Summary
- Marvel Rivals features a diverse roster of characters with unique abilities and playstyles to cater to different preferences: Duelist, Vanguard, or Strategist.
- Certain characters like Moon Knight, Rocket Raccoon, and Doctor Strange stand out with high pick and win rates, showcasing their effectiveness in the game.
- Characters like Cloak & Dagger are prevalent, offering a hybrid support and damage role similar to Overwatch 2’s Moira, making them a popular choice in matches.
Released in late 2024, Marvel Rivals has already taken over the gaming sphere, with a very
similar feel to Overwatch 2
. Featuring heroes and villains from Marvel Comics, players can take their pick of Duelist, Vanguard, or Strategist, depending on their preferred playstyle.
Marvel Rivals had a staggering roster of 33 characters at launch, with NetEase promising four new characters each season. There are some characters that are a more popular pick than the rest. It could be that the character has a more diverse kit, or perhaps the character can fill their role very well.
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The following pairs of heroes complement each other tremendously well in Marvel Rivals.
10
The Punisher
Point And Shoot
- Class: Duelist
- Pick Rate: 19.5%
- Win Rate: 47.3%
The Punisher is a great example of a jack of all trades. The Punisher has a very simple, yet effective kit. He has a movement option with his grappling hook, a smoke grenade that blocks line of sight, and a placable turret for sustained fire. He even carries two weapons as his primary damage: a rifle for medium range, and a shotgun for close-quarters encounters.
The Punisher is a great character to get into
as a beginner
. He is simple to play, easy to master, and can still fill the role he is meant to fill, all without compromise.
9
Mantis
We Are Undefeatable
- Class: Strategist
- Pick Rate: 19.7%
- Win Rate: 52.8%
Mantis is a strong healer in Marvel Rivals. However,
the Strategist class
can prove very competitive. She is classified as a one-star difficulty in-game, meaning she is an easy-to-use character, but still effective in her role.
Mantis provides healing over time, instead of regenerating a chunk of health instantly. She can also provide a damage boost to both herself and others with Natural Anger or Allied Inspiration. Mantis occupies the role of a healer, who also has the ability to buff players’ damage output. She also offers an introduction to resource management since her Life Orbs are few, but regenerate quickly enough.
8
Winter Solider
Armed And Dangerous
- Class: Duelist
- Pick Rate: 20.8%
- Win Rate: 49.3%
A popular pick for Duelist
, it’s no surprise that the Winter Solider is being picked a lot. His kit is excellent for picking on players with his grapple arm, reeling them in to deal big damage with his uppercut punch, and his high-powered explosive shotgun.
3:27
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The Winter Solider is well-suited to dealing big damage to opponents, with even his Ultimate ability being chain-able if it gets an elimination. He has a high skill ceiling with an easy-to-learn kit that makes him one of the most-picked Duelists.
7
Magneto
Fear Magneto
- Class: Vanguard
- Pick Rate: 21.9%
- Win Rate: 48.3%
The Master Of Magnetism can do it all as a Vanguard. Magneto provides support with his shield ability to both himself and others for enhanced survivability. He also has
a great team-up ability
with the Scarlet Witch to use his metallic great-sword to hack and slash any opposition, while throwing high-damaging piercing projectiles.
Magneto’s Ultimate ability, while being deadly out of the box, is enhanced by its additional factor of sucking up any forms of ranged damage while the ability is charging. This makes it very useful in clutch situations.
6
Moon Knight
The Moon Haunts You
- Class: Duelist
- Pick Rate: 25.9%
- Win Rate: 47.2%
Moon Knight is the highest picked Duelist according to RivalsTracker.com. He has a versatile package that includes plenty of movement options, and he can dish out big damage with his in a large radius.
Moon Knight also has the ankh, a throwable ability that becomes a catalyst for his throwing stars to deal a lot of damage to any enemy caught in the area of effect. Overall, Moon Knight can deal sustained damage for a long time on his own without buffs.
5
Rocket Raccoon
Set It And Forget It
- Class: Strategist
- Pick Rate: 27.7%
- Win Rate: 54.8%
An emerging trend is that the Strategist class is one of the most picked classes in Marvel Rivals, and it’s not a secret as to why. Healing is a necessary class to play for a team to win.
Rocket Raccoon not only has adequate healing with his healing bubbles. He can also place stations that give gun users unlimited ammo, and can even revive players from elimination with a small boost to their health. Rockets can set up and forget their stations as they will take care of themselves.
4
Luna Snow
Putting On A Show
- Class: Strategist
- Pick Rate: 30.6%
- Win Rate: 47.3%
Luna Snow has possibly the strongest Ultimate in Marvel Rivals. It makes
Luna and the characters
in her Ultimate range functionally invincible for a short period of time. Only other high-damaging Ultimates are able to eliminate Luna and her teammates in the radius before she can out-heal the damage.
For that reason, she is one of the most-picked strategists in the game. She is also highly mobile with her passive ice skating ability, but she doesn’t really have the capacity to heal herself out of some situations, like being dived.
3
Doctor Strange
Sorceror Supreme
- Class: Vanguard
- Pick Rate: 39.3%
- Win Rate: 50.5%
Sitting as the most-picked Vanguard, Doctor Strange has plenty of utility to help in many situations. His shield is one of the strongest in the game, capable of blocking other character’s ultimate abilities, nullifying them completely.
Being such a strong Vanguard, Doctor Strange does have longer cooldowns on his abilities, like his levitation and portal. But, these downsides aren’t an issue for skilled players of the Sorceror Supreme.
2
Invisible Woman
Truly Fantastic
- Class: Strategist
- Pick Rate: 39.9%
- Win Rate: 48.5%
Introduced in Season 1, the Invisible Woman was one of the first characters added post-release, alongside her husband and fellow Fantastic Four teammate, Mr. Fantastic. The remaining Fantastic Four members, the Human Torch and The Thing, are set to be released later in the season.
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Marvel Rivals: 9 Best Lore-Accurate Teams To Try Out
From simple duos like Spider-Man and Venom to teams such as The Avengers, Marvel Rivals is filled to the brim with possible teams from the comics.
Part of the higher pick rate stat could be that she is still a new face in the game, with NetEase Games committing to adding
new heroes into the game
each new season. She has a great kit, but there’s a sense of freshness which could be inflating the pick rate for the time being.
1
Cloak & Dagger
Two In One
- Class: Strategist
- Pick Rate: 50.5%
- Win Rate: 48.3%
Picked half of the time in the majority of Marvel Rivals matches, players are most likely to either have Cloak & Dagger on their team or play her themselves in any given match. Functioning much like Moira from Overwatch, both characters occupy more of a hybrid role.
Players can switch to either Cloak or Dagger with the press of a button with zero cooldown. Dagger is the support of the two, with strong healing, while Cloak serves as both a primary source of damage and a de-buffer with his Blinding ability. They are, literally, and in essence, two characters in one, with both of them being relatively strong.
Third-Person Shooter
Action
Multiplayer
- Released
-
December 6, 2024
- Developer(s)
-
NetEase Games