Marvel RivalsBest Heroes in Marvel Rivals: Tier List Rankings (Season 1.5)

Welcome to our tier list of the best heroes in Marvel Rivals!

This list is based on the game’s Season 1.5 patch and will continue to be updated as the meta develops and balance changes are added.

As always with our tier list, we recommend starting with whatever you feel most comfortable with within your personal playstyle and strengths.

Without further adieu, here are our rankings for the best heroes in Marvel Rivals. Use the Table of Contents to jump to the explanation for any individual hero or tier.

Diamond+ Tier List (Ban Ranks)

Below Diamond Tier List (No Ban Ranks)

Captain America (B both lists)

Steve Rogers, America’s super soldier. Captain America is another one of the melee based Vanguard heroes with a few unique abilities. Raising his shield not only blocks damage but deflects all projectiles including ults like Iron Man’s Invincible Pulse Cannon.

His gameplay loop centers around using his dash, sprint or slam to cash down enemies and keep them in melee range. Cap lags behind the rest of the Vanguards in damage output and not really excelling in any particular Vanguard function.

The combination of lacking lethal damage and also being difficult to eliminate make him a decent, but not powerful pick across all ranks. Teaming up with Thor and Storm makes for a shockingly potent aggressive team comp but heavily relies on the frontline securing elims faster than the enemy team.

Doctor Strange (S+ bans, S no bans)

Doctor Strange’s Shield of the Seraphim is the best and largest shield in the game and can be used on reaction to survive entire ults from the enemy team. Currently dominating all levels of play, Strange stands out as the most reliable frontline Vanguard.

Not only does Strange have great defense but his offensive capabilities are among the best as well. He has high burst damage potential and his team often only needs his ultimate to win a fight.

Even given the 3 minute cooldown, having the unique ability to reposition himself and his entire team anywhere on the map allows for playmaking that is simply not possible without him.

The Pentagram of Farallah basically gives Strange two ultimate abilities. The power of his portal is constantly expanding as players develop new creative ideas and strategies for portal use.

Groot (S both lists)

Groot has great damage when assisted by his walls, but his power lies in his incredible survivability and unique ability to manipulate the environment. Using wood walls to cut off choke points and isolate heroes from their allies is difficult for the enemy to play around at every level of play.

His ultimate, Strangling Prison, also enables huge team wiping ult combos depending on what allies he’s paired with. The Groot Moon Knight wombo combo is on of the easiest ways secure wins.

Most players in the non-ban ranks are still working on optimal wall use and placement. Oftentimes we see Groot players wasting walls off cooldowns, not using Iron Wall for its healing and over health, or not having Wood Walls ready when using his ultimate.

Groot's walls, damage, and ultimate make him one of the best Vanguards to solo climb out of the metal ranks.

Hulk / Bruce Banner (S bans, B no bans)

You won’t like him when he’s angry. You’ll like him even less when being destroyed by his Team-up abilities. Hulk Team-Up with Iron Man got nerfed at the same time as Iron Man receiving buffs. Hulk is no longer a requirement for Iron Man, but is still a strong Hero regardless and his Team-Up Ability with Strange remains the same.

While he’s still viable in the no-ban ranks, more often than not, Hulk ends up being a giant ult battery for the enemy team. His shields and lock-down find much more value in the ban ranks as opposed to the no-ban ranks.

To be successful with the green monster, players must excel in their use of positioning, cover, and timing. Hulk’s massive health pool makes him hard to kill, but a huge amount of health paired with a gigantic hitbox means he always has to be careful not to be constantly feeding.

Magneto (S+ bans, B no bans)

As one of the most powerful mutants in existence Magneto makes his mark on the battlefield. He can quickly solo kill 250HP heroes with his Season 1.5 damage buff. Landing all three attacks in quick succession has shown to be difficult and inconsistent in the no-ban ranks, however. He's considered to be one of the strongest and most difficult Vangaurds to use.

