Step aside Wolverine, Marvel Rivals has a new S tier tank shredder

As soon as Marvel Rivals players figured out how he works, Wolverine became a top tier tank shredder. Despite having a low overall win rate, he’s practically permabanned in high level games and has become the bane of tank players’ existence. However, there’s another hero who may be better.

Marvel Rivals wasn’t a new game after the Season 1.5 patch, but it was damn close. The balance patch was substantial, significantly shifting the power level of several meta heroes and flipping the tier list on its head in many ways.

There is, however, one hero who got some massive changes that went under the radar when the patch originally came out. In the weeks since that big update, it’s become clear that he’s a new meta contender when played properly: Iron Fist.

Specifically, this hero has the ability to destroy tanks when played properly. He’s not quite as straightforward as Wolverine, but he’s got the potential to overtake him as Marvel Rivals’ premiere tank shredder.

Iron Fist can shred tanks in seconds

Before the Season 1.5 patch, Iron Fist was no slouch in terms of raw DPS. He sticks to heroes better than any other melee character, and his machine gun punches will shred through pretty much anything you put in front of him, much to the chagrin of low-level players who got terrorized by him in Marvel Rivals’ early days.

However, people quickly realized that Iron Fist is more of a pubstomper than anything else, and he immediately sunk to the lowest tiers on most Marvel Rivals tier lists. He lacks CC entirely and can be pretty effectively peeled off the backline before he’s actually able to kill anyone. Coordinated team compositions make Iron Fist’s life very difficult when you’re trying to dive.

So, what changed to make him good?

Dexerto / Netease

If you’re just sitting there and using his normal attacks, Iron Fist isn’t gonna do any amount of damage to tank heroes. They can shrug him off without worry.

But, when he’s got Yat Jee Chung Kuen up to buff his punches, he shreds. Seven strikes per second that hit for 10 damage base with 1.7% health shred per hit give him the ability to kill most tanks within 5-6 seconds on his own – especially if his ult buff is active that gives him a net 30% damage increase across the board.

If a target is below 50% HP, they also take 70 damage from his kick, giving him a pretty clear path to putting any tank hero right in the meat grinder. While this TTK is slower than Wolverine’s, Iron Fist’s strengths come not from his raw damage, but his durability.

Why pick Iron Fist over Wolverine?

In terms of raw damage output, Wolverine still has Iron Fist beat. There’s no contest. But does that mean he’s actually a better hero? That’s where things get a bit murky.

Wolverine is a very all-in hero. He dumps all of his abilities into a single tank hero, and they probably die for it. He’s especially good because of his ability to walk behind a tank, abduct them with his dash, and essentially seal their fate.

Iron Fist, again, doesn’t have this. But he also doesn’t die the moment he misses an ability and is, in general, much harder to kill. He can stack overhealth pretty easily, has four jumps, multiple dashes, ways to reduce damage, and is much, much better at taking out supports than Wolverine.

If Logan is one tool for a very specific job, Iron Fist is more of a Swiss Army Knife. He doesn’t have to be the best at killing tanks to be better than Wolverine in many situations.

netease / marvel

Not to mention, if we’re speaking in terms of high-level play, Wolverine is still perma-banned in large part thanks to players like TeamCaptain who make him look unstoppable. Getting your hands on this hero is really difficult once you get to the rank in which hero bans get implemented.

Additionally, the fact that Iron Fist can play front to back keeps him from having to be a pure flank hero, making it much easier to stay in line of sight and play around your supports. This includes playing to counter dive, with Iron Fist’s lock-on attacks being one of the best tools you can have against mobile and hard-to-hit dive heroes.

So, the next time you’re having trouble against dive tanks and are looking for a creative counter-pick, give Iron Fist a shot.