u/DragonMaximoff

I have noticed this trend on almost every social media platform where people either want to just completely dunk on Wanda and Wanda players, or Wanda players (especially content creators) spread narratives that she is unusable because they can’t just hold M1 and go 20-4 like they could in season 0-2. A lot of discussion of buffs and reworks (which I also felt she needed for a long time until it started to fully click on just how far you can actually push her value) and generally just what she is missing in her kit.

I currently have 700+ hours in the game, and started in Season 2 shortly after Emma released. I am currently Champion Wanda, and have played her consistently throughout my Rivals experience. I have over 100 hours on her alone between ranked, Doom Match, and warm-up Quick Plays. So instead of focusing on what she’s missing, I want to remind the things that she DOES have that nobody else really does.

• Starting with the most obvious strength, and the powerhouse of her kit: REALITY ERASURE. She can wipe an entire team with nothing more than good positioning, timing, and just a bit of luck and team support. Wait until you KNOW Emma has used her diamond form, wait until you KNOW Luna has either used her freeze or is stuck in ult, wait until you KNOW Peni is stuck in ult. Using her ult more defensively rather than constantly trying to make offensive teamwipe plays will also increase the value of this single ability tremendously.

• 3-second total invincibility and free-flight with MYSTIC PROJECTION. Probably her only ability I would argue that genuinely needs a buff, or rather, revert the nerfs she got to it in Season 2. With how much mobility is in the game right now, I do think this is kind of slacking in comparison to a LOT. HOWEVER, being completely invincible for 1.5 seconds at a time while also being allowed to be healed and move freely through the map is nothing to really sleep on, either. If you can manage her cooldown cycles on Mystic Projection, you will find it does have an incredibly high value. I think the best use for it is using it to reposition in team fights, especially to get yourself in the air, because it’s rare that if your team has enough pressure that enemies will be able to track you for that long. In general, though, this is her best way of getting in the air and I think that’s one of the best places for her to be for MANY reasons.

• Triple stun with DARK SEAL. Despite the general opinion that Wanda sucks, Dark Seal is something I hear people having a lot of issue dealing with when it comes to a good Wanda who knows when and how to use this thing. It can be used to shut down SEVERAL ults, you can stun DPS and supports to essentially cut off healing or DPS from the enemy team for a good while, you can choke off and entrap tight spaces and necessary pathways, you can open a TON of opportunities for team plays. In reality, I think personally that Dark Seal is currently the most important part of her kit and play style.

• I think the most underrated part of Wanda’s entire kit overall is CHTHONIAN BURST. It does just about the same amount as Hela primary, if not THE same amount, and trades critical hits for burst AoE, which I think is a fair trade off. Unlike Hela, however, Wanda doesn’t have to reload her Bursts, can recharge them EXTREMELY quickly with weaving in M1 damage which is ANOTHER thing Hela cannot do, and can burst down most squishy supports and DPS with just 4 consecutive bursts if you can hit them all.

• CHAOS CONTROL. You have all heard it a MILLION times. Auto-aim, no-skill, blah blah blah. It’s there, we use it, it’s not great, we all know that as much utility and pressure that it can provide, it’s overall the most useless part of her kit outside of recharging her M2 and applying pressure. However, I think this ability QUICKLY becomes more valuable when playing her as anti-dive or in 1v1 scenarios.

• Wanda’s MELEE ATTACKS are actually extremely underrated. She attacks in a pretty large cone in front of her, and has the highest melee attack damage in the entire game to my knowledge. They don’t recharge her Chthonian Bursts, but I have DELETED entire Magik’s, Blade’s, and Iron Fist’s with it. Still not sure it provides MORE value than her M1/M2 attacks, but I do know that most don’t see it coming and don’t always know how to react to Wanda melees.

• The Strange team-up with SORCERY SURGE I think might be a bit unfair to add to her base kit simply because of just how much more pressure and area control it gives her, especially when it comes to higher-skilled Wanda players. I know this is generally the most requested change for her, but I genuinely think it would give a fair amount of Wanda players an insane advantage.

Overall, Wanda is an EXTREMELY versatile character with a LOT working in her favor once you understand the full extents and how to play around your “counters.” She can play dive, anti-dive, she can play poke somewhat, she’s really good at helping tanks apply consistent pressure and make space for your team, she can apply consistent pressure to the most mobile, annoying-to-deal-with characters like Black Cat, Spider Man, Black Panther, and Starlord. Her ult, while being entirely high-risk/high-reward, can make some of the biggest and quickest plays in the entire game. She requires a lot of micro game skills to be as useful as she can be, but the minute you understand all of the niche, unique things that Wanda is capable of, you’ll stop dismissing her as a weak starter-level character with no skill ceiling.