Marvel Rivals flyer meta: Here to stay or just a phase?

Marvel Rivals has officially taken flight in Season 2.5, where flying heroes have dominated the meta. From Storm and Jeff deleting the whole team without counterplay to Ultron and Iron Man teaming up to beam down anyone in the open, vertical combat has truly taken root in this meta.

Vanguards are left helpless, poke teams reign supreme, and everyone left on the ground is getting pummeled by projectiles. Let’s unpack how the synergy between these flying characters is causing them to take over the latest season, and what players can do to swat them down.

Marvel Rivals has flirted with aerial dominance since launch. Iron Man was considered a weak character in Season 0, especially when Hawkeye and Hela were overpowered during that time. When players quickly discovered how broken his damage was when teamed up with Hulk, he was almost always picked whenever they were both available. While Iron Man was still vulnerable from being plucked out of the sky, players developed a sneakier playstyle, where they would flank and eliminate the backline with Gamma Overdrive.

Meanwhile, Storm began as an undertuned Duelist, but her Season 1 buffs changed the game: her projectile speed jumped from 100 to 150 m/s, Bolt Rush got a small damage boost, and her Omega Hurricane ultimate granted a sturdier 450‑HP bonus health. Overnight, she rocketed into the highest winrate of the season at 56% and became a staple ban in Diamond+ lobbies. 

Not to be outdone, Human Torch (Johnny Storm) followed a similar arc. He entered Season 1.5 with The Thing, completing the Fantastic Four members. On his own, Johnny struggled to make an impact: his projectile speed hit like wet noodles, hit registration was buggy and inconsistent, and he was vulnerable whenever he dove down with Flaming Meteor. 

Early data showed a below-average 48% winrate in Season 1.5, but rose tremendously to 57% with the Storm team-up. Like Storm, a buff to his clunky projectile speed and bug fixes were sorely needed to keep him competitive. Additional buffs to his Fire Cluster and bonus health on Flaming Meteor in Season 2 made him a staple pick.

Enter Ultron, the first true flying support Strategist, introduced in Season 2.5. Armed with a passive healing drone, a lethal primary attack, and a threatening ultimate, he can compete with Duelists in terms of damage. Additionally, Ultron has a team-up with Iron Man that gives him a piercing attack that simultaneously heals allies and damages enemies. Unlike the first three flyers before him, Ultron is immediately strong on launch with a 53% winrate, and the second most picked hero in the game 

Storm, Ultron, and Iron Man are already strong on their own, but they feel unstoppable with their team-ups. Anyone skipping aerial picks in Season 2.5 isn’t just at a disadvantage; they’re flying blind.

We’ve seen predominant metas every season in Marvel Rivals. There’s double sniper centred on Hela and Hawkeye, there’s triple support with Luna, Cloak & Dagger, and Loki, there was triple revive centred on Adam Warlock’s team-up with Mantis and Star-Lord, and the recent dive meta with characters like Spider-Man, Black Panther, and Psylocke leading the charge. Now that we’re fully entrenched in the flyer meta, there are issues that this composition has that make it different from the past.

The most prevalent problem with the flyer meta in Marvel Rivals is that one whole role can’t interact with them. Vanguards are having a miserable time in this meta: Magneto and Groot can’t block the damage from a high angle, Captain America, The Thing, and Venom are stuck diving for whoever is left on the ground. 

Doctor Strange’s shield is big enough to block projectiles and can occasionally ascend to contest. Flyers can easily move away from Emma Frost’s deployable shield. Hulk and Peni Parker are the best Vanguards against flyers, but that depends on the map. 

While Hulk can jump up to swat them down and Peni can catch them with nets, it’s not reliable on more open Convoy maps with higher skyboxes and fewer high ground spots. Season 2.5 is a miserable time to play Vanguard.

In Overwatch and Marvel Rivals, comps follow a general archetype of poke (long-range engagements), brawl (sustained close-range fights), and dive (fast-paced gameplay focused on burning the backline). When all things are balanced, poke beats out brawl, brawl beats out dive, and dive beats poke. It’s the natural order of hero shooters.

Flyers are a variation of poke comps, but the key difference is that dive characters can’t do their job because of their verticality. It doesn’t help that the dive meta overall was nerfed as the flavour of the patch in Season 2. Spider-Man could easily delete flyers if he weren’t so heavily nerfed because of his domination before Season 2.5. Now with flyers and long-range characters receiving buffs, expect the poke meta to last until drastic changes are made.

