Okay, it’s been a minute since we touched this list, and a lot happened in the gap. Season 8 came and went. Season 8.5 came and went. Now we’re in Season 9, The Mystery of Thebes, which landed July 10 and did something bigger than a normal balance patch: it rebuilt the entire Team-Up system from the ground up. If you’ve been running your drafts on vibes from a few patches ago, forget most of it. A lot of the synergy pairings people built their whole playstyle around don’t exist anymore, at least not in the form you remember.
I spent a significant amount of time cross-referencing the top content creators and high-elo players in the Marvel Rivals community (Necros, Flats, GM+ ranked analysts, top-500 support mains) along with the current win-rate trackers to build out what I believe is the most accurate blended picture of where every hero actually sits right now. Some rankings have near-universal agreement. Others have real variance, real enough that a couple of heroes get their own section below instead of a tier, because pretending there’s a consensus would just be lying to you.
Here’s how we define the tiers:
- God Tier: Permaban-worthy. The game revolves around these characters.
- S Tier: Pick immediately. No real reason not to.
- A Tier: Solid, reliable picks. Context matters but rarely bad.
- B Tier: Situationally useful. Right comp, right map, real value.
- C Tier: Works with effort. Better options almost always exist.
- D Tier: Hard to justify. Requires too much going right.
- F Tier: Don’t.
- Too Contested to Call: The sources disagree tier to tier, not just opinion to opinion. Instead of faking a number, I’ll lay out the case and let you decide.
GOD TIER
Empty this patch. For the first time in a long while, there’s nobody the whole community agrees deserves an automatic permaban. Elsa got knocked down hard, Tankpool got knocked down even harder, and Gambit’s whole case is genuinely up for debate right now (see the contested section down below). Nobody’s stepped up to fill the vacuum yet. Enjoy the calm while it lasts, because it never does.
S TIER
Peni Parker
Yes, that’s the actual spelling. We had it wrong for a while and there’s no point pretending otherwise. Peni is one of the strongest tanks in the entire game right now, sitting at or near the top of the S tier board on basically every current win-rate tracker, which is wild considering how little respect she used to get. Her kit rewards zone control and patience, she can hold a point by herself longer than she has any right to, and the numbers back it up hard enough that this isn’t really a debate anymore. If you dropped her a season ago, go pick her back up.
Invisible Woman
Consistently landing at the top of every support tier list. Her neutral is borderline unfair. Great healing output, incredible utility, and survivability that lets her stay in fights most supports can’t. She’s taken a few tuning passes over the last few patches without losing what makes her broken. Still getting banned. Still a problem.
Cloak and Dagger
The longest, highest-healing ult in the game. The blind ability alone forces team-wide behavior changes. She can run it offensively, defensively, or just sit in it and make everyone miserable. She’s been dominant in pro play regardless of who she’s paired with this season, which honestly says more about her solo kit than about any specific partner. Permaban status across the board.
Loki
S tier every season, no exception. His ability to copy supports means he benefits from whoever the enemy team is running. Ult charge being slower across the board only makes his clone crystals bigger value. Not getting banned as much as Peni or Cloak, which frankly is disrespectful to how good he actually is.
Jeff the Land Shark
Jeff is back. With ults taking longer to build across the board, his self-sufficient healing style becomes way more valuable. Supports aren’t propping him up through ult spam anymore. He’s slippery, he’s a natural fit for dive comps, and whatever team-up he lands in this patch, he tends to make it work. Good Jeff players are winning games consistently right now. Learn him.
Mantis
In the right comp, she’s oppressive. The enabler for triple support. Her damage amp creates one-shot windows that shouldn’t exist. Her sleep buys time that changes fights. She’s comp-dependent, but that comp (triple support with Mantis and Groot) is still very much viable this season.
Daredevil
They’ve nerfed him multiple times and it keeps not mattering. He was good in poke. Now it’s a dive meta. He’s even better. The nerfs basically offset the meta shift and he’s sitting right where he was, at the top of the damage dealer tier. If your team is running any kind of dive, DD is almost always the right call.
