With Marvel Rivals now live globally, we finally have answers to the burning question: Who are the best characters in the game? In this guide, week will break down our tier list for every character. You can't fairly compare characters to each other from different classes, so in this tier list, we are focusing on the Duelist class. If you want see more characters, check out our Vanguard Meta Tier List and Strategist Meta Tier List!
For any tier list to make sense in this style of game, you need to understand the kind of players this list is designed for. Pro players and casual players will play characters very differently, so their rankings can vastly differ. In these tier lists, we are ranking for the average player. This means not brand new to the game, but not a high ranking player either.
If you are interested in seeing a tier list designed for competitive play, check out our Competitive Duelist Tier List!
S Tier
A Tier
B Tier
C Tier
Any low tier ratings for characters doesn't mean the character is outright bad. You can play any character in this game, practice them a bunch, and perform well in a match despite a low ranking. For casual players especially, you can dominate with any character if you master them. This list is designed for players looking to play the game without studying and mastering a character.
C Tier
The characters in this tier are , Black Widow, Psylocke, Hawkeye, Human Torch, and Spider-Man. These are all characters that struggle to make a meaningful impact in your typical casual setting. Their damage output and flexibility aren't up to par with the rest of the Duelists.
Human Torch is the newest Duellist added to Rivals, and so far he has been... pretty bad. He doesn't deal nearly enough damage to warrant playing such an exposed character. You deal so little damage most of the time, you can be outright ignored, which is a shame since causal players don't know how to look up. He gets easily countered, but doesn't counter anyone. Right now, there just isn't much reason to play Human Torch.
Hawkeye used to be a top tier pick, but has since plummeted to the bottom ranks. You have to be super accurate and land headshots to get instant kills, and you will hardly ever use his ability set. You will frequently be sitting on the backline lobbing arrows at opponents and seeing little results. The casual meta favors brawlers over snipers, so that means Hawkeye has a hard time competing.
Black Widow can pack a punch with her sniper, but she gets outclassed in every way versus Hawkeye. Besides needing great accuracy, you lose a lot of peripheral view when scoping, making the character difficult to use. If players want the same style, but much easier to use, just use Hawkeye. As previously mentioned though, Snipers are not favored in the meta, so both Widow and Hawkeye are bad picks.
Psylocke is a menace at top tier play, but she is is very difficult to use properly. It takes a lot of practice to manage her abilities well enough to rush in, deal quick and high damage, then escape. You could farm her ultimate, which is very strong, by simply landing hits. Ultimately though, the average player will cause the team to fall way behind before that ultimate ability is ready again.
Spider-Man follows a similar path as Psylocke: great for competitive, bad for casual. He can swing in quickly and bounce around, making him hard to hit. For the average player though, you will be more of a nuisance than a real threat. He is one of the most difficult characters to use, and requires a significant amount of practice to make work due to all of the combos you have to master. For the average player, you don't have the time for that kind of mastery. For that reason, Spider-Man ranks in our lowest tier.
B Tier
For this tier, we have Black Panther, Star-Lord, Storm, and Magik. All of these characters still fall short from the bulk of this class, but they definitely are higher than the C-Tier.
Black Panther has moved up a rank this season as players have proven he isn't quite as difficult to play as we once thought. You basically just throw a spear at the ground and dash back and forward. You do have to be good at quickly spinning 180 degrees constantly though. His biggest drawback is the requirement to be played as a combo character. You have to practice and master the art of marking opponents, dashing, and escaping before it's too late. He can be extremely effective, but he is just too difficult to learn quick and play casually.
Star-Lord can be a strong attacker, but you have to be accurate with his shots. He requires a lot of movement, which can be a bit complex to get right. He does have a great ultimate that gives you auto aim to quickly melt through the enemy team. His biggest weakness is his difficulty keeping up with moving targets. Since his individual bullets do so little damage, you have to land a lot of shots to make a real impact.
Storm is very close with Iron Man in terms of gameplay, but she requires much more accuracy. To play her well, you need to stay closer to the ground to share your buffs with the team. Then you have to be accurate with your wind shots. She also lacks a fast getaway option, which will often leave a casual player stranded since they aren't really thinking about their spacing. Her ultimate is almost good enough to bump her to A-Tier, but a good ultimate doesn't instantly make the character a top tier.
Magik can be a fun, hard hitting melee character to play with. To really get good use out of her though, you have to target the backing squishy characters like healers. That isn't easy to do in a casual, uncoordinated setting. To really lock in those kills, you need to know her melee cancels out of her abilities, which is a bit advanced for casual play. You can still make an impact with this character, but just not as reliably as other heroes.
