Marvel Rivals has an unintentional Team-Up ability for Jeff the Land Shark and Doctor Strange, who can join forces for a bug that sends foes into an inescapable void

Marvel Rivals has a shark-shaped problem – certified cutie Jeff the Land Shark is causing mayhem with his new best buddy Doctor Strange, with a joint strategy that can banish enemy players into the shadow realm with no way to escape.

At launch, many players were convinced that the adorable Strategist hero Jeff was overpowered, although the comics writer who helped create him joked that it "sounds like a skills issue to me, if my boy is beating your ass every night." There's no way to git gud when you're trapped in an inescapable void, however, and as has been highlighted on Reddit, that's the latest deadly trick up Jeff's sleeve.

One player on Reddit has shared a video of the bug in action, noting: "Considering there is no friendly fire the only way to get out from the banishment was to disconnect and rejoin which would put you back in spawn, but by then it was too late as we were playing multiple players down."

Raising Awareness About A Bug Using Jeff And Strange Ult That Banishes Players To The Shadow Realm from r/marvelrivals

As for how it works, YouTube creator Goodlooking Fork has explained the full process. Essentially, Doctor Strange needs to place one of his portals into a wall, before placing another one close to where Jeff will pull off his Ultimate ability. The YouTube creator suggests leaving the second portal up a ramp or some stairs so that Jeff can enter it himself (despite not being able to jump during his Ult) to drop in his victims after swallowing them. However, this doesn't appear to be a requirement, as in the video shared on Reddit, the portal appears to be placed directly below Jeff's feet as he launches his attack. The Reddit video also sees the Doctor Strange player switch to another character, removing the portal entirely.

While Team-Up abilities are a huge part of Marvel Rivals and the third-person shooter's strategies, this obviously isn't intended to be one of them, and considering that it can put players out of action for an entire game, I can't imagine there's any way that NetEase Games is going to turn a blind eye to it. When it'll be fixed is another matter, though, so for the time being, be extra vigilant around enemy Jeffs if you see a Doctor Strange nearby.

Marvel Rivals exec isn't afraid of roster bloat after NetEase promised new heroes every 6 weeks: "There's no limit for the sky. We just throw everything at it."