Marvel Rivals Season 7 "The Hunt Is On" end-of-season recap: who won the meta

Season 7, The Hunt Is On, wraps on May 15, and eight weeks of tracked community matches give a clear read on where each role landed. Below is the end-of-season top five per role, the heroes that moved in surprising directions, and what to watch as Season 8 opens.

Season timeline

Season 7 launched 2026-03-20 and closes 2026-05-15, roughly eight weeks of ranked, with the usual early-season churn settling into a mid-season shape. By week four the community sample was large enough that shrunk win rates stopped swinging day to day and the tier list locked into its current form. Balance through the season followed NetEase's usual pattern of small targeted tweaks rather than big systemic changes, with the mid-season pass focused on backline Strategists and Duelist mobility, and daily tracking showed the expected movement, buffed heroes climbing the shrunk list and nerfed heroes dropping.

Vanguards: Peni Parker runs away with it

The number one Vanguard of Season 7 is Peni Parker at 55.1% shrunk win rate over roughly 63,000 tracked matches, holding the top spot since the mid-season settle. Her zone-control kit punishes every flank the meta Duelists want to make, and the sample behind that 55.1% makes the placement about as confident as it gets. The rest of the top five:

• Bruce Banner, 52.5% over ~45,000 matches. A heavy-frontline anchor that scales with team coordination.
• Captain America, 52.4% over ~35,000 matches. A mobility-and-disruption kit that plays better on a split lineup than in a stacked brawl.
• Doctor Strange, 51.1% over ~126,000 matches. The highest sample in the role, which means very low variance in the placement.
• Angela, 51.1% over ~34,000 matches. Statistically tied with Doctor Strange on a quarter of the sample, the quiet fifth of the top five.

Peni's edge over the rest of the role is wide. The next-closest Vanguard sits more than two and a half points behind her on the shrunk list, an unusual gap for a role, and a sign her kit is over-tuned for the current map pool.

Duelists: Magik on top

The number one Duelist is Magik at 54.6% shrunk over roughly 65,000 tracked matches, the only Duelist clear of the 54% mark, though her lead is tighter than Peni's at Vanguard, about a point rather than three. The top five:

• Magik, 54.6% over ~65,000 matches.
• Daredevil, 53.5% over ~34,000 matches.
• Black Panther, 52.5% over ~34,000 matches. The late-season climber.
• Storm, 52.0% over ~16,000 matches. A smaller sample than the rest of the top five, but well past the noise floor.
• Iron Man, 51.8% over ~45,000 matches.

The top of the list splits between mobility and flying range: Magik, Daredevil, and Black Panther all hinge on getting into and out of fights fast, while Storm and Iron Man control fights from above. Ground-bound poke specialists are conspicuously absent from the top five.

Strategists: Ultron breaks through

The Strategist slot has one runaway and a tight pack behind it, Ultron at 54.3% shrunk over ~32,000 tracked matches with Rocket Raccoon at 52.1% over ~64,000 in second. The top five:

• Ultron, 54.3% over ~32,000 matches.
• Rocket Raccoon, 52.1% over ~64,000 matches.
• White Fox, 51.4% over ~197,000 matches. The highest sample of any Strategist and one of the biggest in the game.
• Mantis, 50.6% over ~27,000 matches.
• Invisible Woman, 50.6% over ~194,000 matches. A massive sample, so an extremely confident placement.

Below Ultron and Rocket the numbers compress fast, the next three Strategists within a point of each other, the signature of a balanced sub-pack where the right pick depends on comp and map more than one hero being clearly best.

Heroes that moved

Two hero-level stories, both with the sparsity caveat in mind: Counterwatch's tracked DAU has grown roughly fivefold over the past year, so cross-season pickrate deltas read as directional, not precise. Shrunk win rates within Season 7 are confident; cross-season pickrate comparisons are softer. Black Panther's climb to number three Duelist is the first. Late-season data shows him converting more reliably at Grandmaster and up than he did early, some of that teams learning his dive windows, some of it the mid-season patch landing well for his archetype. White Fox and Invisible Woman carrying the Strategist sample is the second. Both sit near 200,000 tracked matches each, far ahead of every other Strategist, yet neither lands in the top two by win rate, the signature of safe picks: very high pick rate, just above baseline, reliable across a lot of comps. If you want the highest-ceiling Strategist this season the data points at Ultron or Rocket Raccoon; if you want the most pickable, it is White Fox or Invisible Woman.

What to watch for Season 8

Season 8 begins 2026-05-15. A few things worth watching in the first four weeks. Does Peni Parker keep her Vanguard lead? Her edge is wide enough that it is unlikely to flip immediately, though a targeted nerf would move the list faster than any other single change. Do the mobility and flying-range Duelists stay on top, or does ground-bound poke reset? If NetEase buffs ground-anchored damage or tightens the sightlines Storm and Iron Man exploit, the top of the role could compress. And does Ultron stay number one Strategist? He is a relatively new Strategist with a still-growing sample, so the placement is likely real, but watch shrinkage shift it either way as more matches land, and watch Rocket Raccoon too, since half a point of movement could flip the top two.

We will publish the Season 8 early meta snapshot four weeks into the new season. In the meantime the live data updates daily on the full tier list, and the Counterwatch app overlay runs the numbers live in your matches for real-time counter and synergy calls. For how we compute shrunk win rates and handle cross-season pickrate comparisons, see the methodology page. For the role-by-role best-pick-to-main ranking, the best one tricks page weighs consistency and sample size alongside raw win rate.