Phoenix
The second-best DPS behind Peni’s tank play in most current lists. Eight seconds of invincibility in her ult, massive self-sustain, and she punishes poke comps and brawl comps alike. One creator said people’s fear of Phoenix is mostly PTSD from old patches. Maybe. She’s still absolutely S tier.
Namor
Often underrated by casual players, consistently praised by the high-elo crowd. Great anti-dive kit and solid neutral entirely on his own, no synergy required. He used to have a signature team-up with Hela that made both of them scarier. With the Team-Up system rebuilt from the ground up this season, I’m not going to assume that pairing survived intact, so judge him on the solo kit, which is still plenty strong.
Hela
Consistently S tier for different reasons at different elos. At high elo, her bird-insta tech gives her more survivability than she gets credit for, team-up or no team-up. Some creators put her high A, others put her S. Blended, she’s comfortably S tier. She’s been here so long you almost forget she’s broken.
Venom
The best dive tank that isn’t Peni. His neutral is way more viable now that ults are slower, and he combines with Spider-Man, DD, and Cap to form some of the scariest dive comps in the game. He needs follow-up to really pop off, but most ranked dive comps give him exactly that. S tier when used right.
Groot
Still one of the best bans in the game at high elo. His walls change how entire teams play. He farms ult charge through healing on teammates, combos with almost every ult in the game, and is an ELO farmer in ranked when people don’t know how to deal with him. His walls matter more than ever this season.
Spider-Man
The top-500 community has officially caught up to what the best Spider-Man players were showing in tournaments. The dive meta gives him perfect follow-up. His ability to ban supports out of relevance (ban Invis, Cloak, Loki, and Spider-Man eats) is a real strategic path. The one-trick potential here is the highest in the game. S tier.
Star-Lord
Probably the most underplayed S tier hero right now. He used to have a nasty combo with Gambit, but with Gambit’s whole standing up in the air this patch (see the contested section), I wouldn’t bank a tier placement on that partnership existing in the same form anymore. Even on his own, his neutral is strong and his Legendary form hits different when ults are slower across the board. High S tier.
Rocket Raccoon
The community slept on him for a while and the trackers finally caught up. Multiple current win-rate boards have him at S tier now, not just “fine, I guess.” His res beacon gets more value when teammates are dying in dive fights, his ranged orb healing is one of the safest ways to peel for diving teammates, and he’s gone from a “never a bad pick” hero to an “actively great pick” hero. If you’ve had him parked in your B tier mental model, update it.
A TIER
White Fox
The most balanced support they’ve shipped. Simultaneously great into dive and great enabling dive, which is a design trick that almost never works. After the buffs, she’s earned A tier. Most players are still figuring out that she needs to play aggressive, not like a healbot. Once they do, she’ll climb.
Angela
Her nerfs actually made her slightly better in some ways. The ground axes buff and overshield give her more to work with, and her pull is still devastating. She punishes backlines hard when played well. Wide disagreement between B and A. Blended average puts her at A tier, but she has counters that can completely shut her down.
Captain America
High-elo players are significantly higher on Cap than casual ones. He never dies, his ult generates a ton of value with slower charge across the board, and in coordinated dive comps he’s the second-best off-tank in the game. Solo-queue Cap is harder because he doesn’t output threatening damage, but in organized play he’s a nightmare.
Bucky (Winter Soldier)
Dive meta means Bucky has built-in value. His hook is a hard counter to several dive characters, and his Earthbound ability creates free kills. Some creators say he’s overrated in this specific meta (Flats is notably skeptical), but the majority land him at high A tier and that’s where we’ll put him.
Magneto
His ult got a big upgrade. It moves at Mach 10 now and can counter Star-Lord, Punisher, and backline healing ults. His bubble nerf hurt neutral play, but he’s still one of the best solo tanks in ranked. Low S in some tier lists, mid A in others. Comfortably high A.
