Vanguard is one of the three roles in Marvel Rivals. Simply put, they are the characters on the front lines for their team, possessing a massive health pool, absorbing enemy damage, and marching forward with their offensive and crowd-controlling abilities.
Effectively using a Vanguard is a technical task requiring practice, game sense, and, most importantly, a suitable character. In the article below, we’ll be looking at the Best Vanguards in Marvel Rivals. Read on to learn more.
Top 5 Best Vanguards in Marvel Rivals
1. Venom
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+ 5Venom is one of the most potent Vanguards in the game. By being a 1-star hero on the difficulty rating, he’s dominant and easy to grasp for beginners.
As a Vanguard, he’s already packed with a damage buff, dealing significant damage to his enemies, but his durability, mobility, and crowd-control abilities are where he stands out. Being regarded as one of the most durable characters in the game, Venom uses Symbiotic Resilience to regenerate and enhance his HP through health boosts.
On the ‘mobility’ side of things, the character has Web Swing. You know Venom's swinging abilities if you’ve interacted with the Spider-Man Universe. Like the films and comics, the Web Swing allows Venom to maneuver through various locations on the map quickly. Despite the situation, this trait always comes in handy.
And where he can swing fast, he can slow his enemies down through Cellular Corrosion. An ability that allows Venom to reduce his enemies’ mobility, creating a gap for his teammates and making room for himself to deal significant damage.
Finally, his Ultimate—The Feast of the Abyss. When Venom activates this, he deals significant AoE damage to his enemies, effectively depleting their health bars and ruining their offensive strategies.
2. Doctor Strange
click to enlarge + 5The Sorcerer Supreme is another Vanguard widely regarded among Marvel Rival players. He excels as a front-liner and is highly skilled at team support and crowd control.
Starting with his defensive ability, the Shield of the Seraphim allows Stephen to deploy a protective barrier that absorbs incoming damage from enemies. On the other hand, he can utilize the Maelstrom of Madness to release a burst of energy that not only deals damage to his opponents but also manages to disorient them, briefly serving as a multi-purpose ability.
Mobility-wise, Doctor Strange utilizes the Pentagram of Farallah, an ability that allows him to create portals across the map, making it easier for him to teleport to various locations. Finally, the Eye of Agamotto (Ultimate) allows Strange to immobilize his enemies by separating their souls from their bodies, effectively creating a window for his allies to go big on the offense.
3. Groot
click to enlarge + 5Being a character with a 2-star difficulty rating, Groot is relatively easy to use. By capitalizing on his area and crowd-control abilities, Groot can significantly influence the game.
Starting with Thorny Wall, an ability that allows Groot to create a barrier made of branches that not only block enemy movement but also act as protection against incoming projectiles.
Groot excels in area control and crowd management, using his unique abilities to shape the battlefield to his team's advantage. He can heal himself through Regrowth over time, increasing his durability in the game to support his teammates further while being an absolute menace.
Entangling Roots allows him to set traps for his enemies, effectively blocking their movement and creating space for his teammates to develop offensive strategies. Through Nature’s Grasp (Ultimate), Groot captures his enemies and clusters them at a central point. After which, AoE attacks are deployed.
4. Peni Parker
click to enlarge + 5Peni Parker is another premier Vanguard that supports her team while disrupting her enemies’ gameplay.
Through Arachno-Mines, she can deploy mines that explode upon enemy contact, effectively depleting their health pools. While not a crowd-control ability, it can waste her opponent’s time destroying them. This can create a small gap for players to shock her with their combos.
Through Spider Drones, Peni Parker can release drones that consistently damage the enemies, decreasing their health pools and disrupting their attention from Peni’s allies.
With Bionic Spider-Nest, she can generate webs that provide healing and enhance movement speed, acting as a double threat to her enemies. With her Ultimate, she can enhance her suit’s abilities.
5. Magneto
click to enlarge + 5The final Vanguard on our list is Magneto, a character who uses magnetism to change the dynamics of the battlefield.
Starting from his supportive abilities, Magneto uses Metallic Curtain to create a magnetic barrier that blocks incoming damage from the enemies, effectively shielding himself and his allies. He can also use Magnetic Shield to place protective shields around his teammates.
Apart from protection, though, the Magnetic Shield also absorbs the damage, which is then used to charge Magneto’s Mag-Cannon, which fires damage-dealing projectiles at the enemy team. Through his Ultimate, he produces an enormous AoE attack that effectively reels in his opponents and damages them through metallic debris.
For more articles like this, take a look at our Marvel Rivals page.