Start at 2-2-2
Two Vanguards, two Duelists, two Strategists is the safest base. Every role has a partner, so one death does not remove a job from the team.
The roster math explains why. Marvel Rivals has 54 heroes as of Season 10: 14 Vanguards, 27 Duelists, 12 Strategists, and one multi-role hero (Deadpool, who can queue as any of the three). Nearly half the roster is Duelists, so damage is rarely what your lobby is short of — front line and sustain are.
Health pools are the second reason. Most Duelists and Strategists run 250 to 300 health; Vanguards run 500 to 850. A two-Vanguard front is roughly double the health of a single-tank front, and that extra health is what buys your Strategists time to work.
The comps you will actually meet
Five shapes cover almost every lobby. Learn to name them on sight, because the counter depends on the name.
| Comp | Shape | Wins by | Dies to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard 2-2-2 | 2 Vanguard, 2 Duelist, 2 Strategist | Balance, no weak phase | Nothing in particular — it is the baseline |
| Dive | 3+ mobile Duelists | Deleting one support before the team reacts | Held crowd control and grouped backlines |
| Triple support | 3 Strategists, 2 Duelist, 1 Vanguard | Long fights the enemy cannot out-damage | Burst that kills a support before healing lands |
| Anti-dive | 2–3 Vanguards with CC | Punishing the dive that keeps coming | Range that out-damages the extra front line |
| Single-tank tempo | 1 Vanguard, 3 Duelist, 2 Strategist | Taking the objective in the first exchange | Any stall past the first minute |
Dive comp
A dive team builds its whole draft around reaching your backline fast. The mobile Duelists are the core: Iron Man and Human Torch fly over the front, Spider-Man swings in from off-angles, Black Panther and Magik close distance in one button. Behind them sit Strategists that can follow the dive — Luna Snow and Adam Warlock keep divers alive mid-engagement instead of healing from spawn.
The counter is not more damage. It is crowd control held for the moment they arrive, a backline that stacks so a dive has to cross two players, and the discipline to let the overextended diver die before re-engaging. The full breakdown is in the counter dive comps guide, and the peeling habits that make it work are in how to peel for carries.
Triple support
Three Strategists is the most-discussed comp in the current meta, and it is genuinely strong in long fights. Stack Adam Warlock, Luna Snow and a third — Jeff the Land Shark for raw healing, Cloak & Dagger for the veil that denies dive targets, Invisible Woman for barriers that block the engage entirely — and the enemy runs out of damage before your team runs out of health.
What it gives up is the damage check. Two Duelists and one Vanguard cannot punish a mistake the way three Duelists can, so a triple-support team that loses a support first is just a five-hero team. The comp also leans on the fight coming to it; on retake-heavy maps where the enemy controls the timing, the sustain never gets to matter.
If you are running into triple support repeatedly, the answer is burst and anti-heal, not more sustain. Kill one support in the first exchange and the math inverts.
Anti-dive
When the enemy drafts dive, the answer is usually a third body that can peel, not a third healer. A Vanguard that stays home and punishes divers does more than a third heal beam — which is exactly why the anti-dive shape is two or three Vanguards with real crowd control: Doctor Strange, Magneto, Emma Frost, Thor and Groot can all break an engage that has already committed.
Anti-dive costs damage. Three front-liners means your Duelists have to win their own duels without help, so the shape only works when the enemy is actually diving. Against a backline-damage team that fights at range, a third Vanguard is just a bigger target.
When triple Duelist works
Three Duelists wins when the fight ends before sustain matters — fast picks on isolated targets, usually on attack retakes where the defending team is already split.
It fails against two Vanguards and two Strategists holding a corner. Your damage lands, nothing dies, and their support ultimate erases the push.
Single tank is a timer
One Vanguard means one health bar between the enemy and your Strategists, and that bar has a clock on it.
Play fast with a single tank: take the objective in the first exchange, or lose it when the tank goes down. Do not run single tank on defence unless the map chokes hard and your team can hold range.
The swap that saves a lobby
When a game is slipping, change the thing that is failing, not everything.
Losing every fight to dive? Add a body that can peel. Losing to a sustain wall? Add damage that ignores healing. Losing because nobody dies? Add burst that kills one target before the healing lands.
Change one slot, play two fights, then judge. Constant swapping keeps your ultimates at zero.
Team-ups are the last decision
A team-up upgrades exactly one hero — the one who selected the loadout. None of the 108 pairings in the game are mutual, so a “team-up duo” is really one hero getting a better kit and one hero being a body. Take the pairing when both heroes are already correct picks for the fight; skip it when it costs a role the team needs. The team-up abilities guide has the full pairing list and the tiers.
For which heroes are worth the slot on their own merits, read the heroes tier list.
Countering the five comps you meet
The five shapes above are also the five you have to beat. The full if/then is in the counter comp guide; this is the quick reference so you can decide a swap in the draft without leaving the page.
| Enemy comp | Hard counter | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| Double-shield shell | High-burst Duelists who pierce shields — Hela, Hawkeye, Iron Man; Phoenix and Namor around walls | The shield blocks one direction; damage that arrives from above or through it removes the frontline’s cover |
| Dive | Peel-heavy Strategists and CC Vanguards — Mantis, Scarlet Witch, Thor | Dive wins by deleting a support before the team reacts; held crowd control on arrival breaks the engage |
| Poke | Close the distance — Spider-Man, Black Panther | Poke needs space; remove it and the damage stops landing |
| Sustain / triple support | Burst that kills a support first | The healing wall only matters if the fight lasts; end it fast on one target |
| Anti-dive | Range that out-damages the extra front line | A third Vanguard only works when the enemy is actually diving; range punishes the wasted body |
The pattern is the same as the comp builder: name the shape, name the leak, change one slot. When the enemy comp is set, use this table to pick the hero that closes the gap; when your own comp is set, use the builder to find your own leak first.