Marvel RivalsBest Heroes in Marvel Rivals: Tier List Rankings (Season 5 update)

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

This list is based on the game’s Season 5 update. We will continue to update as the meta develops and balance changes are added.

As always with our tier lists, we recommend starting with whatever heroes you feel best suit your personal preference, playstyle, and strengths.

Without further ado, 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.

Angela (S diamond+, B below diamond)

The first and only flying Vanguard, Angela, slams down and takes over the ground fight with her dual Axes.

Three different crowd control abilities enable Angela to excel at manipulating enemy positioning. Assassin's Charge is basically a flying Feral Leap (Wolverine) and can quickly isolate an enemy from the rest of their team.

High mobility along with the CC make her incredibly good at a snatch & grab playstyle where she focuses on using her cooldown cycle to quickly out one enemy at a time.

She performs best on maps with many ledges. However, maps that limit her mobility and ability to displace with environmental kills are proving challenging for her.

Captain America (S 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 also deflects all projectiles, including ults like Iron Man’s Invincible Pulse Cannon.

His gameplay loop centers around using his dash, sprint, and slam to chase down enemies and keep them in melee range. The buff to his ult to now provide 30% ult charge to allies is huge!

In Season 5, he's still one of the best heroes at time-stalling and rushing down enemy backlines. The meta Vanguards simply provide more value and have an easier time being consistent. His difficulty of use compared to other Vanguards holds him back a bit in the below Diamond ranks.

Daredevil (S diamond+, A below diamond)

Dare Devil is the newest melee hero and was added in Season 4.5. While he's on the more technical side and requires a fair bit of dedicated practice, he's been performing really well.

One area he stands out above the rest is his ability to chase down and confirm kills on highly mobile backline Heroes like Rocket and Jeff. Both of these Strategists have proven to be incredibly difficult to eliminate this season, but Dare Devil excels at preventing their retreat.

His passive also enables him to set up deadly flanks and as well as spot enemy flankers; making him an excellent choice in a meta dominated by triple Strategist.

Doctor Strange (A diamond+, S below diamond)

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. His shield is particularly useful at countering Emma Frost's ultimate, and buying his team time to either use their ults or reposition to cover.

Season 5 has been the most difficult season for Strange mains who are used to him being a top tier pick. Buffs to the other Vanguards added to a heavy shift towards melee and mobility meta do not favor Strange.

Eye of Agamotto and portal remain some of the best abilities in all of Marvel Rivals. 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.

Emma Frost (S+ diamond+, S below diamond)

Emma Frost can switch between her regular and Diamond Form to adapt to the situation. She's a good mid-range poke hero with her standard primary fire and deployable barrier. When the fight gets close range, Diamond Form enables her to excel in melee brawls.

The lunge of Carbon Crush is deceptively far and often catches enemies off guard. Her main limitation is her lack of mobility. She can’t chase after retreating enemies, disengage when it gets too dangerous, and has no way to access high ground. On the frontline, she’s a serious threat and can win most Vanguard duels.

When in Diamond Form, she's CC immune and has multiple CC abilities of her own. This makes her extremely dangerous to get close to, but it also means she has no way to deal with long-range heroes or fliers.

The season 5 nerfs were very minor and haven't significantly impacted her power level, and she remains one of the best Vanguards in season 5.

Groot (S+ both lists)

Groot possesses the unique ability to manipulate the environment by creating walls wherever he pleases. Using walls to cut off choke points and isolate heroes from their allies is difficult for the enemy to play around at every rank.

His ultimate, Strangling Prison, also enables huge team wiping ult combos when paired with a high damage ult like Namor's.

Groot's greatest weakness ceases to exist with the addition of Unstoppable status when he's near an Awakened Iron Wood Wall. Focus on hiding the Iron Wall healing wall where the enemy can't destroy it, and you stay in range of it to be Unstoppable, and Groot becomes a hard carry.

He's also a good counter-pick against The Thing and Emma Frost because they have a difficult time playing around his walls.

