Overview
Marcel, the Soul Photographer, introduces a new control mechanic to MLBB, known as Frozen moment. This puts everyone caught in a period of stasis, where they are unable to move, cast skills, or receive damage. Depending on the situation, Marcel can use his Passive and Ultimate to initiate or disengage, having insanely high macro potential and comeback opportunities.
Strengths
His greatest strength lies in his unique Ultimate, Golden Hour. By putting allies and enemies alike into stasis, he can set up for some game-changing interactions. Firstly, all projectiles will be stopped at the barrier of his Ultimate, and be fired all at once the moment his Ultimate ends. This allows for exceptional burst damage to catch enemies off guard. Secondly, you can also use his Ultimate for utility, helping your teammates to disengage by casting it on the chasing enemies and even the turrets! You can also precisely position it to isolate a single enemy member for easy pick-off, and even put the Lord and enemy Jungler in stasis for an easy objective secure! Speaking of the lord, an interesting tech with Marcel is that by putting your minions/Lord in stasis, you can actually bypass the Inhibitor Holy Defence, while still triggering it! This allows you to set up powerful sieges even with the 1st Lord and gives you more minion waves to work with. An underrated strength of his is the shield granted from his passive. This effect also resets when Marcel uses his Ultimate, so he can easily stack up shields to keep his teammates alive when the fight breaks out after! Combined with his anti-dive snaps, he is extremely good at supporting his team.
Weaknesses
Marcel has a low HP pool due to his passive that converts all Extra HP into hybrid defence. Thus, heroes with high burst damage, penetration or true damage will be able to take him down exceptionally fast. Marcel also lacks damage in his kit because his basic attacks and S1 are his only damage sources. Hence, one should be careful before engaging 1 on 1 with the enemy, especially in the early game. His final weakness lies in having a good understanding of the game. He will mainly benefit players with good game sense and macro, because one wrong Ultimate may unintentionally put your team in danger instead, turning the fight against your team.
Defence, Defence, Defence
Before going into his build, it is worth noting that Marcel should go for items with unique passives that reduces his damage taken or the enemy damage dealt. Due to how his kit works, he would most likely have a lot of Defence stats, thus items like Radiant armour that provide even more fall short. Due to his Extra HP conversion, items like Guardian Helmet that provides a lot of HP will also not be useful. Magic Boots (Encourage) - Grants additional CD reduction which aids in his skill casting efficiency. Encourage is chosen due to the Hybrid Defence it provides to allies and the easiness to execute. Thunder Belt - This is the core item for Marcel. As his passive can trigger attack effects, he can stack up Thunder Belt whenever an enemy enters his Passive radius, allowing him to gain stacks insanely fast. Thunder Belt also complements his kit because he needs raw Hybrid Defence that the item provides. Since his damage also scales with his defence stats, this is a must have! Dominance Ice - With the recent buffs, it is a necessary item against sustain lineups, and provides Marcel with even more Hybrid Defence. Antique Cuirass - Great against high Physical damage heroes and grants Marcel a unique passive. Athena Shield - Great against high Magic damage heroes and grants Marvel a unique passive. Immortality - Late game survivability, increased escape survival.
Spare Equipment
Note that since Marcel is largely opting for a Tank Build, his items will change according to the situation, but these are some other items that can be considered. Magic Boots (Favor) - While less effective at the moment, players can also opt for the Favor blessing as Marcel can easily trigger the healing from his shield granted. This makes him more of a shield support rather than a teamfight menace. Flask of the Oasis - This item should only be picked up when going for Favor Blessing. This increases his shield even further and helps with his CD reduction. Chastice Pauldron - While this item is great for its unique passive, it is noted that Marcel will not benefit much from the HP Regen as he does not have a high HP pool to begin with.
Unbreakable Speed
The support emblem is chosen due to the Cooldown Reduction it provides, allowing Marcel to use his skills more frequently as they have long base cooldowns. It also grants additional movement speed that helps him get in and out faster. Agility is chosen to allow him to roam around the map faster in the early stages. Tenacity is chosen to provide him with additional Hybrid Defence that remains the core of his build. Concussive Blast pairs well with his S1 and improves his general utility.
Battle Spell
Flicker is recommended to improve the mobility of Marcel, allowing him to engage and disengage freely when paired with his S2. This lets him set up more surprise Ultimates, or retreat to safety after putting an enemy in stasis.
Early Game
Marcel excels in the Early Game due to how easily he can poke with the stasis from his passive, and be an annoyance to both the Jungle and the Lanes. His survivability is extremely high even with his base stats, so he is great at supporting his team from the beginning.
Late Game
Marcel also excels at Late Game Macro plays. Because of his Ultimate, he can easily turn fights around in the late game as there are endless ways he can experiment with the AoE stasis. This allows him to set up outplays and area denial for crucial objectives in the later stages.
Best With Grock
Marcel works amazingly well with Grock. When Marcel casts his Ultimate, Grock can freely place his wall within it and use his Ultimate. An interesting interaction is that Grock can continue charging after Golden Hour ends, allowing for huge set-up potential as the enemies inside are guaranteed to get hit.
Watch Out For Lancelot
Marcel works perfectly against dive-heavy heroes like Lancelot, that rely on getting close to targets to dish out damage. His anti-dive passive negates so much killing potential from assassins and is essentially a free escape tool for any kind of initiation.