Marvel Rivals Tier List for Season 1
Marvel Rivals Tier List is proof of an essential truth: not every hero (or villain) is created the same. In the competitive shooter’s first season (which added two characters, two maps, a battle pass, and skins), every character is technically viable, but there are a few that are clearly more powerful than the rest.
Below we have compiled a list of levels showing current Marvel Rivals meta (at the time of the first season), assigning each character a rank from “best of the best” (S-tier) to “avoid at all costs” (F-tier). Read on to fully Marvel Rivals Season 1 tier list.
Full list of Marvel Rivals Season 1 tier lists
Image: Tiermaker via Polygon
Season 1 Marvel Rivals sees the game in pretty good shape, with only six characters falling into C-tier or lower. For a game with 35 heroes (soon to be 37 when The Thing and Human Torch join the roster at the end of February), you’ll be hard-pressed to find a “bad” hero.
While the tier list above (which we created in Tiermaker) shows the general look of the Season 1 launch, we’ve broken down each tier in the tables below, including brief explanations of why each character belongs in the tier we’ve placed them in.
Finally, it’s worth noting here that tiers can look different at different ranks, with some high rank heroes barely being played at low ranks, and some low rank Dominators dropping significantly at higher Elo levels. Since Season 1 is still just getting started, this list will likely change within a week or so as the meta doesn’t take hold for a few more weeks.
S-Tier Characters in Season 1 of Marvel Rivals
Image: NetEase Games via Polygon
Typically, S-tier heroes are the ones that you absolutely have to know how to play if you’re playing their assigned role. Understanding how your team abilities work with all of these heroes is critical to success – you’ll see many of them in your games.
Character |
Role |
Why are they S-tier |
|---|---|---|
| Doctor Strange | Vanguard | Doctor Strange is one of the hardest heroes to kill in Marvel Rivals, and he excels at protecting his allies from large explosions. Combined with his unique portal and extremely powerful ultimate, he is a tough choice for a top tank. |
| Hulk/Bruce Banner | Vanguard | The Hulk is extremely agile and very difficult to kill in Marvel Rivals. He is a threat in the backline with massive damage and is able to protect his followers with shields. |
| Luna Snow | Strategist | Luna Snow has the best healing skill in Marvel Rivals, causing all fights to stop the moment she hits it. On top of that, she has excellent healing, damage, and stun. |
| Mantis | Strategist | Mantis not only helps his team deal a lot of damage with his buff, but also maintains their health with healing over time. When paired with the second best healing ultimate, it’s a great choice. |
| Hawkeye | Duelist | Hawkeye requires precise aiming, but he is the only hero who can regularly hit soft targets with one shot. This alone is enough to obtain the highest rank. |
| Hela | Duelist | Hela is one of the most consistent damage dealers in the game if you can hit. She can take down target after target and she has great commands. |
| Iron Man | Duelist | Iron Man himself is a great hero who can deal a lot of damage while possessing a powerful ultimate that can disable Luna Snow. But when combined with his Hulk team, his damage output is unmatched. |
| Psylocke | Duelist | Psylocke is able to dive behind the enemy team to score kills or attack from a distance, making her very versatile. Her ultimate is also extremely powerful and can cover targeted areas. |
| Storm | Duelist | Storm has one of the most powerful duelist ultimates in the game and can guarantee kills or an empty target zone. Combined with her quasi-support abilities and Season 1 buffs, she became an overnight threat. |
Top Tier Characters in Season 1 of Marvel Rivals
Image: NetEase Games via Polygon
Overall, A-tier heroes are great. They are not the best heroes and do not come out on top. meta, but they are extremely reliable. These are all heroes you should be grateful to have on your team, but most likely won’t get banned as you reach higher ranks.
Character |
Role |
Why are they A level |
|---|---|---|
| Magneto | Vanguard | Magneto is the definition of a stable tank. He’s very hard to kill when he’s playing selfishly, but he can extend some of that security to his allies to make them tougher in big moments. |
| Big | Vanguard | Groot can technically deal more damage than any other tank in the game thanks to his powerful walls. But his real value is as a frontline beast with massive health and powerful crowd control. |
| Adam Warlock | Strategist | Adam Warlock is a very technical strategist, capable of inflicting great damage and keeping his allies alive. His normal game is great, but his ultimate can turn entire games around on its own. |
| Cloak and Dagger | Strategist | Cloak and Dagger offers very powerful healing and pretty decent damage, all in a relatively easy-to-use package. They were good at the start, but their buffed ultimate in Season 1 helps them take it up a notch. |
| Invisible woman | Strategist | The Invisible Woman can heal and control the battlefield through various crowd control techniques. Moreover, her invisibility makes her difficult to lock down and kill. |
| Rocket Raccoon | Strategist | Rocket Raccoon can automatically revive players using his BRB device, which is a very powerful effect. Combined with decent healing and decent damage, it’s a great choice when S-Tiers aren’t available. |
| Black Panther | Duelist | Black Panther is both fast and consistent, which is what you want in a duelist. He is also much easier to play with than most other duelists. |
| Magic | Duelist | Magic is both slippery and great at taking on multiple backline targets at once. This makes her a real threat to duelists and strategists, and she essentially needs a tank to help their team deal with her. |
| Namor | Duelist | Namor and his pets can deal massive damage from afar, rivaling the likes of Hela. But what makes Namor so great is his immunity, which allows him to survive among divers. |
| Star Lord | Duelist | Star-Lord can deal a lot of damage in a short period of time, and he is very fast. This is a powerful combo, and when combined with his ultimate, it makes him a great choice for dueling players. |
| Winter Soldier | Duelist | The Winter Soldier is best known for his ultimate, which he can repeat multiple times to wipe out a team. However, his grappling hook and powerful primary fire make him a threat even when he’s charging his ult. |
| Wolverine | Duelist | Wolverine is the best tank destroyer character, capable of abducting high health targets and killing them away from his team. He strikes fear into the hearts of all tankers. |
B-Tier Characters in the First Season of Marvel Rivals
Image: NetEase Games via Polygon
B-tier heroes provide a lot of value, but they are situational and niche. Some of these heroes may be A- or S-tier in the right situation, but they are simply not the same level as the heroes above them in the general setting.