Hulk (A both lists)

You won’t like him when he’s angry. Hulk is an interesting Vanguard because his value primarily comes from ability timing, and careful selection of when to use Shield, and who to stun.

To be successful with the green monster, players must excel in their use of positioning, cover, timing, and mechanics. 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.

If you plan to play Hulk this season, be sure to ban Emma Frost and Wolverine because they are a nightmare to play into.

Magneto (S+ both lists)

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 three tap combo.

Magneto is also the best solo Vanguard in Season 5. Solo-tanking is an unfortunate reality for Vanguard mains, as it seems every teammate wants to play Duelist.

He also has one of the best ults in all of Marvel Rivals as it absorbs enemy damage and healing, and counters most Strategists' ults.

In the current Meta, having Magneto's Metal Bulwark ally bubble is practically a requirement. Now that these two abilites are on separate cooldowns, Magneto feels like an absolute pick or ban.

Against Emma Frost, he outranges her in the poke battle, can bubble himself to counter her grab + kick combo, and his shield and bubbles counter her ultimate.

Peni Parker (A diamond+, S+ below diamond)

After struggling in the first few seasons, repeated buffs have come through for Peni Parker in the last few patches!

The only thing holding Peni back is that her kit is still niche. When she's played as a counter pick or on her best map areas, she's incredibly strong.

In most situations, however, she lags behind due to her limited effective range, and so many enemy Heroes having the mobility and range necessary to play around her mines.

Sp//dr and Peni Parker are extremely annoying to have to deal with because of her nest, mines, and stuns, which the enemies are forced to play around. In high elo games, her Ult is her biggest weakness, as many fights are determined but Ult economy.

For the below Diamond ranks, she is an absolute menace! Teams in these matches do not typically understand how to correctly path, avoid her traps, or destroy her deployable. Her extra health and increased speed have also made her extremely difficult to eliminate.

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 (A diamond+, B below diamond)

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.

Ever since the Season 3 introduction of Embattled Leap and Haymaker reworks, The Thing has an easier time playing into his counters.

The Thing also wins most Vanguard 1v1s when both have Strategists healing them. Even if enemies escape his Slam, he can just Leap to them now. He's very difficult to keep away from, and he's deadly up close.

Against dive comps, The Thing is easily one of the best counter picks. Any mobility duelist caught in the movement ability lockout of his slam becomes an easy kill.

In Season 5, the meta has shifted to triple Strategist and heroes who can play outside of The Things range, so he's having a difficult time finding value right now.

Thor (B diamond+, A below diamond)

Wielding Mjolnir, Thor swings the mighty hammer across the battlefield. Most of his abilities share the same resource called Thorforce, displayed as hammers just below the crosshairs.

The main areas Thor struggles compared to the other Vanguards are not being very tanky, having no damage mitigation abilities, and having no way to counter CC. Both his rework and shifts in the meta have caused Thor to fall off hard as there isn't a situation where he would be the ideal Vanguard to play.

Thor is still quite efficient at eliminating Strategists when they're not being protected. Due to his burst damage and independent playstyle, he's always viable in the right hands, even considering his placement on the Tier List.

Venom (S both lists)

We are Venom! The symbiote has unbelievably good mobility from his Venom Swing and Frenzied Arrival. Venom is really good at not dying, but he often relies on coordinated engagements to secure KOs.

He's good at chasing down poke heroes and snipers. Against Hela, for example, Venom can swing, slam, (Hela escapes), and then swing slam again before she gets her fade back.

Venom was dominant in Season 4.5, but the introduction of Gambit allows you to easily escape Venom, and cleanse the status effect of his ult instantly puts the symbiote in check.

Black Panther (B both lists)

Still the king of Wakanda, but no longer the king of melee heroes in Marvel Rivals. High risk and high reward sum up T’Challa’s playstyle.

