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 Strategist class. If you want see more characters, check out our Vanguard Meta Tier List and Duelist 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, which means 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 casual more casual take on the meta, check out our Strategist Casual 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 tier rating.
C Tier
I hate to say it, but jeff-the-land-shark is officially C-Tier. There are just way too many healers with great kits to justify playing Jeff. His heals and attacks are so binary, doing any damage as Jeff makes you a "DPS Jeff". While he does have a fun ultimate than can team wipe, he just doesn't heal enough or do enough damage to ever pick over the other healers.
B Tier
Adam Warlock has a lot of potential as a DPS-centered healer with a full team revive. Unfortunately though, his healing is too weak. As the only healer with his healing tied directly to a cooldown timer, you can literally be locked out of healing. His soul link ability is so strong though, it makes up for it a bit. It acts almost as a mini-ultimate and keeps your entire team alive.
His ultimate should be incredible, but unfortunately, it doesn't often work out. His issue is having to basically retreat (letting the team die), spend an eternity using the ultimate ability, just to bring your team back at half health. Opponents know Warlock is in the game, so they will be waiting on your team to spawn to promptly take them out again.
It does have some utility though in niche cases, and often performs better when reviving 2 teammates instead of the entire team. Even still, he isn't a better healer than the rest of the cast (minus Jeff).
A Tier
Not everyone may agree with me on this, but Luna Snow isn't S-Tier anymore. People primarily use her for her long-lasting ultimate and team-up with Namor. With healer ults nerfed, having that ultimate isn't a good reason to pick her anymore constantly. If you aren't using the Namor Team-Up, there are better S-Tier healers. If you are using it though, she is still a good healer and can get the job done.
On a similar note, Mantis is dropping to A-Tier this season. She does well enough with healing and her damage boost can be useful, but she is limited in her healing capabilities. She isn't as limited as Adam Warlock, but she does need to get crits to quickly recharge her healing. Her trickiest factor though is needing to be aggressive to get good heals. If you aren't getting crits, you aren't healing much, so you have to leave the back line and push like a DPS. It can work, but with more risk to you and your team.
S Tier
For our best S-Tier characters, we have Rocket Raccoon, Cloak & Dagger, Loki, and Invisible Woman. These characters have that extra "umph" that pushes them to that next level. You can use these characters in any match and come out with positive results.
Rocket Raccoon has shown why his win-rate has been so high. His revive station can often have more impact than a healing ultimate since it instantly brings you back an ally with full health. Did you lose that Doctor Strange that was holding things down? That revive can bring him back instantly without the need to respawn and run back. It comes especially in handy in overtime when dying means it can take 30 seconds to come back to point. Besides the revive, his healing range lets him comfortably sit in the back without worry of being killed, giving your team consistent heals. If he gets rushed, his weapon does about 250 damage per second, letting you melt through solo targets who aren't prepared to fight you. As long as you aren't trying to be a zero damage rocket, this is easily an S-Tier character.
Cloak & Dagger have continued their trend as most used healer. The ability to swap between a healers and DPS is highly advantageous for competitive players. Cloak's ability to hide the team behind his veil is especially strong. It can not only give your team an edge in firefights, but it also protects them from a large amount of ultimates! His lock-on attack can help you secure kills against mobile opponents, and Dagger's shots also auto adjust to allies! A coordinated team will also utilize Dagger's health dome much more effectively than the average player. This let's you effectively heal, while also doing lots of damage simultaneously.
Loki is the healer I hear the most debate about, but I've made my decision: he is definitely S-Tier. A good Loki player will rarely be killed but output incredible amounts of healing and damage. His immortality field is basically a mini-ult that says "you're going to have to destroy these floating rocks before you can kill anyone". His ultimate is as versatile as you could ask for, letting you always have the best ultimate for the situation you are in. He's easily the most annoying healer to get rid of, but that's just another reason for him to be bumped up to S-Tier.
Invisible Woman is the newest Strategist to Marvel Rivals, and she has already proven her incredible power. Her attacks move through both allies and enemies, allowing her to make impacts at closer range. She lacks long range capabilities, but her invisibility and shield allows her to get in close and protect teammates from afar. Her ultimate ability let's your team not only get massive heals, but it blocks the opposing team in the radius from getting targeted by their healers outside of the radius. Her force pull/ push might be her best ability. It can pull opponents off high points, push them off ledges, or deal enough damage to lock in a kill on a fleeing opponent.
Wrap Up
That's all for this Strategist 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 Vanguards and Duelists!
