If you're not a Marvel Rivals player, you might take a look at Jeff the Land Shark and think he's just an adorable little guy - after all, he's a baby shark that acts like a dog, smiling as he runs to chomp, chomp, chomp the bad guys. But just a few days after the hero shooter's launch, fans have begun to recognize Jeff as nothing less than an absolute terror.
Among the Marvel Rivals characters, Jeff is a Strategist hero - basically a Support character, to borrow the parlance of Overwatch. He's got a variety of healing abilities that can keep allies in the fight, but the reason everybody's growing to hate the little guy is because of his ultimate ability. Called simply "It's Jeff," it lets him swallow up enemies and allies alike within a huge AOE range and then spit them wherever he darn well pleases.
You can probably already start to imagine the horrifying plays Jeff is capable of with that ult. Got an entire enemy team sitting on the point? Just swallow them up and spit them over a nearby ledge to their doom. Some heroes have enough mobility options to avoid the instant death of falling into a chasm. That's okay too, because if Jeff dies he takes everyone he's swallowed with him. Jump into a pit with a mouthful of opponents and you can trade your own life for the entire enemy team.
- "Sounds like a skills issue": Jeff the Shark co-creator says Marvel Rivals players "should get better at the game" if "my boy is beating your ass every night"
- Marvel Rivals probably isn't nerfing Jeff the Shark's ultimate any time soon, but the game's director does have an "interesting tip" for avoiding it
Jeff’s Sacrifice from r/marvelrivals
As we started to see when Rivals was still in beta, the contrast between Jeff's cute, cuddly look and the absolute havoc he can wreak in a match has created a whole lot of salt in the community. Redditors are dropping posts and comments like "Jeff’s ult makes this game insufferable" and "he's blatantly the most busted hero in the game." My favorite, though, is this: "The worst part about Jeff is how cute he is. I am trying to hate you, you lovable little fuck."
The way people talks about Jeff, you would think he is committing crimes against humanity 😭 from r/marvelrivals
For now, the question is whether Jeff is truly OP, or if players just haven't internalized the ways to counter his abilities just yet. After all, players who were around for the early days of Overwatch might remember just how much everybody hated Bastion at the start, only to realize he wasn't actually broken - we just all needed to get good. And impressive Jeff counters are already starting to take shape. I guess we just need to wait and see if the devs think Jeff's worthy of a nerf.
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