Marvel Rivals characters and tier list for Season 2

Our Marvel Rivals characters tier list has changed a lot for Season 2 thanks to myriad buffs and nerfs for a huge range of heroes and the first round of Team-Up changes. Healers, such as Cloak and Dagger remain dominant, but nerfs to Doctor Strange have let other Vanguards take some top spots. New hero on the block Emma Frost has also arrived in a great spot, ready to chokeslam and boot anyone who gets too close.

However, it’s not all good news in Marvel Rivals as Adam Warlock has been hit quite hard, changes to Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Human Torch don’t seem to be giving them quite the boost they need, and Spider-Man continues to be a masked menace - although the introduction of Ultron in Marvel Rivals for Season 2.5 will undoubtedly shake things up even more. With 38 characters in the roster, there’s a lot to cover, so from the best characters in S-tier, to the weaker heroes in D-tier, here is our Marvel Rivals characters tier list.

Marvel Rivals tier list (Season 2)

With 38 Marvel Rivals characters to choose from, each with unique abilities and Marvel Rivals Team-Ups, knowing which ones are good and which ones aren’t quite so hot can be tricky. It’s complicated even further when you consider the meta differences between mouse + keyboard and controller and high and low Marvel Rivals ranks. With all that in mind, this tier list should be applicable for most PC and console players looking to reach Platinum and above.

Here’s our Marvel Rivals character tier list for Season 2, showing how every hero is faring and how they’ve changed from Season 1.5:

• S-Tier: Supremely strong and versatile characters that can provide game-changing support and power to a team.
  • Cloak and Dagger (A to S)
  • Invisible Woman
  • Groot (A to S)
  • Magneto
  • Rocket Racoon (A to S)
  • Luna Snow
  • Winter Soldier
• A-Tier: Great characters who bring plenty of power but either require a bit of support for maximum effect or lack versatility compared to S-tier.
  • Doctor Strange (S to A)
  • The Thing
  • Hulk
  • Emma Frost
  • Hela
  • Namor
  • Star-Lord
  • Loki (B to A)
  • Mantis
  • Thor (B to A)
• B-Tier: Good characters with solid abilities that might not always be the best choice in a match but can still be highly effective in the right hands.
  • Captain America
  • Venom
  • Peni Parker (C to B)
  • Scarlet Witch (C to B)
  • Punisher
  • Magik
  • Psylocke (A to B)
  • Mr. Fantastic
  • Moon Knight
  • Iron Man (A to B)
  • Squirrel Girl (C to B)
  • Wolverine
  • Black Panther (A to B)
• C-Tier: Average heroes that can still contribute to victory but will usually require one-trick specialization and support from allies to perform well.
  • Spider-Man (D to C)
  • Jeff the Land Shark
  • Iron Fist
  • Storm (S to C)
  • Hawkeye (B to C)
  • Human Torch (A to C)
• D-Tier: Below average characters that lack power, can be easily countered, or are difficult to get consistent value with.
  • Adam Warlock (C to D)
  • Black Widow

Marvel Rivals characters and heroes explained

Obviously, a straight tier list for all Marvel Rivals characters doesn’t have much in the way of nuance, so we’ve also explained our reasoning and a bit about the strengths and weaknesses of every character in the roster.

MARVEL RIVALS S-TIER HEROES

These are the best characters in Marvel Rivals right now and while simply having some of these heroes on your team won’t guarantee a win, a good player in control can be a huge boon. As you can see, most of them are Strategists and Vanguards, all capable of offering superb protection, healing, and even damage in some cases.

Cloak & Dagger

Cloak & Dagger is potentially the best healing Strategist in Marvel Rivals right now, capable of supporting an entire team with powerful single-target and AOE healing abilities from Dagger. The challenge is knowing when to switch to Cloak to use his more offensive abilities to support your team even further, although without sacrificing your healing output.

The duo’s Eternal Bond ultimate is a standout ability amongst many standout abilities as it provides plenty of healing, can cover a large area, and lasts a long time, making your teammates impervious to all but the most serious damage. Overall, the combination of abilities make Cloak and Dagger superb for any team composition and any map.

