Marvel Rivals tier list: The best characters and team compositions

Bringing together the MCU’s best and drawing even more from the depths of Marvel's rich comic history, Marvel Rivals already has a stacked roster of 33 characters—a feat Overwatch only achieved with its sequel over two years later. Naturally, this makes putting together a Marvel Rivals tier list highlighting the best characters in the meta more challenging than any other hero-shooter at launch.

The good news is that almost all of the Marvel Rivals characters are well-balanced and fun to play. The best place to start is figuring out which of the three roles you enjoy the most. Duelists (Duel) are primarily damage dealers, Vanguards (Van) are play-making tanks, and Strategists (Str) are healers, buffers, and all-around support heroes. While the roster is undeniably Duelist-heavy, you’ll need a healthy mix of classes to win—especially in competitive play.

Marvel Rivals tier list 

S-tier

Mantis

• Role: Strategist
• Difficulty: Complicated

Of all the Strategists, Mantis is one of the most fun and fast-paced—though her one-star difficulty rating is rather misleading as you’ll need to earn and spend your Life Orbs carefully.

From applying a heal-over-time to granting a damage boost to herself or allies, almost everything Mantis has at her disposal costs a Life Orb. To get Life Orbs faster, you must land critical hits, which aren’t always easy when you’re in the thick of it and your team is low. However, when you’re hurling heals and dishing out damage boosts, your allies will be firing on all cylinders and have a clear advantage over the enemy. A good Mantis player will keep your team not only alive, but also at the top of their game, making her a strong pick in competitive.

Luna Snow

• Role: Strategist
• Difficulty: Moderately complicated

Harnessing the power of ice and music, Luna Snow is a strong healer with crowd-control capabilities. This begins with Ice Arts, which can amp up your damage or healing, while also restoring your own health. This can be paired with Share the Stage to mark an ally, restoring their health whenever Luna Snow heals others. If I have a particularly mobile or aerial ally like Iron Man, Spider-Man, or Wolverine, then I’ll often give this to them. Crucially, her approach to healing gives you more freedom to go on the offensive—something Luna Snow is chillingly good at.

Her strong healing, ability to stun, as well as a game-winning ultimate make Luna Snow a mainstay in competitive.

Hela 

• Role: Duelist
• Difficulty: Requires good aim

Hela is a devastating DPS in the right hands, though you’d expect nothing less from the Goddess of Death. To make the most of her, you need to land precision shots, but with the abundance of aggressive melee heroes, this isn’t always easy. That’s where Astral Flock comes into play. This amazing repositioning tool can get you out of the action in a pinch or be used to reach advantageous positions. On the other hand, Soul Drainer draws in enemies and applies a stun, making them easier targets for the entire team. Land just two headshots and most enemies will hit the dirt—and likely curse you in return for how infuriating a good Hela can be. 

Adam Warlock

• Role: Strategist
• Difficulty: Easy to make the most of

This genetically engineered warrior harnesses quantum magic to soothe souls and sling spells. There’s no better example of his power than Soul Bond, which is a great heal-over-time and an effective damage mitigation tool as damage is shared between bonded allies. Adam Warlock can also revive allies using his ultimate, which can easily turn the tide of a fight in your favour.

While Warlock is first and foremost a healer, his more hands-off healing allows him to spend a significant amount of time damaging enemies. You’d be surprised by just how much damage he can dish out using Cosmic Cluster and his primary fire.

Doctor Strange

• Role: Vanguard
• Difficulty: Moderately complicated

Including a team-wide teleport, high burst damage, a protective shield, and a crowd-controlling ultimate, Doctor Strange brings a lot to the table—so long as your team is organised.

His primary attack can be somewhat awkward to use, but it deals great damage when you land hits. Doing so will also charge Dark Magic, which can be used to cast Maelstrom of Madness; a strong area-of-effect attack. However, fail to flush this overwhelming magical energy out of Strange and you’ll take the damage instead.

Hawkeye 

• Role: Duelist
• Difficulty: Requires good aim

Hawkeye might not have any fancy superpowers but he sure is good with a bow—so long as you’ve got the accuracy to pull it off. With this in mind, Hawkeye’s four-star difficulty is somewhat misleading, as playing him well comes down to your aim much more than mastering his kit.

