The "poke" archetype in Marvel Rivals defines a methodical and high-precision style of play. Rather than relying on direct dives or overwhelming force, poke compositions use sustained long-range pressure to control space, isolate targets, and chip away at the enemy’s capacity to fight back. With recent buffs and evolving team synergy, heroes like Magneto, Doctor Strange, Hela, Hawkeye, Namor, Luna Snow, and Mantis have emerged as the go-to picks for modern poke strategies. Each brings a unique form of control, healing, or ranged damage that complements this slow-burn style of gameplay. This section details the guiding philosophy behind successful poke comps, the execution principles that elevate their potential, and how to make the most of your range advantage in today’s meta.
At the heart of a good poke comp is the concept of proactive map control and steady, non-committal pressure. Instead of forcing fights, you force choices. Magneto’s magnetic bombardments and zoning capabilities provide consistent suppression of corridors and key sightlines. Doctor Strange excels at holding and denying areas with his shield while offering valuable burst utility through his portals. Hawkeye remains a lethal long-range option who thrives when protected and given space to line up shots. Hela, with her recent improvements, now sustains herself and zones effectively with her raven projectiles and soul traps. Namor plays an important role as well, pressuring squishier enemies with his turrets while shielding himself with tidal cover from danger. Supplementing this, Luna Snow can slow enemies at range and disengage threats, while Mantis ensures the composition’s endurance with HoTs and strong damage output.
Core Tenets of a Successful Poke Composition
Executing a high-level poke strategy with this cast requires more than just mechanical accuracy. It’s about spacing, synergy, and constant communication. Unlike dive comps that depend on explosive initiation, poke relies on control, vision, and endurance. Every decision should aim to stretch the enemy thin, mentally and physically, through sustained pressure, area denial, and calculated pick attempts.
Superior Positioning: High ground and long sightlines are vital. Heroes like Hawkeye and Namor thrive when placed on elevated perches that allow them uninterrupted angles of fire. Coordinate with Doctor Strange to reposition effectively using portals, and hold key areas using his control tools. Maintaining triangle pressure, with teammates poking from different directions, makes enemy advances dangerous and inefficient.
Target Prioritization: Even in a poke comp, coordinated focus is vital. Use Namor’s turrets or Magneto’s burst to soften up enemies, then switch to burst down isolated supports or key duelists when the opportunity arises. Mantis and Luna Snow offer crowd control to freeze exposed targets in place for follow-up.
Ultimate Economy: Synergize your ultimates with staggered pressure. Hela’s zone denial, Luna’s slows, and Strange’s AoE burst all have high impact - but they shine brightest when not used simultaneously. Coordinate staggered waves of threat to keep opponents defensive and unable to counter-push effectively.
A successful poke comp turns the battlefield into a minefield of pressure and angles. Rather than meeting enemies head-on, you dismantle their options. When enemies attempt to push, they meet Magneto’s fields and Hawkeye’s precision. When they regroup, Doctor Strange opens an angle for a flank. When they hesitate, Hela and Namor bleed their health pools dry. With Luna and Mantis in the backline ensuring stability, the poke team maintains constant tempo. Over time, the accumulation of pressure forces panic plays, baited ultimates, and increasingly desperate rotations. That’s when the comp strikes, not with force, but with inevitability.
The Trio of Annoyance: Hero Synergies and Roles
The synergy between Doctor Strange, Hawkeye, and Luna Snow defines one of the most frustrating and effective poke compositions in Marvel Rivals. Each hero operates at a different range and with different forms of control, combining to create a layered defense that bleeds opponents dry before they can even engage.
Doctor Strange: Poke Composition Enabler
Doctor Strange is a Vanguard hero known for his defensive support capabilities and ranged magical attacks - traits that make him an ideal pick for poke-oriented team compositions. His kit allows him to deal consistent damage from a distance, protect allies with his shield, and manipulate battlefield positioning. In a well-coordinated poke comp, Doctor Strange is the anchor that enables safe chip damage and controls enemy approaches.
Key Abilities and Their Poke Synergy
- Daggers of Denak: Fires a volley of five enchanted daggers, dealing 16 damage each. Damage falls off at long range, but the consistent poke is excellent for pressure and Dark Magic generation.
