The best tanks in Marvel Rivals, ranked

Key things

• Hero selection in Marvel Rivals is based on roles such as Vanguard, Duelist or Strategist
• Each hero has unique advantages and disadvantages that affect game strategies
• Some heroes, like Venom, are easier to play and excel at specific roles in the game

With 33 heroes at the start to choose who to play as Marvel Rivals can be difficult. Not only does the player have to figure out which role suits them best, Vanguard, Duelist, or Strategist, but they also have to play with each hero in that category for an extended period of time to find the right one for them.

Each hero in the game has its advantages and disadvantages, some are harder to kill and others deal significantly more damage. This list takes a look at the Vanguard heroes, tanks, and ranks them based on several factors, including how difficult they are to learn and how much reward a player is likely to see if they spend their time learning each hero.

8 Captain America

Increase shield

• Health: 650
• Difficulty: 3 stars

Captain America is one of Marvel's poster boys and is an instantly recognizable character to most gamers. He acts as a melee tank, with a shield he can raise to protect himself and his allies from enemy attacks. He can also throw this shield, lunge with it, and create an area of ​​increased movement and healing.

Captain America can be good in certain team compositions. However, without healers who can keep up with his hyper-aggressive playstyle, he will likely struggle to defend the objective against the onslaught of enemy Duelists who can quickly overwhelm him.

7 Penny Parker

Battlefield Cover In Spiderbots

• Health: 650
• Difficulty: 4 stars

Peni Parker is a fun character for all Mecha media fans, even though she never appears as a pilot. Peni's abilities focus on area denial as opposed to damage negation, covering the battlefield with webs that regularly spawn spiderbots that heal Peni and damage enemies.

Her perfect ability allows her to quickly clear a target of enemies by pushing them away and creating huge areas of spiderbots, mines and webs. She can be a super fun hero, but when she's forced to be the main tank on the team's front line, she struggles a bit because she's better used as a support hero.

6 Magneto

Use magnetic energy to protect allies

• Health: 650
• Difficulty: 2 stars

Magneto plays in a slightly odd way, acting somewhat like a mix of Vanguard and Duelist. All of his main attacks are ranged and deal good damage, and his abilities allow him to manipulate magnetic energy to protect himself and his allies. His perfection allows him to create a meteor that deals devastating damage in a large area, which can be increased by using a charge animation to block enemy attacks.

Magneto's main flaw is his slow movement and difficulty in melee combat. Combined with Scarlet Witch, his melee combat is boosted and negates some of this weakness, but Magneto alone can fight the closer range tanks on this list.

5 Thor

God of Thunder

• Health: 500
• Difficulty: 3 stars

Thor is a Vanguard with a surprisingly small health pool. Despite this, Thor can be an absolute nightmare for the opposing team's backline, as he can rush in very quickly and deal impressive damage at close range. Each of his abilities grant Thor temporary shields that negate his small base health.

Thor's ultimate is one of the best in the game for target clearing as it deals a huge amount of damage over a large area. Despite all this, without an organized team behind him, Thor could fight. It requires the player to fully commit to throwing themselves into the enemy team, which can often lead to being outnumbered.

4 Bruce Banner/Hulk

Hulk Out And Buck Enemies

• Bruce Banner Health: 200
• Hulk Hero Health: 650
• Monster Hulk Health: 1400
• Difficulty: 4 stars

Bruce Banner is a unique entry on this list, he is one of 2 heroes in the game to have multiple forms. Starting with a squishy Bruce Banner, the main ability the player has access to is simply “Puny Banner”, which allows them to transform into the Hero Hulk, a powerful melee focused tank.

The Hulk hero peak will then allow him to transform into the Monster Hulk, an extremely healthy animal that can completely knock out a single enemy with its grasping ability. Bruce Banner's main downfall is his difficulty for newer players to master the abilities of 3 forms, and when Hero Hulk dies, being stuck as Banner can be tough for both the player and the team left without a tank.

3 Doctor Strange

Master of magic

• Health: 650
• Difficulty: 2 stars

Doctor Strange is another ranged vanguard. However, it is much easier to pick up and play than Magneta. Doctor Strange's abilities largely focus on shielding his allies with his own body and allowing them to teleport around the battlefield using his portal ability. He can deal decent main fire damage and can be very annoying to the enemy team with his ability to hover.

Doctor Strange's main drawback is his accumulation of dark magic. Each attack he launches creates a meter that can be emptied by his E ability. However, if this bar fills up, Doctor Strange will enter an anti-heal state that leaves him very vulnerable, so the player must always be aware of how bar full.

2 Groot

Fend off opponents and protect allies

• Health: 700
• Difficulty: 2 stars

Groot is the most natural vanguard on this list, boasting 700 health rather than the standard 650. This fits well with Groot's playstyle, which emphasizes his wall-building abilities and asks the player to get into the action and split the enemy team, or block objectives.

Groot's ultimate can be used to easily wipe out the enemy team if the player uses it at the right moment when the enemy team is clustered. Groot is generally a perfect tank, let down mainly by his lack of movement abilities and slow base movement speed, which results in him being out of combat for a significant amount of time every time he dies.

1 Poison

Consume enemies to gain health

• Health: 650
• Difficulty: 1 star

The last Vanguard on this list and the best is Venom. Not only is he at the top end of the health bar, but he also has a powerful main attack that can critically hit at a surprising distance and can use his swing ability to get right into the middle of the action from any position.

Venom's E and ultimate grant him bonus health based on how much health he's missing and how much damage he deals. Once in the backline of the team, Venom is hard to get away from and can be a real threat, especially if supported by strategists and dualists following his explosive entry.