Invisible Woman

Sue Storm has a lot going for her and is arguably the most versatile Strategist. She can heal a lot and deal respectable damage, block with her Guardian Shield, deny space with Psionic Vortex, pull enemies in for punishment or repel them with Force Physics to keep the team safe - we’ve got a Marvel Rivals Invisible Woman guide if you’re looking for tips!

Furthermore, her invisibility and self-healing give her excellent survivability and her ultimate is similarly strong like Cloak & Dagger’s, providing a lot of healing and concealing her team. Her flexibility and supportive power mean she’s one of the best characters in all of Marvel Rivals.

Groot

Groot is arguably the most defensive Vanguard hero there is, using his plant-based barriers to block damage and restrict paths, shaping the battlefield to his advantage. If foes get too close, he can pack a punch with his Vine Strike and Spore Bomb attacks or can deploy his Strangling Prison ultimate to restrain enemies and leave them vulnerable to more devastating attacks. If you want to control the battlefield at your pace and make it a slog for the enemy to get at you and your allies, Groot is as good as it gets.

Magneto

Magneto's slow-firing iron projectiles make him one of the better-ranged Vanguard characters, keeping enemies at arm’s length. However, his Metallic Curtain shield and Bulwark bubbles are his main strength, providing almost unparalleled protection to his allies and himself.

His Meteor M ultimate isn’t as simple as it looks, so learning how to maximize its damage is vital - it’s one of the few abilities that can kill enemy Strategists while they’re using their powerful ultimates, such as Luna Snow and Cloak and Dagger. He’s not the easiest Vanguard to play as but even a competent Magneto player will be of use to your team.

Rocket Raccoon

Rocket has seen quite a substantial update with Season 2, adjusting how his healing Repair Mode projectiles and CYA ultimate work but notably nerfing his Jetpack Dash’s cooldown and distance. He’s a little more susceptible to diving characters now, but his sustained healing output is still incredibly good, and the occasional revive from BRB and the health and damage boosts from CYA can be a huge help to clinching a fight. His relatively simple heal-spam playstyle might not be for everyone, but it’s undeniably effective.

Luna Snow

K-Pop sensation Luna Snow packs exceptional healing, particularly with her game-changing Fate of Both Worlds ultimate, making all nearby allies practically immortal for 12 seconds. Outside of her ultimate, Luna can apply plenty of healing across heroes with Light & Dark Ice and Share The Stage, and she can mess up enemies with Ice Arts and Absolute Zero, dealing solid damage and freezing them in place respectively.

As well as good team healing, Luna’s Cryo Heart passive also grants great self-healing, giving her very good survivability. That’s on top of having one of the smallest character models too, so she is a pain for most Duelists to deal with.

Winter Soldier

While Bucky has been reined in for Season 2 with nerfs to his sometimes ludicrously powerful Kraken Impact ultimate, he’s still one of the best (if not the best) Duelists in Marvel Rivals.

The Winter Soldier can take on enemies of all types thanks to his high-power abilities, letting him act as a tankbuster, a 1v1 flanker, or backline defender for Strategists. There is a rotation combo to learn to get the most out of his abilities, and shooting accurately with his punchy Roterstern pistol is vital to his lethality, so he isn’t beginner-friendly, but he’s a very versatile damage-dealer.

MARVEL RIVALS A-TIER HEROES

Every hero in A-tier is excellent, being extremely capable in their role, especially when in the hands of a skilled player. However, some of them lack the generalist power or ease-of-use of those in S-tier have.

Doctor Strange

Doctor Strange has been nerfed in every major balance patch so far, and the hits are starting to show. He’s still a very reliable Vanguard in Marvel Rivals and is the archetypal barrier tank thanks to his massive Shield of the Seraphim. However, nerfs to his Daggers of Denak and Maelstrom of Madness, and the loss of the Gamma Charge Team-Up mean he can dish out far less damage.