In the no-ban ranks, Magneto has more difficulty maximizing value from his kit. Magneto requires a lot of resource management, and tracking both his team’s and the enemies’ available abilities. Especially with the decrease in his shield resource, he has to be more selective than ever when choosing what attacks to shield.

The slow fire rate of his primary fire can also prove challenging to confirm KOs with once fights break out and enemies are spread around him.

The only way to keep a Cloak & Dagger alive during their ult against an enemy Magneto ult, for example, is for the ally Magneto to shield their Cloak with Metal Bulwark. Additionally, he also has more counterplay against melee heroes compared to Doctor Strange. At least Magneto can knock back, and make himself immune to CC, whereas Strange can feel very weak against melee heavy comps.

Peni Parker (A both lists)

Sp//dr and Peni Parker transform the map into a literal minefield. Understanding where the enemies want to be is crucial for Peni to get maximum value from her traps.

Although she lags behind a bit in pick potential, her ability to control space and fight on the objective makes her strong. Peni’s mines are extremely annoying to have to deal with, and enemies are forced to play around destroying her Spider-Nest.

For the non-ban ranks, she has been doing incredibly well. Teams in these matches do not typically understand how to correctly path, avoid her traps, or destroy her deployable.

The true superpower of Peni is her three-second stun. No other hero can stun even remotely close to as often as she can. Her Web-Snare even cancels out projectiles like Iron Man's ultimate Invincible Cannon!

The Thing (S bans, B no bans)

It's Clobberin' Time! The Thing is perfectly constructed for brawling. With high melee damage, CC immunity, damage reduction and knock up abilities, no one can afford to take him head on. The slam's AoE disables all enemy movement abilities including mobility attacks and escapes. Thing uses slam to engage and to stop the enemies from escaping.

In the no-bans ranks, players tend to position more grouped up and engage in more frontline heavy fights. The Thing wins many Vanguard 1v1s when both have Strategists healing them. If people aren't saving their stuns and escapes for the Thing's charge, they are goners when he slams them.

The meta in the ban-ranks has shifted towards fliers, ranged kits, and mobility. All of these hard counter The Thing and leave him struggling to find value. He has zero counterplay against fliers or enemies with high mobility.

Thor (A both lists)

Wielding Mjolnir, Thor swings the mighty hammer across the battlefield. All of his abilities share the same resource called Thorforce, displayed as hammers just below the crosshairs. Players need to manage their Thorforce to be effective with the god of Thunder, but when used properly Thor has some of the highest burst potential of any Vanguard.

Awakening Rune haunts the nightmares of enemy Strategists as Thor’s primary goal is to bypass the frontline and go for some quick backline assassinations. The season 1.5 buff allows Thor to instantly use an ability the moment he exists the Awakened state which has greatly increased his ability to disengage.

Storm Surge also gives Thor decent mobility. The true power of flying with the hammer comes from canceling enemy movement, and repeatedly generating shield health. Hulk trying to jump away? Use every Thorforce on Storm Surge and Hulk stays put. The only areas Thor struggles in compared to the other Vanguards are not being very tanky, and not having any damage mitigation abilities so he can’t counter CC, and his melee kit limits his attack options.

Venom (A bans, B no bans)

We are Venom! The symbiote has unbelievably good mobility from his Venom Swing and Frenzied Arrival. With Bonus Health in place of damage mitigation, he struggles to not be a bullet sponge feeding enemy Duelist ults.

Venom is really good at not dying, but he's not particularly good at killing others either. Mirror matches end up being stall games and a battle of who can outlast the other, instead of who can kill more.

Due to his need to consistently land critical hits with his primary fire and correctly manage his survivability tools, Venom struggles in the no-ban ranks. You’ll often see Venoms get CC’d over and over until he dies. Symbiotic Resilience gives Spider-Man a super easy one shot combo against 250 HP heroes, so if your teammate is a one-trick, Spidey + Venom can be a worthwhile swap.

