Marvel Rivals Character Tier List for Beta Vanguards, Duelists, and Strategists

Marvel Rivals boasts an extensive lineup of renowned characters, and our ranked tier list serves as a valuable tool in determining which ones to utilize for dominance in the arena during the Closed Beta.

The impact of Overwatch is evident, as each character is categorized into the roles of Vanguard, Duelist, and Strategist, which correspond to Tank, DPS, and Support. However, with the beta concluding on August 5 and a plethora of distinct abilities to master, selecting the optimal character is no simple task.

Fortunately, we have compiled a Marvel Rivals character tier list that evaluates the strength of each character in the current meta.

Marvel Rivals Characters Ranked Tier List

Tier	Character
S	Hela, Loki, Rocket Racoon, Scarlet Witch, Venom, Adam Warlock
A	Iron Man, Spider-Man, Star-Lord, Doctor Strange, Namor
B	Peni Parker, Groot, Punisher, Magneto, Mantis, Luna Snow
C	Storm, Magik, Black Panther, Hulk

Tiers Explained

• S-tier characters refer to those in the meta who surpass all others.
• A-tier: Powerful characters that are a strong alternative to the S-tier picks.
• B-tier: Viable options that only work in certain situations.
• C-tier: Avoid unless they’re your favorite characters.

Best Characters Explained

Doctor Strange

• The Daggers of Denak can be cast forward.
• The Cloak of Levitation allows the wearer to ascend and briefly maintain flight.
• Maelstrom of Madness: Unleash Dark Magic to inflict damage upon nearby foes.
• The Pentagram of Farallah allows for the creation of portals between two locations, allowing all units to pass through them.
• The Shield of the Seraphim is able to generate a shield that provides protection against any potential damage.
• Magic Cost (Passive): Each strike against an enemy adds to Doctor Strange’s Dark Magic reserves. Failure to unleash this energy will trigger his Anti-Heal condition.
• The Gamma Maelstrom team-up ability involves Hulk charging Doctor Strange and Iron Man with gamma radiation. When Doctor Strange utilizes his Maelstrom of Madness, he releases an excess amount of gamma energy. Similarly, when Iron Man activates his Armor Overdrive, he will trigger a gamma upgrade.
• Ultimate Eye of Agamotto: This powerful ability allows you to detach the Souls of nearby enemies from their bodies, causing any damage inflicted on these Souls to also harm their physical forms.

Doctor Strange stands out on our list with his unique mobility options, as he is able to provide them to the entire team. With the use of the Pentagram of Farallah, he can create portals between two locations on the map. This allows for swift re-entry into the game for respawning teammates, or the element of surprise when attacking enemies from behind.

In addition, the Sorcerer Supreme is equipped with the Shield of the Seraphim which effectively defends against incoming attacks and absorbs damage. His Eye of Agamotto Ultimate also provides a short opportunity for his team to inflict significant damage, solidifying his position as a versatile and valuable member of the team.

Despite the fact that the Dark Magic build-up gradually decreases his health bar, it does not prevent him from being a strong contender and viable choice, although it does prevent him from reaching the S-tier.

Iron Man – Best starter character

• Repulsor Blast: Launch nano pulse cannons forward.
• Unibeam: Shoot a unibeam in a forward direction.
• To achieve rapid forward flight, enable the Hyper-Velocity state.
• Armor Overdrive: Trigger the Armor Overdrive state to boost the damage of Repulsor Blast and Unibeam.
• Micro-Missile Barrage: Iron Man can launch a missile bombardment when using Hyper-Velocity or Armor Overdrive.
• Gamma Overdrive (Team-Up Ability): Hulk imbues Doctor Strange and Iron Man with gamma radiation. As Doctor Strange harnesses the power of Maelstrom of Madness, he releases a surplus of gamma energy. Similarly, Iron Man’s activation of Armor Overdrive will trigger a gamma enhancement.
• The “Invincible Pulse Cannon”(Ultimate) unleashes a powerful pulse cannon in the specified direction, causing massive destruction upon impact in the designated area.

As a Pharah main in OW, you will feel right at home in Iron Man’s suit in Marvel Rivals. Utilizing Stark’s thrusters, you can soar above your enemies and unleash devastating attacks from the sky.

Despite the individual strength of most of his abilities, the true power of this character lies in his ability to hover at a safe distance and consistently unleash attacks. If the opposing team wants to neutralize him, they will have to divert their attention from the ground to the air, leaving themselves open to attack.

While his gadgets may not be entirely ineffective, one in particular, the Invincible Pulse Cannon, has the ability to swiftly defeat several opponents. If you’re new to this genre of shooter, selecting Iron Man as your character can provide both enjoyment and growth as you become familiar with the game.

Venom: Best Vanguard

Venom will feel instantly familiar to Tank players from OW.