With all that said, he is still a solid punching bag, and his Pentagram of Farallah portal can be used for some creative team plays. Furthermore his new Team-Up with Scarlet Witch is very good, making the pair a solid choice.

The Thing

The Thing’s relatively simple, brawly Vanguard kit makes him very easy to learn. His punch attacks deal massive damage and are particularly dangerous when combined with the immobilizing effect of his Yancy Street Charge, or even the stun from his Clobberin’ Time ultimate - this combo lets him beat up the more slippery Duelist characters too.

His main benefit is how robust he is thanks to his Unyielding Will passive and Embattled Leap ability, making him immovable very tanky. Although, it’s worth mentioning that he’s not a great solo Vanguard, and his in-your-face playstyle means good healing support is vital.

Hulk

With some nice buffs to his movement speed, Indestructible Guard cooldown, and Incredible Leap, Hulk is looking very powerful in Season 2. His exceptional mobility for a Vanguard allows him to get stuck into the enemy’s front or backline, and now the reduced cooldown on his Indestructible Guard bubble also means he’s much better at defending himself and his teammates.

His Gamma Charge Team-Up with Iron Man and now Namor is also one of the best in the game, although that means Hulk is also an unfortunate target for bans in ranked.

Emma Frost

Emma Frost’s diverse kit has some deadly combos, but she isn’t the easiest Vanguard to play. Her low mobility is her main flaw as she doesn't have an easy escape for dire situations, and her Mind’s Aegis shield isn't as versatile or effective as Doctor Strange's, for example.

However, in close-quarters, the White Queen is lethal. Her Carbon Crush chokeslam interrupts the target and sets them up for follow-up punches or a Crystal Kick, which can do huge damage if they’re launched into a wall. Positioning and flawless combos are vital to success as Emma Frost, and having a dedicated healer lets her be far more aggressive. Our Marvel Rivals Emma Frost guide will help you master her playstyle.

Hela

The Queen of Hel received a few changes for Season 2 - a cooldown increase for Astral Flock and buffs to Piercing Night and Soul Drainer - but she still remains one of the strongest Duelists in Marvel Rivals in the right player’s hands. Her Nightsword Thorns, Piercing Night, and Goddess of Death ultimate reward accuracy with massive damage, letting her dominate the enemy team’s Duelists and pick off their Strategists - specifically, she’s a great counter to any flying characters. However, she’s vulnerable to getting dived on, so can be an easy target for the more agile flanker Duelists.

Namor

Namor’s long-range, precision attacks and Monstro Spawn turrets make him one of the best anti-dive characters in Marvel Rivals. His turrets are great for defending objectives and keeping enemy flankers at bay. Coupled with accurate Trident of Neptune throws and good use of his Wrath of the Seven Seas ability, Namor can often deal the best damage in a match.

While he hasn’t been buffed for Season 2, he now benefits from Hulk’s Gamma Charge Team-Up, granting him an absurd Gamma Monstro that fires a long-range gamma beam, making Namor’s turrets even more oppressive.

Star-Lord

Star-Lord’s entire kit focuses on movement tricks and his short-range Element Guns, making him one of the best hit-and-run characters in Marvel Rivals and a massive disruptive force. He can be hard to master since proper cooldown management for his Rocket Propulsion and Stellar Shift is essential, but he’s one of the best flankers in the game and can be a real nuisance - particularly thanks to his Galactic Legend ultimate which can be very difficult for the enemy to deal with.

Loki

Loki is a great healer in Marvel Rivals, even though his excellent Regeneration Domain ability got a slight cooldown increase for Season 2. However, he is also probably the most complex Strategist and the hardest to master. As the trickster god, he’s suitably hard to pin down thanks to his invisibility, teleporting, and decoys, but these decoys can also massively boost his healing output, so there’s lots to consider when placing them.

Furthermore, Loki’s ultimate, God of Mischief, can be a game changer, but requires the Loki player to also be somewhat skilled with many other heroes. Overall, that means you have to work hard to get maximum value out of Loki, but he can be a huge boon for the team.

