Best Vanguards In Marvel Rivals

Key Takeaways

• Vanguards are key frontline powerhouses in Marvel Rivals, crucial for initiating battles and creating opportunities for teammates.
• Selecting the right Vanguard is essential, each with unique abilities and playstyles that suit different team compositions.
• Characters like Captain America, Thor, and Groot offer varying strengths and weaknesses, making them essential to master.

Vanguards in Marvel Rivals play a crucial role in any team composition, acting as frontline powerhouses that combine durability with disruptive capabilities. These characters excel at initiating battles, absorbing damage and creating opportunities for their teammates to capitalize on and deal maximum damage. Their presence can often turn the tide of a match, as they dictate both offensive and defensive strategies.

Selecting the right Vanguard is no easy task, though, as each character has their own unique set of abilities that set them apart from each other. Some are better at soaking up damage as tanks, whilst others excel at playing the objective with zonal protection. No matter the preference, Vanguards are an essential class to master, so it’s important to understand which ones are the most effective picks.

8 Captain America

Needed More Time In The Ice

• Health: 650
• Difficulty: 3/5
• First Appearance: Captain America Comics #1 (1940)

The First Avenger is probably one of Marvel’s most well-known characters, so it might surprise some fans to discover that he’s perhaps one of the weakest in Marvel Rivals. He’s a melee-focused Vanguard whose kit revolves around his famous shield, which he can raise to protect himself and his allies from damage. However, the shield only has 400 hp, and it gets depleted rather quickly in the heat of battle. At least it reflects projectiles back at enemies, making up for its lower health.

With weaker defensive capabilities compared to other Vanguards, it might then be reasonable to expect that his damage output picks up the slack, but he falters there, too. His movement is excellent, as he dashes and jumps into action quickly, but his attacks are lackluster and more of a nuisance to enemies instead of a serious threat. Even with his Ultimate active, which heals and boosts the movement of his team, he can quickly get overwhelmed by enemy Duelists on objectives.

7 Thor

Lacks The Power Of A God

• Health: 600
• Difficulty: 3/5
• First Appearance: Journey Into Mystery #83 (1962)

The God of Thunder packs a serious punch, as he has some of the highest damage potential among his fellow Vanguards. Thor wields his trusty Mjolnir, which he can use to bash enemies, surge forwards, or throw at longer distances. Players looking to master Thor’s kit need to commit to harassing the enemy team as they look to deal high amounts of thunderous damage.

Despite his divine nature, Thor is still far from invincible. He has relatively low health compared to other Vanguards, and it’s easy to get stranded thanks to his limited movement options. Unless he’s awakened, which grants him 200 extra hp, it’s unlikely that he’ll be able to be the face of the attack for sustained periods of time.

6 Bruce Banner / The Hulk

Decent Damage But Easily Thwarted By Duelists

• Health: 200 / 800 / 1550
• Difficulty: 4/5
• First Appearance: The Incredible Hulk #1 (1962)

The Hulk can come across as a simple character at times, appearing as an angry green giant, but the developers of Marvel Rivals gave him more nuance. He has three forms which players can switch between by building his Ultimate: Bruce Banner, Hero Hulk, and Monster Hulk. The playstyles vary between each rendition, with Bruce Banner having a Gamma Ray Gun to shoot at enemies, whilst Hero Hulk is focused on getting up close and personal.

He’s a tricky character to master (hence the difficulty rating), and managing his forms can be frustrating at times, especially when deforming back into Bruce Banner. His damage is decent, but it’s his range and speed that let him down, as any Duelist with a bit of range to their attacks can drop Hero Hulk back to Bruce in a few hits. From there, he’s a sitting duck ready to get eliminated.

5 Groot

A Well-Rounded Vanguard Who Can Control The Map

• Health: 850
• Difficulty: 2/5
• First Appearance: Tales To Astonish #13 (1960)

Though he might appear simple at first, there’s a unique level of complexity to playing Groot. His abilities allow him to place thorny walls across the map, meaning he can partition off objectives or funnel enemies through certain areas. They can double as much-needed cover in open areas, and when Groot stands near them and attacks, they grant bonus damage to enemies or healing to allies.

