The Best Vanguard Heroes In Marvel Rivals

Summary

• From the 37 heroes in Marvel Rivals, you will find Vanguards, the ones with the most health and damage-negating skills.
• Each Vanguard hero, like Peni Parker, Groot, or Magneto, will help you be your team’s tank.
• While team synergy is always important, strong characters like Venom make things a lot easier.

Marvel Rivals officially launched toward the end of 2024 with an impressive roster of heroes split into three classes: Vanguard, Strategist, and Duelists. Translated into more common terms, these are your tanks, supports/healers, and DPS characters. Vanguards are one of the most stacked classes and include a variety of diverse characters to choose from.

Regardless of your playstyle, you should be able to find at least one tank you enjoy, and you’ll see that there’s more to life than playing as a Duelist. The best Vanguards should be versatile and self-sufficient to keep themselves alive and protect their team from devastating attacks. With that criteria in mind, we’ve ranked every hero in this class to help you decide who to choose before your next match.

Updated on February 24, 2025, by Kyle Chamaillard: With the recent arrival of The Thing, we’ve decided to revisit this list to see where the bulkiest member of The Fantastic Four lands against the other Vanguards in Marvel Rivals.

9

Hulk

The Green Machine

Hulk is a dive Vanguard with a few supportive tools for his team. Despite having 750 HP and the unique ability to revert to Bruce Banner when it runs out instead of dying, the green monster also comes with an AOE shield that protects him and nearby allies. He also gets 1,500 HP when he uses his ultimate, Hulk Smash, making him nearly indestructible.

He can knock flying enemies down, has a decent attack range, and can take care of himself on the battlefield, but Hulk is a massive target that tends to attract a lot of attention wherever he goes. When most of the enemy team is shooting at him, he doesn’t last too long on his own. The scariest thing about Hulk is his Team-Up ability that boosts Iron Man and Doctor Strange’s attacks.

8

Captain America

Assemble!

Captain America is a reliable Vanguard who excels at distracting the enemy with his defensive skills while the rest of his team continues with the main mission. He can lead his team into battle by using his Living Legend ability to deflect incoming projectiles off his shield before jumping behind the enemy line with his Fearless Leap to keep them on their toes.

Though Captain America can’t support his allies directly with any of his usual attacks, his Ultimate, Freedom Charge, will provide them with Bonus Health and increased movement speed if they are in the right spot. There is a lot to like about Captain America, but he is much more useful in certain situations than others. He excels at Convoy maps, but not as much in Domination matches, unlike other Vanguards that are reliable under any circumstance.

7

Magneto

A Magnetic Powerhouse

The master of metal is a well-rounded Vanguard that will improve most teams. His Iron Volley deals a ton of damage, and his Mag-Cannon hurts even more. But this doesn’t mean he lacks defensive and supportive tools: His Metallic Curtain shield has a very low cooldown and is strong enough to negate most of his opponent’s Ultimate attacks.

Metal Bulwark is his second shield, which protects an ally and increases the power of his Mag-Cannon. His ultimate ability, Meteor M, sees him create a metallic ball that absorbs enemy projectiles and throws it to the ground to deal massive damage. As no hero is perfect, Magneto’s only downside is mobility. His passive can sometimes be useful, but it doesn’t compare to the movement tools that other Vanguards possess.

6

Groot

Vertical Garden Curator

Groot has 850HP, the highest pool of any Vanguard in Marvel Rivals. Being a tree, he doesn’t have much mobility, unless you count spawning walls underneath yourself as a means of transportation. He is a master of denying sightlines and excels at breaking teams apart with his Thornlash and Ironwood Walls. This makes him extra effective in choke points, but weaker in open areas.

His two walls not only block damage and break lines of sight, but they also have extra effects when Groot is close to them. Ironwood Wall grants him bonus health when he damages enemies, maxing out at a staggering 1100HP, and Thornlash Wall attacks the people targeted by Groot and his allies. Strangling Prison, his ultimate ability, draws targets together while immobilizing them, making him synergize well with AOE damage heroes like Iron Man or Squirrel Girl.

5

Thor

He’s Been Thunderstruck

The God of Thunder is the Vanguard with the highest DPS in Marvel Rivals. He isn’t perfect though, even if he is an actual deity. Thor only has 625HP, which he can increase to 825 when Awakened. He has no defensive tools for himself or allies, and no utility outside a knock-back. His Ultimate isn’t great either, requiring a lot of things to go right for it to work effectively.

Don’t let that mislead you, though. Thor lacks utility because he can deal very high melee and ranged damage. Storm Surge is an excellent mobility tool and Hammer Throw allows him to throw his weapon at an enemy from a distance. Balancing the usage of his passive with an effective generation of Thorforce will maximize his Awaken uptime, making him one of the deadliest Vanguards available.

4

Peni Parker

Spider In Disguise

Peni Parker is the master of area denial, excelling in controlling choke points. Despite being one of the best Vanguards for protecting a point or keeping a payload from moving, she lacks versatility, so you shouldn’t just pick her at will. Arachno-Mines are the main focus of her kit and her main source of dealing damage. They are on a very low cooldown and will hurt anyone that comes close to them.

The mines can be destroyed, but they become invisible when dropped inside Spider Webs. Players can create these at will when using either the Bionic Spider-Nest, Cyber-Web Snare, or Cyber-Bond. Her ultimate makes her even tankier by spamming most of her abilities at once, covering the field with a variety of hazards for the opposing team to look out for. She lacks any direct ways to protect her allies but can fulfill that role by creating a zone that will dismantle enemy DPS as soon as they enter it.

3

Venom

A Toxic Foe

Venom is one of the most powerful solo tanks in Marvel Rivals and can hold an entire team back by himself for a few seconds. Mobility, damage output, and a large amount of health give him everything he needs for success, except for team utility. There are no shields, no barriers, no nothing. Venom protects your team by making the six enemy players turn around to confront him before he destroys their backline.

At 800HP, he has one of the highest base health pools in the game, and can more than double it with good use of his ultimate, Feast of the Abyss, and Symbiotic Resilience. This survivability, paired with mobility unmatched by any other Vanguard, gives Venom one of the most powerful kits in the game. If you pair him with a utility-focused tank, you’ll be ready for almost anything.

2

The Thing

Solid As A Rock

The Thing is one of the easiest Vanguards to master and is effective in most scenarios due to his excellent passive ability, which makes him immune to being knocked back or launched into the air. With 700HP and skills that enhance damage reduction, The Thing is one of the hardest characters to take down and can carry his team to victory if used correctly.

One of the few downsides to the character is his inability to attack from a distance. Aside from his Ultimate attack, The Thing will have to be directly in front of someone to hit them with his Rocky Jab or Stone Haymaker. The giant is made even stronger when on the same team as Invisible Woman, who gives every Fantastic Four member the ability to increase their damage resistance.

1

Dr Strange

Strange Magic

Doctor Strange is a bread-and-butter tank with a couple of unique attacks that literally elevate him above the competition. His massive Shield of the Seraphim that he holds to tank damage makes him an ideal frontline unit. His passive, Price of Magic, puts him into an anti-healing state if he doesn’t use his AOE damage blast, Maelstrom of Madness. Since this ability only hits nearby enemies, Strange has to juggle being a backline protector while threatening enemy frontliners.

His ultimate ability has the potential to create effective combos with other heroes, and he always has his portal to create unexpected openings. Having the ability to levitate gives him some much-needed mobility, and makes him a jack of all trades. Strange works in virtually any composition, but is most effective when paired with Hulk to strengthen his Maelstrom of Madness attack.