Discover everything you need to know about the best tanks in Marvel Rivals and what makes them unique from others.
Marvel Rivals offers eight different tanks and all come with unique playstyles. Tanks are designed to absorb damage, protect teammates, and control the battlefield. The game features nine distinct Tanks and each one gives an immersive playstyle. They are the frontliners in Marvel Rivals and are crucial for initiating battles and creating opportunities for teammates. Experimenting with different heroes will help you to discover your playstyle. Tanks have high health and defensive abilities, allowing them to soak up damage. Tanks like Captain America have abilities that shield or reduce damage for allies. Doctor Strange can reposition enemies with his magic. Tanks in Marvel Rivals play a crucial role in contesting and holding objectives. Damage dealers and healers are vulnerable without a strong frontline. In this guide, we’ll discuss every Tank that the game has to offer including best to worst ones.
Tanks in Marvel Rivals are essential for maintaining team stability, making them a top choice for players looking to master the frontline. As you refine your skills with different Tanks, investing in hero leveling services can help you quickly unlock their full potential and optimize your gameplay. Mastering a Tank’s abilities ensures better team coordination and a higher chance of victory in intense battles.
All Tanks Ranked in Marvel Rivals
We’ll cover the best Tanks in Marvel Rivals including their abilities, playstyle, and what makes them the best or worst Tanks.
- Peni Parker- Uses Spider drones and mines for area denial and healing.
- Captain America- He is capable of both melee attacks and defensive maneuvers.
- Groot- He has the ability for crowd control to weaken the enemies and deploy walls.
- The Thing- A new Tank focuses on crowd control along with the melee attack.
- Hulk- Bruce has crowd control abilities and multiple forms, increasing his durability.
- Thor- He excels at diving into enemy lines, dealing massive damage in intense combat.
- Magneto- He provides defensive support through magnetic shields.
- Venom- He thrives in chaotic fights, gaining bonus health.
- Doctor Strange- The best Tank that can create portals for strategic positioning.
9) Peni Parker
She is a premier aerial denial Tank that sets various gadgets that make standing where she doesn’t want you to be a very bad idea. Her normal claw attack is Cyber Web Cluster dual cannons that rapidly fire projectiles. At the heart of her kit though is the Bionic Spider Nest, a construct that she places down that creates a large web. Standing in the web gives you increased movement speed and even healing over time which converts into bonus health if your HP is full. The Nest also spawns spider drones that chase down any enemies in the area before exploding. Due to this, it’s usually best to place the Nest somewhere safe. This way you can force your opponents to face you while you have all of the advantage.
Peni can also place an Arachno Mines which activates once enemies get too close, dealing significant damage. To ensure that she cannot be displaced, Peni can use Cyber Bond to attach herself to surfaces which causes her to bounce back if moves too far. She can even pull herself up walls for extra height and like most spider characters she can also climb on walls. Her Cyber Web snare is a ranged immobilize when hitting enemies or a smaller patch of web that provides the same buff benefits as her Bionic Spider Nest.
Her Ultimate Spider Sweeper grants a massive buff to her speed and bonus HP before deploying mines, drones, and Cyber Webs repeatedly. She can also knock enemies away with her spider leg which will displace them and is capable of holding entire choke points just by herself.
8) Captain America
He’s a mobile bruiser capable of diving in and out of fights while keeping the pressure on. His normal attack is Sentinel Strike lets you bash enemies with your iconic shield building up into a throne attack after hitting twice. This shield throw will automatically ricochet to a nearby target and you can do this up to four times before building stacks again. When facing down a group though, you’ll be better served by Vibranium Energy Saw. It allows you to throw your shield a fair distance before ricocheting enemies up to three times.
At his core though, Captain America is all about mobility. Your Leading Dash ability is a sprint that increases your forward speed and lets you leap high into the air. While airborne, Captain America can smash down on enemies using a super soldier slam. This deals damage and pops them into the air. This is great for disrupting the enemy lines and is a fantastic option for both engaging and leaving fights.
You can also close short distances by using your Liberty Rush to dash forward with your shield raised. Keeping your shield up is how you stay alive and you can do so with Living Legend. This lets you deflect any incoming projectiles in random directions, but keeping yourself in the fight is incredibly useful. The shield only has 400 HP though, so make sure to use it wisely.
Cap’s Ultimate Freedom Charge lets you carve a path through the enemy team by granting you and nearby allies increased movement speed on top of regenerating bonus HP. It’s good to know that running into enemies with a leading dash while holding your shield up will let you bounce enemies, allowing you to distract them or push them toward your team easily. If you’re looking for a speedy dive tank that is a force on the front line and can quite literally do this all day, then Captain America is your man.