• Dark Predation: Release tentacles in a forward motion to strike at enemies.
• “Venom Swing”is a move that involves shooting webbing forward to create a single swing in the desired direction.
• Symbiotic Resilience: Generate Bonus Health in response to damage. The amount of Bonus Health generated increases as Venom’s health decreases.
• Frenzied Arrival: Rapidly descend from a specific height to the designated location. Upon touchdown, inflict damage on nearby enemies and push them towards the landing spot.
• Cellular Corrosion: Use tentacles to Slow enemies within range. If enemies are unable to escape in time, they will take damage.
• The Alien Biology passive ability allows you to crawl on walls by pressing Space/A/X. While crawling, you can sprint by pressing LMB/R2/RT.
• Venom’s Touch of Klyntar is a passive Team-Up Ability that allows him to share a portion of his symbiotes with Spider-Man and Peni Parker. This activates their symbiote abilities, enabling them to transform the symbiotes into explosive spikes. These spikes can then be used to harm enemies nearby and push them back relentlessly.
• The Feast of the Abyss (Ultimate) allows you to burrow underground for unrestricted movement. You can either wait for a set amount of time or press LMB/R2/RT to consume enemies above and gain additional health.

Despite being inspired by the Tank class in Overwatch, the Vanguards are unable to fully embody the role quite like Venom. With his Symbiote abilities, he excels at close combat and is able to withstand heavy damage, making him my preferred choice during the beta phase.

By utilizing both Venom Swing and Frenzied Arrival, you can swiftly gain the upper hand against the opposing team. Additionally, Symbiotic Resilience provides a boost in health to ensure you can maintain your aggressive tactics. To achieve optimal outcomes, it is crucial to master the technique of attacking, retreating for healing, and returning to the fray for additional damage.

Despite being capable of easily defeating less experienced teams by repeatedly using attacks and serving as a damage absorber, he truly shines when his intricacies are mastered and he becomes one of the top characters in Marvel Rivals.

Rocket Raccoon

• Bombard Mode: Launch energy projectiles that cause harm.
• In Repair Mode, shoot bouncing spheres to restore the health of your allies.
• Jetpack Dash: Move quickly in a forward direction.
• The B.R.B. (Battle Rebirth Beacon) is a device that can be deployed to revive a fallen ally. It also has the ability to periodically generate armor packs and rocket jet packs.
• Wild Crawl (Passive): Press and hold Space/X/A to run along a wall.
• The Flying Ace (Passive) ability allows you to hold down Space/X/A to descend at a slower pace.
• Team-Up Ability – Old Friends: Groot and Rocket Racoon have a strong bond that allows Rocket to ride on Groot’s shoulders, granting him Damage Reduction.
• The Ammo Invention (Team-Up Ability) involves Rocket Raccoon tossing an Ammo Overload Device in the desired direction. Once within the device’s range, The Punisher gains the benefits of Infinite Ammo and Faster Firing.
• Deploying the Cosmic Yarn Amplifier (Ultimate) will provide a Damage Boost to allies.

Although it is known for being one of the easiest characters to learn, Rocket Raccoon also stands out as one of the top contenders in Marvel Rivals during the beta. As an avid Overwatch player, I naturally gravitated towards him in my initial gameplay, as his abilities and style felt immediately familiar.

His primary objective is to ensure the survival of his teammates, a task he accomplishes effortlessly thanks to his use of Repair Mode, the alternate fire on his primary weapon, and B.R.B to equip allies with armor and revive them. Despite his support role, he is also capable of dealing significant damage with his surprisingly powerful main weapon.

For those who were drawn to characters like Baptiste or Kiriko in OW, this Guardian of the Galaxy is the perfect choice.

Scarlet Witch

• Chaos Control: Utilize Chaos Magic to both attack enemies and replenish Chaos Energy.
• Mystic Projection: Activate the Projection state to experience free-flight. Press the button again to exit before the intended duration.
• Dark Seal: Strike a target or the surrounding area, or press again to create a Force Field that intermittently Stuns nearby enemies.
• Telekinesis: Press and hold Space/X/A to descend at a slower pace.
• Chthonian Burst: Utilize Chaos Energy to unleash explosive magic missiles, inflicting damage upon foes.
• Scarlet Witch’s Chaotic Bond is a Team-Up Ability, which functions as a Passive. Through this bond, she can imbue Magneto’s greatsword with Chaos Energy, allowing him to unleash its full power and strike down enemies.
• Ultimate Reality Erasure: Take flight and gather energy before releasing it in a devastating attack.

Several characters on our tier list excel in both offense and defense, but Scarlet Witch stands out as the epitome of high-risk high reward. While her ability to block Mystic Projection is limited, it is her only means of avoiding incoming attacks. However, this is offset by her incredible damage output, which is arguably the best in the entire game.

Employing Chaos Control as a regular attack yields its own effectiveness, but mastering its use in building up the formidable Chthonian Burst will swiftly diminish opponents’ health bars.

In the right hands, she can be just as formidable as comic book fans would anticipate, with the true skill lying in knowing when to strike and when to exercise restraint.

Adam Warlock – Best healer

When it comes to healing, no one can top Adam Warlock.

