Read our Season 1.5 tier list to discover the best heroes to play, the impact of hero balance changes, new character rankings, and how the tournament shapes the meta.
Best Character Tier List (Season 1.5)
Season 1.5 brings new characters and balance changes amid the Marvel Rivals Tournament which continues to shape the current meta.
S-Tier
Season 1.5's hero balancing changes brings a lot of movement in this midseason's tier list. The most notable change is the arrival of several characters including Adam Warlock, Invisible Woman, Loki, Magneto, Namor, Star-Lord, Winter Soldier, and Wolverine in the upper echelon of heroes while Psylocke and Iron Man were taken down a notch.
Here's an in-depth look at all S-tier heroes and the reason why.
| Hero (Role) | Evaluation details |
|---|---|
| Adam Warlock (Strategist) | Adam Warlock's offensive capabilities and the ability to revive allies places him in the S-tier in Season 1.5 where he's a great safety option in offensive teams. |
| Cloak & Dagger (Strategist) | The recent hero balancing changes further buffs Cloak and Dagger's healing capabilities making this duo more versatile to fit in any team composition. |
| Doctor Strange (Vanguard) | If there's one clear takeaway from the recent Marvel Rivals Tournament, it's that Doctor Strange is indispensable to any team composition. His utility kit is so valuable that playing in a team without Doctor Strange puts you at an immediate disadvantage. |
| Hela (Duelist) | Hela remains an S-tier in Season 1.5 despite recent nerfs that changed the damage falloff of her secondary. Even if she's a squishy with just 250 base health, her primary has a headshot and can take down other squishes from long range in just 2-3 shots. |
| Hulk (Vanguard) | The Hulk continues to be a mainstay in the S-tier for at least a couple more seasons. His durability and abilities are just too much for any enemy matchup that even with the introduction of a rival hero in The Thing, he's still the best vanguard in the game. |
| Invisible Woman (Strategist) | Invisible Woman joins the S-tier in Season 1.5. Her ultimate ability is an anchor point in key pushes or defenses where her area-of-effect can divide opponents and can also be used as a setup for other zoning abilities. |
| Loki (Strategist) | Loki is one of the most difficult heroes to play but has one of the greatest potential to upset opposing teams. Loki and Luna Snow is an unstoppable combination. |
| Luna Snow (Strategist) | Luna Snow is the best hero in the game. Her ultimate ability is hands down the best ultimate ability in the game, she has a stun, mobility kit, and great healing. There's no other hero in Season 1.5 that can matchup against Luna Snow's value in any team composition. |
| Magneto (Vanguard) | Another hero used widely in the tournament is Magneto. In the right hands, Magneto is a hero who has the ability to flip losing battles by the timely use of his ultimate ability. Usually paired with the Hulk to provide shielding to allies, he's one of the few heroes who's a true counter to Luna Snow and Iron Man. |
| Mantis (Strategist) | Mantis is second to Luna Snow in terms of ultimate healing abilities and cements her place in Season 1.5 as one of the better healers and damage boosters in the game. |
| Namor (Duelist) | Namor's utility is unbeatable in terms of the overall value that it provides to any team he's on. He can protect against flankers using his turrets or cause chaos inside choke points. If he's paired with Luna Snow, his turrets become even more lethal and can neutralize most flankers such as Spiderman or Psylocke. |
| Star-Lord (Duelist) | Starlord knocks down Psylocke in the Season 1.5 tier list. While his primary and secondary aren't as strong as Psylocke's, his ability to harass, continuously be a threat to backlines, and do run-and-gun tactics against opposing squishes and backline heroes puts him in a better spot than Psylocke who needs careful management to decide which targets to take out. |
| Storm (Duelist) | Storm started out as one of the worst heroes in the game but she's been buffed to the high heavens at the start of Season 1, and while she's received nerfs that affected her damage fall-off and ability to buff allies, she remains one of the best duelists in the game and with the rise in double flyer team compositions, she might be a mainstay in the S-tier for a while. |
| Winter Soldier (Duelist) | Winter Soldier is S-tier in Season 1.5. His ultimate ability can be repeated to completely wipe out teams, and this has never been more evident than in the Marvel Rivals tournament, where his ability to almost singlehandedly win rounds by claiming objectives or payloads has been on full display. |
| Wolverine (Duelist) | Wolverine climbs up the S-tier due to the immediately high damage value that he offers once he enters combat. With the current meta of a 3-1-2 lineup with 3 healers and a single vanguard, Wolverine's strength as a tank buster shines in the competitive ranks. |
A-Tier
The midseason's new heroes, tournaments, and patches featured Human Torch and The Thing confidently landing on the A-tier while Psylocke and Iron Man dropped down from the S-tier.
