Royal Palace: Marvel Rivals Domination Map

The setup you need to know

Royal Palace is a Domination map with three rotating sub-areas: Bifrost Garden, Odin's Archive, and the Throne Room. Best two-out-of-three format.

The mission areas on Royal Palace are more covered than typical maps, and cause long range heroes to struggle. Teams that have the sustain to stay inside the objective area are best for Royal Palace. Areas of cover from walls and structures are very strong for both teams, and you should look to destroy enemy cover.

The objective area is on a higher elevation than either side's approaching area, which makes playing long-range heroes difficult.

The map's defining gimmick is that destroyed environments rebuild themselves periodically thanks to a Loki variant. So if you broke cover earlier, expect it back.

There's also a key mechanic: when capture progress combined between both teams reaches 50% (one team could have 20% while the other has 30%), the map will reorganize itself and the walls will move. This shifts cover positions mid-match and forces both teams to adapt.

All three Mission Areas have hallways along one side of the objective that can be used for flanks.

Playing offense (capturing the point)

Push together as a team. Domination is decided by respawn timing. Trickling in one by one feeds enemy ult charge.

Destroy enemy cover. Areas of cover from walls and structures are very strong for both teams, so breaking enemy cover before pushing the point creates angles that didn't exist before. Star-Lord, Punisher, and other AoE damage heroes are great at this.

Use the central destructible statue (where applicable). The commanding statue at the map's center offers complete destructibility, allowing teams to create custom sightlines and escape routes. Strategists can break small openings to establish retreat paths during high-damage ultimate abilities, like Star-Lord's. Smart Strategists can pre-break openings before fights to give themselves an out.

Use the hallways for flanks. All three Mission Areas have hallways along one side of the objective that can be used for flanks. Send one player around while your main team pressures the front.

Time pushes around the wall reorganization. When the combined progress hits 50%, the walls move. Knowing this is coming, you can hold off a major push until the reorganization changes the layout in your favor.

Playing defense (after capping the point)

After winning a fight, push onto the enemy's high ground area to create two separate choke points the attackers must push through. This is the most underrated defender play on this map. Most teams just sit on the point after capping. Aggressively taking enemy high ground forces attackers to fight through two chokes instead of one, which slows their re-engagement massively.

Area control comps are especially strong and difficult to deal with on this point. Peni nests plus Groot walls in the objective room can shut down attackers for the entire round.

Watch the flank hallway. Have one player on flank watch since the side hallway is the main alternative route. If you ignore it, a flanker will be on your healers before you realize.

Use both floors. On Odin's Archive specifically, both floors' small hallways between the train and the objective can be used to create angles of attack from cover on the open objective. Don't stand in the open choke points.

There's also really tall high ground near the huge window in some variants that only fliers and climbers can access. If you have an Iron Man, Storm, Spider-Man, or Rocket Raccoon, take that position.

General things that matter

Each variant plays slightly differently. Bifrost Garden is the only outdoor area and has the longest sightlines, so ranged heroes have slightly more value here than the other two variants. Odin's Archive is the smallest and most cramped, sometimes called the game's least liked variant. The Throne Room has the most diverse routing options with multiple branching alternatives, making it the most flank-heavy variant.

Stagger management matters everywhere in Domination, but here especially because of how hard it is to retake the point. The cover-heavy mission area is hard to dislodge defenders from once they've set up.

The Loki rebuild mechanic is more useful for defenders. If attackers broke cover to open sightlines, wait for the rebuild to restore your safe spots and re-engage from the same position. Track which structures are rebuilding before re-pushing.

The wall reorganization at 50% combined progress is a game-changer that newer players often miss. Watch the progress bars carefully. When the bars combined are nearing 50%, expect the walls to shift. Plan your push or hold accordingly.

Last thing: this is the original Domination map in the game, so most experienced players have hundreds of games on it. If you queue Royal Palace blind, you'll feel the gap immediately. Spend some practice mode time walking each variant, finding the flank hallways, and learning which cover is destructible. The veterans will exploit any positional weakness you have, so know the map cold before you queue ranked.