• Quantum Magic: Utilize quantum energy to inflict harm.
• The ability Soul Bond connects the souls of allies, providing them with healing over time and distributing any damage taken among the bond.
• Avatar Life Stream: Target an ally for a bouncing stream of healing energy, which also heals himself upon casting; self-targets if no ally is selected
• Cosmic Cluster: Assemble quantum energy into a concentrated cluster and rapidly release it towards the enemy.
• The passive ability, Regenerative Cocoon, allows Adam to move as a soul and reconstruct his body at a desired location after his physical form has died.
• The Team-Up Ability, Soul Perseverance, bestows Adam Warlock’s power of cocooned revival onto Star-Lord and Mantis, amplifying their rebirth abilities.
• Karmic Revival (Ultimate): Use the power of karma to revive allies. Revived allies will have reduced health but will also benefit from a short period of invincibility.

It is essential for every team to have a healer, and Adam Warlock has proven to be the go-to Strategist for the role. His abilities are specifically designed to support and revive his teammates, ensuring they remain in the battle and recover from near defeat.

Soul Link connects multiple teammates and simultaneously heals them while distributing any damage between them. This is especially effective when pushing an objective, particularly when multiple Tanks are bonded together, as it significantly increases their durability.

However, in the event that he is unable to retain them on the playing field, the Karmic Revival (Ultimate) has the ability to resurrect fallen players and place them at a designated location. This feature has proved invaluable, saving numerous matches that seemed certain to result in defeat.

This exceptional capability to completely shift the momentum of a match is what sets Adam Warlock apart from other characters in his class, placing him in the S-tier category.

Loki – Best Strategist

• Mystical Missile: Use Mystical Missiles to either heal allies or inflict damage on enemies.
• The Regeneration Domain allows you to utilize Rune Stones to generate a magical field that transforms any damage sustained by allies within its range into healing energy.
• Doppelganger: Create an illusion that is capable of mimicking some of Loki’s abilities.
• Devious Exchange: Exchange with the chosen illusion.
• Backstab: Unsheath a dagger to strike enemies, inflicting additional damage when attacking from the rear.
• Deception: Utilize invisibility and illusion to trick and mislead adversaries.
• Laufeyson Reborn (Team-Up Ability, Passive): Whenever Hela lands the final blow on an enemy, she has the ability to immediately revive Loki during the respawn phase. If Loki is already alive, a Nastrond Crow will appear and provide him with blue armor.
• Ultimate God of Mischief: Transform into a chosen ally or enemy hero and gain access to all of their abilities.

In Marvel Rivals, Loki’s reputation as the Trickster God is reflected in his kit. He utilizes his magical abilities to disorient his enemies and maneuver across the battlefield, making him a powerful Strategist who can greatly impact a match.

The Regeneration Domain is a crucial skill that transforms inflicted damage into healing, enabling a team to successfully defend a point under pressure from enemies. Additionally, utilizing Doppelganger, Deception, and Devious Exchange allows for an influx of Loki duplicates that allow for seamless blending and movement within the arena without being detected.

However, the true highlight of the experience is the Laufeyson Reborn Team-Up with Hela. This allows the skilled Duelsit to revive him after a successful kill or provide him with an additional shield. Considering the strong synergy between these top-tier characters, it is not uncommon to witness this powerful combination in action.

Top Pick for Marvel Rivals Character

• Nightsword Thorn: Toss thorns from the Nightsword.
• With the ability called Astral Flock, you can morph into a group of Hel crows and smoothly glide forward. To revert back to your original form, simply press the button again.
• The ability Soul Drainer allows the user to create a powerful Hel sphere that can stun enemies in the surrounding area.
• Piercing Night: Launch a barrage of Nightsword thorns that will explode upon impact after a short delay.
• When an enemy is defeated, a Nastrond Crow will be created and will explode after a certain amount of time.
• The passive ability, Hel’s Descent, allows you to hold down Space/X/A to descend slowly.
• The Queen of Hel (Team-Up Ability, Passive) allows Hela to resurrect Loki in the respawn phase if she lands the final hit in defeating an enemy. If Loki is already alive, a Nastrond Crow will grant him blue armor.
• The Ultimate ability, known as the “Goddess of Death,”allows the user to take flight and freely release Nastrond Crows from both hands.

Hela has consistently proven to be the top character in Marvel Rivals, match after match. She has been a staple in every game I’ve played and after finally switching to her, it’s clear to see why.

The formidable Asgardian is most effective at a distance, utilizing her main attack and Piercing Night ability to easily take out any Strategists remaining at the rear of the group or airborne characters like Iron Man.

The inclusion of Astral Flock adds another level of mobility, enabling a swift getaway in case of being pushed by the opposing team. While it may require a few matches to master the ideal vantage points on each map, Hela becomes a formidable force, dealing significant damage from secure positions.

The Ultimate Goddess of Death is also highly regarded as one of the strongest abilities in the beta, perfect for swiftly defeating targets or swiftly taking down multiple opponents.

Therefore, if you are feeling inundated by the abundance of choices and desire to concentrate on a single meta character, Hela should be your top priority.

Future updates will bring a wave of fresh heroes and villains, along with adjustments to the current lineup. As the meta shifts, we will continuously update our tier list to showcase the top Marvel Rivals characters.

In the meantime, ensure that you are familiar with the rules of each game mode and that you are receiving the Twitch Drop rewards that are available.