Thor
The most divisive hero in the community and this tier list reflects that. Flats puts him at S. The EU scene puts him B. The high-elo GM+ lists put him A. He’s a jack-of-all-trades who punishes bad positioning, does everything adequately, and can slot into almost any comp. High A is the fair middle ground.
Hulk
Finally good again. The double clap charges his ult insanely fast, and the bubbles provide value that goes beyond just survivability. He’s counterable (Punisher shotgun, Bucky hook, Emma Frost grab), but in a dive comp he’s a real menace on his own kit, no specific team-up partner required. High A tier, trending toward S.
Blade
Huge variance here. Necros and Flats think he’s still fighting for relevance. Ply Fun thinks he’s secretly broken and top players are starting to permaban him. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle: A tier, on the rise, with real burst potential when he catches someone out of position. The 40% anti-heal in his ult is not trivial, regardless of who else is on your team.
Psylock
Strong individual duelist who got buffed in a meta that was supposed to favor her. Her cooldown reductions let her combo more freely, and being able to perma-ban Loki with your third ban essentially removes her biggest counter. Mid-to-high A tier. Slightly more mechanically demanding than most, but rewarding when mastered.
Moonknight
His ult is slower now like everyone else’s, but his ult charges faster than almost any other DPS, so he still laps most of the field. His ankh placement and backline access give him carry potential that most ranked lobbies don’t respect enough. High A tier.
Black Panther
Big reversal here. Every current source has him ranked meaningfully higher than we used to have him. One editorial ranking puts him all the way at S tier, and the win-rate data lands him solidly at A. The mobility and combo potential that used to look flashy but hollow now actually converts into kills. He still has real hard counters (The Thing especially will end his day), but the ceiling is legitimate now. A tier, and don’t be shocked if he keeps climbing.
Devil Dinosaur
New this cycle (added back in Season 8) and he’s already carved out a real spot in the Vanguard lineup. He’s a big, dumb, extremely likeable frontline tank, and he plays like one: soak damage, hold space, make the other team deal with a giant dinosaur before they can even think about your backline. He’s not the flashiest pick and he’s not winning you highlight reels, but the trackers have him at A tier, and that tracks with how disruptive he feels to play against.
B TIER
Emma Frost
Wide disagreement here. Some creators put her at low S after the buffs. Others put her at C or D. Most land around A or high B. Her crystal is genuinely broken when used correctly, her one-shot combos are real, and she hard counters some dive tanks. But she struggles to build charge in a dive meta and gets cooked when teams play around her. High B, trending A with dive bans.
Doctor Strange
Solid, balanced, never a great choice in a dive meta but never terrible. His portal gets unexpected value in low-coordination environments. B tier is the consensus and it’s correct.
The Thing
Great counter to specific dive characters like BP, Spider-Man, and Psylock, but not a general anti-dive solution. In a full dive comp, Thing stuns them and then everyone else still dies. High B tier. He has a place, it’s just specific.
Luna Snow
Not where she was. She’s a healbot in a meta that doesn’t reward stationary healing. Her clap cooldown buff helps but doesn’t change her core problem: dive eats her alive. High B is generous but fair. She’s not useless, she’s just outclassed.
Storm
Slept on in some ways. She’s a spawn-hold breaker, she pairs with Moonknight and Punisher to create oppressive poke setups, and her 12% damage buff to teammates is underutilized. Not a dive character, which limits her ceiling this season. B tier, situational upside.
Magik
Good in the right comp, punishing when opponents don’t respect her ult. She’s melee dive that isn’t quite as mobile as other dive options. B tier. Mostly because really good Magik players can genuinely run lobbies, and someone has to give them credit.
Iron Fist
Survives forever. The block is annoying to fight. His cooldown reductions in dive feel good. He just doesn’t kill enough to justify over other dive options. Low B tier. Playable, not great.
DPS Deadpool
Still figuring out his ceiling. High-elo players say there’s real potential here, and honestly it’s more appealing now that his Vanguard counterpart cratered to F tier (more on that below), so you’re not giving up much by skipping him. The bunny hop nerf hurt but the health buff helps. B tier. The upside exists but the consistency doesn’t.