Black Panther (A both lists)

 The king of Wakanda and king of melee heroes in Marvel Rivals. High risk and high reward sums up T’Challa’s playstyle. The nerfs to his shield health generation and max overhealth have notably lowered his viability as he heavily relied on the extra health to survive his dangerous flanks. For the dedicated players who master his Vibranium Mark dash reset mechanic, Black Panther is a team wiping machine.

He is far better now in season 1.5 because of the nerfs to defensive ultimates and triple Strategist comps. Between two types of dash attacks, wall running and a double jump, he has some of the best movement of any Duelist.

The high level of mobility makes him very challenging to track in non-ban ranks where players have not learned his movement patterns or mastered 180° flicks. If you don’t mind putting in the work, Black Panther’s gameplay is very rewarding.

Black Widow (C bans, D no-bans)

A sniper who can’t kill with a headshot!? Unfortunately for our snipers, head clickers, and quick scopers, landing shots with Black Widow will feel extremely unrewarding when you watch enemies escape with slivers of health. Although she was trained to be a killer from childhood prepare to be flammed every match just for playing her.

If you are extremely mechanically gifted and can consistently land headshots in a game with countless movement abilities and destructible environment, you can have a lot of success as Black Widow. At that point, however, you would be carrying every game had you picked someone like Hela.

There are multiple Celestial Widow one-tricks so don't let her placement stop you from maining her if she's who you have the most fun playing as.

Hawkeye (A bans, B no bans)

Hawkeye, the only hero capable of one-shotting every Duelist and Strategist received a much-needed range nerf in the beginning of Season 1. Generally agreed to be the one of the most annoying heroes to die to, his burst damage against vanguards and the threat of headshots still make him difficult to advance upon.

Hawkeye has one of the highest disparities in power level between the ban and no-ban ranks. All of his lethality lies in the ability to consistently land headshots, so the lower ranks struggle to bring value to their team with him.

Hawkeye received multiple buffs in the Season 1.5 patch. Most notable are an increase in health, a decrease to Slash CD, and a buff to his ultimate. Specialization is required for the archer as he has high potential but a very high skill floor.

Human Torch (A bans, B no bans)

Johnny Storm burns up frontlines and turns choke points into a wall of fire. All of his abilities deal high amounts of AoE damage, and he even has good burst damage from his combos. Held back by poor range and low survivability, he's a bit of a glass cannon.

His kit is difficult to master and that limits his power in the no-ban ranks. If you have a good read on the flow of a fight, however, finding a close range off angle from above enables picks and ult farming.

No matter the rank, he struggles against hitscans and can only hope to beat them if catches them with a deep flank. Getting out alive after flanking becomes a huge problem even if that was successful however.

The ultimate Team-Up Ability with Storm deals insane damage, lasts a long time, and is enough to win many fights. Having to dump two Duelist ults at the same time and also needing to save both ults for a single use makes the combo very costly.

Hela (S+ bans, A no bans)

Hela has the most carry potential for mechanically skilled players who are confident in their aim. Many of the top-ranked Duelist players are Hela mains. Even after her damage and health nerfs from Season 1, Hela’s consistent ranged damage output has kept her as a strong hero.

Season 1.5 update has increased her damage range, and further solidified her as the best long range hero in Marvel Rivals. Landing headshots deals massive damage and two shots every non-Vanguard hero.

The Goddess of Death ult gives her a get out of jail free card which instantly activates and places Hela in a first-person bird’s eye view with its own 1000 shield HP. For 10 full seconds Hela reigns death on the battlefield with high AoE damage.

She also has great Team-Up Abilities when paired with Loki or Thor, as Hela instantly resurrects them if she lands a final hit during their respawn timers. The reliance on aim mechanics, however, does mean that Hela’s viability is very dependant on individual skill.

Iron Fist (A both lists)

Empowered by Shou-Lao, Lin Lie uses his martial arts and triple jump ability to chase down his foes. The strange movement from his Leap and kicks make him difficult to track in the no-ban ranks.

