Best Thor Build in Marvel Rivals Blood Hunt: Traits, Gear, Arcana, and More

Blood Hunt is a different kind of challenge compared to the Zombies mode that came before it in Marvel Rivals. More build variables, trickier horde compositions, and boss encounters that will absolutely humble you before you figure out what you’re doing wrong. Once it clicks, though, it’s easily the more rewarding of the two.

Thor isn’t the most straightforward hero to build for this mode, and if you’re looking for something with a lower barrier to entry, our Squirrel Girl Blood Hunt guide is worth a read first. That said, no other hero in Blood Hunt comes close to matching the sheer fun of flying through a horde of vampires with Mjolnir on a mission. Here’s the full build.

Best Gear for Thor in Marvel Rivals Blood Hunt

This is a Storm Surge-focused build. The goal is to keep Thor airborne, swerving and looping through enemy packs with Mjolnir extended, clearing hordes while staying mobile enough to handle bosses without getting punished too hard. All the gear choices below are built to support exactly that highly lore-accurate playstyle for the God of Thunder.

Brothers, I implore you all to Storm Surge if you wish to elevate your PVE experience
by u/ErronB in ThorMainsMR

Here’s a breakdown of the recommended gear for this build:

SlotItemBase Effect

Weapon	Elderwood Haft	Storm Surge base damage +X.
Armor	Runic Armor	Health +X, Armor Value +X.
Accessory	Alchemy Amulet	Critical Hit Rate +X%, Block Rate +X%.
Exclusive	Cosmic Cape	When Storm Surge collides with an enemy, it generates an area explosion dealing +X damage.

As always, Legendary rarity is the target for all four slots. For Extended Effects across the board, here’s the priority order to follow:

• Critical Hit Rate
• Critical Hit Damage
• Thunder Torrent Enhancement
• Other Ability Trait Enhancement(s)
• Bonus Damage against Close-Range Enemies
• Bonus Damage against Bosses
• Health%
• Armor% / Other damage-reduction effects

The rule of thumb here is to keep your Critical Hit Rate above 40% (at minimum) before worrying about anything else, then stack Critical Damage from there.

The Cosmic Cape Exclusive is particularly important to get right since it can roll Enhancement bonuses tied to your key ability traits, namely Aegis of Thunder Enhancement, Surprise Strike Enhancement, Rising Thunder Enhancement, and others tied to the abilities you’ll be investing into.

Best Traits for Thor in Marvel Rivals Blood Hunt

Thor’s Trait tree splits into Thunder Formation on the left, which centers on Storm Surge, and Rune Awakening on the right. For this build, you’ll be spending almost entirely on the left tree and skipping the right one altogether.

General Traits

For General Traits, work toward maxing out these (5/5 points invested) in order from top to bottom of the tree:

• Damage Bonus
• Output Amplification #1
• Critical Damage #1
• Cooldown Reduction
• Critical Hit Rate
• Output Amplification #2
• Ability DMG Bonus
• Critical Damage #2

Don’t neglect Percentage Max Health here, especially if your gear rolls aren’t giving you enough of it naturally. At higher Nightmare difficulties, boss damage gets to a level where an offensively stacked-but-fragile Thor starts feeling it fast.

Ability Traits: Thunder Formation Tree

Assign at least one point to the traits across this tree to keep unlocking the respective skills, but prioritize fully maxing (3/3 or 1/1 depending on the trait) these out:

• Lightning Rush
• Rising Thunder
• Thunder Torrent
• Echoing Thunder
• Surprise Strike
• Lightning Engine
• Energy Saver
• Divine Stride
• Stormforged Form

These nine traits are the core of the Storm Surge loop. Rising Thunder, in particular, is the one that directly boosts your next Storm Surge hit after using Hammer Throw or your primary attack, which feeds directly into the gameplay rhythm this build is designed around.

As with any other Blood Hunt build, you also need to keep an eye on gear drops that include bonuses for specific traits. If a drop offers a substantial Enhancement for a trait outside the list above, it might still be worth picking up that trait just to activate the bonus.

Best Arcana for Thor in Marvel Rivals Blood Hunt

Max out Scroll of Conquest and Scroll of Immortality first in the Arcane Realm before touching anything else. Scroll of Blessing and Scroll of Midas can wait since they help with gear quality, but won’t change how your runs feel as immediately as the first two will.

For the Common Arcana cards that you buy between phases during a run, here’s the priority order on the offensive side (red cards):

• Lethal Strike: Total Damage Bonus +X%
• Close Quarters: X% Damage Bonus against Close-Range Enemies
• Boss Hunter: X% Bonus Damage against Bosses

And for defensive picks (blue cards):

• Iron Body: Gain X% Health Bonus
• Indomitable: Gain X% Damage Reduction

Lethal Strike should be taken every time it appears, no debate. Close Quarters is a strong fit for this build, specifically since Storm Surge is inherently a close-range ability, and the damage bonus stacks well across extended horde phases.

Thor Storm Surge Build: Tips and Tricks

The gear and traits will only get you so far. Here’s what to actually do with them once you’re in a run:

• Don’t fly in smooth circles around enemy groups during Storm Surge. Swerve left and right in a zigzag, swivel back and forth through packs, and loop through clusters repeatedly. The more times Mjolnir comes in contact with an enemy, the higher your total damage.
• For boss fights, aim your Storm Surge at the boss’s feet or the ground directly beneath them while doing the same swivelling maneuver. This maximizes the number of times the hammer connects with their hitbox.
• Raising your mouse sensitivity or DPI makes the swerving and swiveling significantly easier to pull off consistently, and it’s worth adjusting before you drop into a Nightmare difficulty run.
• When running critically low on health, fly straight up and keep hovering out of range. Enemies can’t reach you up there, and it gives your charges time to replenish before you come back down.

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Here’s a quick summary of our Storm Surge build for Thor in Blood Hunt, at a glance:

CategoryPriority Picks

Weapon	Elderwood Haft (Crit Rate > Crit DMG > Thunder Torrent Enhancement)
Armor	Runic Armor (Healing Rune Slots > Armor Value > Health%)
Accessory	Alchemy Amulet (Crit Rate > Crit DMG > Bonus DMG vs Close-Range)
Exclusive	Cosmic Cape (Rising Thunder / Surprise Strike / Aegis of Thunder Enhancement)
Key Ability Traits	Lightning Rush, Rising Thunder, Thunder Torrent, Echoing Thunder, Surprise Strike, Divine Stride, Stormforged Form
Arcana	Lethal Strike > Close Quarters > Boss Hunter / Iron Body > Indomitable

And finally, a few things worth clarifying about this build:

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Are you running Thor in Blood Hunt, and has the Storm Surge playstyle clicked for you yet? If you’ve found any gear rolls or Arcana combinations outside of this guide that work even better, we’d love to hear about them in the comments below!