The Marvel Rivals Vanguard roster is fairly limited out of the gate, with only a handful of heroes to choose from. Vanguards serve as tanks, with large health pools and abilities focused on either defending teammates or disrupting enemy players. The best tanks excel at both of these tasks and offer a wide range of abilities to carry out this mayhem. Similar to the Strategists, there aren't that many Vanguard heroes in Marvel Rivals at the moment, but there are more planned for future updates. In Marvel Rivals' current meta, none of the Vanguard characters feel too weak to be viable, but some of them are certainly better than others. Here are the best tanks in Marvel Rivals.

8. Magneto

Magneto takes the bottom spot here, mostly due to other heroes being able to do what he does, but better. He is primarily focused on defense, using a shield to defend against incoming projectiles and attacks. The shield can absorb a decent amount of damage, but not as much as other tanks. He can give out shields to both himself and teammates, which block incoming damage temporarily, charging Magento's projectile. When charged, the projectile can knock back enemies, but it's still a weak attack.

Magento does deal a decent amount of damage and his ultimate is a big AoE attack that deals a hefty amount of damage when you land it, so it isn't all negatives for Magneto. He just isn't a great option compared to other tanks.

7. Hulk (Bruce Banner)

Hulk is a bit of an odd tank, as he is entirely focused on diving the enemy team, but he has lower sustain than some of the other dive tanks. He does have a shield and his ultimate turns him into Monster Hulk, refilling his health and doing more damage. But, if the enemy team focuses on him or he doesn't get a steady feed of healing, Hulk gets turned into Bruce Banner--very similar to D.Va in Overwatch--pretty often.

That said, Hulk has a high damage output and can take out enemies much easier than many of the other tanks. In the right hands and situation, Hulk is pretty impressive. If you can jump in and out with ease and focus on the right enemies, Hulk can be a good pick, but it requires multiple things going in your favor.

6. Captain America

Captain America is one of the more complicated tanks to play and can often feel bad to play if you don't have a strong grasp of his abilities. His attack combo changes, with a shield throw being enabled if you land the second punch of the combo. This means you need to really commit to throwing and landing punches to deal significant damage. You also have a run, which can be used to lead into a diving strike as well. Cap also has a shield throw ability that ricochets and he can hold his shield up to reflect incoming projectiles, making his shield more dynamic than Magneto's.

That's a lot to keep track of and Captain America thrives in the middle of a fight, so you need to keep track of all of these cooldowns under pressure. A lot of these abilities feel like they don't have much impact either, even though they actually do a decent amount of damage, so it takes a while to get a good feel. HIs ultimate lacks the flair of many others in the game, as it has him run around, granting movement and health bonuses while letting you simply punch a lot, which again, doesn't feel great to actually do, even if it is effective.

5. Thor

Thor is a high-damage tank that thrives while diving the enemy team, albeit with a bit of conscious meter management. You get three hammer charges, which either fill over time or can be charged by hitting enemies with the Lightning Realm attack. Thor does need to be up close to thrive, as his primary attack is a melee, except when you activate Awakening Rune, which grants lightning projectiles.

Thor has a nice dash to get yourself in the action and you can throw your hammer at range as well. The main downside to Thor is the hammer charge ability, which grant bonus health on usage. While you have ways to recharge them instantly like the Lightning Realm, it has limited range and missing it means dealing with the five seconds per charge cooldown, which feels a bit long in practice. He does have a massive AoE ultimate that can clear an objective with ease, which is nice to have.

4. Venom

Venom is the best dive tank in Marvel Rivals currently, so if that's your preferred style, don't let his placement on this list deter you from playing him. Venom has the ability to web swing and dive on enemies, dealing damage and knocking them up. The web swing is a huge part of his kit, allowing him to pretty easily get in and out of combat, which is incredibly important for diving. His Symbiotic Resistance grants 100 bonus health and 100% of missing health into bonus health, effectively granting a second health bar when used wisely, giving you a chance to exit the fight and find some healing.

Venom can also deal crit damage with his primary attack, making him fairly deadly if you have good aim. His ultimate deals damage based on how much health enemies have, granting even more bonus health, giving Venom some incredible sustain in combat, making him an excellent choice for anyone who likes being in the action.

3. Doctor Strange

Doctor Strange is an incredible defender Vanguard in Marvel Rivals, and can put out a decent amount of damage, too. He primarily uses a shield to block incoming damage, which has a health pool of 800 and a pretty quick recovery speed. This shield is also large and is great for negating incoming ultimates from heroes like Iron Man and Hela, especially when using Doctor Strange's ascension to get into the air to stop it.

His primary attack doesn't deal that much damage and can't crit, but as he hits people, he builds Dark Magic. This does stop him from getting healed when he has too much, but it can be expelled using the Maelstrom of Madness, which deals a burst of damage to nearby enemies. In addition to all of this defense, his ultimate, Eye of Agamotto, knocks enemies' souls out of their bodies, stunning them temporarily so your team can take them out.

2. Groot

Groot is a bit of a powerhouse in terms of Vanguards, dealing a ton of damage, having good defensive capabilities, and being able to corral enemies. Groot can construct walls, two Thornlash and one Ironwood, which block incoming damage and enemy movement. In addition to that, Thornlash will deal damage to nearby enemies that are attacked, dealing 60 damage per hit, which is pretty significant. The Ironwood provides bonus health to Groot when Groot or teammates deal damage near the wall, up to 250 bonus health.

Groot also has a Spore Bomb to create an area-of-effect attack dealing damage in addition to his main projectiles. His ultimate brings enemies together and locks them down, setting up for your teammates or you to finish them off. There is a ton to like about Groot and he has a pretty diverse ability kit, which allows him to handle a variety of situations, making him an excellent tank.

1. Peni Parker

Peni Parker takes the top spot thanks to unmatched defensive capabilities and some arguably overpowered damage abilities, like her mines. Peni excels more at defense, like stopping a payload or holding down a control point, thanks largely to the Bionic Spider-Nest. This creates a machine that spawns a Cyber-Web around an area, which provides Peni healing, and generates Spider-Drones, which will seek out and attack enemies that enter the web. Peni can also hide her mines in the web, making them invisible to enemies, which deal 100 damage. Peni also gets four charges of those mines, making it really easy to create a deadly trap.

Peni can also fire a Cyber-Web Snare, which can either place some Cyber-Web in the environment or can trap an enemy if hit directly. Her primary fire deals decent damage and her ultimate lets Peni run around placing more Cyber-Webs and either hitting enemies or placing mines. Peni's ultimate covers a lot of ground and deals a lot of damage, adding to her capabilities as a Vanguard.