Marvel Rivals Duelist Tier List - All 18 DPS Heroes Ranked
Marvel Rivals, a 6v6 hero shooter from NetEase, features an extensive roster of Marvel heroes to play as. A large chunk of the roster belongs to the Duelist class, Marvel Rivals' DPS heroes, who focus on dealing damage and securing kills. The Strategist and Vanguard rosters are much smaller, but the Duelist roster features 18 heroes at launch, with plenty more on the way in future seasons. Some are melee-focused while others rely on ranged weapons, offering a pretty wide range of playstyles. Despite so many heroes, only one of them is borderline unusable compared to the rest of the roster.
18. Storm
Storm takes the bottom spot on this list thanks to a shallow skillset that seems like it might be more in line with a support playstyle. Storm throws Wind Blades as her primary attack, which deals a decent amount of damage but cannot crit, plus the slow travel speed makes them inaccurate. The Wind Blades pierce enemies, but Storm is a flying hero, so it's pretty rare that you can actually line up multiple enemies. Storm has a constantly active buff, Weather Control, which provides either movement speed or a damage buff to Storm and any nearby teammates. This buff can be further increased with the temporary boost from Goddess Boost, further empowering whichever buff you have active.
Outside of that, you have a small damage ability, Bolt Rush, that throws some lightning. The damage buffs are nice, but Storm is also a flying hero, and unlike some of the other flying heroes, she doesn't have a movement ability, making her easy to shoot. The buffs provide some nice boosts, but they aren't as dynamic as more damage-forward attacks that other Duelists have at their disposal. Storm's ultimate is a tornado that deals a ton of damage and can wipe out a team staying in close proximity, so she isn't completely useless, but she isn't a great pick at the moment.
17. Black Widow
The headshot-focused sniper might not seem like a bottom-of-the-list hero at first glance, but it's hard to argue that Black Widow excels at ranged damage, especially compared to the other precision-focused Duelists. Her rifle does pretty good damage, but not enough to one-shot enemies, even with a headshot, which makes her slow fire rate and high precision focus not feel as great as it could. She has methods of defending herself from close-range attackers with her batons and Edge Dancer ability, but these don't deal a ton of damage, resulting in Black Widow struggling up close.
You can still do well with her, but it's hard to imagine why you would pick her over the other precision heroes like Hela and Hawkeye, who placed much higher up this list. Her ultimate slows enemies down and deals some damage, letting you take some shots at immobile opponents, but it's still not as powerful as many other Duelist ultimates.
16. Scarlet Witch
From this point forward, every character is viable, even in competitive modes, but some limitations hold back certain characters from greatness. Scarlet Witch has a fairly low damage output and generally needs to be pretty close to deal damage effectively. Her primary fire is a tether that deals 5 damage plus 0.5% of an enemy's maximum health. This makes it a pretty good attack against Vanguards and pretty wimpy against enemies with smaller health pools. Dealing damage charges the alt fire, which is a small explosive that deals more damage, but Scarlet Witch struggles in direct combat.
That said, the best way to play her is to use Mystic Projection, which makes you invisible and invulnerable, to float above or behind enemies and drain them while they are distracted. This works great against melee enemies, but makes you a fairly easy target for hitscan or ranged enemies. Scarlet Witch can be great in the right hands, but you need to master the movement tech before that's the case. Her ultimate can clear a point with a massive explosion that deals 750 damage, but it takes a full four seconds to charge, with enemies getting a big exclamation point marker as soon as you start. It can be tricky to pull off, but it's devastating if you can avoid getting killed during the charge time.
15. Iron Man
Iron Man is a bit hard to place on this list due to a massive jump in damage he receives with a Bruce Banner team-up. That said, it makes more sense to place Iron Man excluding that team-up, since most people can't guarantee someone will play Hulk for them. His primary fire, the Repulsor Blasts, deal decent damage on direct hits, but have weak splash damage. Since you're going to be firing these from the sky at range, hitting those shots directly can be pretty difficult.
His Unibeam is the real damage dealer here, dealing 120 per second normally and 180 using the Armor Overdrive buff. Iron Man does have to get close to effectively use the Unibeam and he becomes a sitting duck just floating in the air. If the enemy team has even one competent ranged hero Iron Man is going to get lit up everytime he engages. The Pulse Cannon ultimate does 1000 damage is a pretty big area, but any tank with a shield can negate this ultimate, especially with the charge time.