Season 1.5 rework gave him huge buffs to his parry cooldown, HP, Bonus Health, and damage against Vanguards. Now is the time to learn Iron Fist if you haven't yet given him a try.

Iron Fist is seeing much more success now in all ranks but falls a bit in power at higher ranks where players understand how to counter his linear game plan and track his movement. However, Iron Fist mains in Diamond+ can always ban his hardest counters which keeps him strong even at the highest level.

Be sure not to shoot him when he’s parrying with During Dragon’s Defense or else he will destroy your team.

Iron Man (S bans, A no bans)

Iron Man got massively buffed as a solo hero in exchange for a slight nerf to his Gamma Team-Up. The versatility of getting elims from super long range with primary fire, or melting with Unibeam from closer up makes Iron Man difficult to deal with despite his slow aerial movement.

The Invincible Pulse Cannon shot carelessly gets easily blocked or evaded. When used strategically and sneakily, it scores reliable elims and is one of the only ways to eliminate enemies during defensive ultimates.

Magik (S bans, A no bans)

The Soulsword wielder slashes through the enemies she slays. For a melee hero, Magik has huge hitboxes and deals high damage, but is rather difficult to use. Combo mastery is vital and she can't afford to miss attacks because she relies on the Bonus Health for survival.

Specialists of Magik are performing well right now, but casual users are underperforming. Seaon 1.5 has her generating ult a bit faster, so learning Dark Child specific tech is more important than ever.

If one correctly learns her target priority, how to properly stage, and when to disengage, Magik has huge solo carry potential.

Mister Fantastic (D bans, C no bans)

Made of rubber and Bonus Health, Mister Fantastic stretches out to fill whatever role his team needs. Reed Richards has a significantly higher health pool than any other duelist and far exceeds them in damage mitigation.

He was already one of the weakest heroes in Season 1, but the Season 1.5 patch nerfed him really hard. The longer cooldown to Flexible Elongation and the added knockback are massive nerfs. Sadly, he knocks enemies out of his Inflated state range when activating with Flexible Elongation now.

Even with his stretchiness, Mister Fantastic is unable to reach the power level of the meta picks. Nonetheless, his unmatched self-sustain can make him a decent choice when your team needs more frontline presence. Try to focus on assisting and protecting allies rather than trying to force solo plays and you’ll have a Fantastic time.

Moon Knight (B bans, A no bans)

After becoming the avatar of the Egyptian god, Khonshu, Moon Knight dishes out vengeance upon his foes! His kit primarily revolves around his Ancient Ankh which first pulls enemies into it, then allows his primary fire to bounce off the Ankh and auto-lock onto any targets in the AoE.

Due to the slower travel time of Crescent Dart and Moon Blade, enemies can’t react to the sudden burst of damage from Ankh → Blade → Primary Fire, and if they don’t escape before a second primary fire comes out, any heroe below 300hp is gone.

Moon Knight is one of the easiest and best heroes for new players looking to quickly do well. In the no-ban ranks, players forget to shoot the Ankhs and Moon Knight farms the enemies. In high ranks, Ankhs get placed more sneakily and players take advantage of the extra damage of targeting the enemies rather than the Ankh itself in order to maximize damage.

Thankfully, the recent patch nerfed his ultimate, and put in more in line with the power level of every other ult. Still very good when comboed with AoE stuns like Groot or Dr. Strange's ultimates, but don't expect to still kill everyone every time you press Q.

Namor (S+ bans, S no bans)

The power of the trident-throwing King of the seas resides in his octopus turret, Aquatic Dominion. Equally effective at tank busting and countering flankers, Namor has rapidly risen in power after receiving a number of buffs and many other heroes getting nerfed.

Namor greatly benefits from having a Team-Up Ability with the best Strategist, Luna Snow, which gives him a 3rd turret that shoots slowing ice shots. Without much effort, Namor hard counters a ton of the hero roster and takes the spot as the #1 ranked hero for Season 1.5.

