Marvel’s Avengers is now a few months into 2021, with the year serving as a make-or-break period for the struggling co-op game. As part of its attempted comeback, the original Hawkeye Clint Barton has released alongside next-gen upgrades for the game. Sporting a moveset that is quite different from Kate Bishop’s, despite the pairing’s similar skillsets, Clint is a fine addition to the game’s roster. Further, many may be surprised by where he ranks among the rest of the game’s characters.
Aside from the addition of Hawkeye, most of the Marvel’s Avengers roster is the same as they were at the start of 2021 — though one hero has received a noticeable nerf. While it does not ruin the character, it does knock them down a peg, creating a change in the top tiers. Still, Marvel’s Avengers’ main strength remains its playable heroes, as most characters are fun to play as. While some are clearly better than others, the right gear and build can make anyone work, meaning that players should feel free to use their favorite Marvel hero. However, if players only want to control the best of the best, the choices are clear.
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Not only did The Hulk rank at the bottom of January’s Marvel’s Avengers Tier List, but he also finds himself dead last on this one as well. While Bruce Banner is brought to life brilliantly by Troy Baker, and his alter ego gets plenty of awesome skins to wear, sadly The Hulk is just not that fun to play. While all the moves and pieces are there to make him work well, from enemy grabs to ground pounds, his weak defense is a major problem. The Hulk constantly getting stunned out of attacks by small AIM bots makes little sense, and it ruins the immersion that should come with playing as the unstoppable monster. Sluggish mobility does not help either, though if Crystal Dynamics were to look at reworking Hulk’s speed and defense, he could quickly shoot up pick rate charts and prove as viable as everyone else.
While campaign protagonist Kamala Khan may have a strong story, her powers and abilities are middle-of-the-road. While the young Avenger can heal her teammates, this healing is greatly outclassed by what Clint Barton can do. Further, Kamala’s damage is not what it was when the game launched, as the nerf to the Embiggen and Polymorph combo has seen her attack strength lowered greatly. However, Kamala is still a well-rounded hero, and her solid survivability and unique fighting style make her lots of fun to control.
As for the Armored Avenger, he remains a truly skill dependent character. While recent Iron Man bugs have been fixed, he is still the glass cannon he has always been. While skilled players can get around his lack of healing options, most will struggle with this drawback. If it can be overcome, though, Tony Stark has combat potential on par with his quipping abilities. Some fun combos can be chained together by players that know how to use all the hero’s weaponry, while his rockets can decimate the health bars of large and small enemies alike. Still, there are safer ways to output this kind of damage.
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Steve Rogers is an S-tier hero that is still trapped in A-tier. Held back by having the worst movement in the game, as Cap can only run, double jump, and wall-run, the iconic team leader has incredible crowd control potential due to his shield. With his Ultimate ability buffing his melee damage as well as healing him, there is a lot to love about the Marvel’s Avengers version of the hero. Some of the best combo potential in the game makes him even better, and if Crystal Dynamics can work out a new movement system for Cap, he could become the best hero in the game.
Natasha Romanoff remains the most surprising character in Marvel’s Avengers, as her moveset is varied and entertaining. Whether players are gunning down large enemies with her hand cannon, laying down dual pistol fire for consistent damage, or softening enemies up for takedowns with SMGs, Black Widow is a blast to play as. Her ultimate makes melee combat better, and while she is held back slightly by a lack of self-healing, Natasha’s invisibility makes it easy to retreat and snag some more health. With such an enjoyable gameplay style, obtaining Marvel’s Avengers’ first MCU suit in the upcoming Red Room HARM challenge should be a blast.
Finally, there is the game’s first DLC hero Kate Bishop. While she was in S-Tier upon launch, she has fallen slightly due to a sizable nerf to her Quantum Shroud and Quantum Surge powers. Originally, Quantum Shroud allowed Kate to teleport indefinitely, though this was not intended. As such, it has been changed, slowing down Kate’s movement. Kate’s invulnerability with Quantum Surge has also been removed. Still, even with these changes, Kate’s damage is incredible. Players that build around her scatter arrows will find that she is still a top-tier character, even if she is not broken like she used to be.
Unsurprisingly, the God of Thunder is still among the game’s very best playable characters. An Odinforce intrinsic ability that allows him to negate damage whilst also dealing more of it is a strong start, and the benefits only increase from there. Mjolnir is great for singling out single targets, while Thor’s God Blast excels at crowd control. If players get their timing down for the Bifrost ultimate ability, 50% extra damage can be dealt as well — ensuring that even Thor’s weakest power becomes worthwhile. Spamming heroic abilities is the way to go for Thor, and a build centered on these powers guarantees an overpowered hero.
While it is absurd to see Clint Barton’s Hawkeye and Thor Odinson on the same level, it is hard to deny that the archer is incredibly strong in the game’s current build. Though Kate may be able to teleport to close the distance, Clint’s grapple arrows do the same, and the real difference between the pair becomes clear once he gets up close. Using his experience as Ronin to its fullest potential, Hawkeye can do more with his sword. Slams and charged attacks leave enemies open to follow-up arrows, and all his abilities are useful. His healing arrow, for example, has massive range and lasts surprisingly long. Further, both his barrage and tracking arrows deal immense damage, especially when built up properly. He retains the boosted damage from his intrinsic ability, and he can hit timed arrow shots as well. Though Clint lacks Kate’s acrobatic maneuvers, everything else about the hero is flashier and arguably more effective.
While he could eventually be nerfed like his trainee Kate, leveling up Clint Barton is a must for returning players. With a perfect balance of ranged and melee gameplay, there is no situation where having Hawkeye around is a negative. With players still not even knowing the best builds and gear pieces for the hero, Hawkeye could only get stronger over the next few weeks.
Marvel’s Avengers is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S/X.
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