Heal Deadpool
Niche. Works in specific triple-support setups with coordination. In ranked, running this kit means you’re not running Tankpool instead, which used to be a real cost. Now that Tankpool’s an F tier hero, that tradeoff barely stings anymore. Bottom B, top C.
Rogue
Genuinely tough this patch for most players. She used to lean hard on a Gambit team-up to make her work, and with Gambit’s whole standing up in the air and the Team-Up system rebuilt from scratch, I’m not comfortable saying that safety net still exists in the same form. Judge her on her solo kit, which is risky, and her ult, which is less impactful when charge across the board is slower. B tier is generous. C is probably closer to reality in most lobbies.
Wolverine
Flats has been the most vocal Wolverine advocate in the scene for a while, but even he’d tell you this season is different. The old Hulk deployment setup that used to drop him into a fight for a free kill is gone. The Team-Up rebuild actually paired him with Cyclops instead, and it’s too early to say the new pairing carries the same weight the Hulk one did. On his own kit, he still punishes bad positioning and shreds tanks, and his ult still cycles fast, but the free-kill floor that used to prop him into S tier conversation isn’t there anymore. B tier. If you were riding last season’s hype, adjust.
Cyclops
Added mid-cycle in Season 8.5 and he immediately became one of the most played Duelists in the game, which tells you people like the fantasy more than the numbers currently back up. Optic blast is exactly what you’d expect: reliable ranged pressure, easy to pick up, satisfying to land. He’s also the new half of the Wolverine team-up pairing after the rebuild replaced the old Hulk setup. Trackers have him sitting at B tier. Fun, popular, not currently a top pick.
Jubilee
Brand new this patch, launched alongside Season 9 itself, so take any placement here with a grain of salt. Nobody has enough games on her yet for the data to mean much. Early read has her around B tier, and her fireworks kit is exactly the kind of flashy, high-skill-ceiling toolset that tends to get either overrated in week one or slept on until someone cracks it open. Give it a few more patches before you trust anyone’s confident hot take on her, ours included.
C TIER
Ultron
Sleeper pick that creators keep circling back to as “could be underrated.” His bots give passive healing with no input. In triple-support comps with Mantis he provides a third ult that doesn’t pull resources from the other two. The community just doesn’t play him right. C tier now, with upside if the meta shifts.
Iron Man
The buffs this season were interesting. Getting more beam time per kill changes his risk/reward in active fights. With a Mag ban, he eats poke matchups and is harder to deal with than people expect. C tier with real sleeper potential. Flats put him high on his personal sleeper pick list for the season.
Hawkeye
The nerfs hit and the meta shift away from poke made it worse. He still shreds in lower-coordination environments where people stand in the open. Top C in high elo, though some creators put him D tier. The consensus middle is C.
Human Torch
Interesting one. The changes made his kit flow better but didn’t address his fundamental problem: he has to play close because of past range nerfs, and a flyer up close is awkward. C tier, roughly, across current sources. He’s been parked in this spot for a while now with no signal of a rework incoming, so plan around him rather than for him.
Mr. Fantastic
Wildly different across elos. In low elo and on console, there’s a legitimate case for B or even A tier. He’s unkillable, anti-dive, and the average player doesn’t deal with him well. In high elo, essentially nobody plays him. C tier averaged across the board.
Elsa Bloodstone
The biggest fall from grace on this entire list. Elsa used to define the meta: permaban in basically every lobby, no real counterplay, all of it. Multiple patches of genuine nerfs later (this isn’t the old 25 HP tweak that never mattered, they’ve actually taken a real chunk out of her), and current trackers have her sitting around C tier, with some boards pushing her as low as D. She’s still playable. She is not still a problem. If you’ve still got her banned out of habit, you can probably stop.
D TIER
Scarlet Witch
They buffed her significantly. She’s no longer a guaranteed throw pick. But “not a throw pick” isn’t the same as “good.” D tier. Not F, but close enough that you should still pick something else.