Mantis

Mantis can have a big impact on games, capable of providing plenty of healing and damage buffs to herself and her allies all at once, keeping everyone buffed and topped up. Her Soul Resurgence ultimate can then be used defensively to protect teammates or offensively to help with an aggressive push thanks to the speed boost.

However, keeping everyone buffed up while also trying to defend yourself from flankers with Life Energy Blasts and Spore Slumber can be a lot to manage. That means Mantis isn’t the easiest Strategist to learn, but she’s a superb all-rounder and fits in almost any team composition.

Thor

Wielding Mjolnir to batter foes at close-range, Thor is a good brawler tank with a nice variety of abilities that synergize well. He got a slight movement speed buff in Season 2, which helps him get close to enemies and stay in their faces, beating them with Mjolnir Bash, Hammer Throw, and Storm Surge.

Managing Thorforce and his global ability cooldown can be tricky, but you’ll be rewarded with high sustained damage and plenty of opportunities to benefit from his powerful Awakening Rune attacks. Although, we strongly recommend having another Vanguard on the team to assist elsewhere.

MARVEL RIVALS B-TIER HEROES

All the Marvel Rivals characters in B-tier are good, and are all capable of turning the tide of battle when played well. However, they fall a little short either due to their more niche roles and playstyles, high skill ceilings that make them harder to master, or limited power compared to those in A and S-tier.

Peni Parker

Peni has received some nice buffs in Season 2: 100 extra health (now 750), her Cyber-Web Cluster guns can now crit, and she moves faster while firing them. Her Bionic Spider-Nest and Arachno-Mines can still be quite potent and tricky to deal with, so now that the SP//dr suit itself is even stronger, Peni Parker is looking more threatening.

Her main downside is that her kit is more defensive and requires setting up, so she’s less effective on the attacking side of Convergence and Convoy maps. Furthermore, if her nest keeps getting destroyed, it can be much harder to get a foothold and perform well.

Captain America

Captain America is a very fast brawler Vanguard in Marvel Rivals, capable of charging around and beating up weaker enemies. While Season 2 has seen his shield’s health reduced from 400 to 350, his health and damage has gone up thanks to a new Team-Up with Winter Soldier. That means he’s in a decent spot, but he’s not always the most effective tank.

Skilled Cap players can bully weaker Strategists with powerful shield combos, but only if left uncontested. Similarly aggressive teammates are needed to back him up, otherwise he can end up contributing little.

Venom

Venom is perhaps the most robust Vanguard character in Marvel Rivals due to his Symbiotic Resilience ability. Paired with his Venom Swing and Frenzied Arrival dive, he’s also highly mobile and a massive nuisance.

However, his relatively one-dimensional dive-bomb playstyle isn’t as effective in Season 2. Coordinated teams will focus on Venom and force him to retreat or even kill him, making him quite ineffective. With that said, if you pick your targets wisely and stay in line of sight of your own healers, he can be quite disruptive and deadly.

Scarlet Witch

Wanda Maximoff has gained a bit more power with Season 2 after losing the Team-Up anchor benefits of Metallic Chaos. Her Mystic Projection has been nerfed but her Chaos Control and Chthonian Burst attacks now deal a little more damage overall and are still very powerful.

Scarlet Witch also gets an extremely powerful new Mystic Burst ability from Doctor Strange, letting her fire a barrage of projectiles at enemies while still being able to use her Chaos Control attack. She’s now a great anti-dive character as is, but this Team-Up is a big improvement to her overall power.

The Punisher

Despite his beginner-friendly rifleman kit, the Punisher is still a versatile Duelist, packing all sorts of firearms and tools that can be effective against almost any other character. He's very easy to play and packs plenty of power for minimal effort. He also becomes downright vicious when powered up by Rocket Raccoon's Ammo Overload Team-Up. Positioning is key, however, as isolating yourself, whether you’re on foot or in your turret, can make you an easy target for other Duelists to jump you.