14. Starlord
Starlord also occupies a strange space in Marvel Rivals, being one of the few non-melee dive Duelists. While he can also fly around similar to Iron Man, his dual Element Guns have a short damage falloff range. Damage starts to fall at 10 meters, losing 60% of damage at 25 meters, forcing Starlord to get in close. He has two charges of his Stellar Shift, which grants brief invulnerability, but he can struggle to compete with close-range heroes that can deal a higher amount of damage faster.
Starlord is great for dealing with Strategists, since he can quickly reach the back line and can avoid any powerful attacks with the dodge, leaving the Strategists with no abilities on cooldown afterwards. His auto-aim Galactic Legend is also great, since he can fly way out of range to avoid getting shot down, while still shredding enemies.
13. Punisher
Punisher is great for anyone who doesn't care for the acrobatics and heavy-cooldown ability kits of other Duelists on the roster. Armed with his projectile rifle, which deals decent damage at range, although it does falloff after 20m, and his shotgun, which is a hitscan that is deadly at close-range. The time it takes to swap weapons means you really need to see the enemy coming to make the swap, but it does give Punisher some viability against close-range enemies. He's a traditional shooter character, similar to the role Soldier 76 occupies in Overwatch.
His smoke grenade works as a movement ability to back up, but for disrupting visibility it's not great. It does a little damage, but the smoke dissipates almost instantly. Punisher's passive lets him see enemies for a brief moment after they leave his vision, but the smoke doesn't last long enough to let you capitalize on that passive. His Final Judgment ultimate does shred enemies, but it also requires a clear line of sight for long enough to kill them.
12. Squirrel Girl
Squirrel Girl deals an incredible amount of damage with her Burst Acorn, dealing 110 damage on direct impact. It has decent splash damage too, and being able to bounce it off the environment means you can get around shield tanks and cover with the right aim. What holds her back from being higher on the list is a limited kit and a weak ultimate attack. Squirrel Girl can throw a Squirrel Blockade, which locks enemies in place on impact and deals a bit of damage, setting up an easy kill.
Her tail bounce launches her into the air, getting you away from melee attackers or getting you closer to flying enemies. Lastly, her Mammal Bond ability instantly reloads her weapon and gives one cooldown-free use of the other two abilities, which is nice. Her ultimate sends out a wave of squirrels dealing 150 damage on contact with enemies. It will continue running around bouncing off walls for 10 seconds, or until its 650 health is depleted. It's useful for finishing off damaged enemies or for bouncing them around a small objective area, but it's not as impactful as other Duelist ultimates.
11. Moon Knight
Moon Knight feels unbeatable against enemies that aren't great about shooting his Ankhs, but in more competitive modes that's going to be pretty rare. Moon Knight's primary attack is a triple shot of bouncing projectiles, which will ricochet between enemies or Moon Knight's Ankhs, dealing damage on impact. A grouped-up set of enemies can be dealt with pretty quickly, especially if you throw in a Moon Blade, which is a more powerful bouncing projectile, but Moon Knight can be neutralized by shield Vanguards pretty easily. If you can't get the initial projectile in, either by hitting an enemy or bouncing off an Ankh, he becomes pretty weak.
Because of this, you need to do a lot of flanking and smart positioning, which leaves you vulnerable to more close-range Duelists, which can be hard to beat one-on-one, unless they stand in your Ankh's range. Moon Knight does have multiple movement abilities for escaping and a decent melee attack combo, but it can still be an uphill battle as his grappling hook doesn't have great range and includes a short delay that is just long enough to entrap him in something like Jeff's ultimate much of the time. His ultimate deals a ton of damage, but it has a small enough area of effect and start time that most enemies can escape with a movement ability, even if you pull them to the center with an Ankh.
10. Black Panther
Black Panther is a great melee Duelist, but an overly complicated ability combo puts him below some of the other melee attackers. He needs to hit them with either Spear Toss or his Spinning Kick, which attaches a Vibranium Mark. Hitting an enemy with that mark with the Spirit Rend awards bonus health and refreshes the ability, so you can do the combo again. Many of these moves send you flying pretty fast, making it hard for enemies to target you, but also making it easy for you to miss.
