Best Marvel Rivals Heroes For New Players

Marvel Rivals has become incredibly popular since its December 2024 launch, landing near the top of Steam's most-played list nearly every week since it went live and receiving praise from critics and players alike. But the game's sustained popularity has also resulted in an influx of new players. With 37 playable heroes--and many more to come--Marvel Rivals can be a bit overwhelming for those who are new to the game. But with a little guidance and some practice, it's easy to master a few characters--we recommend becoming proficient in at least one character from each hero class, to ensure you can fill in any tactical gaps in your team's roster.

Each hero has a star rating (ranging from one star to five stars) indicating how difficult that character is to master. But not all one-star heroes are created equal, and not all two-, three-, four-star, or five-star heroes are as daunting (or deadly) as they may initially seem.

You can easily destroy a five-star hero with a one-star hero, and many higher-tier heroes are quite easy to get the hang of. If you're a new player looking for a good hero to try out without getting instantly clobbered--or a more experienced player who's still struggling--you're in the right place.

We've put together a list of the 10 best Marvel Rivals heroes for players who are new to the game, still haven't found their "main" yet, or just need a bit of guidance. Keep scrolling for a closer look at some of the easiest (and most rewarding) heroes to master.

For lots more on choosing your go-to character in Marvel Rivals, check out the Duelist tier list, Vanguard tier list, Strategist tier list, or--if you're coming to the game as an Overwatch player, you can pick your Rivals main based on your Overwatch main.

10. Luna Snow

• Difficulty rating: ★★☆☆☆
• Class: Strategist
• HP: 275

Luna Snow is ideal for new players who are a bit shy about getting into the fight, but still want the ability to defend themselves. Her normal attack, called Light & Dark Ice, deals damage to enemies and heals allies. She's also great for healing airborne heroes, who often get overlooked by their ground-bound Strategist allies.

Her Share The Stage ability allows her to protect a single ally, attaching an Idol Aura to them that protects them and restores their health when Luna is healing other teammates. We recommend attaching Idol Aura to airborne characters like Iron Man, Storm, or Human Torch, as they often fly so high that it can be difficult to hit them with Light & Dark Ice.

Luna's Ice Arts ability is another great one--it allows her to fire multiple shards of ice at enemies, damaging them while healing both her allies and herself. Absolute Zero also allows Luna to fire ice at the enemy (a single clump, in this instance), but it also heals her in the process.

But by far, Luna's most useful abilities are her passive Smooth Skate ability and her ultimate Fate Of Both Worlds ability. Smooth Skate sees Luna ice skating through the arena, making her one of the fastest-moving heroes in the game, and also allows her to jump higher. Smooth Skate's speed boost gives Luna the ability to get back in the fight ASAP, or quickly escape danger.

As for her ultimate, Fate Of Both Worlds temporarily increases Luna's HP from 275 to 525 as she puts on a performance. Players can toggle back and forth between a performance that heals all nearby allies, and one that grants nearby allies increased damage, and Luna can move around to make sure she's healing/buffing as many teammates as possible.

This is a great way to turn the tide in battle--use the first part of the performance to heal up your allies, then swap to the second performance to give them a damage boost.

9. Iron Man

• Difficulty rating: ★★☆☆☆
• Class: Duelist
• HP: 250

Iron Man has the benefit of being able to fly high and fast, which is invaluable when it comes to avoiding damage. Iron Man's normal attacks--Repulsor Blast and Unibeam--are quite useful, but using his Armor Overdrive ability will increase the damage of both attacks. Unibeam is absolutely deadly and is great for quickly draining health from enemy Vanguard-class heroes.

Iron Man's Hyper-Velocity ability allows him to fly extremely quickly for a brief amount of time--and also allows him to unleash a barrage of missiles while doing so. This is great for getting out of sticky situations--just blast your enemies with missiles and make a beeline for the nearing Strategist or health pack to heal up. Then return to the fight, activate Armor Overdrive, and hit your enemies with your buffed Unibeam.

Alternatively, Iron Man may wish to return to the fight with his ultimate ability, Invincible Pulse Cannon (assuming it's loaded up and ready to go).

This ability deals devastating damage to anyone caught in its blast and also sends them flying backwards. This ability is great for game modes in which teams are fighting to gain control of an area of the map. Aim it well enough, and you might even be able to blast enemies off the edge of the map.

8. Magneto

• Difficulty rating: ★★☆☆☆
• Class: Vanguard
• HP: 650

Magneto's normal attack, Iron Volley, allows him to fire a volley of magnetized orbs that explode on impact, but rather than reducing the damage of projectiles fired from a long distance, Iron Volley's explosions get bigger based on how far they've traveled.

