Best Duelists & DPS: Competitive Meta Tier List (Season 1.5)

With Marvel Rivals now live globally, we finally have answers to the burning question: Who are the best Heroes in the game? In this guide, we 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 Strategist Meta Tier List and Vanguard 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 high ranking and competitive players, meaning Diamond rank and above.

This means a less experienced or new player may have a very different experience playing these higher tier characters, or lower tier might be really good for you. If you are a new or more casual player, the Meta can look very different than at higher competitive levels. For a more casual take on the meta, check out our Duelist Casual Tier List!

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 tier rating.

C Tier

In our lowest ranking, the C-Tier, we have Scarlet Witch, and Black Widow. All of these characters are basically bad picks for competitive matches. You can still use them and not be throwing the match, but there isn't much need to play any of them in their current state while so many better options are available.

Scarlet Witch is a terror to face against for casual players. She auto aims, she can seemingly vanish into thin air, and her ultimate will team wipe every time. For a competitive player, these factors are not nearly as effective. Her auto aim still works of course, but higher ranking players typically have better aim, so they will kill you faster than your auto aim will kill them. Her vanishing is actually fairly easy to track if you follow the red orb, so it's not as easy to sneak away. Her ultimate basically screams "look out I'm about to kill you!" Most competitive players will either quickly kill her before she can finish her animation, or they will know to safely retreat. Her recent buff doesn't change very much either. The character simply gets worse the higher up the ranks you climb, making her a clear bottom tier character.

Black Widow has gotten a slew of buffs lately, but none of them really make a difference. She is still arguably the worst character in the game. You can't one-shot anybody, and it takes too long to shoot again to lock in the kill. She has no utility abilities to contribute to the team, and her ultimate isn't good enough to warrant playing a terrible character. She just isn't worth using.

B Tier

Moving on up to the B-Tier is The Punisher, Hawkeye, Mister Fantastic, Spider-Man, Star-Lord, and Human Torch. These characters have utility that can be useful in certain situations, but they are more niche than usable every match. The consistency on these characters are also lower than your higher-tier options, but they still outperform the C-tier characters consistently.

The Punisher is your all-in DPS guy. While he can be effective at low ranks, the healer tank meta makes him less effective. He still has his uses, but you often will just pick Winter Soldier over him to get the same team-ups and a better ultimate.

Hawkeye has had a hard fall from his S-tier position in Season 0. What happened though? Ultimately, the meta has evolved into two or three healers keeping one or two tanks alive. With Hawkeye existing mainly in the backline, its very difficult for him to secure a kill. Like Black Widow, his abilities are also very self-oriented and don't benefit the team. He is more usable than Widow though, making him B Tier.

Mister Fantastic has been out for some time now, but the recent update has really made him worse. At high level play, you don't do enough damage. You often will be a stall character that flails around waiting for your team to help secure kills. He is definitely playable, but he just isn't a strong pick for tank or DPS. Hybrid characters can be good at low ranks, but players are much more coordinated at these higher rankings.

Spider-Man is in a tough spot. The character is really cool and fun to play, but his damage output is awful. To actually kill an opponent, you have to use multiple abilities, including the ability from the team up with Venom. If your target is actively being healed, you won’t even kill them with your combo. His abilities take an eternity to recharge, so you are often wasting time waiting for them to recharge so you can make another attempt at being annoying. A buff to Spidey’s Power would really increase his play-ability. As he currently stands though, the character just doesn’t make the cut for anything but B-Tier.

Star-Lord may surprise some players, but he just doesn't match up to his competition. As a diver, Magik, Psylocke, and Black Panther all do it better. For aggressive DPS, Winter Soldier is a better pick. His ultimate can be really good, but it often just gets negated the moment a healer uses their ult, which they will often pocket until you use yours. He isn't a bad character, but there just isn't much need to play him.

Human Torch is the newest Duelist added to Rivals, and he recently got a buff in the latest mini-patch. His entire moveset is based around constant trickle damage to keep pressure on opponents. While it can secure kills, it unfortunately also feeds healers their ultimates. I know his team-up with storm is seen as super strong, but in reality combining 2 ultimates from a number of characters will be super strong. Human Torch isn't a bad character anymore, but he still doesn't stack up to the other characters.

A Tier

For our largest tier size, we have Black Panther, Hela, Iron Fist, Storm, Moon Knight, Magik, and Psylocke. These characters consistently provide good DPS and have solid abilities that contribute uniquely to the team. They don't quite make the cut for S-Tier due to some limitations or downsides.

