Marvel Rivals Season 1 Hero Tier List

Choosing the perfect hero in Marvel Rivals can be such a headache, from being a noob to being experienced. In an attempt to make things less confusing for you, here’s a tier list ranking characters on their current performance along with their strengths. While the list reflects the game’s current meta, remember that it will be updated as the game evolves. Ultimately, the best hero for you is one that suits your playstyle and brings you the most enjoyment—so feel free to experiment, even if your favorite isn’t ranked at the top.

Hero Tier List in Marvel Rivals

This list is based on how the game is right now, but we will keep updating it as things change. The most important thing is to play what you enjoy and are good at, even if it’s not on the ‘best’ list.

It can be hard to choose the right hero in Marvel Rivals, especially if you are new to the game or have been playing for a while. We have prepared a tier list that ranks all heroes from best to worst, which will make it easier to find a hero that not only fits the current game trends but also matches how you like to play.

S-Tier

Magneto

Magneto’s slow-firing iron projectiles make him one of the stronger ranged Vanguard characters, ideal for poking at approaching enemies and keeping them at a distance. He also offers excellent protection with his Metallic Curtain shield and Bulwark bubbles. While his Ultimate can be tricky to land kills with, it has the added benefit of countering bullets, making it an effective tool, especially if you hear The Punisher unleashing his Ultimate.

Dr. Strange

Doctor Strange is the ultimate barrier tank. His massive Shield of the Seraphim offers strong protection and can absorb a lot of damage. He also delivers precise ranged attacks, unleashes short-range area-of-effect blasts, and has the ability to fly—what can’t he do? Oh, and his Pentagram of Farallah lets him teleport anywhere on the map (though, while funny, I’d recommend avoiding teleporting your team off the map). His Daggers of Denak can be tricky to aim, and managing his Dark Magic buildup requires some care, but his versatility makes him well-suited to lead any team.

Psylocke

Psylocke is one of the most powerful Duelists in Marvel Rivals. She can act as a perfect flanker since she can get into the backlines using invisibility and dashes. She can easily avoid catches due to high mobility and various escape options in case of failure. Additionally, she is extremely punchy and deals significant damage, so she is an authentic ninja who can shred backlines. Her ultimate makes her extremely effective against clustered enemies, changing the tide in very objective-focused, very tight situations.

Luna Snow

She is indeed a game-changer because, besides healing other people at super-fast speed and recovering an enemy to his perfect health using Fate of Two Worlds Ultimate, Luna Snow can also heal several teammates simultaneously. This brings her quite a bit of massive team-wide support. On top of that, she can freeze enemies, making them easier to target while creating space to keep herself safe. Luna isn’t just a healer—she packs a punch, and many of her abilities also heal her, giving her great survivability. Plus, her small character model makes it especially tricky for Duelists to take down her, adding to her ability to stay in the fight longer.

Winter Soldier

Bucky is a highly versatile duelist with a lot of potential. He can be a tank-buster when his abilities are used effectively, but he can also excel as a 1v1 flanker or someone who protects and supports his team. There’s a rotation to learn with his attacks, so he might not always be the absolute strongest, but his adaptability makes him a valuable damage dealer. His main weakness is his movement—his Trooper’s Fist is his only mobility tool, and it’s a short-range move with a long cooldown. This means positioning is crucial to avoid getting into bad spots. Once he’s caught in a tough position, it can be challenging for him to escape without relying on his offensive abilities.

Moon Knight

Moon Knight is a strong duelist capable of dominating games if enemies don’t address his power source—his Ankhs. He can place these among grouped enemies and use them to ricochet his Crescent Dart, dealing devastating damage. If the enemies cannot kill the Ankhs in time, he can destroy all the teams easily. The moment his opponents start working toward killing the Ankhs, his impact is strongly reduced. His mobility is average, but his Moonlight Hook is a bit delayed, so he can easily get struck while escaping from his opponents’ attacks. 

Mantis

Mantis can have a huge impact on games, offering both healing and damage buffs to herself and her allies. True to her Strategist role, she can turn the tide of a fight by applying healing and buffs at just the right moments. She can even stun enemies with Spore Slumber, and unlike Ana in Overwatch, it’s not a skill shot, making it easy to put pesky flankers to sleep. To recharge her vital Life Orbs, Mantis needs to land critical hits, so she does need to have a decent aim. But aside from that, she’s a highly effective support character that fits well into nearly any team composition.

Star-lord

If you’re a Tracer fan in Overwatch, you’ll likely gravitate toward Star-Lord. His kit revolves around clever movement tricks and his short-range Element Guns. While he’s easy to pick up, mastering him takes skill, and mismanaging his cooldowns can leave you completely exposed. In skilled hands, though, Star-Lord is one of the best flankers in the game, with a top-tier ultimate to match. Once you’ve mastered him, you’ll be able to carry matches by quickly eliminating isolated enemies.