The other issue is that if you miss on any part of the combo, you're going to come up short on damage, which can be made up for using his primary attack, but there is much less leeway than some other melee attacks without a significant increase in damage to make up for it. Don't get it wrong; a competent Black Panther is annoying to deal with, but there are far more incompetent Black Panther's thanks to the specificity of the attack combo. His ultimate deals 150 damage and applies a Vibranium Mark, so it's nice for finishing off enemies or making up for a missed ability.
9. Wolverine
Wolverine is great, assuming you understand how he works and who you should be targeting. Similar to Scarlet Witch, Wolverine's primary attack deals percent damage based on the enemy's max health. It does 15 base damage, plus 1.5% of max health, already higher than Scarlet Witch's, with a slightly slower attack speed. However, he gets an additional 0.045% for every point of rage, which goes up to 100 total points. This makes him excellent for shredding tanks.
His Feral Leap grabs an enemy, taking them to the landing point of the leap and empowering Wolverine's primary attack. It's a good way to get into a fight, but it's a great way to grab an enemy and remove them from a fight, where you can shred them without worrying about a healer. Wolverine's passive grants him bonus health based on his rage when he would die, which lasts for three seconds. It has a long cooldown, but you can shorten it by participating in KOs. His ultimate can knock enemies up before driving them into the ground, dealing percent damage based on total rage, which is pretty powerful at max rage.
8. Winter Soldier
Winter Soldier is a bit of an oddball, as he has a precision ranged weapon but most of his abilities are meant for close-range combat, but he is incredibly powerful in the right hands. His gun has three shots, which deal 70 damage on direct impact and 70 damage in a splash area, although enemies can't be hit by both, but he direct hit can crit. Tainted Voltage fires a blast that slows enemies, his Bionic Hook pulls enemies in that are hit, and his Trooper's Fist punches forward, knocking enemies up, creating an easy to understand ability combo. Using an ability while the gun needs to be reloaded will automatically reload it and grant bonus health, giving Bucky some sustain in combat.
The ultimate, as any Marvel Rivals player will tell you, is incredibly powerful and can lead to a full team wipe in the right hands. Bucky leaps into the air and deals damage in an area, marking enemies, which causes them to KO instantly if their health gets low enough. Getting a KO this way, even indirectly, grants another charge of the ultimate, which can be repeated so long as there are enemies. Most of Winter Soldier's abilities require a decent amount of precision, but are powerful if you can hit them.
7. Namor
Namor and his squid turrets have a high damage output and the turrets themselves have enough health that dealing with them can be pretty distracting for the enemy team. Namor can spawn up to two Monstro Spawns, which target enemies and deal damage. If Namor hits a crit with his powerful trident primary, they go into a frenzy, dealing more damage. Landing hits of any kind with the primary fire also reduces the cooldown, letting you constantly throw out fresh turrets.
Wrath of the Seven Seas is an ability that functions pretty similar to the primary fire, but hitting an enemy will cause Monstro Spawn frenzy and will make them target that enemy, leading to a quick take down. His ultimate summons Giganto to leap into enemies, dealing 500 damage in the inner circle and 200 in the outer circle. This is great for clearing a point and is one of the few high-damage ultimates that can actually kill a Luna Snow using her ultimate ability, which can be a game changer.
6. Magik
Magik is a heavy hitter and has some of the best sustain of any melee Duelist. Her passive grants bonus health based on damage dealt, allowing you to keep yourself alive in the midst of combat. Her primary is her sword, which deals 65 damage. It has a slow swing, but you can cancel with the quick melee, allowing you to swing a bit faster. Her dash attack attack gets her into combat and knocks enemies up.
The best part of her kit are the Stepping Discs, which have two charges. Magik enters a portal, in which she cannot be damaged, and upon exit she can use one of two abilities, either a circular sword swing or summoning a small demon that deals damage for a short period of time. The portals can be used to negate any damage or ultimate coming your way and lets her cover distances pretty quickly. Her ultimate turns her into the Darkchild, which has enhanced versions of her normal attacks that deal more damage, in-turn generating more bonus health.
5. Spider-Man
Perhaps one of the most difficult characters to play well, Spider-Man is an assassin in the right hands. Not only does he have three web swing charges, making it easy to get both in and out of combat quickly, but a well-executed combo will take out any non-Vanguard you choose to target. Spider-Man can apply Spider-Tracers with his alt-fire, which cause his punches (primary fire) to deal bonus damage.
