# Hela Guide: Abilities, Crosshair Tips & Combos (Marvel Rivals)
> A Hela guide built from FIR3IV's crosshair-and-playstyle breakdown, cross-checked against the Marvel Rivals Wiki: exact ability numbers, the real mechanics behind Soul Drainer's AoE stun, and two spots where the video's claims don't match the current patch.
- **Game:** Marvel Rivals
- **Category:** Hero Guides
- **Author:** LongBeam (https://guides-factory.com/about)
- **Difficulty:** Beginner
- **Reading time:** 15 min
- **Published:** 2026-08-18
- **Updated:** 2026-08-18
- **Adapted from:** [FIR3IV — YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EkVtQ8vUKE)
- **Canonical URL:** https://guides-factory.com/guides/hela-guide-abilities-crosshair-tips-combos-marvel-rivals
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## 🎯 The core idea
> Hela is a hitscan long-range Duelist who wins fights on crosshair discipline, not tracking. Every tip in this guide points at the same habit: park your crosshair at head height where the enemy is about to walk, hold still, and let them run into it. Do that consistently and she turns into one of the strongest carry picks in the current meta — do it while chasing flicky tracking shots and she feels mediocre.
free costs nothing
cheap small cost
setup needs preparation
grind pays off slowly
skip the thing to stop doing
## Nightsword Thorn: the hitscan gun that does the real work
Nightsword Thorn is Hela's primary fire — pure hitscan, no travel time. It currently deals 80 damage per shot and 160 on a headshot, a two-shot headshot kill at full damage. Ammo capacity is 10 shots per clip.
Correction vs. the videoThe video describes "close range" as "anywhere between 80m" before damage falloff starts. That's not what the Marvel Rivals Wiki's balance-change log shows: Nightsword Thorn's max falloff range currently sits at 35m (rescaled up from 30m in the Season 9 patch of July 10, 2026), with damage dropping to 75% beyond that. Treat 35m, not 80m, as the range where you're still hitting for full value.
## Piercing Night: build ultimate charge, don't rely on it for damage
Piercing Night is Hela's secondary fire — a thrown swarm of four blades that latch onto enemies and explode after a short delay, dealing individual hit damage plus a separate explosion. The explosion component currently deals 35 damage per blade. It has an 8-second cooldown per the video.
In the videoThe creator is upfront that this isn't Hela's best damage tool in most fights — its real value is landing on grouped enemies to build ultimate charge faster, since the explosions can tag multiple targets at once. He personally forgets to use it in a lot of engagements because the other three abilities matter more.
## Soul Drainer: it's an AoE stun field, not a single-target snipe
Correction vs. the videoThe video talks about Soul Drainer as if you're stunning one specific target you aimed at. The ability's own in-game tooltip (captured from the video's practice-range B-roll) tells a more precise story: it's an arced projectile with a 3m spherical impact radius, 1 base damage, a 10-second cooldown, 0.3-second stun duration, and 40 m/s projectile speed. It's a lobbed AoE spell field — anyone caught in that 3m radius gets stunned, not just your intended target. That also matches the Marvel Rivals Wiki's description of it stunning "multiple enemies in a small radius."
Soul Drainer can interrupt certain enemy Ultimates outright, per the Marvel Rivals Wiki — worth holding in reserve against animation-locked ults, not just as a dueling tool.
## Astral Flock: your escape, not your kill-securer
Astral Flock turns Hela into a crow for an 18m dash with a bit of carry — landing it right lets you bunny-hop for extra distance. It has a 15-second cooldown and grants complete immunity to damage and crowd control while active, confirmed by the Marvel Rivals Wiki.
The video says the dash "gives you a bonus of 25" without specifying what kind — the Wiki's balance log clears this up: it's 25 bonus health, added in the Season 4.5 patch (Oct 10, 2025) alongside a reduced cast time.
In the videoSince the Season 9 update, the crow can freely reposition — including gaining high ground — instead of flying in a fixed straight line, confirmed by the Wiki. Use that to swerve around corners and back to your team rather than dashing in a predictable line. The creator is also blunt that chasing kills with this ability is high-risk, high-reward at best: use it to survive, not to finish a fleeing target, unless it's genuinely the last enemy alive.
## The core playstyle: pick off isolated targets, don't chase tracking duels
## Goddess of Death: Hela's ultimate
Goddess of Death sends Hela high into the air and switches to a first-person view where you throw explosive Nastrond Crows down onto enemies below. Per the Wiki, activating it grants a separate 1000-point health bar — if that health bar is emptied, Hela reverts to her normal form at whatever health she had before activating rather than dying outright. Per the video, it lasts 10 seconds and deals 125 damage per skull impact; the Wiki doesn't list either figure separately, so treat them as the video's numbers rather than independently wiki-confirmed.
