Marvel Rivals Tier List Season 9.5 (August 2026): Best Heroes by Role

Measured base: Counterwatch Season 9 all-ranks shrunk win rate and pick rate, read 7 August 2026 — the final Season 9.0 picture, taken hours before the 9.5 patch went live at 09:00 UTC. Patch truth: the official Version 20260807 notes. Every ▲ 9.5 / ▼ 9.5 arrow is derived from the patch notes, not measured — five days of post-patch matches now exist, but every public tracker still folds them into one pooled Season 9 figure, so the patch cannot be isolated yet — and we would rather tell you which way a hero is about to move than pretend we already counted it. Filter chips jump by role.

Peni ParkerVanguard · S · 56.5% · nerfed

MantisStrategist · S · 55.7%

MagikDuelist · S · 55.2%

Rocket RaccoonStrategist · S · 35% pick

StormDuelist · S · 54.4%

UltronStrategist · S · 53.6%

Every hero, one row each, with the measured Season 9 win rate and pick rate behind every tier. Filter chips jump by role.

Tier	Hero	Role	Why now
S	Peni Parker	Vanguard	56.5% WR at 23% pick — highest shrunk win rate in the game. ▼ 9.5 and the single biggest question mark of this patch: Cyber-Web Snare no longer immobilises on hit (now a Web-Tracer + 30% slow for 1s), it became a 2-charge ability, and Cyber-Webs bonus health fell 200→150. The nest control that earned her this slot is exactly what 9.5 dismantled
S	Mantis	Strategist	55.7% at 18% pick, #2 overall and untouched by 9.5 — sleep plus heal is the most reliable carry package a Strategist has
S	Magik	Duelist	55.2% at 18% pick with a 17.6 K/10 — no changes in 9.5, so the safest duelist to main through the patch
S	Rocket Raccoon	Strategist	54.5% at the highest Strategist pick rate on the board (35%) — untouched. Winning that much at that volume is the strongest signal on this table
S	Storm	Duelist	54.4% at only 8% pick — the biggest gap between how good she is and how often she is played. Untouched herself; the Black Panther Team-Up that rode on her got cut
S	Ultron	Strategist	53.6% at 12% pick, untouched — the flying Strategist stays a clean pick when Rocket or Mantis are taken
A	The Hood	Vanguard	53.0% at 10% pick, read 12 August — the only clean 9.5 number on this page. He has no pre-patch games, so nothing about him is diluted by Season 9.0, and Counterwatch already rates the sample “very high”. Rivalsmeta puts him higher still at 53.6% in Diamond+. The best thing this patch added
A	Mister Fantastic	Duelist	52.7% at 9% pick — unchanged in 9.5, top of the A band
A	Blade	Duelist	52.6% at 13% pick with the highest damage output of the A band (18.4 K/10)
A	Black Panther	Duelist	52.5% at 12% pick. ▼ 9.5 the Storm Team-Up lost a third of its area damage (40→30) and gained three seconds of cooldown (12→15s) — the dive still works, the free chip damage does not
A	Iron Fist	Duelist	52.1% at 11% pick — untouched, still the most forgiving dive in the A band
A	Hela	Duelist	52.1% at 19% pick. ▼ 9.5 but barely: only the Namor Team-Up was touched (Undead Monstro 15→10 per hit). Her own kit is identical
A	Daredevil	Duelist	52.0% at 10% pick — unchanged, and the highest-skill-floor pick of this group (9.1 D/10)
A	Bruce Banner	Vanguard	51.8% at 16% pick — untouched. The flexible tank when Peni or Cap are gone; note the Doctor Strange Team-Up now refreshes faster off his side
A	The Thing	Vanguard	51.5% at 23% pick — promoted from B. Gained about a point of win rate across late Season 9 while everyone watched Peni, and 9.5 left him alone
B	Spider-Man	Duelist	51.3% at 28% pick — unchanged. Popular and just above break-even, which is the definition of a mastery pick
B	Angela	Vanguard	51.3% at 12% pick, untouched
B	Iron Man	Duelist	51.2% at 14% pick with 19.8 K/10 — unchanged; damage is there, survivability is not (8.1 D/10)
B	Thor	Vanguard	51.2% at 20% pick, untouched
B	Captain America	Vanguard	51.0% at 14% pick — demoted from A. Lost roughly a point since mid-July and got nothing in 9.5
B	Venom	Vanguard	50.8% at 24% pick. ▼ 9.5 Symbiotic Resilience now returns 110% of lost health instead of 120%, and Venom Swing costs two extra seconds of cooldown (8→10s). Both nerfs hit his escape, not his damage
B	Rogue	Vanguard	50.6% at 22% pick. ▲ 9.5 Defensive Stance now cuts 60% of damage instead of 55% and the Regenerative Shield holds 275 instead of 250 — a straight survivability buff on a hero already at break-even. Best value climb candidate in this band
