The Hood is Marvel Rivals’ newest Vanguard member, with his ability to sustain himself through damage while also dealing solid DPS up close. His abilities provide him with self-barriers and damage reduction to help him last longer in the frontline. This guide will discuss all his abilities and how best to play him.
The Hood Abilities and Passive
Passive: Ruinous Pact
Whenever The Hood deals damage with his pistols and blocks damage with his abilities, he gains Demonic Energy, displayed underneath your crosshair. Once at full energy, he enters a Half-Demon State that gives him infinite ammo, increased fire rate, and Lifesteal on hit.
Ability 1: Mantle of Oblivion
Activating this ability causes him to wrap himself with his cloak, which blocks incoming enemy projectiles. When he has 50% Demonic Energy, this barrier gains increased range.
Ability 2: Abyssal Veil
The Hood launches an orb that creates a rectangular barrier upon landing. This barrier causes incoming enemy shots to deal less damage and reduces healing output, while blinding enemies that pass through it. Meanwhile, The Hood’s shots gain increased Demonic Energy generation when passing through the barrier and enhance his Lifesteal output when at Half-Demon State.
Movement Ability: Void Walk
The Hood gains free flight for a time. Upon exiting flight, he gains bonus Movement Speed and deals damage in a radius around him.
Ultimate: Demon of the End
The Hood transforms into a demonic turret that fires high-damage shots that penetrate through enemy barriers. While active, he provides bonus health for him and his team. The last shot in the barrage deals the most damage.
Team-Up Abilities
The Hood has two Team-Up abilities with Moon Knight and Scarlet Witch. With Moon Knight, his Abyssal Veil transforms into a Lunar Barrier that completely blocks enemy projectiles instead of reducing their damage. Upon breaking, the barrier explodes, dealing damage and reducing healing output on enemies caught in its radius.
For Scarlet Witch, he gains a new ability called Chaos Collision. When activated, this creates a lingering zone that deals damage and increases in intensity as enemies stay in it. Reactivating this ability teleports The Hood into the zone.
How To Play The Hood
As a Vanguard, The Hood is an off-tank hero. While he can soak up a lot of damage, his primary role is to be a pseudo-Duellist with extra health, as his primary fire can deal solid damage. With his innate Lifesteal on Half-Demon State, The Hood can survive diving on the enemy backline even when peeled by their team.
One of the most effective ways of playing The Hood is by cycling through Mantle of Oblivion, Abyssal Veil, and Void Walk to dive in, disrupt the backline, and back out until all his cooldowns are up again. Once he has his Ultimate ready, he can be a great team anchor with his bonus health that applies to his whole team.