His Metallic Curtain ability blocks all projectiles, and his Metal Bulwark ability conjures a protective shield around an allied teammate. Any damage taken by this shield transforms into rings on Magneto's back, but we'll get to those in a moment.

Magneto isn't just about protecting others--his Iron Bulwark ability works just like Metal Bulwark, except it gives a protective shield to Magneto rather than a teammate. Again, any damage the Iron Bulwark shield takes transforms into the circular metal rings on his back. What do those rings do, exactly?

Well, if you use Magneto's Mag-Cannon ability, you can launch those rings at enemy players, causing damage. The more rings on Magneto's back, the greater the damage, and a full stack (three rings) will also knock enemies back upon impact, in addition to dealing damage.

But the real star of the show here is his ultimate ability, Meteor M. The Meteor M ability sees Magneto fly upward (making him harder to hit) and summon an iron meteor that does devastating damage upon impact.

The meteor's power can even be enhanced by absorbing the projectiles of enemies to shoot at it, but too many projectiles can cause it to self-destruct, so it's best to launch this meteor quickly.

7. The Thing

• Difficulty rating: ★★☆☆☆
• Class: Vanguard
• HP: 700

In addition to his enormous amount of health, The Thing also has a passive ability called Unyielding Will, which makes him immune to being launched upward, knocked backward, or otherwise displaced.

His Stone Haymaker and Rocky Jab abilities allow him to punch his enemies with a great amount of force, and his Yancy Street Charge ability sees him gain speed, allowing him to rapidly dash through hordes of enemies, damaging them and knocking them out of the way in the process.

But as a part of The Fantastic Four, The Thing is a team player at heart. His embattled leap ability sees him jump toward an ally, healing both himself and his teammate in the process. His ultimate ability, however, is all about damage and area control.

Activating Clobberin' Time will cause The Thing to forcefully punch the ground, damaging enemies in front of him and sending them flying upward.

6. Invisible Woman

• Difficulty rating: ★★★★☆
• Class: Strategist
• HP: 275

As a hero with a four-star difficulty rating and relatively low HP, you might expect the Invisible Woman to be quite complicated to master. But in our experience, she's not too hard to get the hang of, and she's incredibly useful.

Her normal attack, Orb Projection, damages enemies but heals allies. Her Psionic Vortex ability sucks nearby enemies into the orb, making them a prime target for her Force Physics ability, which allows her to push enemies in front of her away, or pull them closer. Pulling them closer is a great time to unleash Agile Strike, a three-hit combo that damages enemies and knocks them backward.

Invisible Woman's Guardian Shield is invaluable, allowing her to place a damage-absorbing shield in front of her allies. This ability refreshes almost instantly, allowing her to reposition the shield quickly. Even better, the shield can go anywhere--even up in the air. This is great for protecting airborne heroes long enough for you to heal them via Orb Projection.

If things start getting dicey, Invisible Woman can easily make a quick escape via her Veiled Step ability, which allows her to jump high into the air and land far away from her original position. This is a great way to escape an unwinnable situation long enough for her passive ability, Covert Advance, to trigger. Covert Advance sees Invisible Woman become invisible after a short time out of combat, regenerating health in the process.

Her Invisible Boundary ultimate ability is also quite powerful, creating a circular force field that renders allies within it undetectable by enemies and heals them over time. Enemy players who are brave enough to step into the Invisible Boundary will have their movement slowed.

Invisible Woman is wildly powerful, but don't let that four-star difficulty rating scare you off--she's really quite easy to get the hang of, and is great for players who want to be able to heal themselves and their allies, but still want to be able to inflict damage upon enemies and control their ability to freely move across the arena.

5. Star-Lord

• Difficulty rating: ★★☆☆☆
• Class: Duelist
• HP: 250

If you enjoy third-person shooters, Star-Lord is the hero for you. His normal attack--Element Guns--sees him dual-wielding two automatic pistols that, when well-aimed, can do absolutely massive damage.

But if you're struggling with aim, don't worry--Star-Lord's Blaster Barrage hits all enemies within range, with no aiming needed, and his ultimate Galactic Legend ability sends Star-Lord flying up into the air (making him harder to hit) before unleashing a barrage of elemental bullets from his pistols that do devastating damage. This ability also allows him to lock-on to enemies, and once locked-on, it's almost impossible to miss.

Star-Lord also has some great movement-based abilities to help him get out of trouble or catch up with his team. His Stellar Shift ability allows him to dodge and quickly reload at the same time. He gains both the Unstoppable and Invincible status effects while dodging.

His Rocket Propulsion ability allows him to quickly rocket-boost himself forward, which really comes in handy when trying to avoid certain death or get back into the match ASAP after being eliminated.

