The mad scientist Rick Sanchez is one of the dozens of unique characters in MultiVersus, and a particularly tricky one to learn how to play. He’s also currently available in the free fighter rotation, so you can try him out until June 11th!
Being the most famous pickle in media wasn’t enough for Rick, so he’s ready to throw down and fight superheroes. But, Rick isn’t much of a brawler, truth be told. Playing as him will require you to plan ahead, using tricky setups to defend yourself and blast your foes away. No brute forcing here!
How To Play Rick | MultiVersus Character Guide
To help you out, we’ll tell you everything you need to know to learn how to play as Rick in MultiVersus.
SIDE NOTE: We also have a guide which covers the best perks for each character in MultiVersus, make sure to check it out as well!
Moveset Breakdown
Normal Attacks
- Dash Attack – Rick slides forward, summoning a plasma wall that damages enemies.
- Neutral Attack – Rick pulls out his trusty blaster and fires a projectile. You can mash to spam shots, but they deal low damage and now knockback. Holding down the button will allow you to charge for a stronger attack that deals knockback. Works the same in the ground and the air.
- Grounded Side Attack – This is Rick’s basic three-step combo attack. The first attack is a swing with plasma swords, which can be charged. A second input will allow you to swiftly kick the opponent. The third and final input allows you to fire a rocket projectile which can be charged for extra damage.
- Aerial Side Attack – Rick pulls his belt and blasts a forcefield around himself. Can be charged for extra damage and knockback.
- Grounded Up Attack – Rick swings upward with a plasma whip. Can be charged for extra damage, too. Its high knockback makes it one of Rick’s best kill moves!
- Aerial Up Attack – Rick pulls the Mega Seed upward. Hitting an ally with it will reduce the cooldown on their abilities. On the other hand, hitting an enemy will silence them, preventing them from using moves with cooldowns. Can be charged for extra damage and knockback.
- Grounded Down Attack – Rick throws a fart bomb in front of him. Launches enemies upward upon detonation, which you can usually follow up with Up Attack.
- Aerial Down Attack – Rick smacks opponents downwards with the blast of his rocket boots. Ignites enemies for damage over time and can also be used as a spike.
Special Attacks
- Grounded Neutral Special – Rick summons Meeseeks and commands him to run forward, tackling enemies. Pressing up after Meeseeks spawns will make him do an uppercut instead of running. Pressing down instead will give Meeseeks a golf club. Meeseeks will swing the golf club whenever an enemy is knocked in his direction and will also reflect projectiles.
- Worth noting, Meeseeks is considered a projectile so he can go through Rick’s portals. This also means he can be reflected, though.
- Aerial Neutral Special – Rick summons Meeseeks on his shoulders. Meeseeks then flaps quickly to give Rick some extra air time. This move is purely for mobility, but Meeseeks does deal damage when he spawns on Rick’s shoulders.
- Side Special – Rick aims and summons a portal, then teleports while leaving a second portal behind. Hitting an enemy with the sweet spot when aiming will teleport them towards Rick instead. Either way, Rick and his ally can shoot projectiles through the portals.
- Pressing Side Special twice quickly will spawn a singular large portal and Rick won’t teleport. Knocking an enemy into the large portal will spawn a small portal and teleport the enemy to wherever Rick is, allowing for follow-ups.
- Also worth noting, this Special has a cooldown. Pressing Side Special while on cooldown will make Rick dash forward with a pair of rocket skis, dealing damage.
- All versions of this Special work the same on the ground and the air.
- Up Special – Rick launches upward with a jetpack, which can be charged for extra range. Damages enemies when launching. Also works the same in the ground and air.
- Down Special – Rick shoots a slow-moving projectile from his Polymorphic Ray, which detonates after a moment. Allies hit by it will be enlarged, increasing their attack and range. Enemies will be turned into helpless miniature Reindogs. Works the same in the ground and in the air. Also has a cooldown.
Signature Perks and Recommendations
Just like every other character in MultiVersus, Rick currently has access to 2 different exclusive Signature Perks. However, remember that you can’t use these Perks if you don’t actually own the character. The Preview Rotation doesn’t let you change Perks, sadly.
If you need help earning the 3000 Fighter Currency to unlock Rick permanently, check out our guide on how to earn Fighter Currency.
Anyway, these are the two Signature Perks for Rick:
- Squanchin’ Pyrotechnics – Increases the cooldown on Rick’s portals (Side Special Attack). However, it will add fire to all allied projectiles that pass through them. This increases their damage and applies Ignite to enemies. Allies who go through your portals will get a fire buff on their next melee attack, as well. Enemies who go through portals will be Ignited and take extra damage for a brief period.
- Hephaestus, Who? – Fully charging Rick’s whip attack (Grounded Up Attack) will make the final hit pull enemies towards him. This allows him to follow up with combos.