A-tier heroes are great, solid choices if S-tier heroes are unavailable.
| Hero (Role) | Evaluation details |
|---|---|
| Groot (Vanguard) | Groot rises from B-tier to A-tier in Season 1.5. His ability to defend objectives, create artificial chokepoints, and tank most ultimate abilities or obstruct vision using his walls is underrated. |
| Human Torch (Duelist) | Human Torch can deal enormous amounts of damage and with the double flyer setup rising in popularity, expect more flashy team-up abilities being used in tandem with Storm. |
| Iron Man (Duelist) | Perhaps the biggest change in the midseason is Iron Man no longer being in the top echelon of heroes. Despite this, he's still a solid choice as a mobile flyer with an excellent ultimate ability. Pairing him with the Hulk can maximize his damage potential. |
| Magik (Duelist) | Magik can make quick work of squishy backlines but being a melee hero means she requires constant teamwork and communication to coordinate targets and get healing. |
| Moon Knight (Duelist) | The avatar of Khonshu steps up in Season 1.5. While he still suffers from the low HP of his deployables, the recent hero balancing changes buffed his ultimate ability's damage from 75 to 150 per hit. |
| Psylocke (Duelist) | Psylocke has been overshadowed by Star-Lord, whose performance in the ultimate stage has garnered more positive outcomes. While she remains a strong choice and a superior flanker compared to most divers, her cooldowns become her worst enemy in fast-paced gameplay. |
| Spider-Man (Duelist) | Spider-Man can most often be the difference between winning or losing in the higher ranks and while his high learning curve already makes new players allergic to this hero, he remains one of the best divers in the game. |
| The Thing (Vanguard) | The Thing is a solid choice for a melee vanguard and his crowd-control immunities can keep formations intact |
| Venom (Vanguard) | Venom ascends to the A-tier in this season's tier list. He has undergone numerous changes since Season 0, but perhaps the most significant adjustment is the Season 1.5 buff, which allows for more frequent use of his ultimate ability. |
B-Tier
These heroes can be effective in the right hands or specific situations but they lack the impact of higher-tier characters to become a powerhouse. The Season 1.5 update brings Squirrel Girl to the B-tier, thanks to an impressive showing of her abilities in the Asian Tournament, while Black Panther seems to be on the way down.
| Hero (Role) | Evaluation details |
|---|---|
| Black Panther (Duelist) | Since being nerfed in Season 1, Black Panther now seems to be out of place and is constantly being outshined by better flankers such as Starlord, Psylocke, and Spiderman. |
| Captain America (Vanguard) | Captain America steps up a level higher, coming from the depths of C-tier. He's a beneficiary of a couple of buffs that allowed this hero to gain more attention and playtime on the lower ranks. |
| Iron Fist (Duelist) | Iron Fist will likely remain in the B-tier for the remainder of Season 1.5. The recent hero balancing changes have buffed his overall survivability, and the extra HP is no joke. However, these changes also reduced his damage output, significantly impacting his ability to deliver high burst damage. |
| Peni Parker (Vanguard) | Peni Parker holds her position in the B-tier as backup choice for a vanguard. Her utility is underrated but without any true mobility kit, and no way to provide shielding, she's ineffective in the higher ranks. |
| Rocket Raccoon (Strategist) | Rocket's best quality is that he can revive allies passively using his B.R.B (E). He's a good choice if most S-tier healers are banned and the unlimited ammo from his team-up ability with The Punisher and Winter Soldier might just be too good to pass up. |
| Squirrel Girl (Duelist) | Squirrel Girl climbs one level higher in the Season 1.5 tier list. This hero made a surprise appearance in the Asia tournament which showcased a lot of positives in a high-rank competition that featured her abilities to deal damage and hold an objective by keeping opponents afar. Her other ability to imprison enemies is a death sentence to any healer or would-be flanker. |
| The Punisher (Duelist) | The Punisher remains a solid hero since Marvel Rivals' launch and going to Season 1.5. However, players are now used to seeing The Punisher and there are now more ways than one to counter his abilities. He's also outshined by Winter Soldier who has a more lethal ultimate ability. The Punisher steps down from A-tier to B-tier. |
| Thor (Vanguard) | Thor is a solid tank with mobility and with his Awakening Rune (F) reworked and the shared cooldown removed in a recent patch, he benefits from bonus health while dealing more damage and can be tankier when played alongside Storm. |
C-Tier
You might encounter these heroes occasionally in the lower ranks, but they require reworks or buffs to perform better.
| Hero (Role) | Evaluation details |
|---|---|
| Hawkeye (Duelist) | Hawkeye still hasn't found his way to the higher ranks in Season 1.5. While he's one of the very few heroes who can one-shot-headshot a squishy hero, there are just faster and better heroes who can contribute more value to the team than a one-trick pony. |
| Jeff The Land Shark (Strategist) | Jeff is a fun mascot to play in non-competitive game modes. This cute landshark has decent healing capabilities but his ultimate ability now works like a funny meme used for clip farming. |
| Mister Fantastic (Duelist) | Unlike Invisible Woman who rose from the ranks to join the S-tier, Mister Fantastic is the one and only hero from the Fantastic Four to receive a low ranking. He still suffers from being a mediocre hybrid of a tank and a duelist and this was even more emphasized when The Thing came to the roster. |
| Scarlet Witch (Duelist) | Scarlet Witch will remain in the C-tier unless her ultimate ability's channeling time is reduced. She already has good mobility and stun but her ultimate ability is so telegraphed that there's no way to pick her in high-ranked competitions. |
D-Tier
Never play any hero in this category during ranked competition or else you'll be immediately accused of throwing the game. Heroes in this tier should be played only in unranked game modes.
| Hero (Role) | Evaluation details |
|---|---|
| Black Widow (Duelist) | Despite numerous attempts to introduce buffs to Black Widow, she remains unplayable in ranked competition. Her entire kit is so bad that even with damage buffs she's still the worst hero in all of Marvel Rivals. |
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