His biggest issue in Season 5 is the existence and power of all the anti-dive heroes like The Thing, Namor, Winter Soldier, and Emma Frost. He can barely interact with fliers, can't keep up with Loki clones, and can't kill through the healing of multiple Strategists. He's not bad by any means, but getting value with him is harder than with most other heroes.

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. For the dedicated players who master his Vibranium Mark dash reset mechanic, Black Panther has the potential to be a team-wiping machine.

Black Widow (B diamond+, C below diamond)

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 unrewarding when you watch enemies escape with slivers of health. Although she was trained to be a killer from childhood, prepare to be flamed every match just for playing her.

The duration buffs to Mantis' damage boost and healing are a soft buff to Natahsa and raise the power level of this duo considerably. With all the 250HP heroes in the game, she has plenty of targets to one-shot while damage boosted.

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 Hela or Phoenix.

Blade (A Ddiamond+, B below diamond)

The human-vampire hybrid who has dedicated his life to ridding the world of vampires. Blade joins the Marvel Rivals roster as the first hero with an anti-healing ability! Healing is extremely strong in Rivals, which is often seen in long, drawn-out team fights where neither can secure a team wipe.

Being able to apply 7 seconds of 40% reduced healing on a Vanguard all but guarantees the kill, even through many defensive ults. Each dash also knocks back the target. These qualities make Blade lethal to advance on as he easily punishes overextended enemies.

Unfortunately, his lifesteal is not bugged, but rather was always intended to effectively be limited to 36% lifesteal and not the 60% listed on the official Marvel Rivals website. The devs addressed player concerns and confirmed that his self-healing reduction is supposed to reduce his lifesteal.

With 350HP, he's by no means squishy, but his kit feels like he wants to be a tank-buster except he lacks the sustain to brawl on the frontlines.

Players who are finding the most success with Blade are using an "off-off-tank" playstyle, focusing on punishing enemy mistakes in positioning rather than going for aggressive flanks, deep dives, or full-on brawls.

Hawkeye (B diamond+, C below diamond)

Hawkeye, the only hero capable of one-shotting almost every Duelist and Strategist.

In Season 5, the one good use for Hawkeye is headshotting Cloak & Dagger every time they ult. Unfortunately, with Magneto's bubble rework, this is rarer than ever.

Most of his lethality lies in the ability to consistently land headshots, so the lower ranks struggle to bring consistent value to their team with him.

Make sure to save the recently buffed Hypersonic Arrow for his ultimate because he deletes 250HP heroes even through healing ultimates.

Human Torch (A both lists)

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.

Human Torch had been a flaming menace in the highest ranks, but repeated nerfs have dropped his power a bit. He's feels balanced and in a good spot right now.

You'll need to play a bit safer because of the longer Flaming Meteor cooldown and its reduced Bonus Health, but his versatility allows him to easily adjust playstyle depending on the enemy's comp.

Hela (S+ diamond+, S below diamond)

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.

Hela’s consistent ranged damage output has kept her a strong hero regardless of meta shifts, as she retains the ability to kill most heroes with 2 headshots from long range.

The new Team-Up with Namor is very strong, and gives yet another reason to ban Hela in your ranked games.

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 rains death on the battlefield with high AoE damage.

Reliance on aim mechanics, however, does mean that Hela’s viability is very dependent on individual skill, and she's only the best hero in the hands of the highly skilled.

Iron Fist (A both lists)

Iron Fist has been reworked a few times since the launch of Marvel Rivals. His viability is very matchup dependent as he hard counters some heroes, but is also easy to counter.

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 makes him difficult to track in the ranks below Diamond.

In Season 5, he's a well-balanced mid-tier hero. Also, he's the only melee Duelist who can deal with fliers, and we keep getting more of them!

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

Iron Man (B diamond+, A below diamond)

Iron Man has been adjusted in every major update. Previously, his Gamma Team-Up was nerfed, then removed in exchange for him becoming an Anchor to Ultron's Nano Ray.

Hitscans are really strong right now and makes it difficult to play Iron Man or flyer comps.

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.

