Playing as Thor in the Zombies mode for Marvel Rivals can be a little off-putting at first. He's much weaker compared to the other heroes, but once you get all the right blessings, he becomes just as strong, if not stronger. In this Marvel Rivals guide, we'll be covering how to play Thor with his Awakening Rune skill in Zombies mode, including the priority blessings you should take and tips on how to play as him.

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Best Awakening Rune Thor Build in Marvel Rivals Zombies

Marvel Rivals Thor Zombies Build
Marvel Rivals Thor Zombies Build

Thor's Awakening Rune skill is, admittedly, extremely weak without blessings. It does poor DPS over a small area of effect by default, but once you invest enough points into Thor's blue passives and get the right blessings, he becomes a firehose of arched lightning that can melt bosses and zombie hordes alike.

For abilities, take the following:

  • Chain Bolt for extra AoE damage with hammer attacks
  • Bastion Dome for emergency crowd control
  • Thunderclap Surge for on-demand crowd control over a large area

Bastion Dome is for knocking back any exploding zombies that may sneak their way into your comfort zone, while Thunderclap Surge is for creating breathing room for you and your teammates. The latter is especially helpful for waves where there are many ranged zombies around.

Unlike how you'd usually play a Marvel Rivals game as Thor, you'll want to always be in Awakening form while playing Zombies mode. You will deal absolutely zero damage outside of it, and the only reason why you'd ever want to cancel Awakening Rune is to use your abilities to reposition or control big crowds.

Priority Blessings for Thor in Marvel Rivals Zombies Mode

Marvel Rivals Thor Zombies Blue Blessings
Marvel Rivals Thor Zombies Blue Blessings
  • Cranium Crusher
  • Allfather's Might
  • Enchanted Flurry
  • Endstorm
  • Thunder Havoc
  • Power Prolongation
  • Rune Recycle

As always, prioritize damage blessings over utility-based ones. Cranium Crusher is huge for Thor since his Awakenign Rune projectiles can't hit headshots normally. Stack this together with Allfather's Might and Enchanted Flurry, and watch your DPS skyrocket.

Endstorm is pretty much essential for Thor in Marvel Rivals Zombies. It gives Awakening Rune an alternate attack that lets you hose targets down with streams of lightning. You only really need one copy of this, though.

As for the other skills, they should only be taken in order to reach the required blessing breakpoints to unlock Awakening Rune buffs. Once you reach 120, avoid taking them completely and focus on getting damage boosters or the purple Survival blessings.

Best Purple Blessings for Thor in Marvel Rivals

Marvel Rivals Zombies Purple Blessings
Marvel Rivals Zombies General Skills
  • Power Surge
  • Vitality Boost
  • Vampiric Vitality
  • Moonlight Protection
  • Zeus's Thunder

Survival blessing prioritization is the same for Thor as with other Marvel Rivals Zombies characters. Get damage boosts first, then try to get over 12,000 Health if you're playing on Nightmare 3 or 4. Once you cross that threshold (and add Moonlight Protection to the mix), Vampiric Vitality will have enough of a buffer to let you sustain yourself through most incoming damage.

We take Zeus's Thunder over Primordial Frost simply because it has a higher chance to trigger. While you can stack Primordial Frost cards to increase its proc chance, it's just too expensive compared to Zeus's Thunder.

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Marvel Rivals
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9 /10
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Released
December 6, 2024
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WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL
Checkbox: control the expandable behavior of the extra info

ESRB
T For Teen // Violence
Developer(s)
NetEase Games
Publisher(s)
NetEase Games
Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
Cross-Platform Play
Limited - console crossplay, no PC crossplay
Cross Save
No
Franchise
Marvel
Number of Players
1-6
Steam Deck Compatibility
Unknown
PC Release Date
December 6, 2024
Xbox Series X|S Release Date
December 6, 2024
PS5 Release Date
December 6, 2024
Genre(s)
Third-Person Shooter, Action, Multiplayer
OpenCritic Rating
Strong
How Long To Beat
7.5 hours
X|S Optimized
Yes
File Size Xbox Series
20 GB