Hawkeye’s bow deals additional damage based on its charge level, which increases by maintaining view of your target. Once fully charged, a headshot is more than enough to kill most enemies besides Vanguards in a single hit.

While Hawkeye’s standard Piercing Arrow is all you’ll really need, he does obviously have other abilities to complement his kit, such as Blast Arrows and Hypersonic Arrows that bring much-needed area-of-effect damage.

Iron Man

• Role: Duelist
• Difficulty: Moderately complicated

As you’d expect from the flying tank, Iron Man can deal massive aerial damage using a suite of high-tech weaponry. Keep in mind though, that he’ll be easy prey to hit-scan opponents like The Punisher, especially without anything akin to a dash.

What makes Iron Man shine is his consistent AoE damage from his primary fire, micro-missiles, and his devastating ultimate. In other words, he’s the perfect solution to those pesky teams that group up into a ball in an attempt to overwhelm you. On the other hand, Unibeam allows Iron Man to burst down specific targets, particularly when Armor Overdrive is activated.

Iron Man is a very popular DPS in competitive due to his team-up with Hulk. This will turn Armor Overdrive into Gamma Overdrive, giving roughly 20% more damage than its standard version. This makes Iron Man incredibly oppressive, especially if you’re playing around cover to survive.

Moon Knight

• Role: Duelist
• Difficulty: Easy to learn, hard to master

Moon Knight is one of my favourite DPS heroes simply due to the strategy and AoE potential he brings. His primary fire and Moon Blade both bounce between enemies, and Ancient Ankh (which is also a great grouping tool), make him incredibly easy and satisfying to play. In fact, you can even kill enemies cowering behind cover by shooting a smarty placed Ankh instead. Paired with high mobility and a great ultimate, there’s little Moon Knight can't do.

A-tier

Thor

• Role: Vanguard
• Difficulty: Moderately complicated

With massive muscles and the mighty Mjolnir, the God of Thunder brings his fury to every fight. Unfortunately, though, his kit feels oddly disjointed. The majority of Thor’s abilities require Thunderforce to activate, which demands you either hit multiple targets with Lightning Realm or wait for them to passively recharge. It’s undeniably clunky but each of his abilities—from a dash to a hammer throw—comes with great damage and utility. Awakening Rune is a particularly deadly ability that will send shivers (or lightning) down an enemy’s spine.

Thor isn’t quite as well-rounded as Doctor Strange, nor does he have the incredible team-ups of Hulk, but he’s a strong tank that can keep the pressure on enemies with the right team composition.

Winter Soldier

• Role: Duelist
• Difficulty: Complicated

With the Winter Soldier’s intensive training and enhanced mechanical arm, this brainwashed assassin is lethal in the right hands. Alongside Spider-Man, ol’ Bucky is the most combo-reliant hero of the bunch, requiring you to reel in your opponents, uppercut, and shoot them in quick succession. Nail the combo, and your enemy won’t even get a chance to fight back.

Furthermore, his ultimate won’t make up for bad plays like some other heroes’ powers will. Instead, it just makes great combo execution even more potent as you can string ults back-to-back and make the enemies fear the next “Again!” Bucky blurts out before flattening them.

Black Panther

• Role: Duelist
• Difficulty: High risk, high reward

Oozing elegant lethality that’s hard not to enjoy, Black Panther is an absolute menace on the battlefield. Although his combos can feel clunky a first, his remarkably high mobility, bonus health, and surprising AoE and single-target damage let the King of Wakanda live up to the title. 

Black Panther is all the more terrifying when teamed up with Magik, granting him even more mobility with a short-range teleport. Plus, these two brawlers can easily overwhelm the backline together, seeing the enemy crumble without healers to support them.

Keep in mind though that melee bruisers like Black Panther aren’t easy to pick up. If you’re failing to land your combos or the enemy is shutting you down with stuns, then you’ll struggle to survive and make an impact. That’s why it’s all the more frustrating seeing a Black Panther main tearing up the match and wishing you could do it too.

