As a Vanguard player, or as I will be calling it in this guide a Tank player, your job is to MANAGE SPACE! Your heard me right, your job is NOT to secure kills, your job is NOT to put up insane damage numbers. YOUR NUMBER 1 JOB IS TO MANAGE SPACE! DPS CAN SECURE KILLS AND PUT UP DAMAGE NUMBERS! I SAY AGAIN YOUR JOB IS TO MANAGE SPACE!

So, with that out of the way, different tanks manage space in different ways. Some really excel at taking space, others are better at holding it, and others still are better at protecting the squishes you have though an action called peeling. So, lets get into how you can manage your teams space with the 4 separate categories of tank. The Anchors, the Brawlers, the Divers, and the Bunkers.

Anchor tanks are really the jacks of all trades when it comes to tanking. You can take and hold space very effectively, as well as put pressure on enemy vanguards and supports. Anchor tanks are characterized by their shields that can block lots of damage, and shield their team. However, don't let this fool you, as anchor tanks aren't just damage sponges. They can also bite back very hard, with Emma in her Diamond form, Strange with his high primary fire damage as well as he E ability that does a whopping 120 points of burst damage. Magneto can also stun his enemies and bubble his teammates. Anchor tanks also use ranged weapons aside from Emma in her diamond form.

While not REQUIRED, it is recommended that you have at least 1 anchor in most comps you play, unless you're playing a specialized comp like Pain Brothers(Hulk and Thing). This is because while other tanks may have higher health pools, they don't have the same shielding capabilities as the anchor tanks. Due to the current 3.5 sustain meta, blocking projectiles is very important to prevent the enemies from melting you and your team.


Some notable counters however, and what would prevent you from just running a double shield tank comp, are characters with high melee damage. Wolverine, Iron Fist, Hulk, Thing, etc can all bypass the shields of these tanks. The only anchor tank that could stand up to melee damage characters would be Emma Frost who can just grab them in her diamond form.

So, when would you use an anchor tank? If your running two off tanks that are being melted due to high enemy ranged damage, that's when an anchor tank should be used. All tank players should at least know how to play Doctor Strange or Magneto. (Strange is easier to play, Magneto has a lot more cooldown management).

Brawl tanks are characterized by their ability to get in very close and pummel the enemy. They usually have decent amounts of melee damage, with Thing being able to right click his way to victory, and Hulk being able to constantly lay down punches on his targets. Thor also falls into brawl, but his playstyle is a lot more aggressive and he has less survive ability and peeling potential than Hulk or Thing. Next season however, Thor is getting a new teamup that will allow him to be a lot more divey.

Brawl tanks in general are going to have a bit less survive ability than an anchor tank, due to their lack of gigantic shields. Hulk does have the gamma shield ability, but it only blocks 200 health and lasts for only a couple of seconds, and Thing does get a decent amount of over health from charging, but, still not as much survive ability as a full on anchor tank. To make up for this, they have more mobility, with Hulk having the most mobility out of any tank in the game due to his Incredible Leap, and Thing being able to run in and out with his charge(that also gives him overhealth).

Hulk and Thing differ in a few ways, both of them are great at countering dive, with Thing being able to shut down enemy movement abilities with his charge, and Hulk being able to just punch divers and use his gamma shield to protect his teammates. However, Thing is much more focused on being on the ground. Hulk however, has the ability to also dive into the enemy backline(he is a 60/40 dive brawl in my opinion), as well as contest enemies that take off angles due to his leap. This allows Hulk to be anywhere he chooses on the battlefield. Both tanks however are absolute title waves of frontline and backline pressure.

However, due to the decreased survive ability options, Hulk is very weak against comps with high sustain and CC(Crowd control abilities, which will stun or displace you). And Thing is very weak against High sustain comps, and if played improperly or against bad matchups, Thing will actually hurt your team by first of all feeding DPS ults, but also he will end up dying a lot since he has decreased surviveability, yet he has a very large hitbox.

However, as stated earlier, if you need more peel, or if you need more offangle or backline pressure, brawl tanks can be great picks. Thing is definitely the easiest to play, whereas Hulk is the hardest vanguard in the entire game to play due to his hyper mobile playstyle and lower damage overall. Hulk requires lots of gamesense including cooldown management, positioning, timing, target priority, and ult tracking.