7) Groot
Groot is a control-based frontline character making use of walls and a surprising amount of range in order to win the fight. His normal attack Vine Strike has a healthy amount of range letting you sit further back than most frontliners while you poke away your opponents. The main stick of Groot is to annoy enemies with both his wall abilities to force favorable trades, lock down choke points, and overall disorient the enemy team. These are not just physical blockers though as Groot can awaken his Flora Colossus passive, giving them extra abilities while he’s nearby. Thornlash Wall are small low-health option that true to its name and lashes out whenever Groot damages an enemy in range.
You can place up to two at a time and they’re perfect for quickly locking down small doorways or blocking line of sight. The Ironwood Wall is much larger with almost triple the health and is ideal for cutting off the tanks from their backline. They can also absorb more dangerous abilities. However, damaging an enemy while near this wall will give Groot up to 250 bonus health, making him much harder to kill. Groot can also take advantage of funneling enemies into tight spaces with his Spore Bomb. This is an AoE cluster that deals moderate damage.
For his Ultimate though, Groot has Strangling Prison which is a projectile that ensnares nearby enemies and applies damage over time effect. It makes them an easy target for the rest of your team to clean up. If you’re a fan of controlling the enemy’s movements and like to utilize smart positioning in your gameplay, then Groot is the perfect Tank for you.
6) The Thing
The Thing is a new Tank added in Season 1.5 in Marvel Rivals. This character focuses on melee attacks and crowd control. He has the primary fire that allows him to quickly jabs forward as he keeps holding it, followed by a small delay before her jabs forward again. His secondary lets him charge up a big punch that deals heavy damage. Once you hit full charge, your hand the cool flash animation, and then you hit. If you keep holding the key, then you can hold on to the hit for a little bit longer if you want to hold off on the timing a little bit. Like his primary fire, the secondary fire has a pretty good range, and he can hit enemies that are up to 10 m away with it.
The secondary fire also instantly grants the thing additional bonus health for as long as he holds the secondary fire up. The hit from the secondary fire pierces enemies and will deal equal amounts of damage to any enemies that are within range. Something that’s cool with the thing is that he is completely immune to knock-ups, knockbacks, or any other displacement effects. He’s not immune to any type of stuns, but anything that would move him just won’t he won’t fudge.
5) Hulk
Hulk plays a hyper-aggressive dive tank playstyle. He is the unstoppable force that we all love. Hulk is a bit different from other characters as he starts as the weaker Bruce Banner. He is equipped with a Gamma Ray Gun that deals a surprisingly decent amount of damage. He also has a Gamma Grenade that doubles as an escape tool.
The main thing to be aware of is that he has 200 HP, earning him the title of one of the squishiest characters in the whole game. While you are in this form, your main goal is to generate energy for your ultimate. This lets you transform into the Hero Hulk. Unlike other Ultimates though, this one is available from the very start of the game, meaning you could immediately transform.
In hero hulk form, your normal attacks become heavy blows. A simple punch combo that requires you to be up close. Your main gap closer and mobility is Incredible Leap which has you charge up to close cast distances very quickly. If you’re able to hit a flying character in midair, Hulk will also drag them down to the ground with him. That leaves them open to attack. You also get access to a shield with an indestructible guard which converts incoming damage to you and nearby teammates into Ultimate energy. Gamma Burst is your classic thunderclap ability being able to engage at a range or finish off fleeing opponents.
Your Radioactive Lockdown lets you put down one enemy into a stasis negating incoming damage but also removing them from the fight for a short time. Hulk’s Ultimate Hulk Smash will transform you into a larger scarier monster Hulk. This more than doubles your HP but does remove your ability to shield but in return, each of your other abilities gets enhanced. Your normal attack now launches enemies, you get access to the world breaker finisher and this lets you grab one poor unfortunate soul and slap them into the ground. This does massive damage but unlike his regular form, this mode has a time limit.
4) Thor
Thor is a dive-heavy Tank with a special resource that is key to his playstyle. His normal attack Mjolnir Bash lets you swing your mighty hammer dealing damage to enemies in melee range. Most of your abilities however do use Thor Force which is a slowly regenerating resource instead of individual cooldowns. This promotes a combo-heavy playstyle where you can chain your abilities together Weaving in Mjolnir blast to refund a single Thor Force every time you use it.
Using Thor Force also grants Thor bonus health keeping him topped up as he carves through the backline. His iconic hammer throw lets you hit ranged enemies before returning and potentially hitting them again. Storm Surge lets you spin Mjolnir before dashing forward, knocking enemies back, and letting you reach high ledges. Awakening Runes uses all three of your Thor Force but grants you temporary bonus health and a supercharged ranged attack that replaces Mjolnir blast. This will rip any enemies apart.
Lightning Realm will replenish your Thor Force depending on how many enemies you hit with it though the AoE is very small. His Ultimate God of Thunder lets you fly high and deal damage over time to enemies beneath you before you come crashing dealing massive to anyone caught in the blast. Thor is genuinely one of the tougher Tanks to take down when played well and you can get away with some quite frankly disgusting plays.