If the enemy team is running you over with Jeff-Nado, just pick Iron Man and save your ult to easily kill them both.

Magik (A both lists)

The Soulsword wielder slashes through the enemies she slays. For a melee hero, Magik has huge hitboxes, 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 still performing well right now, but the player base is slowly getting better at understanding how to counter her.

Additionally, fliers and heroes with escape abilities are becoming more common, which makes it difficult to find value as Magik.

Her inconsistency holds her back more than anything. Although she has great pick potential, opportunities are few, and execution needs to be perfect. Anti-dive is also super strong in Season 5 so expect to always be playing into counters.

Mister Fantastic (B diamond+, A below diamond)

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.

Season 5 reworks to Inflated State are really big. Effecively, every time you exit Inflated State, you'll be at a full 350HP. He's harder than ever to KO.

For players in the below Diamond ranks, he's especially good because fights tend to be more brawly. Players in these ranks also have a hard time dealing with his CC and self-sustain. Don't be surprised to see Mister Fantastics carrying their team.

Moon Knight (A diamond+, S below diamond)

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.

Moon Knight is one of the easiest and best heroes for new players looking to quickly do well. In the below Diamond ranks, players forget to shoot the Ankhs, position closely together, and Moon Knight farms the enemies.

Moon Knight's only weakness is his vulnerability to dive heroes like Spider-Man and Venom, and snipers like Hela. If you see an enemy Moon Knight giving your team trouble, consider swapping to one of his counter picks. (see Moon Knight guide for reference)

Namor (S Diamond+, S+ Below Diamond)

The power of the trident-throwing King of the Seas resides in his octopus turrets, Aquatic Dominion. Equally effective at tank-busting and countering flankers, Namor keeps getting buffed no matter how strong he is already.

His Team-Up with Hela is ridicuously strong in Season 5, and scales up in power based on how well Namor and the Hela player are performing.

Having autofiring turrets allows Namor to be a great pick at all levels of play. He’s the perfect way to counter high-mobility flankers. 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 if you don't enhance them.

Phoenix (S diamond+, A below diamond)

Phoenix joined the Marvel Rivals roster in Season 3!

Her fiery kit makes her a great off-angle Duelist because she has burst damage, mobility, and self-sustain.

Telekinesis Burst (Secondary fire) can easily stun targets from nearly infinite range, so her enemies have to always be on guard. The ability is a hard stun, so it can cancel ults like Dr. Strange's Eye of Agamotto.

Once she has ult online, any enemy with a Shield, Bonus Health, or a deployable has to play cautiously and strategically because Endsong Inferno destroys them all with its massive AoE.

Endsong Inferno has lower base damage than most Duelist ults, but its power lies in its destructive quality when used as a counter ult. Bonus Health and Deployable ults are hard countered by hers so if the enemy team has heroes like Rocket Raccoon or Venom, Phoenix completely negates their ults effectiveness.

Psylocke (S+ both lists)

One of the best flankers in all of Marvel Rivals, Psylocke combos her targets for quick eliminations. When caught, she instantly turns invisible with Psychic Stealth to escape. Wing Shurikens not only deal multiple instances of damage but also give self-healing for every round hit.

Despite the difficulty of maxing her base kit, the auto-tracking mechanic and large AoE of her ult make it a reliable means of securing fight wins in the below Diamond ranks.

The insane buffs to her Ult were NOT reverted or nerfed in Season 5, so she remains one of the strongest Duelists across every rank. Just farm ult and kill Strategists with it, and you're going to win a lot of games.

Scarlet Witch (C diamond+, S below diamond)

Players who struggle mechanically can pick Scarlet Witch and quickly do well in games. In the Below Diamond ranks, her low-skill floor and consistent damage make her an absolute menace in Season 5!

She previously had her percentage-based damage swapped out for an increase to her base damage. Both primary fire and secondary fire were majorly buffed and have transformed her into a backline assassin.