Cloak & Dagger

• Role: Strategist
• Difficulty: Complicated

Effectively functioning as two characters in one, Cloak & Dagger is all you could ever want from a Strategist. Dagger is a strong off-healer with healing over time, while Cloak is more of an offensive debuffer. Most importantly, these two forms have separate cooldowns, meaning you can dance between Cloak and Dagger to constantly buff your team and debuff the enemy. Naturally, this does result in Cloak & Dagger requiring strong ability usage and situational awareness.

Dagger’s Veil of Lightforce is invaluable when holding or pushing objectives, launching a healing wall that also increases the healing that allies receive. This pairs well with Dagger Storm, which provides passive healing to allies inside it. While Dagger’s healing isn’t enough to instantly heal an ally and save them near death, it will keep your team topped up. When played alongside a burst healer like Jeff the Land Shark or Rocket, your team won’t have an issue staying alive.

Cloak’s Terror Cape ability will blind enemies to reduce their vision while also applying vulnerability, increasing the damage they take. Dark Teleportation can be used to speed up allies and make them invisible temporarily, which is perfect for strong pushes. Buff your team as Dagger then immediately debuff the enemy before collapsing on them to send them back to spawn.

Star-Lord

• Role: Duelist
• Difficulty: Moderately complicated

Star-Lord maintains his signature swagger and brings to the table incredibly high, consistent damage if his mobile playstyle suits you. His Elemental Guns fire exceptionally fast but deal low damage per shot, meaning you’ll need to land more hits than misses to drop your opponent. Plus, Star-Lord lacks an execution-type ability to make up for this. He’s also rather squishy, so it’s a good thing that he can both dash and fly frequently. 

This might sound like a lot of drawbacks, but Star-Lord is devastating in the right hands. That’s without even considering Blaster Barrage, which is perfect for taking the enemy healers out of the picture before cleaning up the rest of the team. 

Psylocke 

• Role: Duelist
• Difficulty: Easy to learn, hard to master

This psychic warrior is undeniably one of the most flashy and cool heroes on the roster, which is fortunately backed up by strong damage and mobility. Her primary attack, Psionic Crossbow, requires you to be in mid to close range due to its shotgun-like spread, but it will shred through the enemy with ease. Paired with her dashes and invisibility, Psylocke is great for dealing with the enemy healers and tanks alike. Keep in mind though that unlike many of the other close-range DPS heroes, Psylocke doesn’t gain significant bonus health to survive. You need to keep moving if you’re scrappy.

Namor

• Role: Duelist
• Difficulty: Situational

Namor may be the unrivaled King of the Seas but he’s certainly got some stiff competition in Marvel Rivals. His turret-based playstyle makes him quite situational, though when the time calls, Namor delivers. These turrets mean Namor is the premier anti-dive DPS, easily keeping pressure on the likes of Black Panther, Iron Man, and Spider-Man, all of whom will make short work of your team when left alone. Keep in mind that you’ll need to hit precision shots with his basic attack or land his spear throw to empower the turrets for bonus damage.

Namor is held back somewhat by a reliance on his Frozen Spawn team-up with Luna Snow, which lets him spawn a more powerful turret on a separate cooldown (meaning it’s much easier to have two turrets active at any given time). While Luna Snow is a top pick, she’s also often banned in high rank competitive, thereby denying this team-up. He’s still a force to be reckoned with, but slightly less oppressive when you can’t guarantee two turrets will be blasting away at the enemy in unison.

Jeff the Land Shark

• Role: Strategist
• Difficulty: Easy to learn

Everyone’s favourite supportive shark, Jeff, has seen quite the turnaround from pre-release playtests. With buffs to his healing and a movement speed boost on Healing Bubble, Jeff is a capable healer. Jeff’s biggest issue is that allies need to collect Healing Bubble if you don’t directly launch it at them, making it somewhat inconsistent. On the other hand, Jeff’s ability to dive under the ground, as well as his passive reduction to critical hit damage, make him as slippery as he is adorable. Plus, if you’ve ever been on the wrong side of Jeff, then you’ll know just how game-changing his ultimate can be.