Having autofiring turrets allows Namor to be a great pick at all levels of play. He’s the perfect way to counter and shut down high-mobility flankers if someone is having difficulty tracking them. Create cross-fire angles with turret placement and be sure to carefully aim his secondary fire as missing Wrath of the Seven Seas loses a ton of his damage output.

Psylocke (A both lists)

The best flanker in all of Marvel Rivals, Psylocke combos her targets for quick eliminations. When caught, she instantly turns invisible with Psychic Stealth to escape. An even stronger use of stealth is sneaking up on enemy backlines for her quick bursts of close-range dash combos. Wing Shurikens not only deal multiple instances of damage but also give self-healing for every round hit.

Her ultimate, Dance of the Butterfly, can be countered by any of the healing Strategist ults, which has made her more difficult to get value out of in the ban ranks. The auto-tracking nature and difficulty of escaping the AoE make it a reliable means of securing fight wins in the no-ban ranks.

Many players are misunderstanding the patch note, “Dance of the Butterfly checks for shields.” Yes, her ult can now be blocked and damage shields. Shields will only block her attack if facing the direction of her dash, so her ult is still strong, just not as strong as previously.

Scarlet Witch (B bans, A no bans)

Players who struggle mechanically can pick Scarlet Witch and do pretty well in games. In lower ranks, low-skill floor make her a strong choice. Even at higher ranks she's been climbing in power, and her Team-Up Ability with Magneto is really good.

Equipped with a very forgiving self-tracking primary fire and AoE lingering stun, she can be a good choice when struggling with the crazy movement of high mobility enemies like Spider-Man. She also has two stores of Mystic Projection fade ability so she isn’t easy to kill since she can dodge and escape multiple enemy abilities.

Unfortunately, her damage over time is too low to duel anyone landing their shots on her. Compared to the rest of the Duelist’s ultimates, her’s ranks as one of the worst in the game. Despite the health buff in Season 1.5, the ult channels for way too long and she moves so slowly which makes it difficult to stay alive and get value out of it.

Spider-Man (B bans, D no bans)

Everyone’s favorite web-slinger, your friendly neighborhood Spider-man swings his way into the action. Spider-man has the highest skill floor and skill ceiling out of every hero currently in Marvel Rivals. He has more abilities than average, difficult movement, and a crazy amount of animation cancels and niche techs.

Despite his difficulty of use, there isn’t a whole lot of payout even for the most skilled players. Even many of his high ranked specialists have dropped him and Spider-Man is one of the least picked heroes in top play.

Venom and Spider-Man are being played a bit more after their Season 1.5 buffs, but pulling them off requires a lot of skill and coordination.

In the no-ban ranks, his difficulty of use greatly limits his power. On top of that, Namor's dominance makes Spidey nearly impossible to play since you can't ban Namor.

Squirrel Girl (B bans, A no bans)

The girl who eats nuts and kicks butts! When taking advantage of the terrain, Squirrel Girl can utilize the bounce mechanic of her primary fire Burst Acorn to attack enemies behind cover where they cannot target her. Squirrel Blockade traps the enemy and is her best ability.

Players often use the cooldown refresh of Mammal Bond to use Squirrel Blockade twice in a row. Fortunately for the Squirrel Girl fan base, her ult received a much deserved buff and is crazy good when used in tight map areas with lots of walls and corners.

When used haphazardly, the stampede of squirrels is easy to evade, and the nerfed low health of the lead squirrel is easy to destroy for ban rank players.

In the no-ban ranks, however, Squirrel Girls are farming ult crazy fast and securing KOs with virtually every use. The more linear positioning in no-ban ranks also allows her kit shine!

Star-Lord (S+ bans, S no bans)

For players with lightning-fast reflexes and incredible aim tracking, Star-Lord has become absolutely lethal! When the enemy has a skilled Star-Lord on their team, it feels like there is nothing anyone can do to stop them.

