Marvel Rivals, the direct F2P competitor to Overwatch 2, is off to a solid start with millions of active users. Getting to play Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, Wolverine, and a ton of other heroes from the comics and movies in high-paced game modes seems to have captivated the majority of players.
Although the uniqueness of every character’s abilities, team-ups, and playstyle is desirable, some heroes have a long learning curve that can be overwhelming for many. So, we’ve compiled a list of the easiest Marvel Rivals characters for each role.
- Beginner-friendly Vanguards in Marvel Rivals
- Beginner-friendly Duelists in Marvel Rivals
- Beginner-friendly Strategists in Marvel Rivals
Beginner-friendly Vanguards in Marvel Rivals
A Vanguard in Marvel Rivals is a part of the frontline, which means they mostly absorb damage, protect teammates through shields or barriers, and obstruct incoming attacks through crowd-controlling abilities.
Playing a Vanguard can be stressful because you’ll usually find yourself in the middle of the action, so here are the best picks for beginners:
Magneto
Magneto’s kit in Marvel Rivals is pretty straightforward. Two separate skills allow you to shield yourself or your teammates and any absorbed damage powers up your right-click attack which has high DPS as well as a knock-back effect.
Magneto’s Ultimate lets you collect debris and throw it to deal AoE damage and then there’s a large ow-cooldown shield that he can summon quite often in games.
As Magneto, you can easily feel comfortable in the frontline. Just pop shields whenever there’s a solid push and make sure to use your secondary attack accurately.
Venom
While Magneto is a rather defensive Vanguard, Venom is suited for dive gameplay. In Marvel Rivals, dive characters boast high mobility and melee damage.
When playing Venom, you can really dominate opponents by taking care of two things. Make sure to carefully observe your health and save your Symbiotic Resilience (E) ability for the time when you’re left with less than 200 health.
Next, you can practice a simple combination of knocking enemies by your Frenzied Arrival (F) and then slowing them down with the Cellular Corrosion (secondary attack).
We understand that this isn’t as straightforward as some of the Vanguards, but the potential you can achieve with minimal effort here makes Venom a better option for beginners than Thor or Captain America.
Groot
As a beginner, a lot of times, you’ll just be spamming abilities in Marvel Rivals and hoping for something good to happen. Luckily, Groot is a Vanguard that lets you spam almost all abilities because of low cooldowns, and in the process, you’re likely to understand his kit too.
Two of Groot’s attacks let you place barriers on the maps. The Thornwall (Shift) is a smaller wall that deals damage to nearby enemies attacked by you and your team. The Ironwood Wall (E) is bigger and grants Groot health when opponents take damage.
The mouse-click attacks are pretty basic, with the left-click launching vines that have decent range and the right-click letting you deploy small spores that deal AoE damage.
Groot’s Ultimate pulls enemies in a vine cluster which can be utilized in myriad ways. Pair it with your right-click if possible or wait for any of your teammates who can deal massive damage to a group of crowd-controlled enemies.
Groot makes this list because all allies reap the benefits of your skills. You only have to worry about placing your barriers in the right places such as choke points (areas where the enemy team cannot function together due to limited space) and another tip would be to not place both barriers at once.
It’s best to place one barrier first, let the enemies drain some of their resources on it, and then place another one. Because you’ll not be dealing with the enemy frontline directly, survival isn’t a huge issue too.
Beginner-friendly Duelists in Marvel Rivals
As a Duelist, you’ll represent the middle layer of a team’s attack or will be busy flanking. The role is quite fluid because, at times, you’ll be expected to use your best skills to take down tanks. On other occasions, you might have to flank and eliminate the low-health opponents with surprise.
A DPS with a simple playstyle is very important for beginners because these characters have low health. If you don’t know what you’re doing, dying is very easy.
The Punisher
Do not think twice before picking The Punisher in Marvel Rivals if you want a beginner-friendly DPS. His primary attack has a rifle which is ideal for mid-range and you can also switch to the shotgun for close-range encounters.
The Culling Turret (E) skill can deal excessive amounts of damage but it also makes you a very easy target. So, it’s best to use it when you’re relatively away from action or at choke points where you can easily target an enemy or two.
The smoke grenade (right-click) is a fairly consistent skill too. Whenever you feel burdened by the opponents, deploy the grenade and quickly try to escape.
The Vantage Connection (Shift) lets you deploy a zipline that stays even after you die. So, it’s best to place one near your spawn point and then use it again when you die. Repeat this pattern and your mobility struggles due to The Punisher’s low speed should be solved to some extent.
The Punisher’s Ultimate is another ability that grants you an automatic weapon to just wreak havoc on the battlefield. Again, the only important element is placement as you don’t want to be an easy target for the enemies.
Make sure to play near Rocket Raccoon and trigger the team-up ability when you’re inside the latter’s device. With infinite ammo and a faster fire rate, your damage potential goes off the roof.
Namor
Namor is another beginner-friendly duelist to help you dominate the Season 0 meta in Marvel Rivals. Your primary attack is a javelin throw with no reload, so there’s no need to take your finger off the shooting button.
Next, you must learn how to combine Namor’s Aquatic Dominion (E) and Wrath of the Seven Seas (Right-click) abilities. The former lets you summon Octopus-like turrets that shoot nearby enemies. The right-click enables you to throw the trident forward and increases the damage output of the turrets.
