It’s daunting for any beginner to start playing Marvel Rivals. After all, the game launched with 35 characters, with even more heroes and villains rapidly on the way from Marvel’s rich roster. Many of these characters are quite complex and can ruin the onboarding experience, turning a new player away from a fun hero shooter.

To help you get started, we’ve picked out the two best heroes for beginners in each role. These heroes are easy to learn yet highly effective in their niche, and there’s bound to be a character that aligns with your preferred playstyle. Here are our top picks for new player-friendly heroes in Marvel Rivals.

Jeff the Land Shark

The adorable Jeff the Land Shark is a Strategist that any newcomer to Marvel Rivals can easily understand. Jeff has the strongest single-target healing in the game and can easily keep his frontline healthy without relying on abilities. If his team is under pressure, he can spit out Healing Bubbles to grant them movement speed and amplify the healing received. A smart Jeff can cover his whole team by spreading these useful bubbles around the map to act as portable healing packs as they last a long time.

For defense, Jeff is a slippery hero who can hide under the map, escaping from enemies using his bonus move speed and ability to climb up walls. And of course, he’s infamous for his ultimate that can swallow whole teams and spit them out the map for an easy team wipe. It’s still a versatile ability even when you can’t do that, as it is unmatched in its potential to break up stalemates.

Peni Parker

With heroes flying around the map and attacks from all directions, Marvel Rivals frequently becomes overwhelming. Because of this, new players can appreciate Peni Parker’s simple game plan: control a point and defend it with your life. Peni’s kit is tailor-made to make her the best anchor in the game. All you need to do is set up her Bionic Spider-Nest on the point, fill it up with mines, and force the enemy to take heavy losses as they try to push the objective.

Peni Parker’s Cyber-Web Snare is a powerful yet underrated crowd control that frequently catches players off guard. The long-range stun is on such a short cooldown that new players are not punished for spamming it to look for picks. Even players new to Marvel Rivals can make the game much easier for their team by constantly stunning enemies looking to dive their backline.

Hela

If matchmaking works properly, you’ll fight with and against other beginners in your lobbies. As you can’t rely on your team at this stage, consider going for an independent character like Hela. The Goddess of Death’s primary fire is hitscan, which means you’ll damage enemies if the cursor is on them. She’s the bane of flying characters like Iron Man and can make short work of any target within her line of sight. Aim for players who aren’t using cover effectively and you’ll be racking up MVPs in no time.

Teammates won’t turn around to help the backline against a pesky flanker? Hela can transform into a crow that lets her escape and reposition on a relatively short cooldown. She can also stun with Soul Drainer and fight them off herself. Finally, Hela’s ultimate can act as a get-out-of-jail-free card since it gives you tons of bonus health that won’t kill you if it depletes.

Magneto

Magneto is the definite answer for beginners who want to embody a traditional tank in Marvel Rivals. The Master of Magnetism is an immovable frontline who keeps his team safe using shields. Magneto can also conjure protective bubbles to save himself or a teammate, but it’s best used as an offensive tool to enable his allies to dive into the enemy’s backline.

Finally, Magneto’s ultimate is dependable for beginners to counter many ultimates in the game. When the enemy team starts yelling out their powerful moves, you can cancel it out by sucking into your meteor, before unleashing it to grab an easy elimination in the process. Magneto lets players new to Marvel Rivals have a consistent, impactful presence as a Vanguard.

Punisher

Punisher offers a smooth transition for players that are inexperienced with the hero shooter genre but can hold their own in familiar shooters. He has a relatively simple kit focused around his two weapons: a long-range rifle and a shotgun. As you can imagine, all you really need to do is point the gun at the enemy team and shoot.

Despite his low-skill floor, he boasts an incredibly high-skill ceiling that scales with your mastery over the character. Players who aren’t comfortable with the hero may stay in the backline, using the zipline to escape and camping in one corner with the turret. But as you get better at using him and at Marvel Rivals, you have the potential to become a menace to the enemy team once you start using his arsenal aggressively.

Rocket Raccoon

Rocket Raccoon is one the easiest Strategist to learn in Marvel Rivals, and a perfect character to ease beginners into the role. Unlike the other supports, Rocket doesn’t have cooldowns or minigames to his kit to track, nor does he need to rely on precise aiming. You can shoot his bouncing healing orbs in your team’s general direction, and it will keep them topped up during a fight. Moreover, its long range can assist your divers without putting yourself at risk.

Rocket’s deployable gadget is a set-and-forget ability that spits out armor packs and revives the first teammate who falls in its area, turning the game into a permanent 7v6. Another great reason to start mastering Rocket is his unmatched mobility, letting him freely run on walls and Jetpack Dash away from danger. Add that to his natural evasiveness from his small hitbox, Rocket can stay alive longer to keep pumping out heals.

Conclusion

There’s no need to burden yourself with complicated strategies as a beginner. Straightforward heroes like Rocket Raccoon and Punisher are suitable for new players because they clear your mental burdens on individual mechanics. Focusing on fundamentals—such as positioning and big-picture thinking like game sense—is way more productive. Learning these skills early on will help you ride the harsh learning curve of Marvel Rivals, and you might even enjoy the game more for it.