Welcome back to my Marvel Rivals Competitive Meta Analysis series! If you missed the latest report last week, get caught up here. There’s a lot of meta trends to discuss in season 2.5, so let’s dive in.

In this series, I’ll examine and analyze week-over-week shifts in the Rivals Competitive meta across the entire roster, all ranks, and all platforms. I’ll discuss trends and identify opportunities for heroes that may be positioned to outperform relative to the rest of the roster. 

Powerful Hero Insights to Take Your Game to the Next Level

We’ve massively overhauled the meta section on the site. It’s populated with all of my data analysis tables used to write this series. With Premium, you can help support our content (and enjoy it ad-free) and unlock incredible insights across the entire hero roster and all team-ups. You can filter by metrics and get a full glimpse of the competitive landscape through my weekly reports. 

New Data-Driven Meta Tier list

This meta-analysis article is fueled by tons of data. We’ve taken that data and created an early tier list for all characters using our weighted scoring algorithms and evaluating the competitive landscape as a whole. Check out our early season tier list here! This tier list will be updated over time.

Marvel Rivals Hero Rankings (Weighted Scoring) Top 5 - 6/6/25

Week-over-week performance metric shifts for heroes/team-ups are shown in parentheses.

Ultron

• Win Rate: 51.08% (▲ 1%)
• Pick Rate: 60.05% (▼ 11%)
• Ban Rate: 6.93% (▲ 8%)

Ultron has been dominating the competitive scene and has been performing incredibly well since his launch. With a 51.08% win rate (up 1% week-over-week) and a pick rate of 60.05%, Ultron is being played in most matches. Ultron packs a ton of utility in that he can heal his team while pursuing and contesting off-angles in the air. No damage falloff on his primary fire’s secondary burst also gives strong damage output at range, and skilled Ultron players who focus their fire can augment their team’s potential for securing difficult picks. Ultron’s pick rate fell 11% week-over-week, which is in line with how Emma Frost’s metrics performed. Players are interested in playing the newest hero on the block, so some fall-off of pick rate is expected over time.

Ultron’s ban rate has increased by 8% week-over-week and now sits at 6.93%. With the Stark Protocol team-up with Iron Man, his overall win rate climbs to a staggering 60.13% (an 18% increase over his blended win rate), providing extra healing and damage output that can help Ultron perform better in 2/2/2 compositions where he can tend to struggle.

Ultron’s worst matchup by far is Peni Parker, where Ultron’s overall win rate falls to 42.92% (a -14.16% differential in performance). Considering how dominant & popular Peni Parker has been this season, this should be a priority ban for Ultron players, unless someone on your team intends to play Peni and you have a Rocket Raccoon player for the team-up.

Rocket Raccoon

• Win Rate: 55.00% (▼ 1%)
• Pick Rate: 33.41% (▲ 2%)
• Ban Rate: 3.72% (▼ 7%)

Rocket Raccoon has been making a huge impact in the competitive meta since his rework at the start of season two and has held a top two slot in our rankings for the entirety of season 2. A new and powerful team-up makes him even better. He is a clear and consistent top-performer in the Strategist role and has done so throughout the entire season. Rocket’s overall win rate sits at an amazing 55.00% for the week, with his pick rate falling to 33.41% and ban rate dropping to 3.72%. Rocket is notable for a low skill floor and has quickly distinguished himself as the premium strategist pick for the season.

Rocket’s strength comes from the utility of his B.R.B. beacon and effectively turning fights into 7v6s, or erasing an early mistake from your team and giving you a shot to turn around the team fight. He has great healing output and plenty of utility to help his team. Rocket is performing well against most of the roster, but should prioritize banning Magik and/or Peni Parker (unless your team intends on playing Peni as well) based on individual matchup data and week-over-week shifts.

Rocket remains the strongest Strategist pick in a vacuum. His overall win rate decreased by 1% from last week, his pick rate increased by 2%, and his ban rate decreased by 7%. It’s clear Rocket is still a great addition to almost any team composition. His team-up with Peni Parker, Rocket Network, propels his win rate up to 60.31% and gives strong utility from Peni’s spider nests since they can consistently pump out shields to the frontline in the middle of conflicts, while also enabling his B.R.B. beacon to dish out damage to unsuspecting foes.

