Mario + Rabbids Sparks Of Hope: How To Play Mario | Character Guide

Mario + Rabbids Sparks Of Hope has a lot of characters to mess around with. Not only do you start with a very respectable SIX in your roster, but more join your ranks over time, and the number you can bring into battle also receives a bit of a bump. With each character being unique, building a solid party can get daunting.

One way to get a round that is to understand what each character does, and what their role in any composition would be. That’s where these guides come into play. This time we are looking at Mario, the titular hero of Mario + Rabbids Sparks Of Hope, and an all-around good guy. 

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More Mario + Rabbids Sparks Of Hope content:

Igloo Breakthrough | Hide ‘N Squeak | Sunrise Temple Riddle | Pristine Peak Riddle | Combat Guide | Beginner Tips

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Character Overview

Mario is good at just about anything, providing that “everything” is specifically combat-focused. He has great range and damage, can split fire, has all kinds of movement and damage tricks up his sleeve, and only gets better as you level up. Mario is a character you can slot into just about any team, and you will find success. 

Mario is very much a team player, however, and as we will find out shortly, he does have some weaknesses that can leave him feeling a tad clunky from time to time. 

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Mario’s Weapon

Mario comes equipped with two pistols. These pistols can be used in a number of ways. Firstly, Mario can fire both pistols at one enemy. These will basically double his damage. This is great for laying the smackdown on a particularly tough opponent. 

Alternatively, Mario can split his fire, and have his pistols fire independently at different enemies. Each pistol shot will also be imbued with any Super Effect from a Spark, allowing you to spread these powerful effects more effectively. This alone gives Mario excellent utility, as he can effortlessly take on hordes of weaker enemies (Bob-ombs, Goomba, Darkmess Eyes), and focus down hardier foes.

The downside to this weapon is that the damage, even when doubling up, can be a bit lacking, and the range is fairly middling. Mario often needs help from Sparks to really up his damage (especially early on), in addition to getting closer than some of his counterparts. 

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Ability Breakdown

Mario has a host of shared and unique Abilities that really makes him tick. Like all characters, these are split into Health, Movement, Weapon, and Technique.

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Health

As the name implies, this is all about increasing Mario’s durability. These Abilities are fairly generic and can be found on just about every character in the game.

Ability	Effect	Ranks
Extra Health	Increases maximum Health by 10% per rank.	3
HP Chillout	Heal 15% of your maximum HP after every battle	1
Heal Sponge	Increases the effectiveness of healing applied to Mario by 10%/20%	2

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Movement

This Ability tree focuses on Mario’s mobility, including any mobility options that apply damage.

Ability	Effect	Ranks
Glide Boost	Increases Mario’s Glide time after a Team Jump by 1 second per rank.	2
Stomp	Mario Stomps on an enemy once Gliding dealing 180 damage.	1
Stomp & Glide	Mario can Glide after Stomping an enemy for 3.75/5.75 seconds.	2
Extra Stomp	Mario can Stomp multiple times in one turn, increasing by 1 per rank.	2

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Weapon

Every ability here increases the effectiveness of Mario’s weapon in combat.

Ability	Effect	Ranks
Critical Hit Chance	Increases Mario’s Glide time after a Team Jump by 1 second per rank.Increases Mario’s Crit Chance by 10% per rank.lide time after a Team Jump by 1 second per rank.	2
Weapon Range	Increases Mario’s Weapon Range by 3m per rank	2
Jump Shot	Mario can fire whilst Gliding, dealing an additional 50% damage when doing so.	1
Second Helping	Mario deals double damage on his second shot if his first shot kills an enemy.	1

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Technique 

Finally, this tree focuses on Mario’s Ability, Hero Sight.

Ability	Effect	Ranks
Hero Sight Damage	Increases Hero Sight damage by 15%-25% per rank.	3
Hero Sight Cooldown	Decreases cooldown timer of Hero Sight by 1 turn per rank.	2
Additional Hero Sight Charges	Mario can react an additional time when using Hero Sight.	1
Sight Again	Mario gains an additional reaction if he kills an enemy using Hero Sight. This stacks with every kill.	1

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Best Abilities

Mario is an excellent character who has a great lineup of Abilities. Something you may have noticed about Mario, however, is that he is completely lacking in generic movement and damage upgrades. This makes Mario very slow without support from allies, and his damage is very much limited without the use of Sparks or movement abilities.

Because of these weaknesses, Mario loves to pump points into his Movement Tree. This is because he gains access to a very impressive Glide timer and up to 3 Stomps per turn. This is a noticeable increase in Mario’s damage, especially when you consider you can Stomp the same enemy multiple times in one turn. You can also use Stomp & Glide to traverse entire battlefields if you chain your Stomps effectively.

Jump Shot is also an absolute must. Jump Shot gives Mario way more vision when fighting, and he can even negate most cover whilst in the air. This makes Mario far more reliable than some other characters, and the 50% damage bonus is the icing on the cake. 

Outside of these, Hero Sight can be buffed to be staggeringly good in very specific situations. However, we found these situations were pretty hard to come by. The best in the tree would likely be Hero Sight Cooldown, as this allows you to use Hero Sight every turn. The rest are great but are a bit more situational. 

Finally, the Health tree is very underwhelming. We would stick to putting any spare points into Extra Health – we would also refund these points if you were short of a key Ability elsewhere. 

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How To Play Mario

Mario is an incredibly aggressive character who relies on his team and unique mix of Abilities to deal damage and effectively move around the battlefield. You want Mario to always be Team Jumping, as he is simply too slow otherwise. With Team Jump, try and get as many Stomps off as you can to weaken enemies, and always use Jump Shot when available. Regular shots by Mario are simply underwhelming by comparison. 

Mario is an excellent inclusion in most teams because of his ability to handle so many situations. He has just enough range, damage, and utility to fill the role of secondary damage dealer in a team. 

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Spark Ideas

Mario really shines with Sparks, and Mario should be focusing on any Spark that increases his damage output. Early on, taking Sparks like Pyrostar is excellent. Every Spark increases your base damage – even when not hitting an enemy’s weakness. This improves Mario’s kill potential. 

Sparks also apply to BOTH of Mario’s pistol shots. This allows you to spread Super Effects like Splash to multiple enemies. This is an excellent way to deal massive damage, or set your allies up for killer turns. Mario is arguably one of the best characters at doing this, as other characters with AOE attacks often lack range.

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That’s all we have on Mario for now. For more Mario + Rabbids Sparks Of Hope guides (character or otherwise), then have a gander at our other content. We also have more on the way!