside Ultron himself, fire volleys of exploding Encephalo-Rays for 8-9 seconds. These rays damage enemies (each individual beam might do around 8 damage, with multiple beams per volley) and heal allies (each beam might heal for 25, again, stacking up with multiple beams). During this ultimate, Ultron also regenerates 50 health per second for himself and gains an "Unstoppable" status, meaning he cannot be crowd-controlled.
TEAM-UP: Stark Protocol (Iron Man x Ultron)
Effect: When Iron Man is on the team, Ultron gains access to a special ability called Nano Ray. Activating it temporarily (for 8 seconds) transforms his Encephalo-Ray into a continuous, piercing beam that damages enemies (around 70 damage per second) and heals allies (around 85 health per second) it passes through. This ability has a 30-second cooldown.
| Ability Name | Simplified Effect | Primary Use/Key Tip |
|---|---|---|
| Flight (Passive) | Constant free flight with manual ascent/descent | Gain superior positioning and sightlines; be wary of snipers |
| Encephalo-Ray (LMB) | Tracking beam followed by a damage burst; has ammo and falloff | Poke enemies from range; requires good tracking; manage reloads |
| Dynamic Flight (LShift) | Quick dash with a speed boost and bonus health | Escape danger, reposition quickly, or dodge key abilities; crucial for survival |
| Imperative: Patch (E) | Deploys a drone that follows an ally, healing them and nearby allies (AoE) | Main healing tool; no cooldown, so switch targets often; maintain LoS with drone |
| Imperative: Firewall (RMB) | Grants instant bonus health to self and nearby allies (also around Patch drone) | Counter enemy burst damage; use proactively before engages or reactively to save allies |
| Rage of Ultron (Q) | Summons drones for AoE damage and healing; self-heals and grants Unstoppable | Primarily a powerful team healing ultimate for mid-fight impact; can also contribute decent AoE damage |
| Stark Protocol (C) | (With Iron Man) Temporary piercing beam that damages enemies and heals allies | Massive boost to healing/damage output and ult charge; prioritize healing allies through chokepoints or team fights |
Core Strategies & Positioning
Alright, now that you know what Ultron does, let's talk about how to do it effectively. Playing Ultron well is like conducting an orchestra of destruction and regeneration.
The Hybrid Dance
Your entire gameplay revolves around a constant assessment: "Does my team desperately need healing or shields right now, or do I have a window to poke an enemy, apply pressure, or finish someone off?" This decision-making loop is at the core of high-level Ultron play. You're not just a heal-bot waiting for health bars to drop, nor are you a pure fragger. You're both, and the art is in the balance.
The Mobile Support Sniper
Generally, your default stance should be to stay back and utilize your impressive range. Remember, Ultron only has 250 health, making him relatively squishy if caught out. Flight is your friend for gaining high ground, which offers excellent vision for both your Encephalo-Rays and for directing your Imperative: Patch drone.
However, this also means you need to be acutely aware of enemy sightlines to you. A good sniper or hitscan player will see a flying Ultron as a juicy, predictable target. Therefore, always play near cover that you can quickly dash to using Dynamic Flight. Community wisdom often suggests playing lower to the ground and closer to your team rather than "flying into the stratosphere". This makes it easier to receive support, use cover, and manage your drone's line of sight.
Hit-and-Run Style
Ultron's kit naturally encourages a hit-and-run approach. His Encephalo-Ray delivers its damage in bursts rather than sustained streams. This means you can peek from cover, unleash a charged shot, and then use Dynamic Flight to reposition or retreat while your weapon resets or reloads.
Aggression vs. Support Balance
It's a fine line to walk. Don't get too aggressive and try to play him like a frontline Duelist; his health pool won't sustain it. Conversely, don't be too passive and focus only on healing. Your damage output is a significant part of your value to the team. The sweet spot is found by "working alongside one or more allies closely". You are an enabler – your damage helps secure kills your Duelists are working on, and your healing keeps your Vanguard in the fight longer.
Drone Mastery
Ultron's drones are the heart of his support capabilities. Mastering their use is non-negotiable.
Imperative: Patch (Healing Drone) Mastery
Target Priority: This is situational. If your team is grouped up and taking AoE damage, placing the drone on your Vanguard can provide excellent widespread healing. If you have a flanker Duelist diving the enemy backline, sending the drone with them provides crucial sustain for their risky endeavors. Flying heroes like Iron Man or Storm are also prime candidates, as Ultron is exceptionally good at keeping them topped off from the air.
Line of Sight is KING: Remember, the drone has two LoS dependencies: it will self-destruct if the allied target moves more than 40 meters away from Ultron, or if the drone itself loses line of sight with Ultron for 5 seconds. This means your positioning relative to both your drone and its current target is absolutely crucial for maintaining uptime on your primary healing source.
Self-Heal Trick: Don't forget this neat trick: you can use Dynamic Flight to quickly move into your own Imperative: Patch drone's AoE (when it's attached to an ally) to heal yourself. This is a vital survivability tool.