4. Jeff The Land Shark

• Difficulty rating: ★☆☆☆☆
• Class: Strategist
• HP: 250

He might be adorable, but this cuddly little shark with puppy-dog vibes is deadlier--and more helpful--than you might think. Jeff The Land Shark has two normal attacks: Joyful Splash and Aqua Burst. Joyful Splash sees Jeff spew a mouthful of healing water at his allies, and this water has some serious range, making it ideal for healing airborne allies or ground-bound teammates who are far away.

Meanwhile, Aqua Burst allows Jeff to spew multiple spheres of water at enemies, damaging any enemies within range of said spheres. His Healing Bubble ability is exactly what it sounds like--Jeff spits out a bubble that heals whichever teammate collects it, grants them both a healing boost and a movement boost, and also launches nearby enemies upward.

His passive Oblivious Cuteness ability is also quite useful, as it reduces the amount of damage Jeff takes from critical hits. His Hide And Seek ability allows him to dive into the floor, with only his dorsal fin visible, which makes him harder to hit. While using Hide And Seek, Jeff moves faster, automatically self-heals if he's injured, and gains the ability to swim up the side of walls. It's great for orchestrating a subtle exit if Jeff finds himself in the middle of a battle he can't win.

Jeff's most powerful ability is arguably his It's Jeff! ultimate ability. Jeff dives into a large section of the arena's floor before briefly surfacing and goblins up anyone caught in the whirlpool. Hide And Seek then automatically activates for a brief amount of time, allowing Jeff to quickly swim away from the scene before spitting out the heroes he's swallowed. It's Jeff! is great for getting enemies out of the way, especially if you're near the edge of the map--you can simply use Hide And Seek to swim to the edge of the map and spit your enemies out right there, sending them flying off the edge of the map and killing them instantly.

It's Jeff! can also be used to swallow teammates, swim to a safer area, and spit them out there before using Joyful Splash to heal them up. Just be careful not to accidentally swallow teammates along with enemies, as your allies likely won't appreciate being spit off the side of the map.

3. The Punisher

• Difficulty rating: ★☆☆☆☆
• Class: Duelist
• HP: 275

The Punisher is great for new players--especially those who enjoy third-person shooters. His normal attacks include Adjudication--which see The Punisher fire an automatic rifle that does decent damage--and Deliverance.

Deliverance can easily take out most characters in three or four shots (depending on their HP and how much damage they've already taken). Both Adjudication and Deliverance pack a serious punch, and swapping back and forth between them makes taking out enemies incredibly easy. But if you want to make it easier, you can use The Punisher's Scourge Grenade ability, which fires a smoke grenade, blinding enemies, causing minor damage, and sending The Punisher flying backward, out of their range.

Enemies can still be seen through the Scourge Grenade's smoke, creating the perfect opportunity to finish them off with Deliverance or Adjudication. The Punisher's passive Warrior's Gaze ability works like X-Ray vision, and allows him to briefly see outlines of enemies who disappear from sight by running for cover.

Speaking of running for cover, The Punisher's Vantage Connection ability allows him to launch a grappling hook, creating a sort of zipline that can quickly move him across the map. This is great for escaping peril or relocating at a moment's notice.

But the real stars of the show are The Punisher's Culling Turret ability and his Final Judgement ultimate ability. Activating Culling Turret creates a shielded turret with a shield and a separate HP bar, so unless enemies are behind The Punisher, they'll have to deplete the turret shield's HP before they can start whittling down The Punisher's HP.

The Culling Turret does massive damage and lasts until its shield is destroyed, but there's one downside: The Punisher has to sit in it, leaving him unable to move while using the turret. Having the Invisible Woman cast a shield near you or having Luna Snow cast Share The Stage to attach a protective Idol Aura to The Punisher is a great way to make up for the vulnerability created by sitting in one place with only a forward-facing turret shield to protect you.

As for The Punisher's Final Judgement ultimate ability, it's great at crowd control. Final Judgement sees two Gatling guns appear on The Punisher's back, along with a target-seeking missile launcher.

While this is great at draining enemy health, it offers no protection for the Punisher. No HP boost, no temporary HP, no floating in the air, no shield. So be aware of your surroundings and be sure to let your teammates know you're about to play judge, jury, and executioner, so the Strategists on your team can keep you healed up, and any Vanguards can get between you and the enemy, absorbing damage.

2. Venom

• Difficulty rating: ★☆☆☆☆
• Class: Vanguard
• HP: 800

Venom is arguably one of the best heroes to take for a spin as a new player. He's got more HP than any other character in the game, and his Symbiotic Resilience ability allows him to generate bonus health if he takes damage. The more damage he takes, the more bonus health he'll recover.

