Best Heroes: Casual Duelist (DPS) Meta Tier List – Season 8.0

This guide contains our rankings for the DPS Heroes in Marvel Rivals and, while you can't fairly compare characters between different classes, we are focusing on the Duelist class in this tier list. If you want to see more characters, check out our Strategist Meta Tier List and Vanguard Meta Tier List, where we rank the Supports and Tanks in their own classes!

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. Typically this means players between Bronze to Platinum ranks.

If you are interested in seeing a tier list designed for competitive play, check out our Competitive Duelist Tier List!

Season 8.0 Overview

This is a full Season 8.0 update to the tier list based on:

• The metagame from Season 7.5
• Balance adjustments for Season 8.0
• Changes to Team-Ups for Season 8.0
• New Season 8.0 Hero: Devil Dinosaur

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

Blade is another newer duelist that is incredibly hard to do well with. Even the competitive scene struggles to find good uses for him. He's got potential, but he's simply too weak in the current meta. Causal players will have a much better time by avoiding Blade for now.

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. He just got a nice set of buffs anyways, so there's really no reason to use Widow.

Psylocke is a strong pick at top tier play, but in a casual setting she is hard to master. She relies a lot on building her ultimate charge by dealing poke damage with her team, then quietly diving to the backline to wipe everyone out. If your team is uncoordinated and the enemy team isn't playing a "typical" comp, Psylock has a hard time being effective. If you are on your way to the top of the meta, she's worth putting the time in to learn. Otherwise, she's a definite casual skip.

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

After seeing a good amount of buffs since his release, Human Torch is actually very playable now. Season 3.0 did nerf him a bit, but he can still be effective. He isn't as easy as Storm or Iron Man since he focuses more on constant small damage than direct hits. Anti-flying characters also got some big buffs this season, so it's tougher to stay alive in the air. This puts Torch in B-Tier this season.

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.

If you are familiar with the game, you know the potential Wolverine has versus tanks. His biggest strength in competitive play is throwing tanks away from their team and into yours. Casual play tends to be a lot less organized, making this strategy a lot less effective. He also is a bit of a combo character and not a simple melee DPS, so he's getting a lower tier rating than you would typically see in higher level play.

Black Panther is another tricky casual character. He is incredibly good and can carry any lobby. With that said, his combos aren't easy to master. I typically wouldn't rate difficult characters higher than C-Tier in a casual setting, but he is so effective, it's impossible to downplay how much of an impact he can make if you are at least decent with him.

Daredevil can be a great dps if you spend just a little time understanding his abilities. Between mobility, damage negation, and high burst damage, unsuspecting opponents can have a hard time dealing with him. He isn't the easiest to use though, so I wouldn't consider him A-Tier, especially since you rely on your healers to recover from those quick in-and-out battles.

A Tier

Phoenix was once a bad casual pick, but she has become a solid option! Her damage output is unmatched once you get the hang of her kit, but the causal meta keeps her from S-Tier. It isn't as easy to carry a lobby with her as it is for other S-Tier picks, but A-Tier is a fair representation of her abilities.

Star-Lord hasn't performed the best after multiple nerfs in past seasons, but he got some buffs recently between joining a team-up with Rocket and getting his ult faster. This has made him a bit more viable as a "silent performer" kind of character. His fast movements also make for a decent counter to characters like Winter Soldier or Hela.

Iron Man is a staple causal pick. His uni-beam is a super easy, high damage ability that wipes out causal players. He can be skill checked fairly easy, but you don't see many character swaps for skill checks at this level. If you want a quick climb in ranks, Iron Man can help get you there.

In a similar fashion, Storm can do really well if not countered by the opponents. She has the benifit of boosting ally damage output passively if you stay close to them. This can help you give your team an edge in firepower that can edge out the enemy team. The main perk that keeps her in A-Tier though is her team-up with Jeff. Being able to wipe a team with your combined ults can easily win matches, especially in a casual setting.

Namor has been up and down in the meta over time, but he got some buffs to make him less reliant on a team-up to be decent. In a casual setting, his Monstros can still be incredibly effective against players who ignore them. You can either play defensively or dive and still push out consistent results. He's the kind of character that is decent at the start, but gets better and better the more you learn him.

Iron Fist is another combo style character, but he is a bit less strict than someone like Black Panther. You can use his damage reflect to get in close to opponents, then beat them down with a flurry of attacks. He can be very tough for opponents to put up with, making him super effective as a solo pick (especially if you target the backline). He isn't the easiest to use though, so be prepared to put a little practice in to get results.

Long time Rivals players will know the extensive buffs and nerfs Hawkeye has seen since the game launched. He is a bit of a glass cannon. If you have decent aim, he is an easy A-Tier for casual. If your aim is bad though, he's an easy C-Tier. It's all about landing those charged headshots for instant kills, which can single-handedly win matches.

S Tier

I don't often place precision characters for casual players in S-Tier, but Hela is still incredible in season 6.5. She can dish out massive damage, can target flying characters very easily, doesn't need team-ups to be good, and she has her raven ability that makes her invulnerable. Her extra ammo buff is just icing on the cake. If you have at least decent aim, Hela is an easy top tier pick.

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. With Doctor Strange a hot character pick as well, you are very likely to get her amazing team-up ability as well!

My personal favorite DPS is Squirrel Girl, and she got some amazing buffs across recent patches! Her damage output is shockingly high, and she doesn't mandate perfect aim. She is weak against flying characters, but I think she is still incredibly strong despite that in casual play. That's not even considering how crazy her ultimate can be. If you haven't tried her out, I would highly recommend her this season.

One of the easiest Duelists to use to get high value with is Moon Knight. His attacks ripple through opponents, making his accuracy less important than other DPS. Once you learn how to properly use the Ankh, his true potential is unlocked, which is where his S-Tier rank comes from. He can get countered by characters like Doctor Strange, but you don't see much counterplay in this setting.

Believe it or not, Mister Fantastic is a top tier pick for casual, but a bottom tier for competitive. It's all because of one move: his damage absorbing. When he uses it, he becomes invulnerable for a short period. Causal players tend to overreact in this time and waste energy dealing with the unkillable opponent who is also getting healed by their team. This makes him incredibly strong and a menace to deal with. As you climb ranks though, that ability gets skill checked as your opponent will just ignore you until its over, then punish you once you can't block damage anymore. For your time in causal though, this is an incredible hybrid DPS you can utilize.

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!