- Shield of the Seraphim: Creates a forward-facing magic barrier with 800 HP. It blocks projectiles and regenerates over time. Great for defending teammates during ranged trades and holding key lanes.
- Cloak of Levitation: Grants short flight, allowing Strange to reposition or gain elevation. Essential for escaping dive threats or taking superior firing angles.
- Maelstrom of Madness: Releases stored Dark Magic in an AoE burst. Damage scales with the number of stacks. Effective as a defensive burst when pressured or to finish weakened enemies.
- Pentagram of Farallah: Places linked portals between two locations. Can be used for surprise positioning, regrouping, or ranged attacks through alternate angles. Enemies can use it too, so timing and location are key.
- Eye of Agamotto (Ultimate): Rips the souls from nearby enemies, stunning them and transferring all damage taken by the soul to their body. Powerful setup tool to secure team wipes after softening targets with poke.
- Price of Magic (Passive): Generates Dark Magic with every hit. At 100 stacks, if not discharged in time, Doctor Strange is afflicted with Anti-Heal. Avoid this by discharging with Maelstrom.
Doctor Strange’s value isn’t raw damage - it’s strategic control and layered utility. His shield enables prolonged trades, giving ranged teammates the freedom to maintain fire. His daggers apply steady chip damage to wear down even tankier opponents over time. Portals create angles and save lives, and his ability to manipulate enemy positioning is second to none. When played with discipline and timing, Doctor Strange can shut down aggression before it begins and turn a poke comp from slow pressure into swift collapse.
Hawkeye: The Precision Sniper
Hawkeye is a high-skill Duelist who excels in long-range engagement and picking off priority targets. His role in poke comps is to enforce control over sightlines, punish overextension, and secure eliminations through accuracy and timing. Supported by shielding and zoning from teammates like Doctor Strange and Luna Snow, Hawkeye becomes a nearly untouchable sharpshooter. His presence alone often reshapes how enemies approach team fights, as any misstep into the open could result in a devastating headshot. With the addition of his Team-Up Ability with Luna Snow, his utility and kill potential have reached new heights, providing reliable crowd control to set up lethal arrows.
Key Abilities and Poke Synergy
- Piercing Arrow: A chargeable long-range arrow that deals up to 85 base damage when fully drawn, and can land headshots for a massive burst. The lack of ammo constraints allows constant pressure if the player maintains strong aim discipline and timing.
- Archer’s Focus: Enhances the damage of Piercing Arrow over time while aiming. This bonus damage can push headshots into lethal territory, making full draws a vital part of every engagement.
- Blast Arrow: Fires three explosive arrows in a spread. While not as lethal as Piercing Arrow, it's useful for disrupting grouped enemies and pressuring corners where enemies may hide.
- Hypersonic Arrow: A high-speed projectile that hits twice and applies a slowing effect. This is Hawkeye’s strongest zoning and utility shot, used for displacing enemies, punishing aerial threats, or slowing down would-be divers before they close the distance.
- Crescent Slash: A close-range melee deflection that deals minor damage and knocks back enemies. Use this only in emergencies to create space and fend off flankers.
- Skyward Leap: Provides key vertical mobility for relocating between high ground positions or escaping pressure from below. A must for gaining superior sightlines in poke situations.
- Hunter’s Sight (Ultimate): Highlights enemy afterimages and increases charge speed for Piercing Arrow. Damage dealt to afterimages is reflected onto the real target. A well-timed use of this ability can lead to swift multi-kills and objective swings.
- Ice Arrow (Team-Up Ability): When teamed with Luna Snow, Hawkeye gains access to a special Ice Arrow that damages targets through walls, and can even stun them. This tool is incredibly powerful in poke setups, forcing enemies to reposition or eat a stun-and-headshot combo from afar.
Hawkeye’s strength lies in his ability to dictate movement and punish mistakes. Unlike other damage dealers who rely on bursts or close-range combos, Hawkeye thrives by applying psychological pressure, and his crosshair forces enemies to play passively. In a poke composition, he transforms space into danger. With backup from control-heavy allies and the crowd control from Ice Arrow, he turns patience and precision into a lethal equation.