In the videoEarly on, this ultimate got value just from people panicking and running. Now most players either hide behind hard cover or burst Hela down fast, so a hitscan-heavy or shield-heavy enemy comp (Doctor Strange especially) can shut it down almost entirely. Bait it out against isolated supports first, prioritize squishies once it's live, and remember you can see through walls while it's active — call out isolated targets to your team even if you can't get a kill yourself.
## Passive: Nastrond Crowstorm
Per the Marvel Rivals Wiki, a defeated enemy generates a crow at their point of death that explodes after a delay — the video puts that delay at roughly 1.8 seconds, a figure not separately listed on the Wiki. Getting a pick near an enemy's main line or their supports can chain into a second explosion, which pairs especially well with the Namor team-up's squids covered below.
## Team-ups: pick based on playstyle, not raw power
Unlike heroes with one clearly-stronger team-up, Hela's two are roughly equal in value — the right pick depends on whether you're playing main or flanking.
### Venom — Hel Tendrils
From the Marvel Rivals WikiThe Wiki describes Hel Tendrils as linking tendrils to enemies hit by Soul Drainer, slowing them until they reach max distance — useful for catching targets trying to walk out of the stun. The video frames it primarily as extending Soul Drainer's stun duration from 0.3 to 0.5 seconds; the Wiki doesn't list that duration number directly, but it lines up with the base 0.3s stun confirmed on Soul Drainer's own tooltip above, so treat the extension as video-sourced but plausible.
Enhanced Venom, per the Wiki, also makes Piercing Night fire additional projectiles and heal you on a direct hit — the video only mentions the healing, not the extra projectiles.
### Namor — Deep Wrath
Correction vs. the videoThe video says Namor's squids spawn "on assist and kills." The Marvel Rivals Wiki is more specific: the undead monstro spawn triggers on earning a KO (a final blow), not merely an assist. Using Piercing Night makes all active spawns fire a thorn blade at the nearest enemy. Per the Season 9.5 patch (Aug 7, 2026), each spawn's shot damage was cut from 15 to 10 — the video's number matches this current, post-nerf value.
Enhanced Namor, per the Wiki, spawns an undead monstro at the point of impact on every attack while Goddess of Death is active — turning the ultimate into even more of a threat, matching what the video describes.
## What this guide doesn't answer
The video doesn't give exact numbers for Piercing Night's direct-hit damage per blade or its cooldown beyond the creator's own stated 8 seconds, and it doesn't place Hela on a tier list — both need a dedicated source before we cover them honestly. What we can say: she's currently framed as one of the strongest carry Duelists when played for crosshair discipline over mechanical flair, which lines up with the aim-focused fundamentals covered above.
## How this guide was fact-checked
Every ability name, cooldown, and damage number above was checked against the Marvel Rivals Wiki's Hela page and its dated balance-change log, not just the video's commentary. Three points in the video didn't hold up exactly as stated: Nightsword Thorn's "80m" close-range claim (the Wiki's current falloff range is 35m), Soul Drainer's framing as a single-target ability (the Wiki and an extracted in-game tooltip confirm it's a 3m-radius AoE stun), and the Namor team-up's "assist" trigger (the Wiki specifies KOs). All three are corrected above with the current values. Ability names and exact numbers were additionally confirmed against extracted video frames of Hela's own ability tooltips shown on the practice range.
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## FAQ
### Is Hela good in the current patch?
Yes — she's currently considered one of the strongest carry Duelists in Marvel Rivals, especially for players who lean on crosshair placement over mechanical tracking. Her Season 9 buff to Nightsword Thorn's damage (70 to 80 per shot) only reinforced that.
### What are Hela's counters?
Poor mobility divers who can close distance while Astral Flock is on cooldown give her the most trouble, since she has no self-sustain to fall back on. Shield-heavy heroes like Doctor Strange also blunt her ultimate hard, since they can block the Nastrond Crow explosions outright.
### Is this a beginner or advanced Hela guide?
It works for both. The crosshair-placement fundamentals are beginner-friendly and worth learning first, while the Soul Drainer AoE mechanics, team-up choice, and ultimate timing sit closer to advanced play once the basics are second nature.
### How should you position as Hela?
It depends on your playstyle. Playing main with your team gives better sightlines to pick off exposed targets and builds ultimate charge faster; playing a flanking off-angle wins more duels with Soul Drainer but costs you damage uptime and ultimate charge. Beginners should default to positioning with the team.
### Is Hela a sniper hero in Marvel Rivals?
Not exactly — she's a hitscan long-range Duelist, closer to a precision gunslinger than a scoped sniper. Nightsword Thorn has no scope and no travel time, so the skill is in crosshair placement and headshot consistency rather than charging or leading shots.