Peni Parker

• Win Rate: 56.48% (▼ 1%)
• Pick Rate: 16.80% (▼ 7%)
• Ban Rate: 14.35% (▲ 31%)

Peni Parker’s new team-up with Rocket Raccoon is no joke, and has propelled her blended win rate up to 56.48%. Her pick rate this week was 16.8%.  Peni has been a dominant tank in both offensive and defensive situations. On defense, Peni can set up a defensive stronghold, and on offense, Peni can shift and push the frontline over time through attrition and value, much like Emma Frost. Peni’s overall win rate fell by 1% week-over-week, her pick rate fell 7%, and her ban rate increased 31% and now sits at 14.35%.

Peni Players should try to get the Rocket team-up in as many matches as possible, it’s the strongest thing they can do to improve their overall win rate and maximize the strength of Peni. Rocket Network is being played in 20.36% of all matches and is banned in over 18% of matches and is the second highest ranked team-up in our weighted scoring algorithm for the week across all ranks.

In terms of bans, Peni has favorable matchups against the entire roster. Weekly data suggests that Peni is surprisingly struggling the most against Magik, Black Panther, and Iron Fist. Since Peni lacks poor matchups in general, Peni players should prioritize bans that help the rest of their team and patch individual weaknesses for the characters they want to play.

Iron Man

• Win Rate: 51.74% (▲ 1%)
• Pick Rate: 27.27% (▼ 17%)
• Ban Rate: 15.67% (▲ 33%)

Iron Man has been soaring through our weighted ranking list throughout the season, enjoying a high win-rate across the board and an excellent team-up that proves to be an incredible tool for winning competitive games. This week, Iron Man’s overall win rate was 51.74%, climbing to an astounding 60.31% with the Ultron team-up. Iron Man’s pick rate was 27.27%, and his ban rate was 15.67%.

Iron Man is in a great spot, though great Iron Man players must know how to play vertical cover and also have Strategist players on your team who know you exist and are willing to look up. Right now, [Item]Peni Parker[/item] is Iron Man’s worst matchup by far. Against Peni, Iron Man’s overall win rate falls to 45.77%, a -8.46% differential. Unless someone on your team intends to play Peni, you should prioritize a Peni Parker ban.

Week-over-week, Iron Man’s win rate increased by 1%, his pick rate fell by 17%, and his overall ban rate increased by 33%. Iron Man remains a solid pick to climb with in the Duelist role and is a hero to continue to watch. If you can duo-queue with a good Ultron player and can slip past bans, you’re in for an efficient climb.

Mantis

• Win Rate: 52.20% (▼ 1%)
• Pick Rate: 6.51% (▲ 6%)
• Ban Rate: 0.04% (▼ 20%)

Mantis recently received a 10% buff to her primary fire damage, after being hit with a couple of nerfs to both her movement speed and overall health that diminished her ability to be a scrappy skirmisher and aggressive strategist weaving powerful healing over time and damage increases for allies and damage potential via her primary fire. Mantis has always been a strong hero, and now looks poised for new heights in season 2.5. This week, Mantis enjoyed a 53.20% win rate, a 6.51% pick rate, and a ban rate of only 0.04%, the lowest of any hero for the entire week.

Mantis also enjoys being a part of the STRONGEST team-up in our weighted scoring algorithm—Guardian Revival. With this team-up, her win rate climbs to an astounding 65.70%, an incredible 26% differential from her blended win rate. This team-up got even stronger and was already winning a ton of games before. As we’ll discuss later, this team-up is one of the strongest and underutilized things in the game.

Examining her individual matchups, Mantis struggles the most against Peni Parker, Magik[item], and [item]Storm and Iron Man. Mantis players should prioritize banning Peni Parker and Storm/Iron Man, depending on what characters your team wants to play.

