Marvel Rivals has a large assortment of playable characters on the roster. These characters are spread out across three different roles – Vanguard, Strategist, and Duelist. As there is no role lock in Marvel Rivals, this enables a lot of flexibility when building a team composition and picking your hero.
However, the Duelist role has quite a few technical heroes with higher skill ceilings that can make the role more daunting for new players. If you’re looking for the best Duelists for beginners in Marvel Rivals, we’ve rounded up some of the best choices due to their simplistic yet versatile kit, easy to learn abilities, and generally more forgiving skill floor.
Without further ado, here are six great Duelist hero picks for beginner Marvel Rivals players, listed in no particular order.
The Punisher
The Punisher is pretty much the Soldier: 76 of Marvel Rivals – he has a simplistic yet brilliant jack of all trades kit that makes a brilliant starting point for newer players. He’s a hitscan hero with two different weapons – a shotgun for close range and a rifle for long range damage, a smoke grenade that doubles as a small movement ability, and the ability to plant zip lines to reach high ground, create flank routes, and more.
Oh, and then he also has a stationary turret that he can plant to deal huge damage with splash damage bullets – meaning you can hit the ground near people and they will still take damage.
This enables The Punisher (much like Soldier: 76) to work pretty reliably on most maps and game modes in the game, as well as fit into most team compositions with ease. Due to this flexibility, there will be very little situations in which picking The Punisher is a ‘bad play’ so to speak. This makes him one of the best Duelists for beginners in Marvel Rivals, as players will be able to consistently play and continue learning him no matter the map, their team comp, or the opposition.
Scarlet Witch
Scarlet Witch is without a doubt, one of the best Duelists for beginners in Marvel Rivals. This is largely due to the fact that Wanda has a very low skill floor, meaning that it is easy for new players or those inexperienced with team shooters to still gain value from her kit.
Scarlet Witch has a lock-on primary fire, meaning it’s easy to contribute to kills. It will deal chip damage to any one target in range that you are somewhat aiming at, and is very forgiving even if you don’t have great aim, meaning you can still pump out some pretty big damage numbers and get a lot of kills. She also has a stun projectile and a burst damage with her right clicks, so using them alongside your primary will further enhance your gameplay. Most importantly, learning to weave in your burst damage should be your main priority, as this helps you to chip down bulkier HP targets more efficiently. On top of that, trying to understand and learn positioning as soon as possible will greatly benefit you as a Wanda player as you continue to go up against increasingly difficult opponents.
Lastly, Scarlet Witch has a glass cannon for her ultimate. If you manage to get the cast time off, her Ult will pretty much nuke anyone in range, insta-killing them. However, during the charge time, Wanda is also vulnerable to stuns or even being picked off by damage if you cast in a bad spot. New players should practice comboing Scarlet Witch Ultimate with another Ult or ability – Doctor Strange, Namor, Invisible Woman, and Groot Ultimates are all a few key synergies in this type of situation.
Namor
Namor is another very forgiving Duelist character for new players in Marvel Rivals. This is because a large portion of his kit revolves around auto-damaging Monstro Turrets. Players can simply place these turrets on areas such as walls, pillars, floors, and rooftops, and then the Monstro Turrets will automatically deal damage to any enemy in range.
Namor can enhance their damage and fire right with his right-click cooldown to increase pressure, and his primary fire projectile deals a very generous amount of damage on a hit. Pretty much, players are going to put down their turrets and then spend their time poking from behind cover, shoot with their primary, take cover, or use their shield when vulnerable, and then rinse and repeat.
Namor’s Ultimate is also quite decent once you get the timing and cast down. It will summon a Giganto that lands and deals damage + knocks down any enemy within the AOE that you place. With great timing and precision, this can even one-shot squishy targets who happen to be caught directly in the centre of Giganto’s landing. All of these qualities make Namor one of the best Duelists for beginners in Marvel Rivals.
Squirrel Girl
Squirrel Girl has earned herself a lot of comparisons to Overwatch 2’s Junkrat. Much like the bomb-loving Junkertown DPS, Squirrel Girl has a projectile-based acorn primary fire that bounces on surfaces, letting players spam down the objective or key choke points.
In addition to her primary fire, the rest of her kit is also very simplistic and relatively easy for new players to learn, putting her into the category of best Duelists for beginners in Marvel Rivals. She has a trap projectile that locks an enemy to the ground if it touches them (which also makes them a sitting duck for her primary fire spam), a big jump for good vertical mobility and reaching advantageous spots, and a cooldown refresh ability that can be used to either gain a second jump or a second trap.
Her Ultimate, Unbeatable Squirrel Tsunami, summons a group of squirrels that charge forward, bounce off walls, and deal huge damage to enemies that they touch/pass through. The squirrels also seek any enemy within range, meaning it is a hugely beneficial Ultimate when it comes to applying pressure on the enemy and potentially turning a team fight around.
Star-Lord
Star-Lord is a little bit more technical than most other heroes in this list, but that doesn’t make him any less of a choice when it comes to the best Duelists for beginners in Marvel Rivals. He has great horizontal and vertical mobility with his dash/boosters, and hitscan-based primary fire. New players will likely be able to enjoy zooming around and shooting the enemy with this combination.
However, the true value of Star-Lord remains in his Stellar Shift. This ability gives Star-Lord a brief second of invincibility/dodge, and reloads his weapons. This makes it great for not only baiting out and dodging key cooldowns and Ultimate abilities from the enemy, but also in applying pressure with consistent focus-fire to enemies. Essentially, Star-Lord can empty his bullets, dodge, and repeat, as he gets three Stellar Shifts to use on cooldown.
Lastly, Star-Lord’s Ultimate is not only very powerful, but also very new player-friendly and fun to execute. Essentially, he has Soldier: 76’s Tactical Visor…but from the sky. Yep! He can look for an enemy to lock on to them, then gain aimbot on that target to chip them down. Once you learn how to properly use this ability, it’s very easy to pick off at a minimum of 2-3 people, and in the best-case scenarios, even pull off a full team wipe.
Moon Knight
Moon Knight is a very fun character to play, and a great choice for new players to the Duelist role. He’s also fairly forgiving to those who don’t have the best aim, because his kit revolves around projectiles that bounce not only from his Ankhs, but from one enemy target to another (when in range).
Moon Knight’s primary fire deals chip damage to any target it hits. If more enemies are in close proximity to the target, it will also bounce and deal damage to them. Moon Knight’s Ankhs can also be used to further enhance this play, as his primary fire will bounce off his Ankhs back onto enemy targets. Overall, its quite easy to get value from Moon Knight even as a total newbie, making him one of the best Duelists for beginners in Marvel Rivals.
Players can throw their Ankhs down in the middle of the enemy team, on walls, rooftops, or around corners, and then shoot that stationary target to deal damage, rather than being forced to hit moving enemies. His right click also homes in on targets, so bouncing this off an Ankh to finish off an enemy can be very beneficial.
Moon Knight also has decent mobility. He has a jump/hook that he can use to reach high ground or catapult himself into the sky, and the ability to glide when he’s in the air. Lastly, his Ultimate enables him to cast a generous AOE that causes projectiles to fall from above and deal damage to any enemies caught below. All around, Moon Knight has not only a very beginner-friendly, but also a very fun kit to get players hooked on the Duelist Role – seriously, just wait until you hear that satisfying tick tick tick tick of your projectiles hitting and bouncing across multiple targets!
That’s it for the best Duelists for beginners in Marvel Rivals. Looking for more related guides and content? Check out our Marvel Rivals guide hub below!
