How to Play Hela in Marvel Rivals

Hela is a hitscan Duelist who does not need to hit headshots to win — her Nightsword Thorn hitscan daggers delete squishies at any range, and every kill spawns a Nastrond Crow that explodes for 80 more damage. Her ceiling comes from reading crowds: chain kills into crow explosions, punish grouped supports, and use Goddess of Death’s 1,000 bonus health to turn a poke war into a team fight wipe.

Role and difficulty

Duelist. Hela has 250 health. Difficulty Hard (3/5). She fights at long range behind her team, floating with Hel’s Descent to hold angles, and only commits Astral Flock when she has a guaranteed exit.

Abilities and what they actually do

• Nightsword Thorn (Normal Attack): Key numbers: DAMAGE — 80 per round; FIRE RATE — 2 rounds/s; AMMO — 10.
• Goddess of Death (Abilities): Soar into the sky and unleash Nastrond Crows from each hand at will. Key numbers: DURATION — 10s; FIRE RATE — 1 round/s; PROJECTILE SPEED — 80m/s.
• Piercing Night (Abilities): Fire multiple Nightsword thorns that detonate after a delay. Key numbers: DAMAGE — Direct Hit: 10, Explosion: 35; COOLDOWN — 8s; PROJECTILE SPEED — 80m/s.
• Astral Flock (Abilities): Key numbers: COOLDOWN — 15s.
• Soul Drainer (Abilities): Project an explosive Hel sphere to nearby enemies and pull them into the blast zone. Key numbers: DAMAGE — Direct Hit: 1, Spell Field: 40; COOLDOWN — 10s; PROJECTILE SPEED — 40m/s.
• Hel’s Descent (Abilities): Hold Space to fall slowly. Key numbers: MOVEMENT SPEED — 6m/s (horizontal speed) - 3.5m/s (descent speed).
• Nastrond Crowstorm (Abilities): Defeating an enemy will generate a Nastrond Crow, exploding after a duration. Key numbers: DAMAGE — 80.

Crowstorm chains and the 1,000-health ultimate

Nastrond Crowstorm is the passive that defines her: every enemy you kill leaves a crow that explodes after a short delay for 80 damage, so a single pick in a cluster often becomes two. Nightsword Thorn is hitscan at 80 damage per round, two throws per second, with 10 ammo — no leading, no falloff excuses. Piercing Night fires four sticking daggers for 10 on hit and 35 on explosion on an 8-second cooldown, which is your area-damage tool into chokes. Astral Flock turns you into a crow for 2 seconds with damage immunity on a 15-second cooldown, but you cannot be healed while flying and control is minimal. Soul Drainer pulls enemies into a 40-damage blast and briefly stuns. Goddess of Death lifts you into the air with 1,000 max health for 10 seconds, stationary, throwing exploding orbs — cast it from cover or height, never inside the enemy team.

How to play Hela

1. Poke with Nightsword Thorn from behind your team — it is hitscan, so aim is the only variable.
2. Focus the same target as your team so the kill spawns a Nastrond Crow into the wounded neighbors.
3. Throw Piercing Night into chokepoints and grouped supports for the delayed 35-damage explosions.
4. Use Soul Drainer to pull a fleeing target back into your team’s damage.
5. Save Astral Flock for cross-map rotations or guaranteed disengages — you cannot be healed mid-flight.
6. Cast Goddess of Death from height or cover; you are stationary for 10 seconds, and a bad cast drops you back into the enemy team.

Matchups

Hela deletes static backlines and punishes teams that clump, because crow explosions chain through wounded groups. She is vulnerable to divers when Astral Flock is on cooldown, has no self-sustain, and her ultimate roots her in place — cast it inside the enemy lines and you return to your original position surrounded.

Strengths (per the wiki):

• Long-range specialist with decent mobility, high damage output, and potential for conditional area-of-effect explosions.
• Can fall slowly from heights.
• Her passive, Nastrond Crowstorm, creates a small explosion on the target’s location when Hela deals the final blow.
• Her primary fire, Nightsword Thorn, is a high-damage hitscan attack.
• Her secondary fire, Piercing Night, throws four blades that explode after a few seconds. These projectiles can latch onto enemies, and each blade deals individual damage in addition to exploding after a brief duration.
• • The blades will explode even if they are not attached to enemies.
• Soul Drainer is a lobbed energy sphere that deals minimal damage but can briefly stun multiple enemies in a small radius.
• • This ability can even interrupt certain Ultimates.
• Astral Flock transforms Hela into a high-speed crow and allows her to fly forth in any direction, being useful as an escape or repositioning tool. She is completely immune to all damage and crowd-control abilities during flight.
• Her Ultimate, Goddess of Death, sends Hela high into the air. The player’s field-of-view changes to first person, and the player can then throw Nastrond Crows that explode on impact in a huge radius and deal heavy damage.
• • When activating Goddess of Death, Hela gains a hefty separate health bar of 1000 points. Even if this health bar is depleted, she will not die, but will instead revert to her normal form with the health she previously had before activating her Ultimate.
• Poor means to deal with divers, especially when Astral Flock is on cooldown.
• Lacks any self-sustaining abilities.
• Hela cannot be healed by teammates during Astral Flock’s flight.
• Needs proper awareness to use her Ultimate, as she is completely stationary while in use; if she does it while within the enemy lines, she will return directly to her original position once the ability ends and will be put at risk of death.

Weaknesses (per the wiki):

• Poor means to deal with divers, especially when Astral Flock is on cooldown.
• Lacks any self-sustaining abilities.
• Hela cannot be healed by teammates during Astral Flock’s flight.
• Needs proper awareness to use her Ultimate, as she is completely stationary while in use; if she does it while within the enemy lines, she will return directly to her original position once the ability ends and will be put at risk of death.

Team-ups

• Hel Tendrils (with Venom, Season 9.0: The Mystery of Thebes): Replace Soul Drainer with Hel Tendrils. Upon hit, tendrils pull nearby enemies toward the impact point and links them, Slowing enemies that try to escape. Enhanced: When teaming up with Venom, Piercing Night fires a dense volley of symbiote-infused Nightsword Thorns. Each direct Nightsword Thorn hit restores a portion of Hela’s Health.
• Deep Wrath (with Namor, Season 9.0: The Mystery of Thebes): Whenever Hela participates in a KO, an Undead Monstro spawns at the fallen enemy’s position. While an Undead Monstro is present, casting Piercing Night will command the Monstro to spit a Nightsword Thorn at the nearest enemy. Enhanced: When teaming up with Namor, each attack during Goddess of Death spawns an Undead Monstro at the point of impact.

Related guides

• Heroes Database
• Abilities Database
• Flank Routes Guide
• How To Play Venom
• How To Play Namor

Common mistakes

• Casting Goddess of Death in the open, where the stationary 10 seconds get you killed
• Using Astral Flock as an engage — control is minimal and you cannot be healed during it
• Fighting without a team nearby to convert your kills into crow explosions
• Holding Piercing Night for damage instead of using its delayed explosions to control space
• Standing at the same angle all fight — hitscan rewards repositioning more than any other weapon