5 of the Best (and Worst) characters in Marvel Rivals

 Marvel Rivals started it's third season not too long ago, introducing a story set up between the Phoenix and the Symbiotes of Klyntar.  This is a constantly evolving game, with changes happening regularly, so ranking characters is always subject to changes, but for now, I wanted to put out there who I thought was the 5 best and 5 worst in the game right now!  These aren't in any order.

BEST:

1. The Thing: 

The Thing is a vanguard/tank character and as such, he's got a large health pool.  His skills in close combat can really do some damage, especially since he can use his Battle Blitz skill to leap towards enemies and grant himself 25% damage reduction or use Embattled Leap to leap towards an ally and grant both them and himself 30% damage reduction for 3 seconds.  The Thing can also get in on foes with Yancy Street Charge, which will have him dash forward, launching enemies up, and the skill can then be ended early to have Ben Grimm smash the ground and disable any mobility abilities, which can be super helpful for limiting harm from heroes like Spider-Man, Moon Knight, and Captain America.  One of The Thing's attacks can also really help deal damage- Stone Haymaker.  This move both grants him bonus health and lets him wind up a big punch for greater damage.  Given his hard hitting, tanky moveset and a decent ability to get in on foes, Ben Grimm winds up as probably one of the best vanguards in the game right now.

2. Luna Snow:

                     

Luna is on the other end of the spectrum from Ben Grimm- she's a support character who focusses on buffing and healing her teammates.  Her normal projectile attack both heals allies and hurts foes, She can even manage to extend healing to herself by activating the Ice Arts ability.  Share the stage in an invaluable skill, letting her attach an Idol Aura to an ally so that when she heals them, she'll also get some of that healing, making her able to stay alive even longer.  In terms of aiding her team in combat, Luna's Absolute Zero ability can really help in a pinch.  Luna's not built to be taking on enemies by herself, but when she's got the right support and makes use of the abilities that buff her friends, she's one of the best supports in the game, able to rack up crazy numbers of assist kills.

3. Ultron:

Like Luna, Ultron is a strategist, focusing both on healing allies and damaging enemies.  By far his biggest asset is his drones which come in two abilities.  Ultron can assign a drone to continuously heal a targeted ally with Imperative: Patch, and since he can change who's being healed if he needs to, this can come in real handy.  Imperative: Patch also utilizes drones- but this time, in a real useful move, Ultron can grant his friends in range bonus health, allowing him to quickly heal a small amount in a pinch, which is super useful for a healer.  Ultron also has a flight boost ability, which means he can get back to allies and start healing again faster than many others can.  Having Iron Man on the team boosts Ultron even more, changing his regular attack, Encephalo-Ray, into Nano-Ray, which is incredibly useful because not only does it go through every other character, but it allows Ultron to keep healling any allies it hits while damaging foes.  Ultron is a versatile character. and while using him can be tricky, he more than pays off given his great healing skills and ability to heal on the fly.

4. Emma Frost:

Emma Frost moves us back to Vanguard characters and our first X-Men character.  Emma uses ranged and melee attacks to great effect.  Emma's main attack is a mid range stream that enables her to deal decent damage at a good clip, so she's capable of dealing good damage fast.  She can use that while protecting herself or a teammate as well due to being able to make a shield with Mind's Aegis, which has a health bar of its own.  Emma can also switch to close range if needed by activating diamond form, turning her body to diamond and her attacks switch to melee.  Emma is a powerful mid to close range hero, and her skills amplify her ability to help control the battlefield and her diamond form can both reduce her damage and enable her to cause a few debuffs to enemies.

5. Scarlet Witch:

We've now got our first duelist/dps character on the list!  Like Emma Frost, Scarlet Witch mainly attacks via a stream of energy, though Wanda also has a ranged projectile move for a burst of damage.  Her best ability is Dark Seal, which allows her to create a small force field and stun enemies.  Given her ability to stun foes easily and have a steady stream of damage, Scarlet Witch is a real power player in this game, allowing her to easily assist or make kills herself.

WORST:

1. Adam Warlock:

Adam Warlock is a support character, but it feels like he shouldn't be.  Adam uses his regular attacks to speed up the cooldown for his healing ability (which he can use just twice before needing to have it cool down, meaning he'll be attacking more than healing and that's gonna hurt when it counts unless there's another healer on the team to catch his slack.  He can induce healing over time to one ally and sharing their damage, but even his ultimate ability, Karmic Revival, falls short.  Adam can resurrect any nearby allies who have died, but the revived allies have only a short period of invincibility and a lack of health upon reviving, meaning that this is best used only situationally, and not that often since he could well die trying to use it.  Ultimately, Adam is middle of the road when it comes to damage and lacking when it comes to healing, because so many others can do that job better than he can.

2. Phoenix:

It pains me to put Jean Grey on this list like this but it must be done.  In theory, Phoenix should be one of the most powerful characters in the game. but she's instead a DPS that comes off like more of a support character.  Phoenix really only works well with a good team to assist her and back her up.  He abilities are also lacking, with an area of effect explosive projectile being her best move.  She doesn't do too much damage and seems to be easy to take out if her team isn't making sure of the opposite.  While one definitely can use her effectively if you really sit and learn all her ins and outs and get a good team, Phoenix relies on too many things outside her control to be effective to really be in the upper tier of characters.

3. Hawkeye:

Hawkeye is a strange character in the sense that in the right situation, he can actually be very good, but in general, he's not very stand out and is lacking big damage skills as a DPS.  Hawkeye can switch between regular and explosive arrows, but rarely will people playing him do so.  He doesn't pack that much of a punch unless he gets a critical hit, and His only big skill is his ultimate, which allows for him to damage opponents by hitting their after-images.  In practice, he feels like a less damaging version of Black Widow, whos sniping feels more powerful than his arrows.  Given how it really takes a good situation to make him viable, Hawkeye just sadly feels like he missed the mark on making it as a definitively good character.

4. Black Panther:

Black Panther isn't completely terrible, but it feels like he misses the mark.  Panther ends up feeling like a less hard hitting Wolverine, lacking Logan's abilities to up his damage and give himself damage reduction, except in one very specific case- His passive ability Panther's Cunning, which ups his damage at low health (which should be rare on a good team).  His ultimate skill to summon Bast also ends up lackluster because he can actually miss with it easily- Bast leaps in an arc, making missing targets a real possibility.  While Panther does have a ranged attack, it doesn't really make up for how vulnerable Panther can end up when his attacks miss.

5. Moon Knight:

Moon Knight is a character that feels like he's good when you play against someone who knows what they're doing, because he can be quite obnoxious, but in reality, he's only okay at best.  Moon Knight is best when he's got Ankhs out to bounce his projectiles off of and can catch people off guard with his ultimate, but if the other team is good at getting rid of his ankhs, his power significantly lessens and he feels like he's just kinda there.  Moon knight is a set-up/situational character, and that really does tend to hurt him in a few key areas, making him, I feel, lower down in terms of tiers.