Luna Snow: Control Through Chill
Luna Snow is a versatile Strategist hero with a strong focus on ranged control, team sustain, and defensive repositioning. While not a primary damage dealer, her ice-based abilities slow, heal, and protect, giving poke comps the breathing room they need to thrive. In a team built around ranged harassment, Luna Snow functions as the connective tissue that binds and enables the rest of the squad to poke with confidence. Her ability to deny space, slow down aggression, and extend fights in her team's favor makes her an ideal choice to round out any long-range composition. Her synergy with Hawkeye through their shared Team-Up Ability, Ice Arrow, further cements her value, allowing the team’s main sniper to apply crowd control at range and land guaranteed follow-up shots.
Key Abilities and Poke Synergy
- Light & Dark Ice: Fires frost shards that deal damage to enemies and heal allies. This dual-purpose fire provides poke and sustain simultaneously.
- Absolute Zero: Throws a large ice block on a delay; upon impact, it deals damage and freezes enemies. This tool is ideal for zoning, disrupting dives, or interrupting ultimates due to its freeze effect.
- Ice Arts: Temporarily upgrades her primary fire for 6 seconds, firing piercing properties that both damage enemies and heal allies in a line.
- Share the Stage: Buffs one ally with Idol Aura. When Luna heals others, the buffed ally receives 35% increased healing. Great for keeping carries alive through sustained poke trades.
- Fate of Both Worlds (Ultimate): Toggles between two area-of-effect modes for 12 seconds: healing or damage boost, and provides CC immunity while toggled.
- Smooth Skate (Passive): Grants increased movement speed and a high jump after moving forward for 0.5 seconds, excellent for repositioning or escaping pressure.
- Cryo Heart (Passive): Heal over time for 3 seconds whenever she casts Light & Dark Ice or Absolute Zero, adding extra sustain during poke sequences.
- Ice Arrow (Team-Up with Hawkeye): Season 2.5 introduced “Chilling Assault” - Hawkeye fires piercing ice arrows that can pass terrain, dealing increased damage and stunning distant enemies.
Luna Snow excels at creating uncomfortable zones of engagement. Her many tools of sustained healing make poke comps durable and oppressive. With smooth movement and CC tools, she punctuates vision and denies flanks. Tactically toggling between sustain and aggression with her ultimate often determines whether poke pressure breaks or sustains. Combined with Doctor Strange’s zoning and Hawkeye’s finishing power, Luna cements long-range setups with both safety and lethality.
Honorable Mentions - Other Effective Poke Heroes:
Hela: While not a traditional sniper, Hela brings relentless mid-range pressure through her Nightsword thorns. Her Soul Drainer ability can zone enemies off capture points or payload routes, and her Goddess of Death ultimate turns any choke into a death trap. She thrives in compositions that want to bleed opponents dry before they ever get close, making her a flexible ranged damage dealer with lingering control potential.
Namor: Namor brings a unique hybrid role to poke compositions, offering both ranged pressure and flexible anti-dive utility. His Trident of Neptune serves as a consistent poke tool with infinite ammo. With Aquatic Dominion, Namor deploys up to two Monstro Spawn turrets (squids) that apply damage and pressure while he holds back from danger zones. His mobility skill, Blessing of the Deep, lifts him into a defensive water barrier, offering brief invulnerability and a safe reposition or disengage. Finally, Horn of Proteus, Namor’s ultimate, summons the leviathan Giganto to smash into the battlefield, stunning and damaging enemies in a wide area. Namor thrives in poke teams by acting as a lane bully who scales with pressure, keeps flankers at bay, and punishes careless pushes with monstrous force.
Strategic Execution: Dominating the Battlefield
With a strong understanding of Doctor Strange, Hawkeye, and Luna Snow’s toolkits, the focus shifts to how these heroes work together in live combat scenarios. The core strategy revolves around sightline control, safe sustained poke, and disciplined use of ultimates to keep pressure on the enemy while maintaining safety. Unlike brawler compositions, this team thrives on attrition, winning fights before they even start through smart positioning and layered ability usage.