Week-over-week, Mantis’s overall win rate fell 1%, her pick rate increased by 6%, and her ban rate fell by another 20%. Mantis will be a hero to continue to watch as we continue through the season with the rise of Ultron.

The Hero Ranking (Weighted Scoring) Watchlist

Right now, Storm, Hawkeye, Bruce Banner, Groot, Iron Man, Peni Parker, and Hela are all being banned in more than 10% of their matches. Spider-Man is right on the 10% threshold as well. Heroes on this watch list got significant lift given that ban rates are penalized much less in the updated weighted scoring formula. We will continue to watch these heroes and ensure the weighted scoring algorithm improves over time to accurately reflect power level.

Marvel Rivals Hero Weekly Performance Top 5 Winners - 6/6/25

Human Torch

• Win Rate: 43.76% (▲ 0.05%)
• Pick Rate: 3.26% (▼ 9%)
• Ban Rate: 1.80% (▼ 41%)

Human Torch was nerfed into the ground in 2.5. This is a classic example of Netease continuing to buff an underperforming hero each patch until he became overpowered, then overcorrecting the issue when he became a problem. Unfortunately, Human Torch has been one of the worst-performing Duelists in this new season, but he got quite a lift in weekly performance due to rapidly decreasing ban rate and a near-constant win rate. 

At the end of season 2.0, Human Torch’s ban rate had exceeded 20%. Now, it’s clear that he isn’t anywhere close to the threat he once was, even with the Fantastic Four team-up. The Thing has also been massively underperforming in 2.5, and the entire Fantastic Four roster’s performance is tied to the strength and viability of running as many of the characters as possible to take advantage of the team-up.

Week-over-week, his win rate increased marginally, his pick rate fell 9%, and his ban rate decreased by 41%. Iron Man, Ultron, and Storm are the premier fliers in the new meta and flying compositions, and Human Torch has been struggling for a place against them. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Netease revert some of the nerfs to Human Torch in the near future.

Luna Snow

• Win Rate: 45.01% (▲ 0.07%)
• Pick Rate: 21.24% (▼ 2%)
• Ban Rate: 9.29% (▼ 25%)

Luna Snow is mechanically challenging and has still been struggling compared to other strategists across the entire competitive landscape. This week, Luna’s win rate was 45.01%, her pick rate was 21.24%, and her ban rate was 9.29%. Players are still fearful of her new team-up with Hawkeye, which tends to improve drastically in higher Elos. Luna, Hawkeye, and Chilling Assault struggle to perform the lower level in Elo you go. 

Despite an apparent underperformance in the competitive landscape as a whole, Luna received a lift this week in the form of a rapidly decreasing ban rate, which fell 25% week-over-week. Luna’s week-over-week win rate was nearly constant, and her pick rate fell by 2%. 

Luna will continue to be a character to watch. Her recent buffs haven’t moved the needle much, but for strategist players with a lot of mechanical skill, she could be an exceptional edge in competitive play. Luna players with good aim can produce impressive damage output and, due to her hitscan nature, can do well against enemy flying compositions. The new bonus health on her freeze also improves her survivability against dive, though it’s clear dive is a lot less popular in 2.5 than it was at the start of the season.

Iron Fist

• Win Rate: 48.96% (▼ 0.21%)
• Pick Rate: 5.94% (▲ 1%)
• Ban Rate: 2.17% (▼ 23%)

Iron Fist was nerfed heavily in 2.5 (deserved), but still remains a strong and balanced hero. He is just less oppressive to play against now and has less survivability. This week, Iron Fist enjoyed a 48.96% win rate, a 5.94% pick rate, and a ban rate of only 2.17%. 

Considering Iron Fist’s ban rate exceeded 20% at the end of 2.0, he is in a much better place, balance-wise, now with a ban rate of only 2.17%. Iron Fist was flagged in weekly performance winners due to a slightly increased week-over-week pick rate and a drastically decreasing ban rate. His win rate fell very slightly but remains relatively strong and cements Iron Fist’s place as a powerful yet situational addition to certain compositions. When paired with Hawkeye and Luna Snow, players can drastically improve Iron Fist’s utility to the team thanks to the double team-ups.