Hela

Hela has the highest carry potential. Her headshots deliver massive damage, and her AoE secondary fire boosts her power. Her long-range damage is nearly unmatched. The ultimate “Goddess of Death” grants a 1000 shield and 10 seconds of AoE damage. Hela’s Team-Up with Loki or Thor resurrects them if she lands a final hit during their respawn timer.

The Punisher

The Punisher may seem like the standard rifleman of Marvel Rivals, but he’s far from one-dimensional. He comes equipped with a versatile assault rifle, a shotgun that’s deadly up close, smoke grenades, a zipline for quick movement, and a deployable mounted turret—everything you need for a solid DPS character. He’s easy to play and delivers a lot of power with minimal effort. When powered up by Rocket Raccoon’s Team-Up Ammo Overload Device, he becomes even more dangerous. However, he can get a bit isolated if pushed too far without his zipline, so it’s important to keep an eye on your positioning when playing as Frank Castle.

A-Tier

Groot

Groot excels at creating multiple plant-based barriers to control the battlefield, making it feel like enemies are hacking their way through a dense forest just to get close. As one of the most defensive Vanguard heroes, he’s a powerhouse at shutting down flanks and stopping threats head-on with his walls. Despite his defensive focus, Groot isn’t a pushover—he can deal serious damage if enemies get too close. If you’re looking to dictate the pace of a fight and make it a challenge for opponents to reach you and your team, Groot is one of the best options out there.

Scarlet Witch 

Scarlet Witch is beginner-friendly and performs well in lower ranks, but her effectiveness drops at higher ranks. She has self-tracking primary fire, AoE lingering stun, and Mystic Projection for survivability. Her ultimate can wipe out enemies, but she’s vulnerable while channelling it. Chaos Control’s low damage limits her effectiveness against enemies with healing or sustaining abilities.

Venom

Venom is incredibly tough, even for a Vanguard hero, thanks to his Symbiotic Resilience ability. This skill gives him bonus health when he’s low, giving him crucial time to secure a kill, escape, or wait for healing support. It makes him a frustrating opponent to deal with. His Venom Swing lets him dive into the enemy backline, deal heavy damage to Strategists, and swing back out before things get too risky. The only thing holding him back from S-Tier status is his tendency to over-extend; while he can tank a lot of damage, he’s vulnerable if multiple enemies focus on him. However, if you’re smart about picking fights and stick close to your healers, Venom can feel nearly unstoppable.

Loki

Loki is a strong support character in Marvel Rivals and boasts one of the game’s most unique and intricate kits. Being a true trickster, it’s impossible to catch him; he has the ability to turn invisible and set decoys that can teleport to so the foe is really left guessing about his location. Yet for inexperienced players, this may prove a difficult set of abilities to handle. Decent healing output is his, which can be so much enhanced, though, especially when using the power of doppelgangers as deployment for his regenerative domain in full force.

Loki’s ultimate, God of Mischief, is a game-changer, allowing him to mimic another hero’s or enemy’s Ultimate and use it right away. With so many strong Ultimates in the game, this opens up plenty of opportunities to turn the tide of a fight—if you know how to use other characters’ abilities effectively. Loki requires effort to master, but once you do, teams won’t know where you are or how you’re keeping your allies so unkillable.

Hawkeye

Hawkeye is the strongest Duelist in the game right now and the only character capable of landing one-shot kills. When he finds good vantage points, he can deal massive damage to enemy teams and has escape options for when opponents try to challenge him. His solid neutral gameplay means he doesn’t rely heavily on abilities, but with a powerful ultimate, he can dominate matches like no other in his role. Of course, it all comes down to hitting your shots.

Iron Fist

Marvel Rivals melee heroes usually get wiped out by highly skilled ranged heroes, but this is not the case with Iron Fist. Here are a few reasons why: he’s crazy fast, constantly dodging and throwing punches, and is probably the best 1v1 hero in the game. His aim-assist is strong, and it’s usually easy to get some good hits in. He can even lock onto opponents during his combos and stay airborne indefinitely, which makes him a solid counter to heroes like Iron Man and Storm. Iron Fist shines when diving into the backline, quickly taking out isolated Strategists and escaping before anyone can react. If the enemy team isn’t working together to protect their backline, they’ll have a hard time dealing with the relentless punches Iron Fist delivers.