Out of the two, “Squanchin’ Pyrotechnics” is by far the superior choice. It greatly increases Rick’s damage potential and makes his portals even more useful. This is especially true if you learn to combo enemies into portals. However, you’ll need to get used to the increased cooldown period, so watch out for that.
If “Squanchin’ Pyrotechnics” doesn’t suit you, the default “Well Rounded” Perk is a decent choice. A 5% boost to attack and defense always comes in handy, even if it’s small!
As for “Hephaestus, Who?”… it frankly isn’t worth it. Fully charging the whip attack is very risky, and you generally want to use it for knocking out enemies instead of starting combos anyway.
Combo Theory
Basic Combos
Rick, being more of a zoner archetype than anything, doesn’t have many noteworthy true combos. He relies more on setups and causing mayhem across the battlefield instead. Also, most of his combos become extremely unreliable as soon as enemies have any damage, due to the increased knockback. Overall, his combo potential is rather low… though that doesn’t mean he has no combos up his sleeves!
One simple grounded combo you can do is Side Attack x3 > Side Special > Up Attack. This will smack enemies away, then pull them back with the Side Special portal for a follow-up. You’ll need to quickly aim the Side Special so that it hits the opponent with the portal, though, which is pretty tricky.
Expanding on that basic combo, you can add more moves as a starter and finisher. For example, do Aerial Down Attack > Grounded Side Attack x3 > Side Special (portal hits enemy) > Grounded Up Attack > Aerial Up Attack.
It’s a flashy combo that combines both grounded and aerial movesets for big damage, but it’s pretty tricky to pull off fully. The Aerial Up Attack finisher will temporarily silence the opponent, too. You can also replace the final Aerial Up Attack with an Aerial Up Special for extra knockback instead of silencing the enemy.
Overall, the Side Attack x3 > Side Special > Up Attack combo is Rick’s bread and butter for comboing. It’s harder to pull off than some simpler characters in MultiVersus, such as Wonder Woman. Speaking of, we also have a guide on how to play Wonder Woman! Anyway, this basic combo is a neat trick up Rick’s sleeve when mastered.
Advanced Combos
If you want more advanced combos with Rick, you’ll need to start setting up Rick’s Down Special (Polymorphic Ray). Hitting an enemy with the Polymorphic Ray will turn them into miniature Reindogs, which makes them easy to combo. On top of that, they’re unable to fight back at all!
Additionally, Rick becomes enlarged if he hits himself with the Polymorphic Ray. This greatly expands his combo potential, as he has larger hitboxes. It also increases his damage and knockback potential, allowing him to more easily KO opponents.
Hitting yourself and an enemy with the Polymorphic Ray at the same time opens up a lot of combo potential!
Of course, that’s all easier said than done. Hitting both your opponent and yourself with a single detonation of the Polymorphic Ray is not easy. You’ll need to practice and master the timing for the attack. Also, let’s be frank, the slow-moving Polymorphic Ray projectile is very easy for enemies to dodge.
To make things a bit easier, you can use the Side Special portals. Time them right and teleport yourself next to an enemy as the Polymorphic Ray detonates!
Using this basis, you can pull off crazy combos such as Down Special > Side Special > Aerial Side Attack (when exiting the portal) > Grounded Side Attack x2 > Side Special > Grounded Up Attack > Jump > Aerial Up Special.
This combo is extremely tough to pull off, all things considered. Nonetheless, it’s an example of Rick’s potential, but also his difficulty. Managing to pull it off can even guarantee a 0-to-death KO on stages with low top blast zones!
General Gameplan | How to Play Rick Effectively in MultiVersus
Rick’s overall playstyle is meant to be that of a zoner, which is why he’s classified as Mage. He messes his foes up from range with his variety of tricky setups, projectiles, and portals. As such, you’ll generally want to play keep away when you choose him. In this sense, he’s similar to Marvin the Martian, which we’ve also covered in a guide.
You’re better off choosing a Bruiser like Black Adam if you want to rush down enemies with brute force!
Rick is also classified as a Hard character within the game, and there are good reasons for that. As already explained before, his combos are tough to pull off for less reward than more straightforward characters. He also has cooldowns on two of his Special Attacks, which you’ll need to carefully manage in every match.
This makes Rick particularly tough in 1v1 matches since he doesn’t have an ally to protect him. You’ll need to be extremely patient, especially when dealing with characters that reflect projectiles such as Finn and his B.M.O. Special. Make sure to master your movement options so you can get out of bad situations, too.
In 2v2, however, you’d do well to pair up with a Bruiser or Tank that protects you. This will allow you to set up portals for combos and projectiles. It also makes it much more likely for you to hit with the Polymorphic Ray, which has massive potential to turn a match in your team’s favor.
Coincidentally, this makes him pair perfectly with his canon sidekick, Morty! Check out our guide on how to play Morty, as well.
Ultimately, Rick is a hard character to master in MultiVersus. He requires more patience to use than most others. Nonetheless, we hope our guide helped you start to grasp how to play him effectively!