Wolverine

• Win Rate: 49.26% (▲ 0.62%)
• Pick Rate: 8.61% (▲ 12%)
• Ban Rate: 3.91% (▼ 2%)

Wolverine was another big winner of the week in terms of weekly metric shifts. His win rate this week was 49.26%, his pick rate was 8.61%, and his ban rate was 3.91%.

This week, Wolverine experienced a nearly 1% increase in his week-over-week win rate, a 12% higher pick rate, and a 2% decrease in ban rate. While he’s clearly not the Vanguard-slaying menace he once was, Wolverine still appears to be a reasonable niche pick in some matchups and is performing reasonably well in the right hands. Most notable is the fact that Wolverine has been improving gradually every week of the season so far and is making a slow but steady comeback. This trend has held true over the entirety of seasons 2.0 and 2.5 so far.

The Thing

• Win Rate: 46.33% (▲ 1%)
• Pick Rate: 8.58% (▲ 7%)
• Ban Rate: 0.42% (▼ 9%)

The Thing was another weekly winner, though is struggling greatly in general right now. This week, Thing had a 46.33% win rate, an 8.58% pick rate, and a ban rate of just 0.42%. Unfortunately, fliers are popular right now, and The Thing has no way of interacting with them or mitigating their damage. Unfortunately, Thing is more of a liability in this emerging meta and is being outshone by other Vanguard picks.

Dedicated The Thing players have been able to seize favorable improvements to his metrics week-over-week, however. Thing’s week-over-week win rate improved by 1%, his pick rate increased 7%, and his ban rate fell by 9%.

Marvel Rivals Hero Weekly Performance Top 5 Losers - 6/6/25

Ultron

• Win Rate: 51.08% (▲ 1%)
• Pick Rate: 60.05% (▼ 11%)
• Ban Rate: 6.93% (▲ 8%)

Ultron has been doing exceptionally well in the meta and was flagged as one of the weekly losers this week due to a decreasing pick rate and an increasing ban rate. Not entirely unexpected given that players will slowly lose interest in playing new heroes over time, and Ultron’s apparent overperformance in many matchups has led to an increasing ban rate. Some players also choose to ban new heroes in their launch week in comp to avoid having inexperienced players on their own team opt for the character.

While Ultron was a loser in terms of week-over-week metrics (outside of win rate), he’s the strongest hero by score in our weighted scoring algorithm aggregated across all ranks of competitive play.

Scarlet Witch

• Win Rate: 47.56% (▼ 0.44%)
• Pick Rate: 13.16% (▲ 6%)
• Ban Rate: 0.67% (▲ 12%)

Scarlet Witch’s win rate fell slightly this week. Overall, she sat at a 47.56% win rate, 13.16% pick rate, and a 0.67% ban rate. I’d expect Scarlet Witch to become more popular given the strength of Doctor Strange this season. The Arcane Order team-up performs well and raises her win rate to 53.77%, a 13% differential over her blended win rate. Doctor Strange also enjoys an 8% differential over his blended win rate with the team-up.

Week-over-week, Scarlet Witch’s win rate fell marginally, her pick rate increased by 6%, and her ban rate increased by 12%. Scarlet Witch has some strength in that she can reliably flank and put a lot of pressure on enemy fliers who can struggle to evade her effective range.

Storm

• Win Rate: 51.69% (▲ 0.31%)
• Pick Rate: 11.85% (▼ 9%)
• Ban Rate: 30.43% (▲ 25%)

Storm WAS a hero that has been flying under the radar for some time and was vastly under-represented in pick rate compared to her consistently high win rate and impact in ranked play. Those days are gone, and now the community is well aware of the threat she poses in the emerging meta.

Since her recent buffs, Storm has enjoyed a high win rate. This week, Storm has achieved a 51.69% win rate, an 11.85% pick rate, and a ban rate of only 30.43%. With a good vantage point and aerial cover, Storm can switch between peeling and providing overwatch protection to the backline and pressing forward and pressuring the opposing team from range. 

