Practice Makes Perfect? How to Handle Teams in Marvel Rivals’ Training Ground

Marvel Rivals offers a dedicated Practice Range, a valuable space for players to get a feel for new heroes, hone their abilities, and warm up before diving into live matches. It’s also a popular spot for friends to gather and train together. However, a common question arises for those wanting to spar or simulate real combat scenarios with teammates: can you change teams within the Practice Range? The answer, and the best approach, depends on what you’re trying to achieve.

Changing Teams in the Standard Practice Range: Not Directly Possible

In the standard Marvel Rivals Practice Range, the setup is designed for individual or cooperative training against AI targets or static dummies. By default, everyone who joins the same Practice Range session is placed on the same team.

This setup means you and your friends cannot select opposing sides, and friendly fire is typically disabled, preventing you from damaging each other. The primary focus here is on practicing mechanics and abilities without the complexity of enemy players.

The Workaround: Enabling Friendly Fire

While you can’t switch teams outright in the Practice Range, there is a setting that allows for a form of sparring: Friendly Fire. The host of the Practice Range session (the player who initiated it) has the ability to toggle this option.

Here’s how the host can enable it:

1. Press the designated menu button (often Escape on PC) to open the Practice Settings.
2. Look for and toggle the “Friendly Fire” option to turn it on.

Once Friendly Fire is enabled, players within the same Practice Range session can damage each other, even though the game still considers them on the same team.

This is the closest alternative to changing teams for simple 1v1 duels or testing how abilities interact when used against a player-controlled target. It’s a useful feature for practicing aim or ability combos against a moving, unpredictable opponent.

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The True Solution: Custom Games

If your goal is to have a full scrimmage, practice objective play with defined teams, or truly simulate a match where you and your friends are on opposing sides, the Custom Game mode is the intended solution.

Custom Games offer complete control over the match setup, including team assignments:

1. From the main menu, select the “Play” option.
2. Choose “Custom Game”.
3. Create a new lobby.
4. As the host, you will have access to a team management interface. Here, you can freely assign players who join your lobby to Team A, Team B, or even a Spectator slot.
5. Once players are assigned to opposing teams and you’ve configured other match settings (map, mode, etc.), you can Start the game.

Custom Games are specifically designed for this kind of flexible team setup and provide the most accurate simulation of playing against friends in a real match scenario.

Expert Tips for Effective Practice

• Use Practice Range for Fundamentals: The standard Practice Range is excellent for warming up aim, practicing movement techniques, learning hero ability timings, and testing interactions with static targets or predictable bots.
• Use Friendly Fire for Duels: If you want to practice 1v1 combat or test specific ability counter-plays against a friend, enable Friendly Fire in the Practice Range.
• Use Custom Games for Team Scrims: For practicing team strategies, playing objective modes against friends, or setting up specific team compositions to test, Custom Games are essential.
• Host Controls Settings: Remember that in both Practice Range (for Friendly Fire) and Custom Games, the host has control over most of the session’s settings.

Summary

While you cannot directly change teams in Marvel Rivals’ standard Practice Range, the game offers alternatives depending on your needs. Enabling Friendly Fire allows for sparring within the same session, providing a basic way to practice hitting player-controlled targets.

For true team-based practice, scrimmages, and full control over who is on which side, the Custom Game mode is the definitive solution. By utilizing both the Practice Range and Custom Games effectively, players can ensure their training sessions are as productive and tailored as possible.