I’ve found that Jeff grows in power quite significantly when paired with Luna Snow due to the Frozen Spitball team-up ability, granting Jeff’s primary attack a slowing field. The good news is that, next to Mantis, Luna is a top-tier healer. In other words, you can almost guarantee this team-up will be active.

Bruce Banner/Hulk

• Role: Vanguard
• Difficulty: Moderately complicated 

Hulk is undeniably clunky to play, largely due to his multiple forms—with Bruce Banner being the biggest culprit. However, once you get past the awkwardness, Hulk is absolutely stellar in disrupting the enemy and making space, just as a tank should. Dive into the fray and shield up before smacking the enemy senseless. Clever usage of Radioactive Lockdown is crucial to making the most of Hulk, requiring good knowledge of the enemy heroes and composition to choose who to stun. Just like the green giant himself, this tank is often misunderstood and misused.

Hulk is all the more impressive when paired with Iron Man (and Doctor Strange) due to the Gamma Overdrive upgrade he provides. This is why you’ll often see Hulk banned in competitive play, even if Doctor Strange is arguably the stronger tank (if you were to pick just one, at least).

Groot

• Role: Vanguard
• Difficulty: Easy to learn

On the surface, Groot is a simple tank that’s perfect for blocking paths and hunkering down on an objective. While this is undoubtedly one of his greatest strengths thanks to his two walls, he’s much better when played more actively. By placing Ironwood Wall and Thornlash Wall behind your enemy, you’re able to cut them off from healing and other support, making it much easier to take them down. 

Groot’s ultimate, Strangling Prison, is perfect for immobilising the enemy and setting up game-winning combos. With 900 health, Groot is also incredibly hard to put down.

Iron Fist

• Role: Duelist
• Difficulty: Moderately complicated

Martial arts master Lin Lie, better known as Iron Fist, is an agile and surprisingly resilient Duelist so long as you’re not being stunned left, right, and centre. I’ve found the most success playing Iron Fist with a dive/brawling team, featuring the likes of Hulk and Winter Soldier. 

With the ability to wall run and leap, as well as the powerful K’un-Lun Kick (which also doubles up as an execution move), Iron Fist has no issue instigating a fight. Simply dash in and start punching away. Once the enemy notices, activate Dragon’s Defense to block damage and, more importantly, grant bonus health and an amped-up primary attack. Keep in mind that you can also heal on demand with Harmony Recovery, which also converts excess healing into bonus health. 

Loki 

• Role: Strategist
• Difficulty: Complicated

Loki lives up to his moniker as the God of Mischief with his army of illusions. While these aren’t all that convincing, they can use some of Loki’s abilities and give the trickster a great deal of mobility. You’ll need a solid understanding of his kit, but his unique method of staying alive and active in a fight goes a long way in ensuring good up-time on his healing. Crucially, the runes created by Regeneration Domain, which is also cast by clones, will make allies temporarily invisible. It’s one of the few counters to one-shot ultimates, so don’t forget to take advantage of it. All in all, Loki is a complex yet competent Strategist who can slot in almost anywhere. 

Magik 

• Role: Duelist
• Difficulty: High risk, high reward

Even without Darkchild on the field, Magik is a terrifying melee bruiser. Her ability to teleport into melee range before spinning and slashing nearby enemies is a great fight opener. Plus, the heavy damage she dishes out is further rewarded via her Limbo’s Might passive that converts this damage into bonus health. While her combos can be tricky to get to grips with, this survivability gives her more breathing room than other melee bruisers.

Magneto

• Role: Vanguard
• Difficulty: Easy to make the most of

Magneto is one of the most resilient tanks on the roster due to his numerous defensive abilities. Metallic Curtain is great for cutting off sightlines while his two Bulwark shields block damage to individual allies and charge his rings in the process. These rings can then be spent on Mag-Cannon for much-needed burst damage.

One thing to keep in mind is that Magneto’s team-up ability with Scarlet Witch adds an additional ability. While he’s strong enough without it, Metallic Fusion is a significant power spike for this tank. Unfortunately, Wanda isn’t so strong and doesn’t see as much play, especially in competitive. 