Venom is also highly mobile. His Venom Swing ability allows him to quickly get back in the fight (or get the hell out and find a health pack), and it also gives him a chance to make use of Frenzied Arrival: An ability that allows Venom to dive-slam into the ground when jumping or swinging from a significant height.

When he hits the ground, any nearby enemies will take damage and get tossed into the air by the force of Venom's landing. But this hulking symbiote's surprisingly smooth movement doesn't stop there--his passive Alien Biology ability allows him to crawl up walls, providing more opportunities to jump down and trigger his Frenzied Arrival ground-slam ability.

As for offense, Venom's normal attack is Dark Predation, a skill that sees him use his tentacle-like appendages to stab enemies. Venom needs to be fairly close to his enemies to land a hit with Dark Predation, but with 800 health and the ability to Venom Swing away if things get messy, it's a small price to pay. Venom can also use his Cellular Corrosion ability to grab multiple enemies with his tentacles.

Cellular Corrosion causes damage to enemies who are unable to break free from Venom's clutches, so grabbing your foes with that ability and then using Dark Predation to damage them while they're still in your clutches is a great way to engage in some crowd control. Triggering Symbiotic Resistance beforehand is even better, as it lessens the likelihood of enemies managing to kill Venom before he can kill them.

Venom's ultimate ability, Feast Of The Abyss, is quite similar to Jeff The Land Shark's ultimate ability. Venom melts into a large puddle of black symbiote goo on the floor, and can reposition himself. After a brief period of time (or, ideally, when triggered by the player), Venom will surface, taking a large bite out of any nearby enemies.

This ability can do some significant damage--one chomp is enough to cut down The Punisher's health by over 50%, for example. But it also had added benefits: Feast Of The Abyss regenerates Venom's health, granting him bonus health that--depending on how many victims were devoured--can temporarily raise his HP from 800 to over 1,300.

All in all, Venom is extremely easy to get the hang of, and more than that, he is wildly fun to play. Like many of Marvel Rivals' playable heroes, Venom really makes you feel like you're playing a brain-eating symbiote from planet Klyntar.

1. Scarlet Witch

Difficulty rating: ★☆☆☆☆

Class: Duelist

HP: 250

At first glance, Scarlet Witch is easy to overlook. She's got low HP, only one normal attack, and doesn't move very fast. But she's capable of inflicting wild amounts of damage, and can quickly escape if the fight gets too dicey.

Her normal attack, Chaos Control, deals damage to enemies based on a percentage of their max health. But far more importantly, Chaos Control is effectively an endless stream of Chaos Magic that does not require aiming. Yep, Wanda's magic effectively has auto-aim. It also has some serious range, and using it restores Chaos Energy.

Chaos Energy powers one of her other abilities: Chthonian Burst. This ability allows her to fire up to four explosive magic missiles that pack a serious punch. Chaos Energy slowly refills on its own over time, but using Chaos Control refills it much faster, and when playing as Scarlet Witch, you should pretty much always be using both Chaos Energy and Chthonian Burst.

Another ability Scarlet Witch possesses is called Dark Seal. Triggering it fires an orb of Chaos Magic that can be detonated by the player, or will detonate on its own eventually. Once detonated, Dark Seal essentially serves as a force field that periodically stuns enemies who try to walk through it, or happen to be standing within range when it detonates.

Another valuable ability Scarlet Witch possesses is Mystic Protection. It has two charges, and when triggered, Scarlet Witch becomes transparent and gains the ability to fly--but enemy players only see her as a small red orb zooming around that is very hard to hit. Mystic Projection is an excellent way to get out of hot water and find the nearest health pack when an enemy is about to finish you off.

But the best demonstration of Scarlet Witch's chaotic powers is her Reality Erasure ultimate ability. When triggered, Scarlet Witch can fly freely, chanting a brief incantation ("Pure chaos!") before unleashing a huge orb of Chaos Magic that destroys nearly everything in its path.

The brief moment between triggering Reality Erasure and it actually detonating can be dangerous, however--Scarlet Witch does not have an extra shield or any other additional help to protect her while she's vulnerable.

As soon as enemy players hear, "Pure chaos!" they will do everything they can to take Scarlet Witch down before Reality Erasure detonates. We recommend either flying as high up as possible and only descending when the ability is about to detonate or triggering the ability while hiding behind cover, only exposing yourself to the enemy right when Reality Erasure is going to detonate. If you've got voice chat on, be sure to warn your teammates so they can protect you with shields, healing, or distractions.

Overall, Scarlet Witch is the best character to start off with if you're new to Marvel Rivals. Knowing that every single normal attack will always hit its target will allow you to get familiar with Scarlet Witch's other powers and focus on familiarizing yourself with other important aspects of the game, like different modes, various hero team-ups, and not letting Jeff The Land Shark spit you off the side of the map.