As far as his health goes, it’s nothing to scoff at either. With 850 hp and ways to regain it himself, Groot is quite self-sustainable, making him a perfect anchor for an objective. Partner him with a well-played healer, and he should be able to hold objectives fairly well. His key limiting factor is his normal attack, which does decent damage but lacks a chance for critical hits. Otherwise, he’s an incredibly well-rounded Vanguard worthy of a spot on the team.

4 Peni Parker

Queen Of The Spider Bots

• Health: 650
• Difficulty: 4/5
• First Appearance: Edge Of Spider-Verse #5 (2014)

Peni Parker is perhaps the best character in Marvel Rivals for zone denial. Her Bionic Spider Nest ability coats an area with Cyber-Webs, which grant Healing Over Time and a Movement Boost. So long as this is placed somewhere out of view for enemies to destroy, Peni can easily anchor an objective. That being said, if the Spider Nest is destroyed, Peni can get singled out due to her large frame and relatively lower health for a Vanguard. It’s important to keep it guarded at all times, something Peni should be capable of doing with her heavy blasting cannons.

Within her Cyber-Webs, Spider-Drones are dispersed, and Peni can also shoot these out fairly frequently. When they’re placed in tricky spots, they can easily catch an enemy unaware and deal decent damage, especially if they’re stacked in a high-traffic area. Her Ultimate allows her to clear and claim an objective by placing Cyber-Webs and launching enemies into the air, making them an easy target for friendly Duelists to pick out.

3 Magneto

Use Metal For Protection And Destruction

• Health: 650
• Difficulty: 2/5
• First Appearance: X-Men #1 (1963)

Magneto strikes a perfect balance between a defensive and offensive character. He can summon a Metallic Curtain, which blocks all incoming projectiles, and it’s wide enough to cover him and some allies. It doesn’t have a health bar like Captain America or Doctor Strange, instead relying on a short cooldown, so players need to ensure they won’t be under fire by the time it runs out, as movement is fairly restricted.

If players want individual protection, then Magneto can summon shields around allies and himself, with the damage taken being transformed into metallic rings on Magneto’s back. These rings can be converted into a Mag-Cannon, which deals decent damage at range, and his Ultimate is excellent at dealing heavy damage to a group of enemies in a cluster.

2 Doctor Strange

Shield Bearer And Portal Maker

• Health: 650
• Difficulty: 2/5
• First Appearance: Strange Tales #110 (1963)

The Sorcerer Supreme reigns supreme when it comes to tanking damage on the frontline. His Shield Of The Seraphim ability projects a gigantic circular shield with 800 hp that blocks all incoming projectiles. Strange can also levitate for short periods of time, meaning he can even protect airborne players should they need it. It’s his utility that makes him stand out though, as he can summon a portal across the map, allowing allies to quickly navigate the battlefield or trick enemies into a death trap.

He doesn’t slack when it comes to offense, though, as his normal attacks deal consistent damage that charge up a powerful blast that can hit numerous enemies at once. His Ultimate is respectable, too, as it separates enemies’ souls from their bodies, with damage done to them transferring over to their physical selves.

1 Venom

Symbiotically Stall The Whole Team

• Health: 800
• Difficulty: 1/5
• First Appearance: The Amazing Spider-Man #300 (1988)

Venom is the perfect mesh between a tank and a DPS-focused character, and he’s suited to frontline any team in Marvel Rivals. With 800 health and the ability to regen some in an instant, Venom is incredibly self-sufficient in the heat of combat. If the going gets tough, he can always swing away with his rapid movement, something plenty of other Vanguards lack.

His movement isn’t just good for fleeing though, as it’s used especially well to instigate fights with unsuspecting enemies. Partner that with his Cellular Corrosion ability that slows enemies and his normal attack that deals a great amount of damage, and Venom can single-handedly disrupt a group of enemies all on his own. With the right player at the helm, Venom can be nigh on immortal, and a serious threat to any enemy team.