ElevateBoost
Marvel Rivals
Marvel Rivals' mid-season 9 is in full swing, and the official July 23, 2026 patch notes confirm the update didn't touch a single hero — just the new Thebes map and the Blood Hunt PvE mode. That means the current tier list, drawn from the last real balance pass, is exactly what you should be climbing with right now. Here's the full breakdown by role.
The July 23 Patch Didn't Touch Balance — the Meta Hasn't Moved
Unlike a typical mid-season update, the July 23 patch was pure content: the new Thebes Convoy map, an expanded Blood Hunt mode (Gear Enhancement, Gear Refining, and a Nightmare difficulty cap pushed to Floor 300), plus new Hela and Psylocke skins. Not a single hero received a buff or nerf. The tier list below, based on Season 9's last real balance patch, is still exactly what you should be playing to climb this week.
S-Tier: the 9 Heroes You Need to Know for Mid-Season 9
These nine heroes dominate Diamond-and-above competitive play, largely thanks to the Team-Up overhaul that ramped up overall damage output and rewrote hero synergies.
- Bruce Banner / Hulk (Vanguard) — the best dive tank this season, with regenerating health, elite mobility, and a new ground-slam attack via his Team-Up.
- Cloak & Dagger (Strategist) — consistent healing and near-guaranteed survival thanks to the Luna Snow Team-Up, which can tank even one-shot ultimates.
- Gambit (Duelist) — an auto-ban in most ranked lobbies: a hybrid of damage and healing with one of the strongest ultimates in the game.
- Invisible Woman (Strategist) — her shields, boosted by the Human Torch Team-Up, make her close to a must-pick Strategist.
- Magik (Duelist) — a fearsome diver between her portals and raw damage, capable of front-lining DPS with the right support.
- Phoenix (Duelist) — shreds tanks and puts out consistent damage all game, backed by excellent mobility.
- Rocket Raccoon (Strategist) — a mix of healing and damage that elevates his Team-Up partners (like The Punisher) into S-Tier picks.
- Thor (Vanguard) — tougher to master than Magneto or Doctor Strange, but his Hela Team-Up makes him nearly impossible to kill.
- Winter Soldier (Duelist) — close to unkillable thanks to the Elsa Bloodstone Team-Up, which cuts his cooldowns on every elimination.
Why This Meta Rewards a 3-Healer Comp So Heavily
The Team-Up overhaul added 50 new synergies and pushed overall damage output up across the board — which, counterintuitively, makes the 3-healer composition stronger, not weaker. The higher the damage ceiling climbs, the more a team needs dedicated Strategists to offset it. That's why Cloak & Dagger, Invisible Woman, and Rocket Raccoon fill three of the nine S-Tier slots.
A, B, and C-Tier: the Rest of the Roster
Below S-Tier, the gap between heroes narrows fast — most of the roster is genuinely viable in the right hands.
- A-Tier rounds out with Angela, Black Panther, Blade, Captain America, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, Elsa Bloodstone, Groot, Hela, Jeff the Land Shark, Luna Snow, Magneto, Mantis, Namor, Peni Parker, Scarlet Witch, Spider-Man, Star-Lord, The Punisher, Venom, and White Fox — solid picks, one small tweak away from S-Tier.
B-Tier covers situational-but-far-from-bad picks: Black Cat, Black Widow, Cyclops, Deadpool, Devil Dinosaur, Emma Frost, Iron Fist, Iron Man, Jubilee, Loki, Moon Knight, Psylocke, Storm, The Thing, Ultron, and Wolverine. C-Tier is the toughest group to make work in competitive right now: Adam Warlock, Hawkeye, Human Torch, Mister Fantastic, Rogue, and Squirrel Girl — fine below Diamond, best avoided in high ranked until the next balance pass.
Season 9.5: The Hood Arrives August 7
Officially confirmed, The Hood (Parker Robbins) will be Marvel Rivals' 53rd playable hero — and the game's first ranged Vanguard, a genuinely new tank profile that should reward teams built around his poke damage. He arrives with the Season 9.5 update, currently dated August 7, 2026, alongside a new Team-Up with Jubilee (both heroes taking on vampire-themed forms) and the usual mid-season balance patch. Treat these details as provisional until NetEase publishes the official patch notes.
Marvel Rivals on Console: Crossplay and Controller Settings
Marvel Rivals supports full crossplay between PC, PS5, and Xbox, including in ranked matchmaking, which can mix input types depending on your queue settings. Controller aim assist is active by default against other controller players (and reduced when crossing into keyboard-and-mouse lobbies, depending on your input-based matchmaking setting). If you're grinding ranked on PS5 or Xbox, take five minutes to tune your stick sensitivity and dead zone before you queue — a bad controller setup costs more rank than hero choice does.
Whether you're grinding toward Diamond or Celestial, the formula doesn't change: play an S- or A-Tier hero you actually know, ban with intent, and understand your Team-Ups. If you want to speed things up before Season 9.5 lands, ElevateBoost's Marvel Rivals coaches can boost your rank or coach you hero-by-hero, on PC or console.