Spider-Man

• Role: Duelist
• Difficulty: Complicated

Spider-Man is perhaps the most popular superhero on the roster simply to due his personality, so it’s good news that he backs up this strong charm with equally strong damage. That said, he more than deserves his five-star difficulty rating. 

Spider-Man is the most potent assassin on the roster, though achieving this requires a very rigid and unforgiving combo. Beginning with Web-Cluster which attaches a Tracer, you then need to reel them in with Get Over Here! before launching them with Amazing Combo and finishing them off with some punches if necessary. When Spider-Man is harassing the enemy backline, there’s almost nothing that can be done to stop them. He can kill non-Vanguard heroes in the blink of an eye before web-slinging away to safety.

Venom

• Role: Vanguard
• Difficulty: Easy to learn, hard to master

Venom has been toned down from the pre-release playtests, though this slimy symbiote is still a force to be reckoned with. This is largely due to his exceptional survivability when Symbiotic Resilience is active. He’s effectively a damage sponge that will waste the enemy’s time and ability charges before swinging to safety. However, Venom can also deal a fair bit of damage using his primary attack, Frenzied Arrival, and Celluar Corrosion (which also slows enemies.)

B-tier

Rocket Raccoon

• Role: Strategist
• Difficulty: Easy to learn

This savvy space raccoon brings a great deal of utility to any team—including the rare ability to revive allies. The most important tool at his disposal is the Battle Rebirth Beacon, which periodically produces armour packs and jet packs, as well as reviving a fallen ally. The only thing to keep in mind is that the BRB can be destroyed, after which you’ll have to wait almost a minute before you can place another.

With two Jetpack Dash charges and an easy-to-use spammable heal, Rocket is an easy healer to pick up. Sadly, he doesn’t reach the highs of Luna Snow or Mantis, bringing little else to the table outside of massive healing. With that said, if you have a strong Winter Soldier and/or The Punisher on your team, it’s worth activating Rocket’s team-up to significant boost their power. 

Wolverine

• Role: Duelist
• Difficulty: High risk, high reward

Wolverine combines the damage and mobility of a Duelist with the survivability and crowd-control potential of a Vanguard. What more could you want? Just keep in mind that his small stature and claws don’t give him the greatest melee range, so you’ll have to get up close and personal. Thankfully, Undying Animal provides damage resistance, and Wolverine’s two passives grant bonus health, which makes this less risky.

Wolverine’s strength comes from his ability to single out opponents. Get in range with Vicious Rampage before using Feral Leap to pick up an enemy and cut them off from their team. Once isolated, you can use Feral Leap’s enhanced basic attacks to quickly eviscerate your foe. This is best used against enemy healers or ranged damage dealers since they have lower health yet provide lots of value to the enemy.

Despite this power and utility, Wolverine achieves the same as other heroes, only requiring much more effort and teamwork. The likes of Hela can eliminate enemies at any range with just two or three hits, while Wolverine needs to abduct the enemy before slicing them. It can work, but it’s often highly situation and team-dependant, particularly in competitive. 

Squirrel Girl

• Role: Duelist
• Difficulty: Easy to learn

If you’ve played Overwatch before, then you’ll immediately feel right at home with Squirrel Girl; she’s a mobile and devastating DPS that demands you get to grips with her arced projectiles, just like Junkrat.

Much of Squirrel Girl’s power comes from her acorn slingshot that acts like a grenade launcher. While she can wipe out non-Vanguard heroes in just a few hits, I’ve found she excels at dunking on tanks due to their larger size and her incredible per-shot damage. Squirrel Girl also has an on-demand stun with Squirrel Blockage, which can be activated for a second time using Mammal Bond. With that said, she’s simply less consistent and versatile than other DPS heroes like Hela or Moon Knight. 

Peni Parker

• Role: Vanguard
• Difficulty: Situational

While Peni Parker is one of my favourite Vanguards, in large part due to her unique trap-laying playstyle, it takes a lot more effort to get the same value out of her as other tanks. The fatal flaw in her kit is that you need to have Bionic Spider-Nest active to spew out mines and webs, yet it has limited range that often demands it be placed in harm’s way. That said, when Peni’s playstyle works, it works—especially since her webs provide healing, bonus health, and a movement speed boost. I’ve found her to be a great counter to melee heroes like Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Thor.