Magik

Magik has a very tricky playstyle to learn and master. She’s a melee flanker but is overall much slower than the similarly positioned Black Panther. That means combo mistakes and missing attacks can cost you dearly, but, having come up against some good Magiks, she can also be absolutely brutal to fight. Those who put the time in to learn her Soulsword combos will excel in tearing up the backline, using her Stepping Discs to get into and out of dangerous scrapes.

Psylocke

Psylocke has the most forgiving kit of all the flanking characters in Marvel Rivals, thanks to the ability cooldown reduction granted by Psionic Crossbow hits, and has good damage output to boot. Psychic Stealth makes her elusive, while her Psi-Blade Dash and Wing Shurikens can be combined to deal a lot of damage to a single target. Additionally, her Dance of the Butterfly is very powerful and can be difficult to escape, making it great for tight fights on objectives. She’s far from easy, but is good for bringing down crucial enemies.

Mr Fantastic

Reed Richards’ goofy, elasticity-based kit takes some getting used to but can be quite potent in the right hands. He’s also received some nice buffs in Season 2, boosting his health, punch damage, Flexible Elongation ability, and his Brainiac Bounce ultimate.

Along with his ridiculous-looking Reflexive Rubber ability, which makes him briefly impervious to seemingly everything, and his temporary Elastic Strength boost, Mister Fantastic is supremely tanky for a Duelist. He’s not the easiest Duelist to use or the most lethal, but he can be a character to bolster the team - our Marvel Rivals Mr Fantastic guide can help you out!

Moon Knight

Moon Knight is a potentially very powerful duelist who can shred the enemy team if his Ancient Ankhs are ignored - and, for some reason, he got morel buffs in Season 2. Notably, his Moon Blade now provides him with Bonus Health for each enemy it hits, making him a bit less squishy, and his Hand of Khonshu ultimate now lasts even longer and features more talons.

While these are helpful improvements, Moon Knight is still very reliant on his Ankhs, and his mobility is, overall, not great overall. That all means he can be easily shut down when up against a competent team.

Iron Man

Iron Man has many counters, so he got some handy buffs in Season 2 to help him out. A slightly smaller hitbox and gaining 100 Bonus Health after activating Armor Overdrive both boost his survivability nicely, though they don’t make him an aerial terror.

To get the most out of him, you need to play smartly, darting around and raining Repuslor Blasts on the enemy backline while your allies distract on the ground. His Invincible Pulse Canon ultimate is also one of the few abilities powerful enough to kill Strategists using their ultimates, making him one of their biggest counters.

Squirrel Girl

Squirrel Girl has one of the simplest kits in Marvel Rivals and is very easy to use. Her Burst Acorns are great for spamming choke areas and bouncing around corners, hopefully softening up several enemies at once. Notably, her Unbeatable Squirrel Tsunami ultimate can be a huge pain to deal with if used at the right time.

However, Squirrel Girl struggles in a lot of one-on-one matchups, struggling to hit agile and airborne enemies with her projectiles. Overall, she’s good, but her limited kit means her usefulness depends on the enemy team’s composition and even the map.

Wolverine

Logan isn’t the most dynamic of heroes, but his abilities synergize well to make him very good at his one job - killing tanks. Using his leaps and flurries of claw attacks, Wolverine can displace enemies leading the charge and hopefully kill them, which means a good player can be horrible to come up against. But, given the kinds of enemies Wolverine has to battle head-on, it can be very easy to overextend and get caught short without additional support.

Black Panther

T'Challa is an acrobatic, melee-focused hero with exceptional mobility and damage, but little margin for error. All of his abilities deal solid damage, which means combining them into a rapid attack pattern can shred weaker characters before they even know what’s happening.

However, the relatively long cooldowns on his Spirit Rend and Spinning Kick attacks can leave you highly vulnerable amongst the enemy, especially if you aren’t making good use of Vibranium Marks to refresh Spirit Rend’s cooldown. Overall, Black Panther is one of the best flanker Duelists in the roster, but he has a very high skill ceiling.

MARVEL RIVALS C-TIER HEROES

The heroes in C-tier are all perfectly usable, and can be very good in some cases, but are hindered by rigid abilities that require a very specific playstyle or are better fulfilled by a more powerful character.