The fact that Stellar Shift instantly reloads his guns while providing a burst of movement and invulnerability makes it an oppressive ability. More top teams are running Star-Lord as he harasses backlines better than anyone. If you land every bullet, he even one-clips 250hp heroes without needing to hit any headshots.

Flying aimbot. What more needs to be said about his ult Galactic Legend? His ult makes up for his high mechanical requirement for our no-ban rank players. After the Season 1.5 nerfs to defensive ultimates and Triple Strategists comps, Star-Lord's power is more legendary than ever!

Storm (S+ bans, S no bans)

Causing quite the storm with her giga buffs in Season 1 and only being tuned down slightly with the Season 1.5 update, Storm rushes into the flying meta. Increases to her health, projectile speed, and damage instantly took her from a throw pick to one of the most powerful heroes in all of Marvel Rivals.

The overhealth buff to her ultimate also has made aggressive backline ults significantly safer, as Storm players now rarely die immediately after using her ult.

Across all ranks she has maintained extremely high win rates. The one saving grace is that in the ban ranks, she is banned at least every other game so at least you won’t have to deal with her so much if you manage to climb that high.

Her new Team-Up Ability with Human Torch can increase her ultimate from a 5-second duration to an 11-second duration! The Team-Up is ridiculously powerful and can't really be countered by Mantis or Invisible Woman's defensive ultimates since they both only last 8 seconds long.

The Punisher (S both lists)

If one crazy strong machine gun just isn’t enough for you, press Q while playing as The Punisher and enjoy melting your enemy's health bar. Punisher makes for easy wins and easy climbing in competitive mode as his first-person-shooter type kit is simple to understand but still very powerful.

Previously, he was gate kept by the Season 0 sniper meta, but with the recent updates, he’s a strong pick in Season 1.5. Magneto's shield was a strong counter against The Punisher's kit, so Mag being nerfed opens up more play for Frank Castle.

The Rocket Team-up has also been rising in popularity as players are further optimizing its timing and use. The Punisher is never a bad choice and is highly recommended to use against the new flier meta.

Winter Soldier (S+ bans, S no bans)

Again! Again! Again! By now everyone has been in a game where a single use of Winter Soldier's Kraken Impact turns into an endless barrage of team-wiping slams.

During a team fight, Bionic Hook is one of the best abilities available to any hero to quickly turn the tides of a fight. Landing a hook uppercut combo to quickly displace any individual enemy in a 20m range is a crazy strong game winning interaction. If the enemy doesn't play around Hook, you are going to win.

The nerfs to defensive ultimate charge rates greatly buffs Bucky's ultimate. At every level of play, Bucky is one of the strongest heroes and is one of the easier heroes to solo carry. He is a bit weak against fliers, but with practice, his fast projectile speed can still pressure those pesky fliers into retreating.

Don't forget, hitting an airborne enemy with Tainted Voltage knocks them down!

Wolverine (S+ bans, B no bans)

The effectively immortal Adamantium X-Men claws and shreds the otherwise unkillable Vanguards. The damage of Wolverine’s primary attack, Savage Claw, scales up with the max HP of the target meaning he deals higher damage to Vanguards.

Sneaking up behind a Vanguard to Feral Leap them into his own team is one of the fastest ways to guarantee an elimination and secure a quick fight win. Wolverine was viewed as extremely weak at launch but once people started learning how to use his kit, he quickly became a mainstay even in top 500 lobbies.

The only hero hard counter to Doctor Strange and Groot, Wolverine is the bane of a Vanguard’s existence. Banning him is the first objective of every Vanguard player before a round even begins in the ban ranks.

The difficulty of staging, engaging, snatching, and disengaging with Wolverine holds him back significantly in the non-ban ranks compared to top level play. Players in these ranks often struggle to find value, and usually end up slowly feeding without actually killing anyone.

If Wolverine is giving you trouble, The Thing hard counters him and keeps Logan's power in check.

