Summary
- Iron Fist excels in close-range combat, gaining advantages with specific moves for fast eliminations.
- Cloak and Dagger combo provides versatility with healing, damage, protection, and last-second saves.
- Magneto stands out as a top Vanguard, offering protection, damage potential, and high damage output.
With a cast of 33 unique heroes for players to choose from, finding the best Marvel Rivals characters to play right now can be difficult for players. Even after playing a few games with each of them, factors like skill disparity and team compositions can help make certain characters appear stronger or weaker than they actually are.
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In reality, every character has merits of their own, and a skilled player will be able to use any member of Rivals’ roster to their full potential. But for anyone wondering who the most powerful of the pack are right now, here are the strongest characters in Marvel Rivals.
10 Iron Fist
A Fighter To Be Feared
When it comes to close-range, melee heroes in Marvel Rivals, there aren’t many better picks than Iron Fist. Trained in the ways of martial arts and wielder of a mystical power, Daniel Rand is the perfect hero for breaking into backlines and and quickly taking down heroes in close quarters.
After blocking enemy attacks with his Dragon’s Defense, Iron Fist receives damage reduction and bonus health, while gaining access to his Yat Jee Chung Kuen attack. This move is much faster than the regular sets of punches he throws, and the longer Iron Fist has this enabled, the more effective he gets at wiping out enemies in the blink of an eye.
9 Cloak and Dagger
Double The Strategists, Double The Fun
While the sheer number of abilities contained within two characters may be too much for some players, Cloak and Dagger are one of the strongest Strategist options when placed in the right hands. Providing the option to heal with light or damage with dark magic, this duo is at its best when used in perfect harmony.
Dagger’s lightforce daggers can be used to hurt enemies and heal allies, while Cloak can deal damage with a lock-on beam and protect his teammates with his teleportation ability. But their respective Veil of Lightforce and Terror Cape are their strongest moves, able to win a fight by saving teammates at the last second or leave enemies completely vulnerable.
8 Magneto
A Monster Of A Mutant
The Master of Magnetism himself is one of the strongest Vanguard picks in the game, providing effective protection for both him and his teammates. Aside from his Metallic Curtain that can stop close to any attack in the game, Magneto can give metal shields to his teammates, charging the iron rings on his back when damaged.
Magneto can convert these iron rings into fuel for his Mag-Cannon, dealing increasing amounts of damage with the number of rings he has. Out of all the Vanguards on offer, Magneto can deal the highest damage of them all when used correctly, making him the perfect pick for carrying games when placed in the right hands.
7 Winter Soldier
A Bionic Beast
Bucky Barnes thrives on a kit built entirely around his bionic arm, providing him with a range of abilities to dominate lobbies. His electric punch can slow and deal damage to large groups of enemies, while his hook allows him to pull opponents towards him to deal close-range damage with the Rotenstern.
While his kit is certainly made for mid-range combat, Bucky is more than capable of leading the charge when necessary with his dashing uppercut. And with his ultimate recharging every time he gets a kill with it, the words “Armed and dangerous!” are ones that strike fear in the hearts of every Marvel Rivals player.
6 Luna Snow
Let The Music Heal You
Although most players won’t have heard of this K-Pop star/superhero before playing Rivals for the first time, that’s no reason for them to shy away from giving her some playtime. Her moveset provides a balance of damage and healing, making her a very adaptable Strategist.
Her ice shots and shards can be used to both heal allies and damage enemies, allowing players to alternate between the two seamlessly by switching targets. Her ice-skating passive and freeze ability helps protect her from dives. Her fight-winning ultimate can make both Luna and her team near-invincible, able to alternate between high-capacity healing and damage boosting on the fly.
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5 Peni Parker
Governs The Game With Her Gadgets
With so many fast-moving dive characters in the game’s roster, a strong anti-dive pick is crucial. Peni Parker is the perfect pick for this, with the power to completely control points through the effective use of her kit. Her cyber-webs, arachno-mines, and cyber-drones can make any area she occupies a near-untouchable one, halting any enemy pushes.
Peni’s primary fire can be fired infinitely without reloading, allowing her to inflict constant damage to enemies as she dominates points. Less skilled players will be countered by characters like Iron Man who can destroy her tech from above, but the effective placement of Peni’s gadgets will make her a nightmare for any team to play against.
4 Hawkeye
The Quickest Of Killers
The one-shot kill is every gamer’s worst nightmare. One second players are walking around a corner on full health, and in the blink of an eye, their health bar drops to zero, leaving them counting down the respawn timer and spectating a teammate.
Hawkeye owes much of his lethality to those insta-kill arrows to the head, but that’s not to say the rest of his kit isn’t powerful too. While he thrives from long-range, his katana slash and double jump help protect himself from divers, making him a hero capable of handling almost any situation.
3 Doctor Strange
Master Of The Mystic Arts
Vanguards in Marvel Rivals are made to control the battlefield and take space – two things that Doctor Strange thrives at more than every other character. His daggers take some getting used to but are one of the most powerful primary fires of any Vanguard once mastered.
Strange can take advantageous positions on the battlefield via both his levitation ability and his portals – which both he and his teammates can use to reach almost any area of the map. His Shield of the Seraphim is arguably the best barrier in the game, capable of protecting players and their teammates against even the deadliest attacks.
2 Mantis
Lethal With Her Life Orbs
Mantis’ kit revolves around her Life Orbs, which power the majority of her abilities. These regenerate automatically over time but can be immediately replenished with every critical hit the player lands with her primary fire. This is what makes Mantis so powerful, as landing consistent headshots can enable almost constant use of her Life Orbs.
Life Orbs can grant either Mantis or her teammates a temporary damage boost, as well as heal them over time. This allows her to not only provide huge support to all of her allies but also effectively sustain herself. While many players may be inclined to damage boost their teammates, Mantis’ damage output shouldn’t be sniffed at, and can easily take on even the strongest Duelists with good aim.
1 Hela
Hel Reigns Over All
The Goddess of Death is, fittingly, the most lethal assassin in the whole game. Capable of killing most characters with two hits to the head, Hela’s primary fire alone makes her one of the most formidable Duelists in the game. But this isn’t even mentioning her full arsenal of abilities that make her so hard to deal with.
From her full-directional dash and gliding descent to the flurry of thorns and the explosive stun she can cast on enemies, Hela is prepared for nearly every conceivable combat scenario. And her ultimate is very powerful too, providing Hela a lifeline in tricky situations as well as allowing her to dish out damage from above with her Nastrond Crows. Out of all the characters to end up in a 1v1 situation with, Hela is many players’ worst nightmare.
Third-Person Shooter
Action
Multiplayer
- Franchise
- Marvel
- Released
- December 6, 2024
- Developer(s)
- NetEase Games
- Publisher(s)
- NetEase Games
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer , Online Co-Op
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
- ESRB
- T For Teen // Violence
- How Long To Beat
- 7.5 hours
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Unknown
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
- File Size Xbox Series
- 20 GB
- Number of Players
- 1-6
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
- Cross Save
- No
- Cross-Platform Play
- Limited – console crossplay, no PC crossplay
- PC Release Date
- December 6, 2024
- PS5 Release Date
- December 6, 2024
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- December 6, 2024