Spider-Man

We admit good Spider-Man players exist, and can be a menace for your team’s backline when ignored. He’s the most mobile character in the game thanks to his Web-Swing, double-jump, and wall crawl. Additionally, his Get Over Here! into Amazing Combo and Spider-Power attack pattern can be devastating too.

The issue is that he’s easily the hardest Duelist to learn, and you are going to have to put in twice the effort to get the equivalent output of a less complex Duelist. With great power comes great responsibility to do well and not be deadweight for your team!

Jeff the Land Shark

Jeff is a simple healer with a great healing output. It means he’s a very beginner-friendly Strategist, particularly with his Hide and Seek ability that lets him evade danger and self-heal.

However, his kit is very one-dimensional compared to the top-tier Strategists who can all do much more than just heal and deal damage. His It's Jeff! ultimate ability is also very good, having the potential to wipe out entire teams, but it’s also extremely annoying at the same time since - it’s massively disruptive and affects allies, which can be a big problem.

Iron Fist

Adjustments to Iron Fist in Season 2 mean he can now be a little more deadly, with a reduced cooldown for his kick and increased percentage damage for his rapid Yat Jee Chung Keun punch attack. That means he’s good for harassing the slower tanks now, but he’s still nowhere near as threatening as he felt when Marvel Rivals launched.

Players are overall much better at the game, which means Iron Fist players must be smarter about their engagements, finding the right time to strike and terrorize isolated enemies.

Storm

Storm has tumbled down our Marvel Rivals tier list for Season 2 after the nerfs she received in Season 1.5. She’s far from being unusable and, from experience at the receiving end, talented Storm players with good support and knowledge of her ability combos can be deadly.However, she can be very easy to counter as one of the least agile flying characters in the game, and there are many other Duelists that are easier to use.

Hawkeye

Hawkeye is, in theory, extremely powerful with the potential to kill any sub-300 health character with a single Piercing Arrow headshot. The problem is that these arrows are so good that most of his other abilities pale in comparison, making him far less versatile and easier to counter. Good Hawkeye players are out there - reaching suitable vantage points with his double-jump and raining down immense damage onto foes with his Hunter’s Sight ultimate can brutally stall enemy teams -, but there are better sharpshooter characters to play as.

Human Torch

Even after some Season 2 buffs, the Human Torch is still tough to use effectively in most matches. His two opposing playstyles - defensive area-denial mainly utilizing Pyro Prison and aggressive dive-bombing with Flaming Meteor and Fire Cluster - are strong but difficult to manage together and leave him highly vulnerable to aerial and ground-based counters.

The bonus health buff for his Flaming Meteor ability certainly helps with his dive-bombing, but his low mobility is also a problem. His abilities are undeniably very powerful, and his damage output can be superb, but he requires a very skilled player and good support to perform well.

MARVEL RIVALS D-TIER HEROES

The characters in D-tier are very difficult to do consistently well with due to their limited strengths and many counters. As a result, they’re rarely picked and are in need of some buffs.

Adam Warlock

Adam Warlock is in a tricky spot as of Season 2, having had his mighty Soul Bond healing ability nerfed with a substantial cooldown increase. He also occupies an odd niche as a high-healing and high-damage Strategist which, paired with his long-cooldown abilities, makes him one of hardest Strategists to master.

His Regenerative Cocoon and Karmic Revival abilities, which let him resurrect himself and his allies respectively, are very useful in theory, able to utterly reverse lost fights. The reality is that they can be easily countered, and Adam’s lack of defensive or movement abilities make him easy pickings for most Duelists.

Black Widow

Despite some big buffs in Season 1 and small changes in Season 2, Black Widow is still arguably the worst character in Marvel Rivals. She doesn’t have the raw damage to take out heroes fast enough before they are healed again, and she doesn’t do enough sustained damage to make a serious dent in the enemy team.

If you have exceptional aim, it is possible to get quick kills, but there are too many things that mitigate her power and make her very easy to counter. Hela is a much better sharpshooter option right now.

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