Establishing Early Dominance: Lane Set-ups and Pressure
The opening minute is crucial for poke-based control. All three heroes should prioritize occupying terrain that maximizes line-of-sight advantage and denies opponents easy routes of approach.
- Hawkeye: Seek early high ground with long sightlines. Begin charging Piercing Arrows and force early shield use or repositioning. Use Hypersonic Arrow to punish dive attempts or harass grouped enemies near chokepoints.
- Doctor Strange: Place Shield of the Seraphim in key sightlines to create safe zones for Hawkeye and Luna. Use Pentagram of Farallah to allow the team fast access to vertical control points or emergency escape paths. His early daggers apply pressure while his presence enables safer aggression.
- Luna Snow: Position in the backline where she can freely apply Light & Dark Ice to poke and heal allies. Use Share the Stage on Strange to amplify his survivability, and deploy Absolute Zero as a deterrent to early pushes.
Controlling Vision: The Art of Sight-Line Supremacy
Controlling vision isn't just about seeing enemies - it's about creating no-safe zones. With Hawkeye holding angles, Strange shielding zones, and Luna zoning with AoE freezes, this comp can deny access to key areas before fights even begin.
Sustained Pressure: Orchestrating Ultimate Stagger Patterns
Smart ultimate usage is essential in a poke comp, as each ultimate plays a unique tempo-setting role. Staggering them ensures the team always has a major threat ready, keeping the enemy on the defensive.
- Hawkeye – Hunter’s Sight: Use this once enemies have taken chip damage to finish targets safely or force retreats. It dramatically increases his kill potential and combos well with stuns from Doctor Strange or slowed enemies from Luna Snow.
- Doctor Strange – Eye of Agamotto: Best used once the enemy is grouped behind cover or attempting a counter-push. The AoE soul disconnection can lead to devastating follow-up kills from Hawkeye or cancel powerful enemy ultimates.
- Luna Snow – Fate of Both Worlds: Decide early whether the fight favors sustain or aggression. Use the healing phase to keep your team alive during pressure, or the buff phase to snowball after Hawkeye secures an opening kill.
When executed properly, this trio can control the map, deny entry points, and exhaust the enemy’s resources before they even get within range to retaliate. Their strength lies in layered synergy - every ability sets up the next, forcing opponents to play reactively and eventually make mistakes under pressure.
Anti-Dive Protocols: Securing the Backline
Poke compositions rely on distance, sightlines, and layered pressure to win fights, making them particularly vulnerable to dive-based threats. Divers excel at bypassing range advantage by using mobility, stealth, or burst initiation to collapse directly onto the backline. To succeed, poke teams must build habits and strategies around anticipating and neutralizing these threats before they become fatal.
Core Anti-Dive Strategies in Poke Compositions
- Anchor the Formation: A reliable frontline hero (e.g., Namor or Hulk) should occupy visible space to deter free entry. Even without full tanks, a forward presence discourages unchecked aggression.
- Map Awareness: Know the most common flank routes on each map. Position early to cover side tunnels, high ledges, or teleport zones where divers are likely to appear. Communicate suspected dive angles before they’re used.
- Layered Field of Fire: Position your team in a way that each player can cover another. Your backline should never be alone, overlapping vision zones force divers to risk immediate focus fire if they commit.
- Cooldown Tracking: Time windows matter. Most dive heroes rely on one or two cooldowns to engage or escape. Punish them the moment those abilities are burned, and don’t spread out until their tools are offline.
Utility & Peel – Making Space Without Losing Ground
Great anti-dive defense is not just about surviving, it’s about punishing the attempt. Use displacement, crowd control, and vertical movement tools to turn dive initiators into overextensions. Heroes with AoE freezes, pushbacks, stuns, or shields become essential here, not to initiate, but to reset the fight on your terms.
- Abilities like Luna’s Absolute Zero, Namor’s Blessing Of The Deep, or Mantis’s Spore Slumber can break up dives mid-flow and allow your team to reposition or counter-focus.
- Position supports like Mantis or Cloak & Dagger within range of the damage core, as they bring healing and peel that can deny dive lethality without sacrificing poke momentum.