Adam Warlock (S bans, B no bans)

Using Quantum Magic to connect the souls of his allies together, Adam Warlock excels at prolonging team fights. He can instantly resurrect himself once every two minutes, resurrect his Team-up heroes Mantis and Starload, and use his ult to bring his entire team back to life if they all die quickly.

Where he struggles is the limited stocks of healing abilities between Soul Bound and Avatar Life Stream. When his team needs a lot of healing at once, he can quickly give everyone a small burst of health, but then can’t heal at all until his cooldowns come back online. Forget healing a critical health Vanguard back to full HP because it's not possible.

An even worse weakness is his ult resurrects the entire team at only 100HP and is terribly weak when compared to the likes of the top-tier Strategist ults.

On the upside, Warlock has better damage output than some Duelists, especially since his Season 1.5 damage buffs. He requires high aiming precision to get max value. Most players in the no-ban ranks are dependent on raw healing stats to stay alive so Warlock has a lot of trouble in the metal ranks.

Cloak and Dagger (A both lists)

To the joy of all, the Season 1.5 update severely nerfed their ultimate. The healing no longer stacks, the duration was shortened and the cost to charge the ult was increased. Eternal Bond ultimate is still good as an escape tool, AoE damage, and for team healing.

Even in light of the nerfs, they are still a very strong Stragetist hero. Their kit is a powerful combination of offensive and defensive capabilities; there is nothing the duo of Cloak & Dagger can’t do. Their versatility enables them to go for aggressive plays and more passive supporting plays equally well.

With it’s relatively short cooldown, Dark Teleportation has to be named as one of the absolute best defensive abilities in Rivals as Cloak phases themselves and their team into being untargetable

Both of their auto-tracking primary fires make them a great pick for players who find themselves struggling to heal far-off flankers in non-ban ranks. Getting the most out of her kit can be difficult as resource management and swapping between the two heroes takes a great deal of on-the-fly decision-making and prediction.

The primary weakness of her kit is her lack of self heal. While other Strategists have near-constant self-healing, Dagger either has to be point blank on her target to get splash healing or use her 12-second cooldown ability to self-heal which then forces her to stay in one small area.

Invisible Woman (S+ bans, A no bans)

You can’t see her, but you’ll definitely feel her impact. Invisible Woman appears and disappears on the battlefield as seamlessly as she moves her forcefield from one ally to another.

She wants to keep her teammates in front of her where her Orb projection can pierce as many targets as possible before returning to her. Through her combination of healing, shielding, and crowd control, she simultaneously protects her allies and enables easy eliminations.

The limited range of her primary fire and the complexity of her kit are holding her back a bit in non-ban ranks. But having an ult that generates a gigantic blue field of healing is particularly useful in the no-ban ranks where players benefit from having an obvious visual cue to go aggressive.

A strong ult paired with Force Physics carries her in higher ranks against melee heroes like Wolverine. A well-timed displacement easily shuts down heroes like Wolverine who have just one chance to catch their prey.

Jeff the Land Shark (C both lists)

The cute and lovable shark provides consistent healing to his entire team and a nice speed boost from his bubbles. Jeff the Land Shark pairs best with teams that want to play grouped together since his healing abilities both have great AoE effects. Healing Bubbles are good for teams to play around and keep their health topped off and even give allies some agency on getting healed whenever they need it.

Diving underground and grabbing bubbles make him very difficult to eliminate, especially in the no-ban ranks where players struggle to target his fin.

The height nerf to his ult has made it very easy to avoid for all the heroes who have some type of vertical mobility. Additionally, when comparing the usefulness of his ult to the rest of the Strategists, Jeff lags way behind in what he provides for his team. If the map has no ledges nearby, his ult is even worse.

Loki (S+ bans, B no bans)

Even if the rest of Loki’s kit was weak, being able to become any hero on either team in a match with instant access to all their abilities including their ult would still make Loki a solid pick. Typically, Loki players use their ults to give their team an extra defensive ult.

Regen Domain not only provides temporary immortality but converts would-be damage into healing, which gives Loki multiple instances of making his team unkillable.