Storm’s new Jeff-Nado team-up does not produce a meaningful delta over her blended win rate (clocking in at only 2%, but she does improve Jeff’s win rate by 15% with the team-up, where most of the value is captured. As more players have flocked to Storm, her overall win rate decreased significantly between season 2.0 and season 2.5, but she remains a very strong pick in the Duelist role in this meta (when she can skirt by bans).

Week-over-week, Storm’s win rate increased by less than 1%, her pick rate fell by 9%, and her ban rate increased by another 25%. One thing to note is that despite the power of Storm in combination with Iron Man and Ultron, one glaring weakness of the composition is less bodies to contest the objective. Flying characters perform much better from afar and must allow the rest of their team to take and defend the objective in most cases. Yet the data still shows that Storm and Iron Man are still winning more games than they are losing.

Iron Man

• Win Rate: 51.74% (▲ 0.38%)
• Pick Rate: 27.27% (▼ 17%)
• Ban Rate: 15.67% (▲ 33%)

Iron Man was brought down this week by a 33% increase in ban rate, a marginal increase in win rate, and a 17% decrease in pick rate. Iron Man is strong with or without the Stark Protocol team-up with Ultron and is a major character that teams are choosing to build their compositions around. Right now, teams are investing their bans in trying to hamstring flying compositions and even a recently buffed The Punisher and Hela have proven ineffective at dealing with them when looking at the competitive ecosystem as a whole. As Elo improves, so does the effectiveness of hitscan counters working to counter fliers.

Peni Parker

• Win Rate: 56.48% (▼ 0.39%)
• Pick Rate: 16.80% (▼ 7%)
• Ban Rate: 14.35% (▲ 31%)

Peni Parker remains a powerhouse in ranked play across all Elos but was brought down this week by a 7% decrease in week-over-week pick rate, a staggering 31% increase in ban rate, and a marginal decrease to a very high overall blended win rate.

More players are choosing to ban Peni, but she’s far from the most popular Vanguard pick for compositions. Emma Frost, Magneto, and Doctor Strange are all being picked more often than Peni Parker, and as an Emma Lord myself, Emma still has my vote as the strongest main tank for the season, especially if your team is running triple strategist or duelist.

Peni should remain incredibly strong this season, and I expect her ban rate to continue to creep up this season as more and more players learn to play and master her kit, empowered by a very strong new team-up that fits well in almost any defensive or offensive composition.

Marvel Rivals Top 5 Team-Ups (Weighted Scoring) - 6/6/25

Performing weighted scoring puts these team-ups as the top 5 this week! Even with the most recent balance changes, our top five team-ups didn’t change week-over-week, and the top five of last week held their same positions this week. More commentary below!

Guardian Revival

• Win Rate: 65.70% (▲ 0.16%)
• Pick Rate: 0.62% (▲ 35%)
• Ban Rate: 0.36% (▲ 3%)

Despite a heavy-handed nerf to Adam Warlock at the start of the season, Guardian Revival remains the top-performing team-up in competitive play based on our weighted scoring system with a staggering 65.70% win rate. This team-up gives Mantis and Star-Lord an on-demand rez on cooldown that can shift team fights in your favor. This week, the team-up’s win rate increased marginally, its pick rate increased by a whopping 35%, and its ban rate increased by 3%. 

As I’ve been saying for weeks, this is a diamond in the rough and is something to prioritize in character selection with your team if you want to win more games. Even better if you can practice and play consistently with a squad that can pull this off. Players are taking notic,e and the opportunity gap may close if this team-up’s pick rate increases drastically. In other words, keep buying it while it’s cheap!

With recent buffs to Mantis and Adam Warlock, this team-up has soared to new heights and is borderline oppressive to opponents. Let’s hope Netease doesn’t take a baseball bat to Adam Warlock’s knees for this one. In the midseason balance patch, I could see a nerf to the team-up itself and an increase to respawn cooldown being implemented to reduce the win rate.