Character |
Role |
Why are they level B |
|---|---|---|
| Penny Parker | Vanguard | Peni Parker is a very powerful tank in the right situation. On defensive maps, she is able to hold the zone better than any other character. |
| Thor | Vanguard | Thor is a fantastic tank bully and can deal massive amounts of damage if given the support he needs to outlast his enemy. |
| I | Vanguard | The Venom is a highly mobile dive tank that can quickly reach the back line. It doesn’t deal much damage, but acts as a powerful distraction for its enemies. |
| Loki | Strategist | Loki is a lot of work to get right, but in the right hands he’s nearly impossible to kill and pumps out a lot of healing. His ultimate is also the best in the game as it allows him to mirror any other character. |
| Iron fist | Duelist | Iron Fist has extremely high explosive potential and is very slippery. It takes a little practice to fully understand, but a good Iron Fist can destroy your back line in a matter of seconds. |
| Moon Knight | Duelist | Moon Knight has massive area of effect damage, allowing him to wipe out an entire team if they aren’t careful. His Anki are easy to disable, but they have a low enough cooldown that he always deals decent damage. |
| Squirrel Girl | Duelist | Squirrel Girl is a very simple character, but her explosive eggs do a lot of damage with minimal effort. Her redesigned ultimate in Season 1 is also quite powerful and can track down enemies. |
| Punisher | Duelist | The Punisher is a marksman character in Marvel Rivals, capable of cutting through enemies with two pistols. His kit is a bit limited, but he has what it takes to succeed in most situations. |
C-Tier Characters in Season 1 of Marvel Rivals
Image: NetEase Games via Polygon
C-tier heroes are those who simply aren’t worth playing when compared to other options. However, they are still playable and viable on some teams or when used by certain players. You can really surprise the enemy team with a C-tier pocket pick, but you’re probably better off studying the hero better altogether.
Character |
Role |
Why are they level C |
|---|---|---|
| Captain America | Vanguard | Captain America doesn’t have much of a personality in Marvel Rivals. He is capable of intimidating defenders well, but also struggles to protect his team. |
| Jeff Land Shark | Strategist | Jeff has decent support options with his normal gear, but not having a good healing ult really hurts him. Despite this, his ult can win the game if enemy players aren’t paying attention. |
| Mister Fantastic | Duelist | Mister Fantastic is a hybrid damage dealer and tank, but he’s too hybrid at the moment so he’s not good at either role. |
D-Tier Characters in Season 1 of Marvel Rivals
Image: NetEase Games via Polygon
D-tier heroes are, frankly, pretty subpar. It’s not bad enough that you’ll automatically lose if you have him on your team, but it’s bad enough that you probably should have picked a better option.
Character |
Role |
Why are they level D |
|---|---|---|
| Scarlet Witch | Duelist | Scarlet Witch deals very low damage over time, even if that damage is reliable since it doesn’t require aiming. Combined with a powerful ultimate but very easy to counter, she simply doesn’t bring enough value to the team. |
| Spider-Man | Duelist | Spider-Man is capable of dealing a lot of damage and destroying the backline, but he requires a lot more work than any other diving character in the game, without any additional benefit. |
F-Tier Characters in Season 1 of Marvel Rivals
Image: NetEase Games via Polygon
F-tier heroes are bad and not worth playing. And while you should never annoy your teammates in games like Marvel Rivalsyou should be wary if someone picks one of these heroes as it’s too close to a 4v5 game.
Character |
Role |
Why are they level F |
|---|---|---|
| Black Widow | Duelist | Black Widow can’t hit targets with one shot, she struggles to maintain awareness here because she’s forced to play in first person and her ult is useless. Black Widow requires a lot of buffs or reworks to be viable for all but the best players. |
For more Marvel Rivals guides, here’s a list of all known codes, all team abilities, all maps and modes, and an overview of the game’s roadmap.