Jeff the Land Shark

Jeff is a simple healing character with extraordinary healing power. He is a pretty reliable all-around character but shows his true shine when he is able to heal multiple teammates in one go by using his Joyful Splash. If flankers get the drop on him, his Hide And Seek ability helps him avoid danger. His ultimate, “It’s Jeff!”, is also something of a game-changer in terms of swallowing up enemies and spitting them off the map for easy kills. The area of effect is large enough that you can’t help but not be hit, making it hard to get away if caught in the middle, but simultaneously makes it pull teammates out of position and disrupt the fight.

Cloak & Dagger

The gameplay experience is unique because you can switch between the two characters at will. Cloak is more offence-oriented, dealing damage and making enemies vulnerable, while Dagger is centered around healing. The challenge lies in knowing when to switch between the two and when to play aggressively or focus on support. You can deal massive damages, provide great healing, and have an impact on the battlefield if you master balancing.

Thor

Thor, armed with Mjolnir, is a solid brawler tank with powerful melee combos and a few ranged attacks that work well together. However, he’s not as tough as you might expect from the God of Thunder. His health is on the lower side for a Vanguard character, and since all three of his Mjolnir-based abilities go on a short cooldown after using just one, every hit needs to count. Because of this, Thor functions best as an off-tank and relies on his allies to support him in battle.

Invisible Women

Invisible Woman excels at sneaking in and out of battle, remaining calm while defending herself and her team with impenetrable force fields. Her Psionic Invisibility makes her vanish after disengaging, and Psionic Support generates shields for allies that explode into healing fields once broken. Her Ultimate, Invisible, creates a powerful force field that makes her team undetectable and heals them. She also unleashes Psionic Hammer, a devastating three-hit combo, and uses Psionic Vortex to pull in enemies with her psionic energy. Her Psionic Strike lets her fire a penetrating force field that heals allies in its path, while Invisible Energy allows her to perform a super jump and turn invisible mid-air. Finally, her Psionic Surge releases a shockwave that launches enemies away.

B-Tier

Adam Warlock

Adam Warlock comes with good healing, which will keep several allies healed at the same time because of his quantum magic powers. However, this means you must use these abilities wisely since he has longer cooldowns. His Regenerative Cocoon and Karmic Revival, where he can resurrect himself and his teammates, are game-changers. They can reverse lost fights and turn the tide of a match. Because of this, expect to be targeted by many Duelists-they don’t appreciate having their hard-earned kills undone.

Magik

Just like Black Panther, Magik from Marvel Rivals will be a melee character, performing low-speed but heavily impactful strikes through her Soulsword. Her dashing uppercut and wide spin slice can certainly do a massive amount of damage if the combinations are right; however, her attacks can also be quite pesky to catch during intense sequences, and if she is opposed by faster or more agile heroes, she gets easily dodged or outmaneuvered.

Iron Man

Iron Man, like many aerial characters, faces challenges right now due to strong counters. However, he can still be effective with smart play and positioning. A lot of his strength comes from his Armor Overdrive, especially the Unibeam, which can quickly melt opponents. The downside is that after 10 seconds of use, the ability goes on a long cooldown, requiring more conservative play in the meantime. Players who understand how to balance and manage his Armor Overdrive can potentially improve his performance, but he and other aerial characters are still kept in check by heroes like Punisher, Winter Soldier, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and even Iron Fist.

Black Panther

T’Challa is a nimble, melee-focused hero with great mobility. His abilities focus on applying Vibranium Marks to enemies and then using Spirit Rend to deal damage, heal, and recharge the ability. For many, this might take some getting used to—if you miss a Spirit Rend while engaging an enemy, you’re left exposed with no way out. This makes Black Panther particularly vulnerable in certain situations. However, with skilled players, he can be incredibly effective and rise to higher tiers. When facing a top-tier Black Panther, you’ll definitely feel the pressure, but reaching that level of mastery may take some time.

Rocket Raccoon

Rocket Raccoon brings a variety of deployable gadgets to support his team, including healing projectiles, revives, armor packs, damage boosts, and jet packs. On top of that, his surprisingly powerful machine gun, jetpack dash, and climbing abilities make him one of the most versatile Strategist characters in Marvel Rivals. He can support his team in all the key ways, and the best part is, he’s also pretty easy to play.

Spider-Man

Spider-Man has the highest skill floor and ceiling. His gameplay involves tricky movement and requires getting in close for melee attacks while landing Spider-Tracer. He was once considered weak but has since been optimized and now fits the average power level. Mastering his swing mechanics makes him a versatile threat, able to engage without taking damage, execute combos, and escape quickly. 

Peni Parker

Peni Parker has the longest range of any Vanguard hero with her SP//dr mech suit. However, her abilities revolve around creating buffing Cyber-Webs and setting traps. She is a unique character focused on cybernetic webbing and robotic spiders, so it might take some time to get used to her playstyle.

