But will that stop us?
And not just because Marvel fans be thirsty.
He simply does too many things extremely well.
His other abilities all serve to make him far more survivable than you’d expect for a dedicated healer.
And with a good team taking the heat off him, that’s a tall order.
He’s not easy to master, but he is a master when it comes to Duelists.
And she does excel at that, very much, so.
Venom
Venom is the very definition of a dive tank.
Twice the number of heroes in a single character?
That means twice the complexity.
But spend time with them, and they’ll repay your patience with some absolutely game-changing opportunities.
Meanwhile, switching to Cloak gives you a selection of fairly strong healing abilities.
Alone, they wouldn’t be S-Tier.
Doctor Strange
Doctor Strange is probably the strongest Vanguard for directly protecting his team.
But when everyone rallies around Strange, there are few heroes that offer a more concrete route to victory.
His abilities are just extremely solid.
Hawkeye
Hawkeye’s ability to snipe unsuspecting backline enemies is nearly unparalleled in Marvel Rivals.
And when timed right, his deflecting melee attack can make him seem much tankier than he really is.
Still, an accurate Hawkeye is an absolute terror.
Luna Snow
Luna Snow’s Ultimate gives her two of the most powerful team-buffing abilities in one.
She’s fairly easy to learn, and has massive potential in most matches.
Captain America
Captain America, as you might expect, is a very well-balanced and powerful Vanguard.
His role, in Vanguard terms, lies somewhere between Doctor Strange and Venom.
Loki
Loki is one of the hardest characters in Marvel Rivals to master.
Ult aside, the other part of Loki’s skillset also adds a huge amount of complexity.
Loki’s potential is huge, but it’s extremely tricky to use his skills very effectively.
The Punisher
There’s a reason The Punisher is the character you’re given in the tutorial.
His skillset is incredibly simple, intuitive, easy to follow.
He’s Marvel Rivals' equivalent of Soldier 76.
His gameplan is quite simply: lots of sustained firepower.
Everything in his arsenal supports this.
When given time and space for consistent damage to build up his Rage, Wolverine can be brilliant.
But it can take some careful positioning and timing to ensure you aren’t punished for your attacks.
Magik
Magik is a slow, hard-hitting, unusually tanky and survivable Duelist.
The trick is getting that good with him.
Aside from the complexity of his combos, the difficulty comes in keeping himself out of harm’s way.
She’s a solid pick, as is the case with all the B-Tier characters in this tier list.
Her Team-Up ability is also fairly strong, offering Magneto a greatly improved left-click attack.
Where she falls down a little is her lack of defence against being quickly burst down.
But it’s all very dependent on what’s happening around both Groot and his walls.
Iron Man
Iron Man delivers a lot of sustained damage, even for a Duelist.
His left-click and right-click attacks are very potent indeed, even before overcharging them with Armor Overdrive.
If he’s left alone, he can wreak havoc.
And his Ultimate has near-team-killing potential.
Why, then, is he down in B-Tier?
If there were a single glass cannon in Marvel Rivals, it would be Iron Man.
Be very careful with him.
Star-Lord
Tracer fans will feel very much at home playing as Star-Lord.
His fast-firing, low-capacity dual firearms are powerful, but easy to misuse.
His dodge and flight abilities - yeah, fair enough, they’re pretty great.
Peni Parker
Peni Parker occupies a strange space in the Vanguard meta right now.
Her toolkit is built around static defences that synergise together to create a home-ground advantage for her team.
But the meta in Marvel Rivals isn’t really favouring this approach at the moment.
Rocket Raccoon
Rocket Raccoon is actually not a bad hero at all.
If you don’t see her coming, the Omega Hurricane can spell disaster for your team.
And sadly, the rest of her toolkit just seems undertuned at the moment.
Thor
Thor is surprisingly underwhelming as a Vanguard.
Storm Surge requires too much of a wind-up, and Awakening Rune lasts too little time.
And if you’re that accurate, hell, why not play Winter Soldier or Hawkeye?
Namor isn’t unusable, but his skillset is far removed from the power of the strongest Duelists.
He’s very hard to work wonders with.
Bruce Banner
In what universe is the Hulk the weakest Marvel hero?
This one, apparently, although it’s a toss-up between him and Namor.
