Season snapshot: 10.5 (October 2026). This list covers all 54 in-service heroes — 28 Duelists, 14 Vanguards and 12 Strategists. Captain Marvel is datamined but unreleased, so she has no tier yet.
How this list is judged
Three questions decide a tier.
Does the kit change where the team can stand? Does it work without perfect teammates? Does a bad player get value from it?
A hero that answers all three is S tier. That is a kit ranking, not a win-rate ranking. Balance patches move damage; they rarely move geometry.
S tier — kits that change the map
Doctor Strange. Shield of the Seraphim blocks a sightline, and Pentagram of Farallah moves the team through it. A portal turns a stalled push into a flank in one cast.
Groot. Thornlash Wall and Ironwood Wall cut the battlefield in half. Walls stop bullets, split healers from tanks and give your Duelists a corner to shoot from.
Magneto. Metallic Curtain, Metal Bulwark and Iron Bulwark put barriers on teammates, not only on himself. He protects a diving Duelist without leaving the front.
Luna Snow. Light and Dark Ice heals and damages from the same button, and Absolute Zero freezes a diver in place. Her ultimate covers a whole team during a push.
Adam Warlock. Soul Bond shares damage across the team, and Karmic Revival brings teammates back mid-fight. A support ultimate that undoes a lost exchange is a different class of tool.
A tier — strong when the team plays around them
Strategists: Mantis, Cloak & Dagger, Invisible Woman, Loki, Rocket Raccoon, Jeff The Landshark, Ultron, Gambit, White Fox, Jubilee.
Vanguards: Hulk, Thor, Venom, The Thing, Emma Frost, Peni Parker, Captain America, Rogue, Angela, Devil Dinosaur, The Hood.
These heroes do real work, but they need a body in front of them or a teammate to enable. Mantis turns a good Duelist into a great one. She does not save a bad one.
B tier — correct in the right matchup
Duelists, range: Hawkeye, Hela, The Punisher, Iron Man, Storm, Human Torch, Star-Lord, Black Widow, Moon Knight, Squirrel Girl, Cyclops.
Duelists, close: Wolverine, Blade, Psylocke, Winter Soldier, Namor, Mister Fantastic, Phoenix, Scarlet Witch, Elsa Bloodstone, Daredevil.
Deadpool. His role depends on the form you take, so he moves between tiers with the composition rather than sitting in one.
B tier is not weak. These heroes win hard when the enemy shape suits them. Hawkeye punishes a slow push from range; Hela punishes a team that walks in a line.
C tier — high skill tax
Spider-Man, Black Panther, Magik, Iron Fist, Gorr, Black Cat.
All six are dive or close-range heroes with real ceilings. All six need a route in, a route out and a team that follows. Gorr compounds it with the lowest base health of any Duelist — his survivability is manufactured from berserkers and overhealth, not from a health pool. Black Cat plays from the smallest effective pool in the Duelist roster and is only as strong as her Fortune resource management.
Put a beginner on one and they spend the match dead. Put a specialist on one and they remove a Strategist every fight. The tier reflects the floor, not the ceiling.
Three heroes worth learning first
Pick one per role.
Vanguard: Groot. The walls teach you what cover is worth, and his kit forgives a slow reaction.
Duelist: The Punisher. Range keeps you near your team, and the turret teaches you to hold an angle instead of chasing.
Strategist: Rocket Raccoon. Healing that does not demand perfect aim lets you watch the fight instead of your crosshair.
Reading the tiers by role
Vanguard (14). The tier spread is narrow because the role’s job is fixed: hold space, protect the backline, initiate. S and A tier Vanguards differ in how much space they create — Strange’s portal and Groot’s walls move the whole team, while Thor and Venom create space by threatening a fight. If you are choosing a first Vanguard, pick from the A tier and learn what a barrier is worth before reaching for the high-execution picks.
Duelist (28). The widest tier spread in the game, because the role contains both the simplest kits and the most demanding ones. Cyclops and The Punisher sit low on the skill axis and still punish grouped teams; Spider-Man, Gorr and Black Cat sit at the top of it. Range Duelists hold angles, close Duelists take them.
Strategist (12). Every Strategist is in A tier for the same reason — the tier measures team impact, and support kits are pure team impact. The differences are in demand: Luna Snow and Adam Warlock change fights with ultimates, while Gambit and Jubilee pay out over a longer window. Pick the Strategist whose rhythm matches how aggressively your team fights.
Per-hero detail — ability numbers, team-ups and the mistakes each hero invites — lives on each hero’s own page, like how to play Doctor Strange, how to play Groot and how to play Luna Snow.
Why this list will age
Kits do not change much. Numbers do. When a patch raises a damage value, a B tier hero can climb without any kit change.
Read the tier as a starting point, then check the counter picks guide before you lock a hero into a losing matchup. The heroes database lists every hero with role, health and difficulty, and the beginner guide covers what the three roles are responsible for.