Her Bionic Spider-Nest, generating a huge Cyber-Web and launching Spider-Drones, is devastating if left to her devices. With Arachno-mines, she excels in control of objectives and space, and opponents need to think twice before pushing into webbed areas. In good hands, she dominates the map, and it is really hard for the enemy to feel comfortable on it.

Squirrel Girl

Squirrel Girl has one of the simplest kits in Marvel Rivals, but don’t let that fool you—she’s far from weak. Her Burst Acorns can deal significant damage, especially around choke points or corners, and are great for taking down clustered teams. Her Squirrel Blockade is also deadly, allowing her to unleash a lot of damage at once. While she can struggle if flankers get too close due to her limited movement with only the Tail Bounce, if she’s able to move freely without too much pressure, she can put immense pressure on any team trying to push or defend an objective.

Captain America

Captain America is the ultimate brawler Vanguard in Marvel Rivals. He does everything you would expect from Steve Rogers-shielding, punching, running, bashing, and tossing his shield like a frisbee. His damage is not overwhelming, but any character being charged and beaten by him has to pay attention to survive. Still, if the enemy team ignores him, he doesn’t provide exceptional protection for his allies. Plus, if he gets too hasty to initiate, he tends to end up ostracized. Playing as Cap is all about balancing offense with defence, so finding that delicate balance is pivotal. Even when you succeed, his presence in a given game might sometimes feel a tad underwhelming altogether.

Mister Fantastic

Mister Fantastic is a hybrid character that cleverly blurs the lines between tank and damage dealer, much like Storm. While hybrid heroes can sometimes feel spread too thin, Mister Fantastic excels in both roles, though he primarily serves as an off-tank. This means you’ll still need a main tank like Doctor Strange or Magneto to lead the charge. When played well, Mister Fantastic can deal significant damage, using his stretchy abilities to quickly engage enemies and deliver powerful blows. His damage output isn’t as high as someone like Iron Fist, but his strong survivability more than makes up for it. He works best alongside other full DPS heroes who can cover burst damage. With abilities that grant extra health and a shield from his team-up with Invisible Woman, Mister Fantastic can stay in the fight longer, creating space for the team just like a true tank.

C-Tier

Wolverine

Wolverine enters Marvel Rivals in a bit of a tough spot. As a melee Duelist, he struggles against ranged Duelists, and his attempts to counter that aren’t very effective. His Undying Animal damage reduction isn’t too significant, and by the time his health gets low, it’s tough to make full use of his Berserker Rage passive before he’s taken out. On top of that, his Feral Leap can be a bit clumsy, making him feel awkward to play. While you can still get solid results with him and he’s good at shredding Vanguards, you’ll need to put in more effort than most to make him a consistently reliable pick.

Storm

Storm faces a lot of strong counters right now, which hurts her gameplay. Similar to Iron Man, she struggles with manoeuvrability, and she’s not the best damage dealer. Her strength comes from boosting her team with speed and damage buffs. While she could be effective in a highly coordinated team using these buffs, if you’re playing solo, you’ll probably find yourself outpaced by more mobile heroes. Her Ultimate is a standout, though, as it can wipe out entire teams—if you can get it charged up, as it’s one of the slowest in the game.

Hulk

Hulk is a melee master, smashing enemies and jumping across distances. A well-timed Indestructible Guard helps build his ultimate charge, turning him into Monster Hulk with 1400 HP. However, his slow movement and large hitbox make him vulnerable, especially against Vanguards. His Team-Up with Iron Man and Doctor Strange boosts his strength, making him a powerful pick when paired with these heroes.

Black Widow

Black Widow may not be the powerhouse many expected, but she’s still highly effective in the right hands. Rivals feature plenty of open spaces and line-of-sight opportunities, which is where Natasha excels. She’s great at sniping enemies who can’t reach her, letting you deal heavy damage from a distance. She also has solid repositioning skills and can push enemies away with her Edge Dancer ability when attackers get too close. While her damage output isn’t as high as others, and you’re often better off picking Hawkeye, if you have good aim and space to work with, Black Widow can still apply significant pressure to the enemy team.

Namor

Namor is the turret Duelist of Marvel Rivals, using his Monstro octopi to deal damage from a distance. He’s great at defending points, and if he can land his tridents, he’s going to do some of the best damage in a match. Not the most popular choice, many underestimate how effective he can be. However, his poor defence at times lets the enemy through when his barriers fail and usually is dependent on staying next to a Strategist. But still, he’s somehow very strong if selected unexpectedly and leaves opponents’ minds reeling.