Moreover, her Team-Up with Doctor Strange is chaotically good! (see Scarlet Witch Guide). With a relatively short cooldown, she scores much more consistent KOs when empowered by the Sorcerer Supreme.

Unfortunately, her damage over time remains too low to out-duel enemies in the highest ranks, where players' mechanical skill gives more value than her auto-tracking.

Reality Erasure also got a much-needed buff where the slowdown starts later, and she retains the Bonus Health from the previous patch. Still not an amazing ult when compared to the other duelists, but comboed with Dr. Strange or Emma Frost's stun ultimates can get you some easy team wipes.

Spider-Man (B diamond+, C below diamond)

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.

At the highest ranks, it's rare to see a Spidey finding consistent value, but for the vast majority of players, a good Spider-Man can ensnare a lobby. He's difficult to use, but also difficult to track and kill when the enemy is skilled with his mobility.

He got some decent buffs in Season 5, but he still lags behind most Dueslists in both consistent value and pick potential. However, especially for Strategists, playing against a good Spidey can be extremely frustrating since his job is basically to ruin their day.

Squirrel Girl (C diamond+, A below diamond)

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.

Groot, being one of the better Vanguards in Season 5, increases Squirrel Girl's viability as her kit performs well against his. The barrage of acorns and squirrels makes quick work of Groot and his walls. You just need to watch out for when he's Unstoppable, and save your stun.

For players in the Diamond+ ranks, they learn to position themselves around her trajectory and minimize her value. In the below Diamond ranks, however, Squirrel Girls are farming ult crazy fast and securing KOs with virtually every use. The more linear positioning in below Diamond ranks also allows her kit to shine!

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. Spam the grouped enemy, and especially on tight maps like Klyntary, you'll soon understand why she's strong right now.

Star-Lord (S both lists)

For players with lightning-fast reflexes and incredible aim tracking, Star-Lord is a great pick! When the enemy has a skilled Star-Lord on their team, it feels like there is nothing anyone can do to stop them. Be ready for even more reseurections with Warlock's new buffs!

The fact that Stellar Shift instantly reloads his guns while providing a burst of movement, invulnerability, and Bonus Health, makes it an oppressive ability. More top teams are running Star-Lord as he harasses backlines better than most. 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 players below Diamond ranks. Pair him with Rocket and set up flank ults with his Jump Pad. The sudden TP makes his ult almost impossible to defend against.

Without the rez comp, he's fallen off in pro play, but he's still a good hero. The meta Duelists simply are more effective at securing elims in a greater range of scenarios.

Storm (A both lists)

Out of all the Duelists, Storm benefits most from team play thanks to her AoE boost abilities.

She's currently carried by the Jeff-Nado Team-Up, and he's been doing quite well since Season 4.5 so its easy to have the Team-Up ult acitvated.

Heroes like Phoenix, Hela, The Punisher, and Spider-Man make the skies a dangerous place to be, and she often dies when using her ultimate in high-ranked lobbies.

Her new playstyle is to position closer to the ground. This benefits her team as more allies will be receiving her speed and damage buffs, especially after the recent season 5 buffs.

The Punisher (a diamond+, S below diamond)

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 kit is simple to understand and powerful.

Across all ranks, he's consistent, has high damage output, and burst damage from the shotgun when needed.

His Team-Up with Daredevil is pretty good, and the melee devil is really strong this Season, so unless he's banned, you'll typically be able to use the blinding grenade.

In the Marvel Rivals Ignite 2025 pro tournament, we saw some really cool techs with his Turret. One team placed a Strange portal in front of spawn while Punisher sits in spawn (where he can't be hurt), then blasts the enemy team on the other side of the portal.

Winter Soldier (A both lists)

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.

For some insane, unknown reason, the devs decided he needed an extra charge of Tainted Voltage in the 4/30 hotfix patch. That's not only double the damage from the ability, but an extra reload passive and 40 additional Bonus Health! Top it off with his Cap Team-Up, and you rarely find yourself without Bonus Health.

