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Season 8.5 of Marvel Rivals is now underway, and there are some clear winners and losers among the roster. We keep an active tier list for Vanguard, Duelist, and Strategist always available, but this will be a broader look at how the meta is performing across all classes.
As for all tier lists, a low ranking doesn't mean a character is bad. Any character can give you good results if you master them and use them in the right comps and matchups. The list is centered around Grand Master and higher rankings, so lower ranking players will likely experience a different meta. Professional players and streamers may also showcase a different meta that only exist for the "one above all" kind of players, but this analysis is directed more towards the general competitive playerbase.
New Hero: Cyclops!
Rival's newest Duelist, Cyclops, is already blasting his way through the meta! While it is still early into his release, he's already proving to be a top tier pick in the meta. When he's not being banned, he's seeing play in nearly every match!
S-Tier
Welcome to season 8.5, where the meta is different and indifferent at the same time! Let me explain: we saw some big moves upwards and downwards this season that have spiced up the meta a bit. Emma Frost and Magneto have gotten a boost in play thanks to their buffs, while Black Cat and Devil Dinosaur got hit with some hard nerfs to knock them off their S-Tier pedestals.
Aside from that though, your typical top healers are still on top. Cloak & Dagger got a nice little buff, and Gambit got a little nerf, but their meta presence hasn't shifted much. In fact, none of the healers really shifted tiers in this season!
As for DPS, Hit Scan still reigns supreme. The introduction of Cyclops has only furthered that meta, and Phoenix still holds a favorable position over Hela (though both are excellent picks). Brawl still has its place though, with Daredevil, Magik, and Wolverine still holding the top spots.
A-Tier
A-Tier has seen the biggest movements this season. As mentioned before, Dino has fallen off a bit thanks to his nerfs. [Item]Moon Knigh[/item] (now known as "worse cyclops" is also tumbling down the meta.
Moving up, however, is Rogue, Angela, and Deadpool (healer). These three got just enough of a buff at the right time that they have definitely seen an increase in play-rate and win-rate.
A handful of characters are teetering on the line between B-Tier and A-Tier. Thor and The Thing haven't been quite as popular tanks lately, and their stats are starting to decline. They haven't fallen to B-Tier levels yet, but they are on my watch list. Similarly, Namor and Iron Fist can't keep up the pace in the DPS space.
B-Tier
This tier can be a bit tricky, as a lot of its characters aren't great for the general playerbase, but see much better performance in the highest ELO. For example, Captain America, Peni Parker, Storm, and even Deadpool (tank) have been doing very well in the competitive scene. For the majority of the playerbase though, they can't do nearly as well. A lot has to do with team strategy and proper swapping, which is significantly less frequent in the regular meta.
Now onto the characters that seem to be stuck in "B-Tier Purgatory"... Blade[item], [item]Adam Warlock, and Human Torch are getting buff after buff, season after season, but still can't see any meta play. Eventually these characters will likely reach a tipping point and explode in the meta! But for now, they don't have any stats to prove themselves anything more than B-Tier (as usual).
Speaking of stuck in B-Tier, the other fliers still are struggling to fly out. With hit scan still so prominent and dive tanks being popular, its hard to find safe places to make use of fliers. Ultron got nerfed into B-Tier again (to the surprise of many), but you can thank the competitive scene using him in 3-Healer comps for that. Now he returns to the other fliers in B-Tier as they wait for the right meta to make a comeback.
C-Tier
The bottom of the meta is the same as ever. Bad characters aren't getting adjustments like Black Widow Scarlet Witch, and Squirrel Girl. Luna Snow suffers from the issue of being too difficult for low ranks to make useful, too lackluster for high ranks to want to pick.
Doctor Strange has been degraded to "the portal guy" at this point. There isn't a reason to play him besides a quick swap to get a portal for a last second push. The meta doesn't give Strange any support, and his fighting style makes him a bad pick.
Unfortunately, Mister Fantastic has is still the bottom. The CC changes make his low win and playrate even worse, almost making him unplayable. His buffs in 8.0 haven’t made things any better for him either. Low ranks can still find some use for him, but the CC changes are even making low ranks move away from him. Maybe one day Reed will get his time in the meta.
