Summary
- Marvel Rivals features a hero banning system for diamond rank players to strategize around, affecting the strongest characters more.
- Magik is a unique melee character with high damage potential, drawing enemy attention due to disruption at the objective point.
- Cloak & Dagger is the most picked character in Marvel Rivals, with high healing and blinding abilities, making them a must-have duo.
Marvel Rivals is the new competitive hero shooter game released by NetEase Games that is taking the world by storm. Fans of Marvel Comics can take control of their favorite characters and duel it out in familiar and dynamic maps. Players with a more competitive spirit will find themselves climbing the ranks to become the One Above All, or the designation as the best Marvel Rivals player.
Once players reach the rank of Diamond and upward, they will encounter a curveball. The hero banning system in Marvel Rivals forces teams to adapt their strategy according to the bans each team put in place. The most powerful and meta characters get banned more often, with those stats fluctuating based on in-game changes to their characters.
Marvel Rivals: Every Map, Ranked
There is a fun collection of maps in Marvel Rivals for gamers to play on. Here's how they rank up next to one another.
All stats on the ban rates and win rates are courtesy of RivalsTracker.com
10 Hela
Hel Unleashed
- Pick Rate: 10.6%
- Ban Rate: 2.1%
- Win Rate: 48.8%
Hela has seen a bit of a drop-off in her pick rate and ban rate after balancing changes in Season 1, which slightly reduced her total health. However, she still outputs plenty of damage to compensate and has a versatile kit.
Her abilities are simple to understand, but her high precision projectiles require a steady hand. As a result, she has traditionally been a more popular Duelist pick since the launch of Marvel Rivals and continues to be a true Goddess of Death in the right hands.
9 Magik
Hack And Slash
- Pick Rate: 13.5%
- Ban Rate: 2.5%
- Win Rate: 53.7%
As one of few melee characters in Marvel Rivals, Magik brings some of the most unique gameplay into matches. She is an easy-to-learn, hard-to-master character. Experienced players can take advantage of both her high-damaging swings and movement, resulting in a win rate just above 50%.
Marvel Rivals: Hardest Characters To Master, Ranked
Not every character in Marvel Rivals is easy for players to use. Here are the hardest ones to master in the game.
Players can tend to focus on melee characters who are in their face, rather than the rest of a team, because they can usually cause loads of disruption at the objective point if not dealt with otherwise. This means that Magik tends to draw a lot of enemy attention.
8 Black Panther
Trim Those Claws
- Pick Rate: 8.7%
- Ban Rate: 3.4%
- Win Rate: 50.4%
Black Panther has many of the same problems as Magik would, being an easy target for characters to focus on if not being healed quickly enough by a Strategist. He has great movement, but isn't picked very often, with a pick rate below 10%.
That being said, Black Panther's win rate is above 50%. He also has a low enough ban rate that Black Panther mains won't have to worry about their character being banned more often than not.
7 Doctor Strange
Sorceror Supreme
- Pick Rate: 38.1%
- Ban Rate: 3.8%
- Win Rate: 50.7%
Doctor Strange is considered one of the best Vanguards in Marvel Rivals, with a pick rate and win rate to show for it. He can more or less do it all, including blocking some Ultimate abilities with his shield.
Strange offers a shield with an absurd amount of health, alongside solid movement and fun gameplay. As a result, Strange's win rate is juat above 50%, with little changes between the updates to the stats and rates, leading to a consistent performance of one of the best-in-class.
6 Namor
Squids, Squids, And More Squids
- Pick Rate: 17.2%
- Ban Rate: 7.1%
- Win Rate: 48.0%
Namor feels solid with his existing kit, but gets plenty better with his trio team-up abilities with Jeff the Land Shark and Luna Snow. This ability grants a freezing, slowing effect on one of Namor's Monstro turrets with increased damage.
Marvel Rivals: Best Duelist For Each Map
In Marvel Rivals, different skill sets thrive on different maps. Here's the best Duelist pick for each map and its specific challenges.
By himself, however, Namor is one of the more underpicked Duelists in the game. He has a relatively low pick rate and ban rate, resulting in Namor being more of a wild card pick in a competitive environment.
5 Cloak & Dagger
Pick Me
- Pick Rate: 56.1%
- Ban Rate: 12.9%
- Win Rate: 48.7%
Cloak & Dagger sits as the highest picked character in all of Marvel Rivals according to RivalsTracker.com. She sits well above second place, Doctor Strange, with a 38% pick rate. Cloak's healing is elite, and Dagger excels at blinding and damaging opponents.
The reason why Cloak & Dagger has the highest pick rate, but not the highest ban rate, is because players want to play the character themselves. This results in a must-bring scenario for either team, so they might shy away from banning the duo.
4 Luna Snow
Deep Freeze
- Pick Rate: 30.7%
- Ban Rate: 22.7%
- Win Rate: 47.4%
With a sharp increase in ban percentage, players are seeing this hero banned quite often. She has one of the best Ultimate abilities in the game, making characters in her Ultimate radius functionally invincible for a time. Only the highest damaging abilities can thaw out Luna Snow.
With the higher ban rate, some Luna Snow players could get cold feet from picking her, as she has one of the steeper drop-offs in pick percentage too. Though, Luna Snow's win rate hasn't really moved the needle significantly, sitting just below 50%. Still, Luna is the most-banned Strategist in competitive play.
3 Storm
The Storm That Is Approaching
- Pick Rate: 12.2%
- Ban Rate: 41.2%
- Win Rate: 56.0%
With another steep incline of ban percentage, Storm sits atop the leaderboards in Win Rate according to RivalsTracker, with a stunning 56%. Storm's pick rate has been historically somewhat low compared to that win rate percentage, however.
With her damage and movement buffs, plus her flying capability and solid damage, Storm makes for a fantastic Duelist in plenty of scenarios. Unfortunately, it seems the Marvel Rivals community know this, and has begun banning her more. She sits at a ~41% ban rate of recorded matches.
2 Bruce Banner / The Hulk
Hulking Out
- Pick Rate: 10.9%
- Ban Rate: 43.3%
- Win Rate: 51.2%
This is another case of two characters in one, although Bruce Banner is more like D.VA from Overwatch, minus the suit. Hulk is one of the best Vanguard characters in the game. He is surprisingly easy to use, with a very straightforward moveset and kit.
Though Hulk is less picked than some of the other Vanguards, his utility in his Indestructible Guard shield and Radioactive Lockdown are hard to deny. As a result, Bruce Banner and The Hulk find themselves banned from more recorded matches than many other characters.
1 Wolverine
Talk To The Claws, Bub
- Pick Rate: 10.2%
- Ban Rate: 45.0%
- Win Rate: 50.1%
It's not hard to see why Wolverine sits out more matches in Marvel Rivals' competitive multiplayer than anyone else. His damage is incredible, making Wolverine a tank-buster, mauling and shredding the health bars of any and all characters, especially Vanguards.
His team-up with Hulk, the Metal Cannonball, is a force to be reckoned with too. Hulk can throw Wolverine deep into the enemy lines so that Wolverine can claw his way into the Strategists and Vanguards back there. Sitting with very little fluctuation between Wolverine's pick rate and win rate, it shows that Wolverine is a consistent threat to any team who wants to win.
Marvel Rivals
-
OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 78 /100 Critics Rec: 84%
- Released
- December 6, 2024
- ESRB
- T For Teen // Violence
- Developer(s)
- NetEase Games
- Publisher(s)
- NetEase Games
WHERE TO PLAY
- Franchise
- Marvel
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
- Genre(s)
- Third-Person Shooter, Action, Multiplayer