The Punisher

• Role: Duelist
• Difficulty: Easy to learn

If there’s anything The Punisher excels at, it’s being a breeze to pick up and play. Equipped with an assault rifle and a shotgun, The Punisher is able to hold his own at any range. In fact, his shotgun in particular is perfect for shutting down tanks or pesky Duelists like Spider-Man who sneak into the backline.

Unfortunately, The Punisher’s turret is less consistent. While it’s certainly capable of burning through the enemy line, it also makes you a massive target that a tank can block if you’re not already dead. I can’t deny that his ultimate isn’t absolutely terrifying though.

C-tier

Scarlet Witch

• Role: Duelist
• Difficulty: Easy to learn

Though she wields ominous chaos magic, Scarlet Witch isn’t a standout damage dealer. Her primary fire is easy to use but—since it scales based on the enemy's health—it’s more annoying for the enemy than it is scary. In fact, that’s Wanda in a nutshell. Dark Seal is handy for repeatedly stunning enemies and denying movement, but other heroes can do the same with raw damage and intimidation. Likewise, her ultimate is heavily telegraphed and relatively easy to counter.

Captain America 

• Role: Vanguard
• Difficulty: Easy to learn, hard to master

Enhanced by the super-soldier serum and equipped with his trusty vibranium shield, Steve Rogers AKA Captain America is a highly aggressive brawling tank. 

His main strength comes from his ability to dive into action and disrupt the enemy with overwhelming might. Leading Dash, Liberty Rush, and Super-Soldier Slam can all be used to engage enemies, with the latter also launching enemies. Once in range, Cap can bounce his shield between foes and dish out heavy melee damage before then retreating to safety if needed.

Captain America is all the more impressive when paired with Thor thanks to the Charged Aegis team-up ability. With this, Captain America gains additional movement speed and his shield will electrocute nearby enemies, further enhancing the strong brawler nature of the hero.

Unfortunately, Cap lacks the utility and damage of other tanks, which is a signifcant drawback considering his brawling nature. What use is jumping into the fray if you have a hard time killing the enemy? 

D-tier

Black Widow

• Role: Duelist
• Difficulty: Requires good aim

Black Widow is the primary sniper hero in Marvel Rivals, akin to Widowmaker in Overwatch. Crucially, Black Widow is unable to one-hit kill any target, which, while balanced, significantly reduces her power as you’ll need to land a second shot against a full-health target. Though Hawkeye also needs multiple shots to kill, it’s much easier to accomplish with his bow than the Room Room rifle. The number of mobile melee bruisers doesn’t make this any easier.

Storm 

• Role: Duelist
• Difficulty: Situational

Storm is a very unique Duelist, walking the fine line between dishing out damage and supporting her team. This support comes in the form of Weather Control, which allows her to swap between a speed-boosting tornado or a damage-boosting thunderstorm. While these buffs sound like a superb boon to have at your disposal, Storm is a fundamentally broken character who’s in dire need of a rework.

The main issue is that Storm is an aerial hero that shouldn’t fly. Counterintuitively, you need to stay on the ground. This is because Storm’s buff range is a sphere, meaning the higher you are, the less likely it is that you’re actually affecting your team. Storm’s primary attack also can’t critically hit and acts as a piercing weapon, which encourages you to attack from head-on rather than above like Iron Man. All in all, Storm falls short in nearly every situation.

Best Marvel Rivals team comps

To truly trounce the enemy in Marvel Rivals, you’ll need to bring together not only the strongest heroes but also create powerful team-ups. Keep in mind that in competitive ranks Diamond and above, each team can pick two heroes to ban for the match. 

Unsurprisingly, this can throw a spanner in the works when you’re trying to put together the best team comps. That’s why it’s crucial to be flexible and be able to play at least a handful of heroes.