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 match-up against Groot has been swapped, and now he counters Bucky! Gambit's cleanse is also making it challenging to secure KOs from Hooks, and it cleanses marked targets from your ult.

Wolverine (A diamond+, B below diamond)

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 still one of the fastest ways to guarantee an elimination and secure a quick fight win.

A hard counter to any hero without CC immunity or stuns. However, there are so many strong heroes that counter Wolverine right now, such as Unstoppable Groot and Invisible Woman, it's more difficult than ever to be successful with Logan.

Anytime you play Wolverine, ask for teammate to pick Phoenix because the lifesteal Team-Up is crazy OP.

Adam Warlock (A diamond+, B below diamond)

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 and use his ult to bring his entire team back to life if they all die quickly.

His ult is finally actually usable! After the Season 3.5 temporary Bonus Health to resurrected allies, Warlock has been a decent pick. (Just watch out for Phoenix as her ult destroys Bonus Health and will kill everyone you rez'd).

Every primary fire headshot and all secondary fire hits reduce the cooldown of Avatar Life Stream. Warlock players who can farm critical hits on Vanguards are dishing out crazy amounts of healing.

Due to relying on critical hits, Adam is notably stronger in higher ranks. His low and infrequent healing makes him struggle in traditional 2-2-2 comps. For most players, he works better in triple Strategist comps, and that seems to be the go to right now, so Warlock is getting a lot of play time.

Warlock has better damage output than some Duelists. However, you aren't popping off; you aren't bringing much value to your team. Teammates in the below Diamond ranks are dependent on raw healing stats to stay alive, which makes Warlock the worst Strategist in these lobbies.

Cloak and Dagger (A diamond+, S+ below diamond)

One of the most consistent Strategists, thanks to their auto tracking damage and healing, Cloak & Dagger are never a terrible pick.

In the higher ranks, players have gotten really good at eliminating Cloak & Dagger whenever they ult. Magnetos save their ult, Hawkeye has multiple chances to land a single headshot, and other heroes have fairly consistent means of killing them during their ult.

However, the Season 5 incease to her base health up to 275, make this duo very hard to KO. Between healing, fade, and HP, C&D are a good swap if you keep dying as another Strategist.

With its 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.

Their kit is a powerful combination of offensive and defensive capabilities. When it comes to max healing output, team saving abilities, and peak ult potential, Cloak & Dagger lags behind Luna and Loki. These hard meta Stratagists are the only thing lowering Cloak's tier list placement.

Gambit (S+ diamond+, S below diamond)

Kinetic energy is not the only thing Gambit manipulates; the powerful utility of his kit has overhauled the meta going into Season 5.

With a cleanse and anti-heal, there simply is no better enabler in Marvel Rivals. He can single-handedly swing fights into his team's favor with proper timing of his cooldowns. Purifying Pick-Up negates every status effect based ult in the game, not to mention the plethora of regular stuns Heroes have.

Vanguards have to be extremely cautious when pushing into Gambit's team because he can anti-heal them at a moment's notice. If his teammates are diving the enemy backline, he can launch Explosive Trick and Bridge Boost all the way to the back and give his flanking allies an easy win.

On his own, his damage is insane, so he always has the option to duel or assassinate. When he gets attacked, two charges of Big Easy Impact make for a smooth getaway.

Invisible Woman (S+ both lists)

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.

Massive buffs came through in Season 5 with increased damage, speed, range, and the ability to deploy her Guardian Shield in front of herself. Sue is suddenly one of the best 1v1 duelers in Rivals!

Against dive and brawl comps, her CC can completely shut down the enemy's plans and keep your team alive.

Having an ult that generates a gigantic blue field of healing is particularly useful in the below Diamond ranks, where players benefit from having an obvious visual cue to go aggressive.

Force Physics pulls Wolverine and your ally out of Feral Leap, so try her out if the enemy has a Wolverine destroying your team. A well-timed displacement easily shuts down dive enemies Magik and Wolverine, who have just one chance to catch their prey.