Imperative: Firewall (Bonus Health) Tactics
Anti-Burst Tool: This is its primary reactive use. See an ally about to eat a big hit, like a Spider-Man combo or a focused burst from multiple enemies? Pop Firewall to give them (and yourself, if you're nearby) that instant buffer of bonus health.
Proactive Buff: It can also be used proactively. If your team is about to push through a choke point or engage in a brawl, activating Firewall beforehand can give everyone a slight health advantage.
Maximize Coverage: A key synergy to exploit is that Firewall grants its bonus health in an AoE around Ultron and around the ally currently designated by Imperative: Patch. So, "position your drone to be on as many people as possible before hitting right click to overshield, if you can". This allows you to effectively double the area in which your team can receive the bonus health.
Ultimate Mastery
Ultron's ultimate, Rage of Ultron, can be a fight-turner, but understanding its nuances is key.
Healing First, Damage Second (Usually)
Despite the aggressive name, the consensus is that "Rage of Ultron is better for healing than damage". Community discussions and analysis highlight its potent support capabilities. While exact numbers can vary slightly based on sources and potential patches, the healing output is significant. The core takeaway is that it pumps out a lot of healing in its duration.
When to Pop It
Mid-Fight Team Saver: The ideal scenario is when your team and the enemy are clumped together in a heated brawl. Activating it here allows the beams to hit multiple allies for healing and multiple enemies for damage, potentially swinging the entire engagement.
Clutch Heals: Use it to save a critical teammate who is being heavily focused, especially a Vanguard trying to hold space or another support keeping the team alive.
Countering Enemy Ults: It can be used defensively. The sheer volume of healing can help your team withstand the damage from certain enemy offensive ultimates.
Proactive Use for Tempo: Ultron tends to charge his ultimate relatively quickly. This means you shouldn't always hold onto it waiting for the absolute "perfect" five-man heal-and-damage scenario. Sometimes, using it proactively to secure a numbers advantage, enable a strong push, or simply to keep your team topped off during an important objective contest can be the right call.
Positioning During Ult
When you activate Rage of Ultron, you are lifted slightly into the air, become Unstoppable (immune to crowd control), and regenerate your own health (50 HP/second). This combination of effects is crucial. The Unstoppable status prevents enemies from interrupting your ultimate with stuns, knockbacks, or other CC, while the self-regeneration makes you surprisingly durable.
This allows you to activate your ultimate in more dangerous situations—closer to the enemy team or during heavy incoming fire—to maximize its AoE impact without being immediately shut down. Some players suggest aiming at targets' feet, likely to maximize the splash effect of the exploding Encephalo-Rays for both damage and healing.
Synergies & Counters
No hero is an island, and Ultron is no exception. Knowing who he works well with and who makes his circuits spark (in a bad way) is vital.
Best Teammates (Synergies)
This is the golden ticket. The Stark Protocol team-up is frequently cited as "one of the most impactful" in the game. It provides a massive boost to Ultron's healing, damage output, and even his ultimate charge rate. If you're playing Ultron, having an Iron Man on your team elevates your effectiveness significantly.
Other Flying Heroes (Storm, Human Torch, etc.): Ultron is lauded as "100% the best Strategist for protecting flyers". His Imperative: Patch drone can easily keep pace with airborne allies, providing them with consistent sustain that ground-based healers might struggle to deliver.
Mobile Duelists/Flankers: Characters who operate independently or dive deep into enemy lines are excellent candidates for Ultron's Patch drone, as it allows them to maintain pressure without needing to retreat for healing as often.
Multiple Strategist Compositions: As mentioned earlier, Ultron thrives when he isn't shouldering the entire healing burden. In comps with two other Strategists, he can lean more into his damage and utility, providing supplemental healing while contributing significantly to fights.
Heroes Who Counter Ultron
Ultron's primary vulnerability is his aerial nature, making him susceptible to characters with strong long-range, hitscan, or anti-air capabilities.
| Counter Hero | Why They're a Threat | Quick Survival Tip |
|---|---|---|
| Hela | High long-range damage, excellent anti-air | Prioritize cover; use Dynamic Flight preemptively if she's looking your way |
| Hawkeye | Long-range arrows, Wind Arrow can pull you down | Maintain erratic flight patterns; listen for arrow audio cues; respect his sightlines |
| Black Widow | High burst damage sniper, deadly with headshots | Avoid predictable flight paths; use verticality to make yourself a harder target |
| The Punisher | Consistent mid-to-long range hitscan damage | Stay at extreme range if possible; use cover to break LoS during his sustained fire |
| Luna Snow | Hitscan damage, potent freeze can ground you | Be wary of her effective range; dodge her freeze projectile at all costs |
| Spider-Man | Can close distance quickly and combo if you're isolated | Save Dynamic Flight for his engage; stick closer to teammates for peel |
| Winter Soldier | Hook can pull you out of the sky if you overextend | Don't fly predictably or too close to him without an escape plan |
Advanced Techniques
Ready to elevate your Ultron game from competent to downright terrifying? These advanced techniques and non-obvious mechanics are what separate the good Ultrons from the great ones.