Lets go over what a dive character actually is, because there are also DPS that fall into this catagory. A dive character is any character that uses hyper mobility to apply pressure and secure picks on an enemy backline. You might read this and think "Oh, so you're a liar, DIVE TANKS ARREEEE SUPPOSE TO GET PICKS!" And to that, I say, no, you braindead vegetable dps-brained, jobless, fatherless IMBECILE! Your job is not to "Get picks", your job is to MANAGE SPACE! Dive tanks are no exception to this. Dive tanks are obviously going to be the most mobile tanks in the game, and they are also going to have high surviveability to allow them to escape and exfil from enemy lines.


The 3 dive tanks that come to mind are Hulk(60/40 brawl dive, he can dive), Venom, and Captain America. These characters have some of the best mobility out of all the tanks in the game. Venom can swing and wallrun, Cap can run and jump, and Hulk can leap into high places. These guys are designed to jump over the enemy frontline, and directly attack the backline supports. Now, can you get picks doing this, absolutely, and if you are doing your job right you will get picks. But, really, what you are trying to do is two fold. First of all, dive tanks go very well with other dive dps like BP, Magik, and Psylocke. This is because even if they survive your dive, they are going to have to burn cooldowns. Without a healing bubble from Cnd, or Loki popping his lanterns, they are screwed if a BP comes by to clean them up. Another thing that diving can do, that allows you to take space, is forces the enemy tanks and DPS to peel. This forces them to give up space, which in turn allows your team to advance without even getting a pick. The enemy supports are also going to be forced to heal each other, and if the enemy supports are too busy dealing with you... guess who goes without heals? Your enemy frontline will crumble so so fast without heals, as the time to kill in Marvel Rivals is lightning fast.


As I said earlier, Dive tanks are going to also have high survive ability. You are useless to your team dead. Captain America is going to have his shield, Hulk is going to have his bubble, and Venom is going to use his ability that gives him a second health bar. However, their true lifeline is going to be their mobility, without that, they are going to die very quickly. CC abilities such as Emma's grab, Squirrel Girls nut thing, and The Thing with his charge will shut you down if you can't play around them. So, dive is very very weak against brawl tanks like Hulk(ironically) and Thing, as well as characters with high CC. Once you dive in and are forced to use cooldowns, it's time to leave, pick or no pick, value or no value, chasing kills after popping your cooldowns is a quick way to die fast.

Bunker tanks are the weirdest category of tank I would say. They are the only tanks that excel at HOLDING space rather than purely taking it. Don't get me wrong, Strange and Magneto can hold space very well, and Thing and Hulk can also hold up for a while if they have decent healers. However, Penni Parker and Groot are the masters of their art, just as the Dive tanks are the purely offensive space takers.

Bunker tanks differ from the other tanks for 2 major reasons. First off, their health is going to be higher than the average tank, with Groot having the most health in the entire game(base), and Penni having a very respectable 750 health. Another way they differ from tanks is that they give most of their value via deployables. Groot has his walls, and Penni has her nests and mines. Penni actually actively needs time to set up before or during a lull in the fight, since she has to get her nests in good spots that the enemy can't easily shoot. If penni has her nests destroyed, she is virtually useless, being a glorified CC machine that just tickles the enemy and occasionally stuns them. I've seen some penni players try and dive with her, but in my experience you can shut that down very easily. These 2 characters are masters at defense.


Penni Parker is the scourge of the lower ranks, however, with some basic gamsense, she is countered very easily. As a tank player, a good Penni Parker will be hard to deal with if you have dumb DPS. This is because Penni mines are primarily your DPS's responsibility to deal with, because they can take off angles a lot better and can shoot the nests in hard to reach places. The way to counter penni is with characters like starlord that can shoot her nests while taking sneaky angles, or flyers like Ironman that don't need direct line of sight to deal damage due to the spell field damage of his primary fire. Without her nests and mines, Penni Parker is just a paperweight. Bunker tanks in general may have high health, but they have virtually no survive ability options and completely rely on their supports to stay alive.

Groot is also very good on defense, with his walls he can actually deal the highest DPS out of any character in the game apparently. He can wall off enemy vanguards that are advancing and cut them off from their team, blocking heals, and causing them to explode. And, as a vanguard, you are the linchpin of your team, without you, your team falls apart. Both Groot and Penni can be used on offense as well, but, they may be less effective and will struggle to take space. However, they are very good if your team can take forward positions and while they hold off your enemy you can set up your mines on penni. With groot, you can get sneaky walls off on enemies and block their heals, though it is harder to do on offense.


