MultiVersus Guide: Characters, Perks and How to Get Started

MultiVersus is an electric, ecletic mashup of platform fighter, corporate IP crossover and character customization, somehow blended into a smooth final product. The result should appeal to fighting game enthusiasts and people like me who struggle to get into fighters that don't have the word "Smash" in their titles. MultiVersus unites characters from across Warner Bros. properties like DC Comics, Game of Thrones, Looney Tunes and other Warner Bros. shows or movies, plus some original characters.

After a year-long quiet period following the open beta, MultiVersus launched on May 28. Alongside some gameplay optimizations like the new parry mechanic, the game also features a new player-versus-environment -- PvE -- mode called Rifts, where you can play through the story that explains why Jason Voorhees is stabbing Gizmo with a machete.

The cross-platform game is free to play, and available on most major platforms: PS4 and PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series S/X and on PC through Steam or the Epic Games Store.

Here's everything you need to know to get started.

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Gameplay: A fighting frenzy with perks

The core gameplay of MultiVersus is two teams of two players facing off. Rounds in MultiVersus follow a frenetic pace, and if you're not quick to react, skilled opponents can quickly combo you off the map. Each character falls into one of five classes, which determine their style of fighting: quick assassins, powerful bruisers, ranged mages, cooperative supports and sturdy tanks. You can try strategic combinations of classes or just one-trick your favorite character. Live your best life. 

You can jump into online matchmaking to play 2v2 or 1v1 matches against other humans, practice your skills in solo or co-op matches against AI, or jump into Rifts for a PvE story experience. Rifts include your usual AI battles alongside minigames like breaking targets and collecting gems.

MultiVersus also features a mechanic called perks, allowing you to customize your character's gameplay. Perks fit into three categories -- offense, defense and utility -- and they modify your character's game mechanics. Each character has three signature perks they can unlock by playing games with that character. Signature perks change that character's moves, like adding a knockback effect to Wonder Woman's lasso. Standard perks have effects like reducing cooldown times, adding a shield upon respawn or giving players a third jump.

MultiVersus characters: An ever-growing roster

At launch, MultiVersus features 25 playable characters, with one more character announced, and many more likely waiting in the wings. Here's who's in the game so far:

• Arya Stark (Game of Thrones) -- Assassin

• Banana Guard (Adventure Time) -- Brawler

• Batman (DC Comics) -- Bruiser

• Black Adam (DC Comics) -- Bruiser

• Bugs Bunny (Looney Tunes) -- Mage/Ranged

• Finn the Human (Adventure Time) -- Assassin

• Garnet (Steven Universe) -- Bruiser

• Gizmo (Gremlins) -- Support

• Harley Quinn (DC Comics) -- Assassin

• Jake the Dog (Adventure Time) -- Bruiser

• Jason (Friday the 13th)  -- Tank

• Lebron (Space Jam) -- Bruiser

• Marvin the Martian (Looney Tunes) -- Assassin

• Morty (Rick and Morty) -- Bruiser

• Reindog (original character) -- Support

• Rick (Rick and Morty) -- Mage/Ranged

• Shaggy (Scooby-Doo) -- Bruiser

• Steven Universe (Steven Universe) -- Support

• Stripe (Gremlins) -- Assassin

• Superman (DC Comics) -- Tank

• Taz (Looney Tunes) -- Bruiser

• The Iron Giant (The Iron Giant) -- Tank

• Tom and Jerry (Looney Tunes) -- Mage/Range

• Velma (Scooby-Doo) -- Support

• Wonder Woman (DC Comics) -- Tank

And here are the characters who have been announced as future additions:

• Agent Smith (The Matrix)

The internet is full of speculation about which other characters from Warner Bros. properties (including more superheroes, kaiju, and some very famous wizards) might show up, but the characters listed here are the only confirmed playable characters.

A rotating selection of fighters is made free-to-play each week. You can permanently unlock characters by paying in-game currency, which you can earn by playing, through in-game purchases (Gleamium) or by using character unlock tokens if you bought a Founder's Pack while they were still available.

Getting started

You can download MultiVersus for free and go through the tutorial Rift to get a sense of how things play. The more you play one character, the more you'll progress their abilities, unlocking standard and signature perks as well as cosmetics related to that character. 

If you've played any Smash Bros. you'll find the gameplay familiar, with a few differences. For instance, you can chain jumps, dodges and moves together in a way that gives MultiVersus characters more map traversal than the average Smash fighter. Stage boundaries are also illustrated, meaning you know exactly how close someone is to getting knocked out. 

If you find yourself getting into the game, you can pay gleamium to unlock a battle pass, which will award you with even more cosmetics like unique character skins, knockout effects and player banners. The only non-cosmetic element you can unlock from cash transactions (via gleamium) is access to other characters. But you can still unlock characters for free by earning in-game currency through matches played. The battle pass system works much the same as games like Fortnite, Apex Legends and, well… most games these days.

Still, the overall experience of MultiVersus is unique and inviting. And with it being free to play, there's no reason not to try it out.