Rocket Network

• Win Rate: 63.83% (▼ 0.20%)
• Pick Rate: 20.36% (▼ 18%)
• Ban Rate: 18.07% (▲ 21%)

Rocket Network is crazy strong. It fits well into almost any team composition and enjoys the second highest win rate of any team-up in the game. There is so much value in giving Rocket Raccoon an offensive boost while also creating a second spider nest and allowing Peni Parker to regularly output effective healing and armor packs via her nests to the frontline of your team. This team-up really has it all—and crafty Peni players have been saving their second spider nest for when the first one goes down to retain optionality and near-constant uptime of spider nests at the cost of some offensive and defensive utility.

This week, Rocket Network enjoyed a 63.83% win rate, a 20.36% pick rate, and a ban rate of 18.07%. Week-over-week, the win rate decreased very slightly, pick rate was down 18%, and ban rate was up 21%.

Stark Protocol

• Win Rate: 60.31% (▲ 1.55%)
• Pick Rate: 29.61% (▼ 34%)
• Ban Rate: 22.60% (▲ 24%)

Stark Protocol effectively empowers Iron Man and Ultron and elevates them to new heights, two heroes who are strongly positioned in the emerging meta. This team-up adds defensive utility and extra healing for Ultron, patching a major weakness he lacks. While the damage output is limited, the fact that this ability can penetrate multiple targets (friends & foes) makes it very strong. Ultron players should aim to use it when on the ground and try to hit as many targets as possible. Use it as a stopgap to try to counter enemy ultimates and provide burst healing to your team in a pinch.

This week, Stark Protocol enjoyed a 60.31% win rate, a pick rate of 29.61% (the highest of any team-up by a large margin), and a ban rate of 22.60%..

Week-over-week, the win rate improved by 1.55%, pick rate decreased by 34%, and ban rate increased by 24%. As more players learn to play Ultron well, I’d expect this team-up to continue to outperform in the emerging meta.

Dimensional Shortcut

• Win Rate: 61.13% (▲ 2%)
• Pick Rate: 1.63% (▲ 21%)
• Ban Rate: 2.53% (▲ 3%)

Black Panther is in an interesting spot. He is very strong in low elo but falls off heavily toward higher ranks. His team up with Magik, however, is still performing well across the board. It’s interesting to see how well this team-up has continued to perform, even as Dive loses popularity.  This week, Dimensional Shortcut enjoyed a 61.13% win rate, 1.63% pick rate, and a 2.53% ban rate. Week-over-week the team-up’s win rate was up 2%, its pick rate increased 21%, and its ban rate was up 3%. It’s held strong and is a solid pick for dive-based compositions that defy the emerging meta. Consider pairing with Captain America and another sturdy Vanguard to help lead the charge and mount the aggression in your dives.

Ragnarok Rebirth

• Win Rate: 59.54% (▼ 1.26%)
• Pick Rate: 1.29% (▲ 6%)
• Ban Rate: 13.42% (▼ 7%)

Ragnarok Rebirth has fallen since the Thor reworks, but still remains #5 on our top team-ups list in the weighted scoring algorithm. With a 59.54% win rate, it’s a clear performer even after adjustments to each of the heroes in the team-up. This week, Ragnarok Rebirth’s win rate decreased by 1.26%, its pick rate increased by 6%, and its ban rate dropped by 7%. 

This continues to be a strong option, and even without Voltaic Union, Thor can be complemented with either Captain America or Emma Frost to form a well-rounded and consistently-performing team. This team-up can also be run with just Hela and Loki ,and perform extremely well. 

Wrap Up

That’s it for the first week of season 2.5! We’ll continue to evaluate the early season 2.5 meta and how it is evolving next week, keeping an eye out for top performers and rising synergies. There is so much insight to be found, and I’m hopeful the data from this week gives you some ideas of how you can capture an edge in your own competitive Marvel Rivals play!

What did you think about the fourth week of meta-analysis? Have any suggestions for the reporting going forward? Any metrics you’d like to see? Let us know in the comments below!