B	Devil Dinosaur	Vanguard	50.5% at 29% pick. ▲ 9.5 and it is a big one: Frenzied Feast now takes 8% max health on the first four hits (was 5%) and 12% on the fifth (was 10%), and Surf & Turf heals 60 instead of 40. Percent-max-health damage scales with the enemy tank, so this hits hardest exactly where he was weakest
B	White Fox	Strategist	50.4% at a staggering 54% pick. ▲ 9.5 Kumiho Unleashed drops from 4,800 to 4,300 energy and now applies Blessed by the Nine to allies within 10m on cast — more ults per game and each one does more for the team
B	Jubilee	Strategist	50.4% at 39% pick — the Season 9 newcomer settled at break-even. ▲ 9.5 marginally (Energy Plasmoids 10→11 damage, 14→15 healing)
B	Cyclops	Duelist	50.1% at 53% pick — the popularity trap of the season: second-most-played hero in the game, barely above coin-flip. ▲ 9.5 Ricochet Force now refunds 0.25s per Optic Blast hit instead of 0.15s
B	Magneto	Vanguard	50.1% at 41% pick — promoted two bands from C. He was at 47.5% in mid-July and has climbed to break-even at very high volume. ▲ 9.5 the Scarlet Witch Team-Up now adds a Launch Up when Metallic Chaos connects
B	Black Cat	Duelist	50.0% at 9% pick, untouched — low-volume, exactly average
B	Winter Soldier	Duelist	50.0% at 26% pick, untouched — heavily played and precisely break-even
C	Star-Lord · Psylocke	Duelist	49.9% each — both demoted from B, both unchanged in 9.5. Just under the line
C	Wolverine	Duelist	49.2% at 10% pick. ▲ 9.5 the largest buff nobody is talking about: Rage per hit taken 5→8 (+60%), decay starts after 5s instead of 4s, and the decay rate itself fell from 15/s to 10/s. His whole kit is Rage uptime — but five days on he reads 48.8% (12 August), fractionally below where he started. Still a watch item; not yet a switch
C	Doctor Strange	Vanguard	49.2% at 33% pick. ▲ 9.5 Daggers of Denak deal 18 per hit instead of 16 with 12 charges instead of 10, and the Hulk Team-Up cooldown drops 8s→6s. Meaningful for a hero this widely played
C	Emma Frost · Groot	Vanguard	49.1% at 44% pick and 49.0% at 15% — both untouched. Emma is the clearest overplayed-for-her-result Vanguard on the board
C	Cloak & Dagger · Luna Snow · Adam Warlock	Strategist	49.0% at the single highest pick rate in the game (63%), 48.8% at 53%, and 48.9% at 10%. Comfort healers that lose to Rocket and Mantis; Cloak & Dagger did gain a stronger Moon Knight Team-Up
C	Human Torch · Elsa Bloodstone · Scarlet Witch · Deadpool (Duelist)	Duelist	48.5–48.9%. Elsa ▼ 9.5 (Devil Dinosaur Team-Up: Smoky Snare health 100→50, control 1.5s→1.2s). Scarlet Witch ▲ 9.5 — the Doctor Strange Team-Up became Mystic Burst, free magic missiles with no energy cost and a toggle at the enhanced tier
C	Namor · The Punisher · Black Widow · Hawkeye	Duelist	47.5–48.3%, all unchanged — below the line and nothing in this patch moves them
C	Invisible Woman · Gambit · Loki	Strategist	48.0–48.3%. Gambit ▼ 9.5 (Magneto Team-Up Launch Up frequency halved, 0.5s→1s); Loki ▲ 9.5 slightly (Mystical Missile 100→120 m/s). Invisible Woman is played 44% of games for a bottom-band result
C	Phoenix · Moon Knight · Squirrel Girl	Duelist	44.7–46.8% — the bottom of the board. Phoenix ▲ 9.5 (Spark detonation 35→40, area 12→15, Rogue Team-Up 45→55) and Moon Knight ▲ 9.5 (bounce decay 30%→20% per bounce, plus a rebuilt Cloak & Dagger Team-Up). Both were buffed from so far down that a buff is not a recommendation
C	Jeff The Land Shark · Deadpool (Strategist)	Strategist	46.8% each — Jeff at 32% pick is the most-played losing hero in the game
C	Deadpool (Vanguard)	Vanguard	46.7% — untouched by 9.5 and the weakest Vanguard on the board

How to read this today. Tiers are the measured Season 9.0 ladder. The arrows are the patch. Where the two disagree — Peni Parker sitting at S with a nerf arrow, Wolverine sitting at C with the biggest buff in the patch — the disagreement is the useful information. We will re-rank on measured 9.5 data once there is enough of it, which realistically means the back half of next week.

Season 9.5 went live 7 August 2026 at 09:00 UTC (Version 20260807, ~2 hours of maintenance). It is a mid-season update, not a new season: Season 9 continues, and Season 10 is dated 11 September.