So, to recap, Bunker tanks are best at denying the enemies space via their deployables. They have low survive ability, but very high defensive capabilities. Most of the time they are also only going to be able to be countered by DPS, with Punisher being able to destroy groot walls, Ironman being able to destroy penni nests, etc etc.

Mistake one: YOU ARE NOT A DPS, STOP CHASING KILLS YOU IDIOT! I've seen it so many times, so many freaking times. I use to do it too, but man once you notice it, it's very annoying. That doctor strange who is clearly a DPS main, ends up overextending chasing a kill, then gets bursted down by the enemy team 1v6, then he types in chat "GG no heals." You are not a DPS, your job is not to chase down kills, your job is to manage space. Kills will come naturally. What you really need to look for on the stat-board, is how much damage you have blocked in ratio to how many deaths you have. If you are in a long drawn out game, and you blocked 50-60K damage, but only have 3-4 deaths, you did your job. It doesn't matter if you only got 14 KO's, it doesn't matter if you have 0, that's right ZERO, ZERO final hits, if you are blocking damage and protecting your team, you are doing your job.


Mistake 2: Your supports need you, and you need them, so help them. If you are being dove, you need to have 1 tank peel, and the other maintain frontline. Now, if you are with a gaggle of stupid istalock DPS players and are solo tanking, you don't peel, you maintain front line, your DPS is responsible for peeling. However, 2-2-2 comps, one peels, the other maintains frontline. If nobody peels at all, and your supports die, even just 1 of them, that's a lost teamfight. That's probably going to result in a full reset, or at the very least you are going to have to give a lot of space, and lose a lot of time. Even if your supports are braindead, you need to do your job.


Mistake 3: Not swapping, which really goes with every role in the game. If you are going up against a triple DPS comp with Moonknight, Squirrel Girl, and Pheonix, it's time to swap off Brawl tanks and run anchors. If you are being dove by Magik, it's time to swap thing. Honestly, if you just learned how to play Thing and Strange, you are pretty much set. 90% of games if you play as well as you can, you can be confident that you did your job.

Mistake 4: Don't be a shy tank, you are the front line, you need to play your life obviously. However, you need to also push the enemy, you need to make them think twice about that push, or you need to make that Strange uncomfortable and get him off point. You need to PLAY the game, you need to BE THE FRONTLINE!




Mistake 5: I know shooting tanks all day is easy, but if you just sit there and punch enemy tanks all day, you are feeding... you are turbo feeding support ults. Shooting tanks to make them back off is fine, but, teamfights are usually going to be won by who can secure the first support pick. If you can get an early pick on a support or DPS, your chances of winning that fight go up drastically. Tanks are hard to kill, supports and DPS are a lot easier. So bully the little guy.


Mistake 6: Not calling your plays. This is a team oriented game, and I know people are toxic, but if you don't tell your team "This is how I'm playing, this is the pace I'm setting, I am going to hold this corner." Then your team won't listen. Now, don't get me wrong, if your DPS overextends past you and dies, that isn't on you, and your life is more important than his. So don't go chasing after him if you think you are going to die. Because a tanks life is arguably the most important life on the team. Even if they are lower priority targets, if a tank dies, the team falls apart, and their playmaking ability drops to almost 0.


Mistake 7: Not playing with your friendly tank is throwing, you need to coordinate your pushes together. You need to discuss who is going to peel and who is going to maintain the front. Communication is KEY!


Mistake 8: Being allergic to cover... I know Doctor Strange has a shield, but wouldn't it be better to instead of using the shield, using an object instead? That way you can save the shield for a critical moment, and use your resources wisely to save yourself or a teammate. Hop from cover to cover, heal up, and move on. Being caught out in the open is a recipe for death, even though the healing numbers in this game are high, you can be hard pocketed and still explode. Play smart.

So, today we learned that tanking isn't about just securing picks, it's mainly about SPACE MANAGEMENT! This is why tank is often touted as being the hardest role to play in this game. It doesn't require as much mechanical skill as DPS, but most players are going to be use to playing FPS games, so the skillset for aiming and movement are already there. Tank requires not just a degree of mechanical skill, but you also need to have great positioning, impeccable timing, and a team oriented attitude. I hope this guide helps on your journey, as Tanks are an integral part of hero shooters, and are necessary for your team to win.