Proactive Setup – Win Before They Jump
The best anti-dive tactic is denying the dive entirely. Use early positioning to claim high ground, long corridors, or mid-map cover zones that force enemies to take bad paths. Good area denial creates friction before divers even get in range. These delays buy time for teammates to react, collapse, or reposition.
In high-level poke play, anti-dive preparation separates effective teams from dominant ones. By anticipating flanks, layering vision and pressure, and holding key cooldowns for peel rather than initiation, your team can strip dive threats of their win conditions. Instead of fearing aggression, you make it a liability.
Map-Specific Considerations for Poke Superiority
The effectiveness of a poke-based composition built around Doctor Strange, Hawkeye, and Luna Snow is significantly shaped by map design. These heroes require open sightlines, vertical access, and predictable engagement zones to apply constant ranged pressure while avoiding early collapses from more aggressive comps. Certain maps in Marvel Rivals naturally amplify their strengths when played with discipline and foresight.
Key Principles for Map Evaluation:
- Long Sightlines: Hawkeye excels on maps with extended lanes where he can charge Piercing Arrow uninterrupted. These angles make his presence felt even before enemies cross midline.
- Vertical Mobility: Maps with layered terrain allow Doctor Strange to relocate the team using Pentagram of Farallah, while Hawkeye and Luna can reposition to safe firing angles. High ground supports zoning, healing, and disengage play.
- Choke Point Pressure: Narrow entries allow Luna to slow or freeze grouped enemies with Absolute Zero, while Strange and Hawkeye capitalize on clustered targets with high-impact AoE.
Maps Where Poke Comps Thrive
Yggsgard Path (Convoy):
- Ideal for poke on both attack and defense. Long corridors, minimal natural cover, and multiple elevated perches give Hawkeye space to dominate key angles. Doctor Strange can shield approach routes or portal allies to the upper platforms, while Luna heals and zones out push attempts around tight bends and doors.
Spider-Islands (Convoy):
- Effective for poke during early and mid-payload stages. Multiple high ledges and sniping nests make it difficult for the enemy team to approach cleanly. Rotating Luna between vertical levels with Smooth Skate ensures constant healing access, while Hawkeye and Strange anchor their respective lanes from opposite angles.
Birin T'Challa (Domination):
- Highly favorable due to its open objectives and structured flanking lanes. Doctor Strange portals let your comp rotate between objectives efficiently. Hawkeye gains uncontested line-of-sight across the entire mid-map when positioned properly, and Luna’s AoE buffs help control teamfights without committing bodies to the central zone.
Hall of Djalia (Convergence):
- Challenging but viable. Requires tight control of high ground and pre-placement of Strange’s shield and Luna’s Share the Stage buff. The multi-layer design makes vision and timing key to avoid surprise dives, but if established early, poke pressure can dominate phase transitions.
Poke teams gain the most value when maps allow them to see the fight before it begins. When your team holds height and rotates with purpose, poke pressure turns into poke control. Choose maps that reward patience, punish direct pushes, and provide space for Luna’s sustain, Strange’s shielding, and Hawkeye’s execution potential.
Closing Thoughts: Playing to the Strengths of Poke
A well-constructed poke composition is a strategic machine, not a burst of aggression, but a layered, continuous threat. With Doctor Strange, Hawkeye, and Luna Snow at its core, this archetype brings together ranged dominance, defensive utility, and battlefield control to wear opponents down before they can even engage.
Hawkeye’s long-range pressure and precision picks open every engagement on your team’s terms. Doctor Strange brings safety, repositioning, and punishing ultimates to protect and reset fights. Luna Snow glues the comp together with teamwide sustain, slows, and timely area denial. When played correctly, this trio forces the enemy to respond, reposition, or retreat.
Mastery of this comp isn’t about flashy highlight moments, it’s about denying opportunity. Choking enemy movement, controlling the pace of every fight, and staggering key eliminations until the opponent is left scrambling. It requires patience, tight communication, and trust in spacing and setup.
If your squad embraces those fundamentals, poke compositions can dominate from opening shot to final push. Position early, aim deliberately, and turn every poke into progress.