Marvel Rivals: Best characters for beginners in every role

Finding the best Marvel Rivals characters for beginners is essential, even if you’re used to other hero shooters, as NetEase’s multiplayer game has a higher learning curve. Some characters require extensive setup to work effectively. Others work counter to what you might expect – a tank that can only tank during a burst window, for example – and some need carefully balanced skill rotation to get the most from their kits. 

There’s a lot to contend with, especially if you’re new to the genre, so we’ve broken down the best Marvel Rivals characters for beginners in each role below with an explanation for how they work to get you started.

Marvel Rivals has an overwhelming number of Duelists to pick from at launch, but not all of them are newcomer friendly. We’ve narrowed down the five best ones to start with.

Squirrel Girl

Squirrel Girl is one of Marvel Rivals’ best characters period, whether you’re just starting out or feel comfortable with more complex heroes. Squirrel Girl throws nuts at people, and that’s about it. These acorns bounce and explode, and they deal so much damage that I wouldn’t be surprised if NetEase nerfs her a bit as Rivals’ first season progresses. You don’t even need Black Widow-level accuracy make Squirrel Girl useful.

She also has a bigger acorn that can stun enemies, though controlling its trajectory is a bit challenging, and another skill that instantly reloads her ammo and ends the cooldown for her stunning acorn. As if that weren’t enough, Squirrel Girl’s mobility skill propels her into the air using her tail, a perfect escape move or an aid to quickly reach high ground to launch some nuts.

The Punisher

The Punisher is essentially Soldier 76 with heavier weaponry, and as you’d expect from the character Marvel Rivals uses to teach you the basics, he’s an excellent choice to start with. Punisher has a rifle and a shotgun for mid- and close-range combat, along with a smoke blast that tosses him backward in a puff of smoke. The smoke doesn’t last long, but it’s enough to briefly confuse a foe and let you get away.

His most powerful skill is a turret-like machine gun he can plunk down wherever and use until someone destroys it or he runs out of ammo. At 200 rounds, that’s not going to happen soon. It’s one of those skills that’s the best thing ever when you use it and the most obnoxious when someone else does.

Iron Man

Iron Man has a satisfying skill loop that’s straightforward to learn. He gets two laser attacks – a single-shot burst and an extended beam – and he can fly indefinitely, making it easy to get around chokepoints and wreak havoc from behind. His armor overdrive skill buffs his beam attack, and when that or his hyper velocity skill – which basically just lets you fly really fast – he can fire missiles while flying. It’s simple, but exceptionally effective.

Star-Lord

Star-Lord might not have one-shot abilities like Squirrel-Girl, but if you enjoy high mobility and flanking-style play, he’s one of the easiest Duelists to get on with. Star-Lord’s primary attack is a series of rapid-fire energy bursts that, if they land, whittle an opponent’s health down quickly, which makes him best suited for going after Strategists or other Duelists. 

His main skill fires rounds in all directions, but this one is more for causing confusion among the enemy ranks and making them either change targets or retreat, as it deals little damage. Star-Lord can fly, and he has two fast dodge charges that shoot him forward in whatever direction he’s facing, a very helpful set of abilities that make it easy to zip in, do some damage, and leave before things get rough.

Scarlet Witch

Scarlet Witch is starting out in the middle of most people’s tier lists, thanks to damage caps that aren’t quite as high as other Duelist characters. However, she’s easy to figure out – especially if you’ve played Moira in Overwatch 2 – and fits well on any team. Her kit centers on absorbing energy from foes and using it to fuel a stronger attack, which can defeat Strategists and other Duelists in three hits. 

She can also fly, which makes dealing with snipers or a strategist behind the frontline easy, and you get a useful support ability that stuns enemies for a few seconds. It’s a little bit of everything, without a steep learning curve.

Most of Marvel Rivals’ Vanguard characters have more complex ability sets in general, but two of them are easy to start with and have excellent defensive utility.

Magneto

Magneto is closer to what you’d expect from a tank-type character, with a high HP pool and several defense-oriented skills. He can summon a shield around himself or a single ally that drastically reduces incoming damage for a short time – and powers his ranged attack. He can also create and maintain a larger barrier to keep multiple allies safe. That’s all there is to Magneto, but that’s also what makes him such a capable Vanguard to start with.

Venom

Venom is more about chaos than defense, which is fitting. He has high mobility and can swing into and out of danger on a web thread, and one of his skills lets him slow enemies with a Symbiote strand and damage them, if they don’t escape in time. Venom also gets an overhealth ability that lets him stay in the middle of battle for longer.

His basic attack is slightly more powerful than what most Vanguards have as well, so you can harry enemies effectively even while his skill is on cooldown.

Strategists in Marvel Rivals have a lot more to do than Overwatch’s supports. It takes getting used to managing their various tasks, but three of them are pretty straightforward and worth starting with if you’re just getting used to how Rivals works.

Jeff the Land Shark

Jeff is more than just a cute dogshark. He has one of the most reliable healing kits of any strategist and a gently learning curve that makes him ideal for anyone who’s maybe a little unsure about how to effectively play a support role. Jeff fires healing water with his primary attack and spits damaging water with his secondary. He can disappear underwater – no water necessary, as he brings his own – and swim around the battlefield to reach a more advantageous position, and he blows healing bubbles that linger and heal any ally who touches them.

Timing and positioning the bubbles well takes some practice, but his primary healing is effective enough that you won’t let the team down while you’re learning.

Cloak and Dagger

Cloak and Dagger are up there with Marvel Rivals’ best, and they’re perfect for healers who want to cause a bit of chaos as well. Dagger is the duo’s healer. She fires healing bolts, sends a wall of healing out – useful for reaching multiple allies at once – and creates a healing dome that restores HP for all allies in it over a short time.

You can swap between Dagger and Cloak at any point without a cooldown, and Cloak’s skillset is completely different. They send a wall of darkness out that reduces enemy visibility and makes them take more damage, and they can create a swirl of shadow that completely obscures allies for a time. Even if a foe fires directly at them, the ally takes no damage while the shadows are present. Finally, Cloak can steadily siphon HP from an enemy.

Adam Warlock

If you want a slightly more involved Strategist, go for Adam Warlock. His varied kit comes with a ranged normal attack and charged attack, the latter of which deals a fair amount of damage, despite his support role, and he has two healing abilities. The first forges a bond between himself and nearby allies that heals them over time and splits incoming damage between each bonded ally, including Adam. The downside is that it has a long cooldown timer, so you’ll want to coordinate when you use it.

His second healing skill has two charges and a shorter cooldown, and it bounces healing waves between Adam and nearby allies. His ultimate also revives downed allies before the respawn timer hits zero, so if things turn sour, you’re not entirely out of luck.