Gambit is the latest hero to enter the Marvel Rivals roster on the Strategist role, as of the Season 5 launch. As fat as Strategists go, Gambit comes paired with one of the most flexible and resourceful ability kits in the game to date. However, he has a lot of different abilities to manage during gameplay, which can make him an overwhelming and tricky character to play for some people.
Gambit’s cards are the most essential part of his kit, and mastering them will see you take your gameplay to the next level. To help you get started and pick up his gameplay loop easier, a complete guide on his two ability decks, the card combinations from them, and how to use them has been outlined in the guide below.
Table of Contents
- Marvel Rivals: Gambit’s Hearts & Spades Deck Explained – All Combos
- Tips For Managing Gambit’s Ability Cards / Decks in Marvel Rivals
Marvel Rivals: Gambit’s Hearts & Spades Deck Explained – All Combos
The most interesting feature of Gambit is his ability cards. Gambit has the ability to not only use a primary fire card attack, but also draw abilities from not one, but two different ability decks. Players can pair the cards that they draw from these decks in different combo orders to execute different abilities in reaction to the team fight around them. Each deck has been explained below.
On full cooldown, Gambit has four deck cards in total. These cards can be seen below your crosshair, enabling you to track your usage as you make plays.
It costs one card to open a deck, and another card to draw from the deck, meaning each ability/combo takes 2 cards total. This makes managing his cards extremely reliant on cooldown timing, as you are both most vulnerable and most ineffective for your team when you have zero cards to cast from.
Gambit’s Hearts Deck, Explained
Gambit’s Hearts Deck can be opened by pressing the E key. After opening the deck, you will receive a passive self-heal regen and be able to draw from his two healing abilities.
E = A burst heal that consumes all primary fire cards and bounces from the target to other allies in range.
F = A cleanse that removes many of the debuff and crowd control (CC) abilities in the game that can be placed on yourself or your allies.
Gambit’s Spades Deck, Explained
All Gambit’s Ability Card Combos in Marvel Rivals
- Hearts = E
- Spades = F
All Gambit Ability Card Combos in Marvel Rivals
Here are all possible combos for Gambit’s two card decks:
- Hearts + Hearts = Consume all primary cards to deal a burst heal that bounces between ally targets
- Hearts + Spades = AOE Cleanse + small heal on ally targets
- Spades + Hearts = AOE explosive damage with knockback on enemies, heal on allies
- Spades + Spades = Consume all primary cards to deal burst damage & anti-heal on enemy target
Tips For Managing Gambit’s Ability Cards / Decks in Marvel Rivals
The most important part of managing Gambit’s ability cards in Marvel Rivals is timing your draw and then your flush/fold properly. When opening/drawing from a deck, the passive from that deck (self-half from Hearts, damage boost from Spades) automatically starts to function.
There is a timer for this effect/deck in play that can be found surrounding your crosshair. This indicates how much time you have left to flush or fold before the deck closes, and you need to reopen one.
However, you do not need to fold or flush if the fight does not call for it. In fact, it is often better to simply open a deck and then react if necessary, rather than always be looking to use a combo.
This is because the cards have quite a slow recharge, and you need a minimum of 2 cards to cast an ability. By using all of your cards too quickly, you will make yourself vulnerable to the enemy and take away half of your own kit. By the time your deck closes, a new card should be regenerated, or almost regenerated. You can use this timing to properly manage your resources throughout each team fight.
For example, if you only have two cards left in a team fight, and you know there are certain enemy abilities or Ultimates coming up, your cleanse can be one of the strongest survival tools. In such a situation, you will not want to use your final card unless you absolutely have to as a survival skill.
One good example of this can be found in the screenshot below, where Gambit’s final card was played to cleanse his entire team after Groot immobilized them in his Ultimate. Because of the cleanse, they survived the Ultimate and went on to win the teamfight, which would have otherwise been a team wipe.
On the other hand, your Spades tool is not only great for pumping out damage and confirming kills when there is an opening to do so, but also for survival against dive heroes. The AOE blast will push away the likes of Spider-Man and Black Panther, who need to get up close and personal, and you can combine this with your dash-spin to maximize survivability.
Learning when to switch between decks can take some getting used to, as it mostly comes down to reaction. Gambit’s toolkit is so strong that in order to play him effectively, you need to not only manage these ability cards, but also stay aware of all of your surroundings – who is taking damage, if your other Strategist is under dive pressure, what enemy Ultimates are coming up., etc. If you are able to master all of this, then Gambit will soon become a lethal tool in your hands.