Black Panther has quickly risen in popularity as players have gotten used to how to play him. A good Panther will wipe out the entire backline before they have a chance to heal or run to safety. His evasiveness makes him very hard to eliminate, and even harder to call out before he dives the team. He isn't quite potent enough to be considered S-Tier, but he has proven himself to be a great option.

Hela has held the top spot in the meta for quite some time, but her reign may finally be over. The healer-tank meta has just made her less consistent at getting kills. Her ultimate can be blocked by Doctor Strange and Magneto, or ignored by a healer ultimate. She is still a very good character, but she can get hard countered by some popular character picks.

Storm is another S to A-Tier character. Her attacks aren't as potent anymore, but her ultimate is still one of the best in the game. Her ban frequency is purely due to her ultimate. If it wasn't for that, she would rarely be banned and be considered a bad character again.

Moon Knight continues our trend of dropping to A-Tier. He really hasn't gotten any worse since 1.0, he just isn't as effective as he once was. He is so frequently picked, players have learned how to deal with him by quickly dodging his ult or breaking his Ankh. If you get an unsuspecting team though, he can still be effective. His team-up also lets him self heal now, but it still isn't enough to be S-Tier.

Magik is your most effective and evasive brawler. Her teleport gives her options to both be aggressive going in and evasive going out. The demons you can summon offer some extra pressure when you attack as well. Her launching dash is similar to Spider-Man in separating your target from their team, making it harder to heal them as you pick them off. She is incredibly effective at picking off stray players, as well as putting a constant pressure to watch their flank. Her ultimate is simple, but it enhances an already strong move set to allow you to quickly rinse your way through targets with just a few hits.

Psylocke has started to struggle in her job as a diver. She is a combo diver that needs to hit all of her abilities at once to quickly take out a healer, but that has been much harder to accomplish with a three healer meta. If players survive your combo, you just run away and wait for another pass. If you can target lone DPS or healers though, she can almost guarantee you a kill every time. Her ranged attacks and ability to swap into a team push when needed is what makes her an A-Tier over a similar combo diver, Spider-Man, at B-Tier.

S Tier

Finally, Namor, Squirrel Girl, Iron Man, Wolverine, and Winter Soldier are our top character picks for competitive players. Each of these characters are the masters at damage output and evasiveness, allowing you to capitalize on offence, and successfully retreat when you need to.

Namor has become quite the pain to deal with. It's not always that players don't pay attention to his octopus turrets, its that they can't afford to look away to shoot them. If he gets his team-up with Luna Snow, he can feel unstoppable. He is the primary way to stop or slow down divers like Magik, Black Panther, and Iron Fist. His ability to instantly encase himself in a shield also makes him difficult to secure a kill on. He can also just throw a turret down before he shields to make you pick between dealing damage or stopping your damage. He is the premiere choice for protecting an objective or your backline.

Squirrel Girl is a character I've been up and down on since her release, but she has a clear place in the meta now. Her constant bombardment of projectiles can make healing a nightmare. Not only is your entire team constantly taking chip damage, but you are under constant fire just trying to heal them. If a shot hits any character directly, their health can quickly plummet. She is a great option for holding down evasive enemies with her squirrels, then blasting them with acorns. She really feels like the next iteration of Hawkeye in terms of dealing constant damage safely from the backline.

Iron Man has slowly creeped up the tier list rankings with each update. With his latest Unibeam buff, he no longer needs the gamma team-up to be good. He can very quickly melt through any opponent who can't punish his isolation in the air, and his charged shots can help your team lock in kills from fleeing opponents. While he is vulnerable in the air, he has clearly proven himself able to handle himself and retreat when under pressure. His ultimate is also one of the few ways to instantly stop a healer ult by killing them in a single blow. His popularity may not be off the charts now, but his buff is certainly going to make him see a lot more bans.

Any high ranking player knows that Wolverine is a tank killer. He is easily the most banned character in the game since he can easily pick up your tank, throw them away from their healers, and claw them to death. His regeneration ability makes him very difficult to secure a kill on as well. With how strong he is, you are better off spending a ban to get rid of the problem than to find ways to counter him. A character like that clearly deserves to be S-Tier.

Winter Soldier is a sort of The Punisher-brawler hybrid. You get the potent ranged attack, but you also have some close quarters abilities that let you win those close encounters without needing to slowly swap weapons. All of his abilities give him bonus health and auto reload his weapon, letting him keep constant pressure out. His ultimate is what really bumps him from A-Tier to S-Tier. A competitive players should be able to make consistent use of his repeatable ultimate, letting you do repeated area damage to pressure your opponent.

Wrap Up

That's all for this Duelist Meta Tier List for competitive players! 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 Strategist and Vanguard!