So, for your attack, you’ll be placing all the turrets, and before they despawn in 8 seconds, use your right-click to maximize Namor’s damage potential.
For your defense, you have Blessing of the Deep (Shift) which is a shield that elevates you as well. You can’t use your skills and move while inside the shield, but if timed correctly, you can use it to neutralize the impact of melee combos and even Ultimates.
You can continue shooting when the shield goes away and you return to the ground slowly.
Lastly, Namor’s Ultimate lets you summon Giganto and deal AoE damage. The outer circle of this ability deals 200 damage and any character in the inner circle will be dealt with 500 damage. So, correct placement can help you one-shot a wide range of heroes, especially Duelists and Strategists.
Wolverine
Melee characters are generally hard to use in an action-packed experience like Marvel Rivals. Unless you’re a Vanguard with over 500 health, you’ll not be happy with multiple heroes targeting you.
Comes in Wolverine! If you like to brawl and don’t have the time to figure out Iron Fist and Spider-Man or are not satisfied with Black Panther’s damage, you might appreciate Logan.
Wolverine uses his claws to pierce through enemies in close range. For mobility, you have the Feral Leap skill that lets you jump forward and deal damage to the first opponent you come in contact with. For a brief duration after the jump, your primary attack also becomes faster and stronger.
The real magic happens in the background, though. Wolverine has a passive rage meter that fills when you deal or take damage. Another passive called Regenerative Healing Factor kicks in when your rage hits 100.
Wolverine’s rage increases the damage of his basic attacks and skills. When out of combat, his remaining rage is granted as regeneration or overheal.
Wolverine’s Vicious Rampage is essentially a dash attack with high damage output. The Undying Animal skill, on the other hand, reduces incoming damage by 50% for a small duration.
You can easily make the most of Wolverine by following this pattern:
- Use Undying Animal to reduce incoming damage and enter combat.
- Take and deal some damage to fill your rage meter and use the Feral Leap or dash attack to escape.
- Recover and enter combat again. The dash attack can now be used to get a solid start.
- Keep filling your rage meter and use your Ultimate at max rage.
- Repeat these steps.
Beginner-friendly Strategists in Marvel Rivals
Strategists in Marvel Rivals are support units, hence, you’ll mostly find them in the backline. They don’t have high HP or damage but have abilities to support the entire team through healing or damage buffs.
As a beginner Strategist, you would prefer a character with high mobility and straightforward healing mechanics.
Adam Warlock
Adam Warlock is very easy to understand. You deal Quantum Energy damage with your left-click and the right-click allows you to collect some energy and release it together to deal more damage.
The Soul Bond skill links Adam and all nearby allies, providing everyone in the link with healing over time and all members share incoming damage too. So, it’s best to use this ability when you’re stuck against a dive team.
The Avatar Life Stream lets you target an ally to heal them and yourself. The range on this skill is decent but you cannot push it through walls which is a bummer.
Adam Warlock’s Ultimate enables the resurrection of allies and it can be used in high-paced fights where the return of an ally or two can turn the tides.
Long story short, you’ll be playing on the sidelines as Adam Warlock, looking for allies to heal and link. Thanks to your passive that allows a cocooned revival, survivability isn’t an issue as well.
Rocket Raccoon
For a Marvel Rivals Strategist, things don’t get much easier than Rocket Raccoon. The primary attack shoots projectile so you have to attack based on where the enemy should be. The secondary attack shoots bubbles that heal nearby allies.
Raccoon uses a dash for mobility, and it luckily has a low cooldown. This is further improved by his passive that allows running on walls and falling slowly. His Ultimate is straightforward too, as you deploy a device that gives a damage boost to allies.
The best part of Raccoon’s kit is the Battle Rebirth Beacon skill that revives allies and places armor packs and jet packs for allies. A small yet effective tip is to use this skill at the beginning of games so your allies can collect the boosts and by the time you enter combat, the cooldown will have ended.
Unless you’re playing in a dive team that relies on close-range damage, Rocket Raccoon is a brilliant healer with a very simple kit compared to the likes of Loki and Cloak and Dagger.
Luna Snow
Our final pick for the easiest Strategist in Marvel Rivals is Luna Snow over Jeff the Shark because despite being a direct Hero, her skill ceiling is much higher than the latter.
The primary attack is great for spamming as you’ll either heal allies or deal damage to opponents with it. Ice Arts is another way to shoot a bunch of ice shards together, resulting in quick damage or healing.
Luna Snow’s secondary attack can freeze the enemy and with proper execution, you can use it to cancel incoming Ultimates too. Regardless, just stopping an enemy’s movement will still be desirable in most cases.
Luna Snow’s passives allow her to ice skate across the map and heal her whenever she uses her secondary attack or Ice Arts ability. As a result, she’s one of the toughest characters to kill in the game which is exactly what you want as a beginner.
The real game-changer in Luna Snow’s kit is her Ultimate. You cast a stage on the battlefield and can switch between heals and damage buffs for any allies that enter it. It can be used as a defense against incoming Ultimates or you can overpower your attack to rush choke points and objectives.
Now that you know about the easiest heroes to master in Marvel Rivals, it’s time to outplay your enemies and climb up the ranks!