Here are the best Marvel Rivals team comps right now:

Gamma (2-2-2)

• Hulk
• Doctor Strange
• Iron Man
• Hela/Hawkeye/Black Panther/Namor
• Luna Snow/Cloak & Dagger
• Mantis

This is currently the most popular team in competitive play and it largely comes down to Hulk’s team-up ability. With this, both Doctor Strange and Iron Man benefit from significant damage boosts that heighten their already strong base kits. Luna Snow and Mantis are two superb healers that, although they don’t contribute to any team-ups, bring a lot to the table, including stuns, a damage boost, and great individual damage, too. However, at Diamond and above, you’ll often see Luna Snow banned. In this case, you’re best off choosing Cloak & Dagger or Adam Warlock.

As for the final damage dealer, there’s some wiggle room. Hela is the most obvious pick thanks to her raw damage output though this often means she’s banned (alongside Hawkeye.) Namor is also a great pick if the enemy has assassins like Black Panther, provided Luna Snow isn’t banned. 

Guardians (1-3-2/2-2-2)

• Doctor Strange
• Psylocke (Flexible)
• Moon Knight (Flexible)
• Star-Lord
• Adam Warlock
• Mantis

What do you do when Hulk is banned and you can’t run with the Gamma team? Well, you fall back on the Guardians of the Galaxy. Since Iron Man loses a lot of power, it’s a good opportunity to swap him out.

This team takes advantage of the Guardian Revival team-up, allowing Star-Lord, Mantis, and Adam Warlock to self-revive. Paired with Adam Warlock’s ultimate, this is a team that can keep the fight going and tire out the enemy. 

The best thing about this team is how flexible it is, which is vital when hero bans are introduced. While you could run with Doctor Strange as the sole tank and take three DPS (like Hela, Hawkeye, Psylocke, or Moon Knight), you could also add the Gamma Charge team-up into the mix with Hulk and Iron Man if they aren’t banned, making it a 2-2-2 formation.

Brawler (2-2-2)

• Thor
• Groot/Captain America
• Star-Lord/Psylocke
• Black Panther/Magik
• Jeff the Land Shark
• Mantis/Adam Warlock

This team emphasises aggression at all costs, which is perfect for overwhelming teams that like to take things a little slower. Thor leads the charge, often supported by Groot to create cover and group enemies using his ultimate. You could swap Groot for Captain America to make use of his team-up with Thor, though everyone’s favourite talking tree is generally a safer bet.

When it comes to damage dealers, there’s actually a lot of freedom to mix and match—though speed is a high priority. Star-Lord, Psylocke, Black Panther, and Magik are all great choices as they can easily put pressure on the enemy healers while Thor and Groot take on the tanks and DPS.

This brawling team gives Jeff the Land Shark time in the spotlight, largely thanks to the speed boost provided by his bubbles. Since he doesn’t demand precision either, it’s easier to keep up with the fast-paced nature of this team comp. The final healer slot is best used on Mantis for her damage boost, though Adam Warlock’s ultimate can come in clutch too.

Ballistic (2-2-2)

• Magneto/Doctor Strange
• Thor
• The Punisher
• Winter Soldier
• Rocket Racoon
• Mantis

This team composition centres around the Ammo Overload team-up, seeing The Punisher and Winter Soldier buffed with infinite ammo and increased fire rate thanks to Rocket Raccoon. These two DPS heroes should be more than enough to send the enemy back to the respawn screen, even more so with Mantis’ damage boost.

The remaining two slots are generally quite flexible, though it’s a good idea to have a lead tank like Doctor Strange or Magneto, and then a brawling tank like Thor. This will help make space and play into combos with The Punisher and Winter Soldier.

Fortress (2-2-2)

• Peni Parker/Thor
• Groot
• Hela/Hawkeye/Psylocke
• Namor
• Luna Snow
• Loki

Sometimes, you just need to overwhelm the enemy with clutter to win. It sounds odd but it’s a viable strategy. By making use of Namor (upgraded by Luna Snow), Loki, and Groot, you can build a veritable fort. Enemies will have to wade through turrets and barriers all while you wear them down.

The second tank slot is relatively flexible, though I find Thor and Peni Parker work best depending on the map and enemy team. Thor is best for playing more aggressively, applying pressure and pushing forward when needed. On the other hand, Peni is the perfect defensive hero, spewing mines in key chokepoints and immobilising any mobile enemies trying to bypass the defences.