Jeff the Land Shark (S diamond+, S+ below diamond)

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 primary fire pierces both allies and enemies for simultaneous damage and healing.

His survivability has made him a top-tier choice in a game where Strategists are powerful. He also has a great Team-Up with Venom, who is still a strong hero in Season 5.

Loki (A both lists)

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 their ultimate 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.

After his nerfs in Season 4 and now buffs in Season 5, Loki hasn't quite returned to his former glory. Most of the other Strategists provide easier, more consistent value to their teams in comparison.

Luna Snow (S+ both lists)

Luna Snow provides the highest amount of average healing for any team comp. Even though she's always been one of the best Strategists, she only gets buffs and is never nerfed.

Two primary fire headshots eliminate 250HP heroes, so feel free to be a DPS Luna in Season 5. Also, never complain as a Luna player about teammates not destroying enemy deployables because you quickly take them out.

When she has a high mobility hero on her team or someone who wants to play behind enemy lines (ex: Daredevil), 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. Many ultimates, like Venom and Thor, become one-shots when paired with Luna's.

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

When she has Warlock's Team-up, she can save her ult and use Duality Dance to keep herself and teammates alive.

Mantis (S+ diamond+, A below diamond)

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.

The ability to stack durations made Mantis' resource management much easier. Allies have 16 whole seconds to go anywhere and take her healing and damage boost with them. An incredibly strong utility to add to any team.

Mantis has been really dominate lately, largely thanks to shifts int he meta that once again favor triple Strategist comps. When a Groot is on your team, their Team-Up is really good. Groot farms ult from the healing, and it helps make up for her low healing per second.

Rocket Raccoon (S+ both lists)

Rocket Raccoon has been reworked a few times and currently sits in a good spot. At lower ranks, his consistency and ease of use make him the best Strategist, but at higher ranks, he falls off a bit, but not by too much.

Season 5 gave Rocket multiple buffs, and he's one of the few Strategists who can play keep away with all these menacing dive heroes.

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.

Rocket offers super consistent AoE healing to his team and has good damage at close range. The double bounce tech enables high burst healing with every orb.

Compared to the other Strategists, Rocket 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. Regardless of some community noise, he's easily one of the best Strategists to use at every rank.

Ultron (A diamond+, S below diamond)

Ultron is the only flying Strategist! He's a hybrid mix of damage and healing capabilities, who is an excellent choice for anyone who likes to play aggressively.

The passive AoE healing of Imperatice: Patch fits into any team comp as it is useful for healing slow-moving teams that play grouped up, and for healing high mobility allies who want to dive deep into the enemy backline.

Where he really shines is his poke damage and powerful ultimate. Encephalo-Ray is a hitscan beam with high damage even at range, thanks to its minimal falloff damage and the burst explosion at the end of every shot. The slow rate of fire is perfect for peeking in and out of cover up in the sky because it enables Ultron to output consistent damage while minimizing his exposure to enemy attacks.

When it's time to ult, Ultron excels in grouped up scambly fights on the objective because the AoE explosions will simultaneously deal damage and grant massive amounts of healing to his team.

Pair him with Iron Man and you'll farm Rage of Ultron really fast thanks to the piercing Nano Ray!

Due to the wide spectrum of strategy, skill, coordination, and meta implementation, we feel that having two separate tier lists best reflects the true power level of each hero.

The difficulty of creating opportunities to properly Feral Leap an enemy Vanguard makes Wolverine weaker in lower ranks, but extremely strong in the high ranks. A hero like Scarlet Witch, on the other hand, is very easy to pick up with her auto-tracking primary fire, and this makes her strong in the ranks below Diamond. At very high ranks, her viability falls off as her damage per second struggles to keep up with other heroes when players with high mechanical skill hit most of their shots.

Since bans are not a reality in Silver and Bronze, every hero will always be available, which also means counter-picks are always available. Spider-Man, for example, performs worse in Silver and Bronze not only due to his difficulty of use but also because Spidey mains can't ban his counters like Namor out of their games.