Storm and Ultron are already strong on their own, with both of them sitting at a 53% winrate across all ranks in competitive, even keeping their high winrate in Diamond and above. But, give them their team-up and watch their winrate soar to new heights. Ultron and Iron Man’s team-up, Nano Ray, sees a staggering 62% winrate across all ranks, mellowing down to 59% on Diamond. 

Storm is fortunate to have two team-ups that enable her ultimate to wipe the enemy team: Burning Hurricane with Johnny Storm, and Jeff-nado when paired with Jeff, the Land Shark. Both team-ups require Storm and her teammate to commit both ultimates, but it’s invaluable for breaking stalemates and ending fights. 

Jeff and Storm’s team-up is especially egregious, since once players are swallowed in, there’s nothing they can do about it unless they’re CC immune. Their team-up has a 56% winrate across all ranks, and pro player Terra from 100Thieves said that the team-up was “overtuned and had no counterplays”. There’s a strong incentive to get their team-ups, creating this feedback loop of locking in flyers together.

When talking about the flyer meta in Marvel Rivals, the first point of discussion is to pick hitscan and deal with them yourself. Yes, hitscan characters like Punisher, Hela, Adam Warlock, Luna, and even Hawkeye have a great time against the defenceless flyers. However, the argument always assumes that the hitscan player is marginally better than the flyer, and that the flyer in question doesn’t know how to properly position and use cover.

Assuming the players are of equal skill level, this match-up goes in favour of the hitscan players, but it’s rare to get a fair 1v1 in the game. Flyers will abuse cover or off-angles to rain down projectiles with much better damage falloff compared to hitscan characters.

Even without them, these flying characters are also receiving heals from their teammates, which means that anything less than consistent tracking from the hitscan player won’t result in an elimination. This doesn’t even take into account console players who have a much harder time with aiming.

Most of the time, it’s easier to mirror them rather than counter them. Besides, Ultron and Iron Man have a great time against other flyers because their beams can easily track targets in the air.

In competitive games, bans are a great solution to keep these flyers from even entering the game. Storm is overwhelmingly the most banned hero in Marvel Rivals, with a 44% chance of getting locked out of the game. Iron Man is a far second with a 25% ban rate. These heroes serve as the anchor for their team-ups, and are strong on their own, so it makes the most sense for the community to take them out.

Human Torch was nuked down to oblivion in Season 2.5, making him the least played character in competitive and a non-issue. Ultron is strong, but his weak healing is easily exploitable, and he’s best played with triple support. 

Next, Vanguards are left behind in this, and they need tools to influence these aerial engagements without being relegated to passive bystanders. A new Vanguard with anti-air capabilities or longer range would add some counterplay to the role. While there’s been community sentiment of adding a flying Vanguard like Captain Marvel or War-Machine, this would just make flyers even more powerful.

Other buffs can be considered without overtuning tanks, for example, Peni’s net should completely ground a flyer but stay the same duration for ground targets or buffing Hulk’s vertical movement after clinging to a wall.

A drastic solution can be to limit a flying character’s movement above certain heights. So, they can’t camp on maps with tall skyboxes like Central Park and Bifrost Garden (Yggsgard: Royal Palace).

Individually, players should adjust to the new meta like they’ve done so many times in the past and learn hitscan characters. Punisher, Hela, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Luna, and Adam Warlock can put in the work. Punisher’s team-up with Rocket Raccoon would’ve done wonders in this meta, but his team-up with Black Widow could work too. If the Duelists are competent, a Mantis damage boost lowers the time to kill and offsets some of the sustain the flyers receive.

If left unchecked, the flying meta could solidify into a long-term issue, pushing the game toward a narrow, skill-gated design philosophy that alienates tank players and support mains who can’t play at 60% hitscan accuracy. Bans are a short-term solution, but what’s there to stop them if it doesn’t go through? The flyer meta is here to stay because not only is it effective, but it’s also easier to use in an uncoordinated ranked game. 

Marvel Rivals have shown a bad track record with balancing, making drastic tuning that either cements characters as a meta staple or brings them down to oblivion. Expect this meta to die down next season. Until then, the skies remain the real battlefield of Marvel Rivals.