A Tier
Moving up to the A-Tier brings the largest amount of characters: Hela, Iron Fist, Namor, Squirrel Girl, Mister Fantastic, and Wolverine. These are all solid characters for your average player, offering a good balance of strong abilities and great DPS.
Hela can dish out a lot of damage, but she doesn't offer the same top level gameplay as the other DPS. Her crow's flight lets you get access to unique vantage points, or escape from near-death situations. Her ultimate is one of the best in the game since it lets you soar above the battlefield and rain hellfire down without any risk to yourself. Her drawback is just not having much utility and being reliant on good aim and her ultimate to be good.
Iron Fist is the only normal brawler character to be ranked this high. This is specifically because of his self healing and fast speed. He can remain very mobile, making him harder to hit. His self healing let's you survive longer on your own, as well as his damage deflector. He has good potential for S-Tier at the higher ranks, but A-Tier is a safe rating for your average player.
Namor borders that line for S-Tier to me. His main appeal is his auto lock turrets that protect you and your team from divers and airborne characters that can be hard to spot. His biggest drawback, like Hela, is being reliant on accuracy with a longer-ranged, slow-firing weapon. He does have a decent ultimate though that can take out lower health characters, as well as knock down surrounding opponents to make them vulnerable.
Squirrel Girl is a ranged character that doesn't mandate accuracy. You can launch bouncy area of effect projectiles into a general area and land hits. Her super jump let's her quickly dip out of bad combat situations, or get better angles for her shots. After her ultimate buff, she now can make a much bigger impact by herself than she could before. The only drawback she has is learning how to bounce your shots to make them explode near opponents more often, which can take quite a bit of practice. Without that, you may struggle to land consistent hits.
Mister Fantastic is the newest hero added to the roster. His duelist-vanguard hybrid abilities makes him great for casual players. His attacks are simple but effective. His abilities help you to get close and keep pressure up, which let's him beef up into a DPS monster. His damage Absorbing ability is also perfect to allow you to escape or stall the match for your team to back you up. He's all around a solid character that is easy to use.
Wolveriene is your atypical brawler that gives you some unique utility. He is strong enough to solo take down a tank, and his regeneration lets you retreat much more often than other divers. His moveset and ultimate do require a little practice to understand how they work, but after you get the hang of it, you can become a real menace very quickly.
S Tier
Capping out at the top of our tier list, we have Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, The Punisher, Moon Knight, and Winter Soldier.
Iron Man recently received a buff to his Unibeam, which is pushing him up to S-Tier this season. The amount of damage you can output with it is incredible, and it lasts for an eternity. Since casual players don't know how to look up, you should have a fairly easy time getting kills and chipping away an opponent's health. His ultimate is strong enough to kill through any healer ultimate, which makes him extremely valuable.
Scarlet Witch is one of the best characters for casual players. She doesn't need to reload, she doesn't have to aim, and she can vanish and fly away at any time. She can terrorize the enemy team, and most casual players don't know how to deal with her lock on attack. Her ultimate is loud and has a long windup, but will often team wipe in casual settings. She's just a great "turn your brain off and play" kind of character.
Moon Knight has been the most surprisingly strong character. His ability to leap and glide let's him easily reposition himself and flank the enemy team. The grapple helps to jump into and out of battle quickly. His Ankh really lets him give you extreme accuracy without having to try much at all. Casual players tend to ignore these laying around the map, so you can often melt through opponents before they know what is happening. His ultimate is also infamously strong, letting you rain down instant death to whatever area you seem to be the death zone.
Winter Soldier has proven to be much stronger at lower ranks than previous seasons. His biggest asset is his grapple, which lets you yank a player towards you and freeze them momentarily while you kill them. His ultimate is downright silly when you get a cluster of opponents together, as you will repeatedly ult over and over until there is no one left. While his weapon does require accuracy, he is a much more up-close and personal fighter, so you are much more likely to be accurate than other characters at mid to long range.
Finally, we have The Punisher, who has been one of the top characters for obvious reasons. A simple character that's easy to learn, easy to play, and packs an enormous punch. His turret mount can single handedly hold down locations, turning him into a borderline stationary tank. His ultimate ability has so much firepower, you can easily team wipe, especially if you have a good Vanguard supporting you.
Wrap Up
That's it for our Duelist Tier list! As new characters are added and balance changes are made, we will release updated tier lists for these characters. If you haven't already, be sure to check out our tier lists for Vanguards and Strategists!