He has a web pull, which brings enemies to him, or if they have a Spider-Tracer on them, Spider-Man is pulled to them. His Amazing Combo ability is an uppercut, knocking enemies into the air, leaving them vulnerable to being punched repeatedly. A full combo will completely take out an enemy, and you can just web swing to safety before doing it all over again. His ultimate deals damage in an area and stuns anyone who survives, making it great for taking out multiple enemies at once.
4. Psylocke
Psylocke can deal an incredible amount of damage in a short period of time, making her great for quickly taking out an enemy before they can get healed. Her primary fire shoots twice, and deals hefty critical damage for headshots. Landing shots takes 0.25 seconds off her cooldowns. Psylocke gets two dash charges, which deal 50 damage each. Her Wing Shurikens are deadly as well, dealing damage to hit enemies and sticking, granting bonus health per hit. You can also recall the projectiles, which will travel to wherever your crosshair is, dealing damage on recall as well, letting you hit a single enemy twice or two enemies with a single ability. There is no wait time on this either, so hitting the ability twice in succession deals a ton of damage instantly.
Psylocke has a stealth ability that lasts three seconds, giving you a chance to sneak in or out of a fight. You can be hit and take damage, but the stealth won't break, only temporarily revealing you to the enemy team. Her ultimate is a large area attack that deals big hits as she dashes around. You can't be killed once it starts and it doesn't require aiming. If you have too many enemies in the area you may not hit them all quick enough to kill them before they get killed, but it can take out a couple of foes pretty easily.
3. Iron Fist
Iron Fist is the highest-ranked melee Duelist on the list thanks to a high damage output and incredible self-sustain. His punches deal a ton of damage rapidly, reducing the cooldown of his Dragon's Defense. Dragon's Defense blocks incoming attacks, not only granting a damage reduction but also converting damage taken into bonus health. Once the ability ends, it turns the primary fire into a more powerful series of punches, letting you turn the tide of a fight easily. Iron Fist also has a flying kick that deals more damage if the enemies are missing health, making it a great finisher.
His Harmony Recovery refills his health, and any excess healing becomes bonus health, letting Iron Fist stay in enemy backlines, so long as he can find a safe spot to recover. His ultimate boosts his damage, speed, and attack range, in addition to reducing the cooldown of Dragon's defense, making Iron Fist a power choice or an obnoxious threat, depending on which end of the punches you're on.
2. Hawkeye
Hawkeye and the number one pick are likely getting nerfed soon, but unless NetEase does something drastic, it likely won't remove them from their spots. Hawkeye's arrow does a hefty amount of damage and his passive grants up to 80 bonus damage for charging his sight by aiming at an enemy, with a full charge taking under a second. This means that Hawkeye can one-shot non-Vanguards with a full charge, making him one of the best Duelists in the game based on that alone.
His blast arrows are pretty wimpy, but they can be ignored so it doesn't really matter. His sword slash knocks enemies back and up, leading to an easy headshot and keeping melee heroes out of damage-dealing range. He can also block some incoming attacks with his melee, although this can be difficult to use effectively. Hawkeye's ultimate is quite powerful, creating afterimages of enemies that can be hit to damage the enemy, making cover pointless. This also gets the passive bonus, making it great at taking out fast-moving enemies.
1. Hela
Hela might not be able to one-shot enemies like Hawkeye, but thanks to a fast rate of fire and nasty damage output combined with one of the easiest primary fires to land in the game, Hela is the best Duelist in Marvel Rivals currently. While her primary does have damage falloff, it deals 70 base damage and a ton of crit damage. Since hitting headshots is fairly easy without projectile travel time, you can melt enemies in just two shots. Hela gets eight rounds before reloading, making her dangerous.
She can fire an explosive sphere that stuns enemies, setting them up for headshots, and her Piercing Night ability fires four rounds that explode after a short amount of time, dealing 10 damage on impact and 30 for each explosion. She has a short distance movement ability, turning her into a crow that cannot take damage, and her passive causes crows to spawn from enemies she killed, which explode for damage. If all that wasn't enough, her Goddess of Death ultimate ability has her fly above the area she is in, giving her 1,000 health as she throws down explosive blasts that deal 125 damage. The ultimate lasts 10 seconds too, making it incredibly powerful.
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