Top 5 best Duelist heroes in Marvel Rivals: Ranked

While it's not always what the team needs, Duelists are the most popular heroes players select in Marvel Rivals. You'll often see players insta-lock their favorite Duelist right from the start of the hero selection process, forcing you to pick up a Vanguard or Strategist to maintain proper team composition. Of course, Duelist heroes are still highly important to a team's success in Marvel Rivals, and there's certainly some debate about the best ones to use.

Whether you're someone trying out Marvel Rivals for the first time, finally learning the DPS role, or simply looking for a ranking, you're in the right spot. Today, we'll go over our list of the five best Duelist heroes in Marvel Rivals.

As a note, this list is highly subject to change as new heroes are released or balancing updates come through.

Coming in at the fifth spot on our list is the captain, when Thor isn't around, of the Guardians of the Galaxy, Star-Lord. Star-Lord is the perfect representation of a Duelist, as he can deal consistent and easy damage and possesses some terrific mobility skills. If you're just starting out with Duelists in Marvel Rivals, Star-Lord is one hero you should try to learn first.

While the guardian's damage isn't as strong as other heroes, his escapability and blaster guns are extremely beginner-friendly. However, if you learn to master Star-Lord, you can be the ultimate thorn in the side of the enemy team. Utilizing the Rocket Propulsion and Stellar Shift mobility skills in conjunction with the blaster guns makes you a hard target to hit and one that the enemy can't ignore.

Winter Soldier has seen a rapid rise up the tier lists since the launch of Marvel Rivals. At the start of the game, the hero was seen as a lower-tier Duelist who was more difficult to use than The Punisher. However, as time has passed, players have been just how good a dominant Winter Soldier can be. Featuring a consistent shotgun as a primary weapon and fantastic closing ability to enemies, Winter Soldier is a force to be reckoned with once you understand how to play him.

The Bionic Hook skill is particularly useful at bringing down enemies in the sky while the Trooper's Fist skill can be utilized to surprise enemies up close and delete them with a few shotgun shots. While the lack of bullets in every shotgun magazine can be frustrating, teaming up with Rocket allows you to bypass that deficiency.

One of the most underrated Duelists in Marvel Rivals is Moon Knight, who can be absolutely devastating once mastered. Moon Knight is a step-up from Star-Lord, as the two heroes offer similar skill sets but Moon Knight's are much more difficult to master. For example, Moon Knight also features mobility skills, including a grapple and glider once in the air, but you have to know when and where these skills should be used together.

For damage purposes, Moon Knight has a set of Crescent Darts that are fired three at a time. These aren't hit-scan weapons, so you'll have to be extremely accurate with them. Fortunately, you can use the darts with Moon Knight's Ancient Ankh skill to bypass any accuracy concerns. The Ancient Ankh is shot at the ground and if an enemy is within its range, you can fire your darts at it and they will lock onto enemies, dealing tons of damage. Using the Ankhs in the right spots and learning how to escape sticky situations will make you a tough Moon Knight to go up against.

These last two Duelists could be interchanged based on your overall preferences, but for the purpose of this list, we have Hawkeye at the number two spot. Hawkeye can one-shot most other Duelists with a proper headshot and fully charged arrow, which is something not a lot of other heroes can say. Even if you don't have time to fully charge an arrow, though, Hawkeye can deal huge amounts of damage if you can hit your shots.

At close range, Hawkeye has his Crescent Slash ability that deals great damage and stuns them for a second. During this brief second, you can use the Skyward Leap ability to escape and get to a better position to fire arrows. Speaking of which, Hawkeye has a few different arrow types to choose from, all of which have certain situational uses. If you have great aim and like to play a little further back from the fighting, Hawkeye might just be the Duelist for you in Marvel Rivals.

Finally, our pick for the best Duelist in Marvel Rivals is the Goddess of Death, Hela. Hela has consistently topped the tier lists since the launch of the game and for good reason. She has some of the best primary weapon damage available for a Duelist and terrific skills to fall back on. Hela also possesses one of the strongest Ultimate Abilities in Marvel Rivals, which can completely change the course of a match.

For a primary weapon, Hela can unleash eight Nightsword Thorns, which are hit-scan and deal tremendous damage. With some headshots, you can two-shot most non-Vanguard heroes. For her other skills, Hela has the Piercing Night ability to deal further damage and the Soul Drainer ability to stun enemies so you can shoot them with your thorns. Hela can also escape sticky situations with the Astral Flock ability, but it's not as strong as other Duelist's mobility skills.

Overall, if you can learn how to aim the Nightsword Thorns, Hela offers some of the best damage in all of Marvel Rivals.

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