Managing clones, knowing when to focus on dealing damage or output healing, and planning out the target for his ultimate have Loki struggling to keep up in the no-ban ranks. Most of the other Strategists provide easier and more consistent value to their team in comparison.

Overall, Loki’s viability has gone up this season with the extra ammo so if you still haven’t learned his kit, now is a great time to do so.

Luna Snow (S both lists)

Luna Snow provides the highest amount of average healing for any team comp. When she has a high mobility hero on her team or someone who wants to play behind enemy lines, Share the Stage healing aura allows her ally to stay in the fight longer and gain a crucial advantage in dueling their target.

The true power of her kit lies in her ultimate, Fate of Both Worlds which basically makes her team immortal for 12 seconds and provides a massive 40% damage boost to all allies in its AoE.

Ice Arts piercing effect and self healing paired with her freeze make Luna a very dangerous target to flank or dive as she can outplay any enemy attacker.

Considering Cloak & Daggers Season 1.5 nerfs and her Team-Up Ability with Namor, Luna takes the spot as the strongest Strategist this season.

Mantis (S bans, A no bans)

Mantis is a resource-focused hero with strong ally-empowering abilities. Her ability to constantly give herself and her allies a damage boost is her best utility. While the 12% boost isn’t completely overpowered on an individual hero, having multiple allies and herself repeatedly given the boost compounds the impact of Allied Inspiration.

Nature’s Favor provides self-healing and speed boost for Mantis with every Life Orb ability used which makes her a surprisingly tanky Strategist. Moreover, Soul Resurgence pumps out enough healing to sustain her team through virtually every enemy ultimate.

Her slow healing overtimes also means she is unable to save a low health ally with a burst healing like most of the other Strategists can. Having kit oriented towards utility and damage instead of healing makes her a stronger pick at high ranks than the no-ban ranks.

Also, being resource-based and having the recharge mechanic only activate upon landing headshots further brings down her power in the no-ban ranks. All things considered, her combination of sleep, damage, healing, and speed gives her the most agency to solo que carry in the Strategist Role.

Rocket Raccoon (S+ bans, S no bans)

Rocket Racoon has quickly risen in strength after his healing buff in the Season 1 patch. B.R.B. sets up his team with over health, jump packs, and rez before the fight even starts. Rocket effectively turns every team fight into a 6v7 as one hero will have to be eliminated twice.

A small hurtbox combined with lightning-fast movement from wall runs and Jetpack make him the most difficult Strategist to eliminate. The Team-up with Punisher and Bucky also got a reduced cooldown buff and both of these heroes are much stronger in Season 1.5 than they were previously.

Every defensive ultimate other than Mantis now requires more charge and is available less often. These nerfs indirectly buff Rocket's damage boost ultimate as there are now fewer occasions where it can be countered than before. Rocket offers super consistent AoE healing to his team and has good damage at close range.

Rocket also demands extremely low resources from the rest of his team as he takes very little damage, plays from relatively safe positions, and is extremely self-sufficient. He's easily one of the best Strategists to use at ever rank.

Due to bans only being incorporated into Diamond Rank and above, we feel having two separate tier lists best reflects the true power level of each hero. Hulk for example, is by far the most banned hero in Diamond and above.

One of the reasons Hulk places higher in ban ranks compared to no-ban ranks is because his Team-Up Abilities are really strong. Banning him takes both Iron Man and Doctor Strange's Gamma Team-Up Abilities out of the game which increases the value of banning Hulk.

We also consider coordination, strategies, game knowledge, and mechanical skill when creating the No-Ban Ranks Tier List. The difficulty of creating opportunities to properly Feral Leap an enemy Vanguard makes Wolverine weaker in no-ban ranks, but extremely strong in the ban ranks.

Since bans are not a reality in Platinum and below, every hero will always be available which also means counter-picks are always available. Spider-Man for example, ranks far lower in the no-ban ranks due not only to his difficulty of use but also because Spidey mains can't ban Namor/Luna out of their games.