3) Magneto
He’s a well-rounded Frontliner who excels at both keeping himself and others out of danger while also dishing out respectable damage. His normal attack Iron Volley lets you shoot magnetic orbs that explode on impact. These do respectable damage and are a death sentence for more squishy members of the enemy team. His most unique standard ability is Metallic Curtain. This is a barrier that functions much in the same vein as others that block projectiles and abilities but unlike the rest, it does not have a health pool.
Instead, Magneto has an energy reserve that rapidly drains any time you hold up the shield. This makes it important to only use it in short bursts so that you don’t leave yourself vulnerable. He can also wreath a single ally in Metal Bulwark, blocking incoming damage. This is great for protecting otherwise vulnerable characters during key ultimates such as the Scarlet Witch. He also has a personal version of the Iron Bulwark ability that shares the same cooldown but instead protects Magneto directly.
For every 100 damage, you block this way metallic rings will form on Magneto’s back. These power up his mag cannon which is a much more powerful blast of metal that deals damage and knocks enemies back when fully charged. Using Magnetic Descent allows Magneto to slow his full speed which can be useful to traverse the map.
His Ultimate Meteor M summons a ball of metal and debris from the surrounding area. It sucks up any projectiles fired in the area around Magneto. This also gives you free flight for a short time before unleashing the ball that deals devastating damage to anyone you can hit. This is an amazing counter to otherwise scary Ultimates such as Star-Lords or Punishers.
2) Venom
Venom is a highly mobile dive tank that dominates the battlefield with exceptional mobility and straight-up incredible survivability. He’s been toned down a little compared to the betas but he’s still an absolute powerhouse. His normal attack Dark Predation shoots four tentacles in rapid succession reaching surprisingly far for an otherwise close-ranged character. Venom engages by using Venom swing which is the key to his high mobility and then you can use Frenzied Arrival to slam into enemies at high-speed speeds knocking them into the air. This is a great way to engage and disengage a fight as the extra mobility lets you do either of these quite fast and efficiently.
Cellular Corrosion tether enemies together and will slow them down before exploding if the enemies fail to escape you. As an aggressive tank, Venom thrives on isolating and eliminating squishy targets. However, he does lack tools for directly protecting teammates. Instead, he relies on his self-sustainability through Symbolic Resilience which generated an HP shield. The shield scales based on how low Venom’s health is when activated effectively giving you a second life. This makes him a nightmare to take down without coordinated focus from the team.
Venom Ultimate Feast of the Abyss lets you devour enemies in a large area around you which is devastating and deals massive damage. It enables you to easily clean up any remaining opponents. If you enjoy being a relentless disruptive force on the battlefield, Venom is the perfect choice for you.
1) Doctor Strange
Doctor Strange is a versatile Frontliner capable of protecting allies with ease. His normal attack is Daggers of Denak which fires five burst projectiles that deal moderate. It’s more so used to charge up your Passive Price of Magic. This builds up as you deal damage to enemies filling up your dark magic meter. This is directly tied to the power of your Maelstrom of Madness. This is a short-range AoE explosion that once fully charged deals massive damage to enemies nearby.
If you don’t vent your meter soon enough though as this fills, you will be cursed with an anti-healing effect which will negate any incoming healing for a few seconds. Managing this isn’t as bad as it might sound though especially since you can block incoming damage with your Shield of the Seraphim. This throws up a magical barrier that stops up to 800 incoming damage, letting you push the front line safely or absorb dangerous Ultimates that could otherwise wipe out your team.
If the barrier is breached though, it will go on cooldown before slowly regenerating, so try to make sure you don’t get overwhelmed. Among Stranger’s other tricks though you have the Cloak of Levitation that lets you fly for a short time. You can use this to traverse around the map, making it much easier to challenge flyers or simply put yourself out of the reach of melee characters. Your big cooldown is the Pentagram of Farallah.
This lets you summon a portal almost anywhere on the map, allowing you and your team to instantly teleport yourselves there. This is great for getting past a tricky choke point or even to create your vantage point. You can safely shoot down enemies through it. His Ultimate ability Eye of Agamoto separates nearby enemies’ souls from their bodies for a 3-second stun. Ant damage dealt to the souls is also applied to their bodies, leaving anyone who got caught as an easy target. There’s a reason they call him the Sorceress Supreme, so if you want a Frontliner that always has a tool to get the job done then you can’t go wrong with Doctor Strange.
Frequently Asked Question
Which is the best Tank in Marvel Rivals?
Doctor Strange is the best Tank in Marvel Rivals due to its capability of protecting allies with ease. His normal attack is Daggers of Denak which fires five burst projectiles that deal moderate. Among Stranger’s other tricks though you have the Cloak of Levitation that lets you fly for a short time.
Which is the Worst Tank in Marvel Rivals?
Pani Parker is the worst Tank due to its limited abilities and long cooldowns. Her abilities are less effective in the game, leaving you vulnerable in crucial moments.