Marvel Rivals: The 7 Best Vanguard Heroes (2024)

Marvel Rivals burst into its closed beta test with an impressive roster of 23 heroes split into three classes: Vanguard, Strategist, and Duelists. Translated into more common terms, these are your tanks, supports/healers, and DPS characters. Vanguards are one of the most stacked classes, while also being filled with diverse options.

Regardless of your playstyle, you’ll find at least one tank you enjoy, and you’ll see that there’s more to life than locking-in DPS as soon as you join the lobby. Here is our list of all Vanguard heroes ranked, with an emphasis on versatility and self-sufficiency, as you shouldn’t depend on five random people to be effective.

7 Peni Parker

Real Name: Peni Parker

Peni Parker is the master of area denial, excelling in controlling choke points. Despite being the best Vanguard at protecting a point or keeping a payload from moving, she lacks any versatility, so you can’t just pick her at will. Arachno-Mines are the focus of her kit, and her main source of damage. They are on a very low cooldown and will hurt anyone that comes close.

The mines can be destroyed, but they become invisible when dropped inside Spider Webs. Players can create these at will when using either the Bionic Spider-Nest, Cyber-Web Snare, or Cyber-Bond. Her ultimate makes her tankier, while spamming most of her abilities, paired with an AOE damage attack that can destroy squishes. She lacks direct ways to protect her allies, but can fulfill that role by creating a zone that will dismantle enemy DPS as soon as they enter it.

6 Groot

Real Name: Groot

Groot has 850HP, the highest pool of any Vanguard in Marvel Rivals. Being a tree, he is entirely immobile, unless you count spawning walls underneath your own trunk as mobility. He is a master of denying sightlines and excels at breaking teams apart. This makes him extra effective in choke points, but weaker in open areas.

His two walls not only block damage and break lines of sight, they have extra effects when Groot is close to them. Ironwood Wall grants him bonus health when he damages enemies, and Thornlash Wall attacks the people targeted by Groot and his allies. Strangling Prison, his ultimate ability, draws targets together while immobilizing them, making him synergize well with AOE damage heroes like Iron Man.

5 Magneto

Real Name: Max Einsenhardt

The master of metal is a well-rounded Vanguard that will improve most teams. His Iron Volley deals a ton of damage, but his Mag-Cannon hurts even more. But this doesn’t mean he lacks defensive and supportive tools. His Metallic Curtain shield has a very low cooldown, while having the ability to negate most of the game’s ultimates.

Metal Bulwark is his second shield, one which protects an ally and makes his Mag-Cannon stronger. His ultimate ability, Meteor M, sees him create a metallic ball that sucks enemy projectiles, before being thrown to deal massive damage. As no hero is perfect, Magneto’s only downside is mobility. His passive can sometimes be useful, but it doesn’t compare to movement tools that other Vanguards possess.

4 Thor

Real Name: Thor Odinson

The God of Thunder is the Vanguard with the highest DPS in Marvel Rivals. He isn’t perfect though, even if he is an actual deity. Thor only has 600HP, which he can increase to 800 when Awakened. He has no defensive tools for himself or allies, and no utility outside a knock-back.

Don’t let that mislead you, though. Thor lacks utility because he deals very high damage, melee and ranged. Storm Surge is an excellent mobility tool and God of Thunder, his ultimate, can nuke squishies. Good usage of his passive, with an effective generation of Thunderforce will maximize his Awaken uptime, making him the deadliest Vanguard available.

3 Hulk

Real Name: Bruce Banner

Hulk is a dive Vanguard, but he has some supportive tools. Despite having 800 HP, and reverting to Bruce Banner when that runs out instead of dying, the green monster also comes with an AOE shield that protects him and nearby allies. He also gets 1,550 HP when he uses his ultimate, Hulk Smash, making him nearly indestructible.

He can knock flying enemies down, has a decent ranged attack, and becomes bigger, tankier, and even more dangerous when he charges his ultimate up. Hulk is one of the most self-sufficient Vanguards in the game, so he can be played in most matches. His biggest weakness is being immobilized, as he has no tools to break CC. But his tankiness, mobility, and damage more than make up for it.

2 Dr Strange

Real Name: Stephen Strange

Strange is a bread-and-butter tank with a couple twists. Shield of Seraphim, the shield he can hold to tank damage, makes him an ideal frontline unit. His passive, Price of Magic, puts him into an anti-healing state if he doesn’t use his AOE damage blast, Maelstrom of Madness. Since this ability only hits nearby enemies, Strange has to juggle being a backline protector while threatening the enemy frontliners.

His ultimate ability has the potential to create effective combos with other heroes, and he always has his portal to create unexpected openings. Having the ability to levitate gives him some much-needed mobility, and makes him a jack of all trades. Strange works in virtually any composition.

1 Venom

Real Name: Edward "Eddie" Brock

Venom is the most powerful solo tank in the game, and can hold an entire team back by himself for a few seconds. Mobility, damage, sustain, CC, he has it all, except for team utility. There are no shields, no barriers, no nothing. Venom protects your team by making the six enemy players turn back to face him because he is destroying their backline.

At 800, he has one of the highest base health pools in the game, and he can more than double it with good use of his ultimate, Feast of the Abyss, and Symbiotic Resilience. This survivability, paired with mobility unmatched by any other Vanguard, gives him one of the most powerful kits in Marvel Rivals. If you pair him with a utility-focused tank, you’ll be ready for most challenges.