Marvel Rivals has a large cast of unique characters for you to choose from. Each one has its kit of abilities, playstyles, roles on the battlefield and interactions with one another. With so many, it’s no surprise that some have proven to be far stronger than the rest.
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For this list, the characters are ranked on how effective they are at fulfilling their role, how easily countered they are by the opposing team and how specific their playstyles are. This way characters are highlighted based on how big of an impact they have on a match, as well as those that are so good that it doesn’t even matter if your teammates are off doing their own thing while you’re in the center of what should be a team fight.
10Squirrel Girl (Duelist)
Cheeky Plays
Squirrel Girlrounds out the bottom of this list with her kit of explosive acorns and crowd control. She fulfills an artillery role and can burst down the health bars of the enemy team if they are close enough to one another. Her power is also helped by how accessible her kit is for newcomers to the game, making her a frequent pick.
Her kit does leave her vulnerable to getting picked off by other duelists who excel more at one-on-one engagements, though. While her kit has flexibility, its simplistic nature doesn’t leave players much room to maneuver around experienced opponents.
9Moon Knight (Duelist)
The Full Moon
Moon Knightis a duelist who is great for pestering the enemy team while evading their counterattacks with his mobility options. With his placable ankh, he can not only shred through a crowd of enemies but keep them guessing where his attacks are coming from.
Skillful Moon Knight players can also use him well in one-on-one fights, but his kit takes a bit more careful handling than easier duelists like Squirrel Girl. And while his movement abilities are great to get around, he can be vulnerable to getting picked off quickly if found in poor positioning.
8Adam Warlock (Strategist)
Perfection Realized
Adam Warlock’s consistent damage output and group healing ability make him a force to be reckoned with during any team fight. Mix in his ultimate ability, Karmic Revival, that allows him to bring his entire team back to life, and it is no surprise that he can be a massive headache for uncoordinated or inexperienced teams to counter.
What keeps Warlock from ranking higher on this list is his poor mobility. You have to be careful with your positioning when playing Warlock, as otherwise you can be left vulnerable to a well-playing duelist picking you off before you swing a team fight in your side’s favor. If Warlock can manage to survive, however, it’s hard for his team to lose.
7Winter Soldier (Duelist)
Winter is Coming
Winter Soldieris a tough duelist hero to play, but his high skill ceiling allows him to react well to shifting situations during games. His tougher kit also comes with a strong ultimate called Kraken Impact that recharges quickly when you get kills with it, allowing you to chain together kills before the enemy team has time to react.
Winter Soldier’s higher skill floor and how easily countered he is, however, keeps him this low on the list. He can be effectively countered by any longer-range hero, and his general lack of mobility options is particularly harmful since his playstyle relies heavily on positioning.
6Hawkeye (Duelist)
Goodbye, Backline
Hawkeyeis Marvel Rival’s resident sniper hero. He relies heavily on accuracy, timing and a strong understanding of positioning fundamentals. Once you have that under control, though, you’re able to be an absolute menace with Hawkeye.
With Hawkeye’s high one-shot damage and range, he can kill most smaller heroes with a single headshot, tearing apart a team’s backline. This makes him extremely powerful in team fights when played well and he has strong survivability abilities to boot.
5Cloak and Dagger (Strategist)
Double the Heroes, Double the Power
Cloak and Daggeris two heroes in one that players can switch between whenever they want. This is where Cloak and Dagger’s power comes from. Neither of their kits are particularly powerful on their own, but having both a duelist and strategist kit available at once is huge.
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The nature of the game is fast paced, with a lot of different abilities to master. It can seem overwhelming to new players.
Being able to switch between them allows you to be extremely reactive to an evolving battlefield, especially while playing in a well-coordinated team. But you do have to be careful to switch at the right time as otherwise you may find your team lacking in either healing or damage that it desperately needs.
4Doctor Strange (Vanguard)
Stranger Than Fiction
Doctor Strangecombines the shield powers of Overwatch 2’s Reinhardt with his iconic portals that allow him to quickly move his entire team around the map. These abilities combined make Doctor Strange the strongest Vanguard in Marvel Rivals when it comes to actively defending his team.
Where Doctor Strange suffers is that his effectiveness almost entirely depends on the coordination of his team. If you have team members who want to run off on their own out of spawn and get burst down by the enemy team, you aren’t going to get a lot of value out of Doctor Strange. And we all know how often this happens in matchmade games.
3Iron Fist (Duelist)
The True Duelist
Iron Fistis a character that is all about picking off opponents in punishing one-on-one engagements and taking advantage of players who don’t know how to effectively counter him. His kit allows him to go wherever he wants on the battlefield with relative ease and safety and he’s capable of turning enemy attacks back against them.
With Iron Fist’s kit, you want to dive into the enemy backline, pick off a couple of choice targets and then jump out before you can get punished while your cooldowns are reset. His kit takes a lot of practice to use effectively, but once you have it down, he’s a menace on the battlefield that many teams struggle to counter.
2Jeff the Land Shark (Strategist)
Heals + Adorable = Winning
Jeff the Land Sharkis by far one of the strongest characters in Marvel Rivals. While he’s positioned as a heal-focused strategist, his attacks still deal a considerable amount of damage, he has a lot of survivability for this role, and his ultimate ability is capable of wiping the entire enemy team. And he can still heal his team better than any other strategist in the game.
Jeff the Land Shark is so good that it’s difficult to quantify situations where it’s better to play another healer beyond personal preference or enjoyment. He’s even extremely accessible, meaning that he’s perfect for players who haven’t healed much or who are new to the game to jump in and start having an immediate impact on their team.
1Venom (Vanguard)
Watch Out, Spidey
Venomis capable of making matches in Marvel Rivals feel as though they are all about him. His kit favors quickly jumping into the backlines of the enemy team, forcing them to turn around to deal with him, leaving them vulnerable to the remainder of Venom’s team. While in the backline Venom is capable of dishing out a ton of damage, surviving an unbelievable amount of damage himself, and then quickly jumping back out and away from harm.
One great aspect of Venom’s playstyle is that it benefits from team cohesion, but does not necessarily require it. Even if you are playing with an uncoordinated team your teammates will benefit from you playing Venom well. If the enemy team doesn’t turn around to deal with you, they are giving you free kills, but if they do turn to deal with you, your teammates get easy kills while they aren’t looking. It’s a strong playstyle and Venom embodies it well.
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