THE Reload Cancel
This is arguably the most impactful advanced tech for Ultron. His Encephalo-Ray has a noticeable "reconfigure" or reload time between full shot sequences. However, you can significantly reduce this downtime.
Mastering this reload cancel is crucial for maximizing your damage uptime, especially when trying to secure crucial eliminations on targets that might otherwise escape or be healed. This technique alone significantly raises Ultron's skill ceiling and burst potential.
Drone-Based Self-Sustain
We've touched on this, but it bears repeating as an advanced tactic: actively use your Dynamic Flight to reposition yourself into the healing AoE of your Imperative: Patch drone (when it's attached to an ally). This requires good awareness of your drone's location and your own health, turning a team healing tool into a personal survival cooldown.
Strategic Firewall Usage
While great for team saves, remember to use Firewall selfishly for personal survivability when you get dived or focused. Keeping the Strategist alive is often paramount. Exploit the fact that Firewall's bonus health emanates from both Ultron and the ally currently carrying your Imperative: Patch drone. This means you can coordinate your drone placement and your own positioning before popping Firewall to grant bonus health to a much wider group of allies, effectively doubling its coverage potential.
Aggressive Drone Swapping for Ultimate Charge
As emphasized before, don't let your Imperative: Patch drone linger on a full-health ally. Constantly swap it to teammates who are actively taking damage. This not only maximizes your healing throughput but, critically, also maximizes your ultimate generation from healing. A faster Rage of Ultron can mean more won team fights.
"Peek-a-Boom" with Encephalo-Ray
Given the charge-up nature of the Encephalo-Ray's final high-damage blast, you can adopt a "peek-a-boom" playstyle. Position near cover, briefly expose yourself to line up and fire a charged shot, and then immediately duck back behind cover while the weapon resets or reloads (especially if you haven't mastered the reload cancel yet). This minimizes your exposure to enemy fire.
Dynamic Flight for Aggression (Use With Extreme Caution!)
While Dynamic Flight is primarily your escape and repositioning tool, the burst of speed and bonus health can be used offensively in very specific situations. If you spot a low-health, isolated target and are confident you can secure the kill and have a clear escape route or follow-up plan, a quick dash in can sometimes catch them off guard. However, this is a high-risk, high-reward maneuver and should be used sparingly.
Current Status & Balance
Ultron is still fresh off the assembly line, having been introduced to Marvel Rivals on May 30, 2025, as a headline addition for the Season 2.5 update. As is common with newly released heroes, the developers are likely still gathering data on his performance across different skill levels and team compositions.
The most recent patch notes available (for version 20250605, which dropped around June 5th/6th, 2025) do not list any specific balance changes – buffs or nerfs – for Ultron himself. The patch that introduced Ultron on May 30th did include balance adjustments for other heroes, but Ultron was, of course, new and not being changed at that point. This lack of immediate tweaks is standard procedure; developers usually prefer to let a new character settle into the meta and observe player interaction before making adjustments.
Interestingly, alongside Ultron's release, a new experimental, limited-time game mode called "Ultron's Battle Matrix Protocol" was introduced. This mode, running from June 6th to June 23rd, 2025, allows players to "Command and conquer from Ultron's perspective." While this is a fun, thematic addition and a great way to engage players with the new hero, it's separate from his balance in the standard game modes.
Community perception of Ultron is still evolving. As with many new heroes, there was an initial wave of mixed reactions. Some players found him underwhelming or difficult to get value from, leading to the typical "F-tier" cries that often accompany new releases. However, a growing sentiment, supported by players dedicating time to him, argues that he is misunderstood rather than underpowered. Many believe he is quite capable, particularly when played in the correct team compositions (like triple Strategist setups) and when his unique hybrid toolkit is leveraged effectively.
Final Directive
So there you have it – your comprehensive briefing on commanding Ultron, the flying hybrid Strategist of Marvel Rivals. The core of his being is that unique blend of persistent, long-range damage and set-and-forget healing from his drones, all delivered from the strategic vantage point of the skies.
Embrace the Hybrid Role: You are not just a healer, nor are you just a damage dealer. Your strength lies in seamlessly weaving between these functions based on the flow of battle.
Position with Precision: Use your flight to your advantage, but always be mindful of threats. Play near cover, support your frontline, and don't be an easy target.
Buddy Up with Iron Man: If the opportunity arises, the Stark Protocol team-up is a massive force multiplier.
Ultron isn't a pick-up-and-play-perfectly hero. His Encephalo-Ray requires good tracking, and his advanced techniques like the reload cancel and drone-based self-healing take practice to integrate consistently. But the reward for mastering his complex programming is a uniquely impactful and versatile playstyle that can truly dictate the terms of engagement.
You've got the intel, you've got the programming. Now get out there, adapt, evolve, and show them the true meaning of the Age of Ultron! Good luck, Rival!