Squirrel Girl
Specifically excellent against Groot and triple tank. Neither is common enough at high elo to justify her slot. Good in low elo as a cheese pick. D tier at high elo, C in low elo environments where Groot roams free.
Adam Warlock
Rough one to write. Adam used to be a strong case in triple support, res-heavy comps, and we had him at A tier for it. That case has not aged well. Two separate current win-rate trackers now put him at D tier, and the healing nerf that used to read as a minor annoyance apparently compounded into a real problem once the rest of the support meta moved past him. The soul bond and the res are still there in theory. They’re just not enough anymore. D tier. Sorry, Adam mains.
F TIER
Tankpool (Deadpool Vanguard)
The single biggest reversal on this entire list. Tankpool used to be the most banned tank in the game, a genuine problem that nerfs supposedly didn’t touch. Then the nerfs finally stacked up: real cuts to his healing and his gun damage, and this time it actually mattered. Current trackers have him bottomed out at F tier. He’s no longer a top pick, not close, and if you’re still building your draft around him being an auto-pick, that’s several patches out of date. Hard to overstate how far he’s fallen.
TOO CONTESTED TO CALL
Every list has a few of these, but this patch has two genuine ones, and both of them used to be the easiest calls on the whole page. I’d rather tell you honestly that the data doesn’t agree than pretend I’ve got a clean number for you.
Gambit
Every tier list used to end up in the same place with Gambit: best support in the game, always getting banned first, no argument. That easy consensus is gone. A lot of what made him automatic was built on specific team-up pairings (the Star-Lord ult combo, enabling Rogue, supercharging Loki), and the Team-Up system got rebuilt from the ground up this season, so I’m not confident those pairings still work the same way. One editorial ranking still has him at S tier out of pure habit. Two separate win-rate trackers put him as low as D, or as high as B, depending on which one you check. That’s not a small spread, that’s three different tiers on the same hero from sources I’d normally trust equally. I’m not going to pretend I’ve got a clean answer here. Play him, see what he does now, and don’t assume last season’s Gambit is this season’s Gambit.
Black Widow
We had her parked in F tier for a long time on the theory that she’d never get buffed without becoming oppressive, so the devs were just sitting on her waiting for a rework. That theory is out of date: she got reworked in Season 9. The ADS sniper playstyle that defined her for years is gone from her base kit. She’s got a dash and an AoE slam now, a new ultimate, and she’s built to dive into mid-range fights instead of camping backline angles. Where that actually lands her is genuinely unsettled. Depending on the source, her post-rework tier ranges anywhere from F to B, which tells you the community hasn’t figured her out yet more than it tells you anything definitive about her power level. If you liked old Black Widow, she’s a different hero now. Go try her before you trust anyone’s tier placement for her, including ours.
Three Patches Changed Everything: Here’s What Actually Flipped
This season rewards players willing to throw out what they thought they knew. Three patches is a long time to be away, and the Team-Up rebuild alone invalidated a bunch of assumptions that used to be safe bets.
The biggest swings: Peni Parker went from a D tier afterthought to a top-of-S-tier tank, and honestly that’s the one to act on immediately if you haven’t touched her in a while. Tankpool went the opposite direction, from an automatic permaban to F tier, so stop drafting around him being broken, he isn’t anymore. Elsa Bloodstone and Adam Warlock both fell hard from where they used to sit. Black Panther and Rocket Raccoon both climbed hard. And Gambit and Black Widow are genuinely too contested to give you a confident number on, which is rare for a list like this, so go read those sections instead of skimming past them.
The new blood: Devil Dinosaur is a legitimately solid A tier tank addition, Cyclops is popular even if the numbers don’t fully back the hype yet, and Jubilee just landed with Season 9 itself, so give the data a few more weeks before you trust anyone’s confident take on her, ours included.
Jump into our Discord and tell us what’s working for you this season. Especially if you’re running something off this list and making it work. I want to hear it.