New hero: The Hood, a Vanguard. Dark-magic street hustler — and five days in, the strongest thing this patch added: 53.0% at 10% pick on Counterwatch as of 12 August, with a “very high” confidence grade, and 53.6% at Diamond+ on Rivalsmeta. He enters the board at A.

18 heroes changed. Buffed: Devil Dinosaur, Doctor Strange, Rogue, Cyclops, Moon Knight, Phoenix, Wolverine, Jubilee, Loki, White Fox. Nerfed: Peni Parker, Venom, Black Panther, Elsa Bloodstone, Hela, Gambit. Team-Up changes touch Devil Dinosaur, Doctor Strange, Magneto, Black Panther, Cyclops, Scarlet Witch, Elsa Bloodstone, Moon Knight, Phoenix and Gambit.

The three that actually reshape the ladder:

• Peni Parker was the target. She is the #1 win rate in the game at 56.5%, and the patch removed the mechanic that got her there: Cyber-Web Snare no longer immobilises on hit. It now applies a Web-Tracer and a 30% slow for one second, and only immobilises — for 0.7s — if it hits someone who already carries a Tracer. It also became charge-based with a maximum of two charges, and Cyber-Webs bonus health fell from 200 to 150. NetEase said in the notes the goal was to make the Immobilize effect “less oppressive to play against”. Expect her to fall; we are not guessing how far.
• Wolverine got the biggest buff and almost nobody has noticed. Rage gained per hit taken went 5→8, decay now starts after 5 seconds instead of 4, and maximum decay dropped from 15 per second to 10. His entire kit is a function of Rage uptime, and all three numbers moved the same direction. He was at 49.2% the day the patch landed. On 12 August he reads 48.8% — the buff has not converted into wins yet, and on a pooled Season 9 figure it might take another week to show if it ever does.
• Devil Dinosaur’s buff scales with the enemy. Frenzied Feast now deals 8% of max health on the first four attacks (was 5%) and 12% on the fifth (was 10%). Percent-max-health damage gets better the tankier the target, which is exactly the matchup he was losing.

What moved before the patch, on measurement. Comparing the live board to our July reading: The Thing climbed into A (51.5% at 23% pick), Magneto climbed two bands from C to B (47.5%→50.1% at 41% pick), and Captain America slipped out of A. The S tier itself did not change all season — Peni, Mantis, Magik, Rocket, Storm and Ultron have held it throughout, which is why the Peni nerf matters as much as it does.

Verdict: pick one hero per role from S or A that survives its own mistakes, and ignore the buffed bottom-tier heroes until the dust settles.

• Vanguard: Bruce Banner (51.8%). Peni is still statistically stronger, but she was just rewritten and you would be learning a kit that is changing under you this week.
• Duelist: Magik (55.2%). Untouched by 9.5, highest win rate of any Duelist, and the melee pattern is readable.
• Strategist: Rocket Raccoon (54.5%). Played in 35% of games at a 54%+ win rate — the single safest pick on this page, and unchanged.
• Avoid as a first main: Cyclops and White Fox. Both are played in more than half of all games and both hover at 50%. High pick rate is not evidence a hero is good; here it is evidence of the opposite.
• The Hood: genuinely strong and genuinely new — 53.0% at 10% pick five days in, which is A-tier work. Fair as a first Vanguard if you want one, though a brand-new kit is more to learn than Bruce Banner is.

Ranked locked behind the level requirement? Competitive Unlock is $19 and gets you onto the ladder this tier list is written for.

This page is a consensus ladder list, not a creator vibes chart.

1. Measured win rate from Counterwatch, Season 9, All Types / All Ranks / All Roles, read 7 August 2026. Counterwatch applies Bayesian shrinkage, so a low-sample hero is pulled toward the role baseline instead of floating to the top on twenty games.
2. Pick rate alongside win rate, always. A 50% win rate at 9% pick and a 50% win rate at 53% pick are different facts, and we quote both in every row.
3. Patch truth from the official Version 20260807 (Season 9.5) notes. Every buff and nerf quoted on this page comes from that document with its actual numbers, not from a summary of it.
4. What we do not do: we do not re-tier heroes on a pooled figure that cannot separate the patch from the four weeks before it. Arrows show direction; letters stay on measurement until the data catches up.

Honest caveat for this edition. The tier letters describe the ladder as it stood at the end of Season 9.0, read 7 August. Season 9.5 landed that morning and has now been live five days, but the trackers still report it pooled with 9.0. That gap is deliberate and it is stated in every affected row — a tier list that silently re-ranked forty heroes off patch notes alone would look more confident and be worth less.

Consolidated from the official Marvel Rivals Version 20260807 — Season 9.5 patch notes and live Counterwatch Season 9 win-rate data (all ranks, read 7 August 2026), cross-checked against Rivalsmeta. Related: Marvel Rivals rank system.