Counters and synergies
Wolverine counters and matchups
Higher is stronger on every card. Ratings show how lopsided the matchup is, from 7 to 10 for a hard counter and 3 to 6 for a soft one.
Swap to these
Beats Wolverine
Elsa BloodstoneDuelistour note
8/10hardThe elephant gun pierces, and he has to close the gap in a straight line to reach her.
Iron ManDuelistour note
8/10hardWolverine has no ranged option and simply cannot reach him.
JubileeStrategistour note
8/10hardJubilee's Sparking Sprint gives her the speed and jump height to leave his leap, and the orb keeps damaging where he lands.
PhoenixDuelistour note
8/10hardThe first blast stuns him out of his leap, and she is in the air where he cannot follow.
White FoxStrategistour note
8/10hardHer marbles home in after they bounce, so there is nothing to dodge once he has committed to a leap.
Free matchups
Wolverine beats these
HulkVanguardour note
8/10hardHis damage scales off the target's max health, and Hulk has the largest pool in the game.
VenomVanguardour note
8/10hardMax-health scaling shreds the symbiote's oversized pool and bonus health.
The HoodVanguardour note
8/10hardWolverine's Savage Claw takes a percentage of maximum health per strike, so The Hood's 600 health pool works against him rather than for him.
Captain AmericaVanguardour note
7/10hardCaptain America's Living Legend deflects projectiles and claws are not projectiles, so the block is off while Wolverine's Savage Claw reads his 600 health as the bill.
Devil DinosaurVanguard
7/10hardWolverine heals back what the trade costs, so Devil Dinosaur has to win it outright and cannot grind it out.
Strongest duos
Playstyle synergy, not win rate
Where these numbers come from
Wolverine has 47 mapped matchups on this page, 9 of them heroes who counter Wolverine hard.
The figures in the header: tier, win rate, pick rate and match count are drawn from community match data, across 27,193 recorded matches, and the tier letter is that data's call rather than ours. Pick rate is the share of matches featuring Wolverine. Rank is our ordering of those win rates across the 53 heroes in the snapshot, not a rating we measured. Ban share is the percentage of every ban cast that named Wolverine, in the ranked divisions where the ban phase runs. It is our own figure and not the same as a published ban rate. These win rates are shrunk toward 50% in proportion to sample size at the source, so a rarely played hero reads closer to even than it actually played. A sample, not a census, and not split by rank or mode. The matchup counts above are ours, and the 0 to 10 ratings on every card are matchup lopsidedness rather than a win rate, because we measure nothing ourselves. Statistical data is based on external APIs and publicly available information. It may differ from official data.
Who to play Wolverine with
Best duos
Highest win rate alongside Wolverine, whether or not they share a Team-Up.
Team-Ups
Put Wolverine on a team with any of these and the pair unlocks an extra ability. That is a game mechanic rather than a reading of the numbers.
GambitStrategist
PAIR OF THREES
When teaming up with Gambit, Wolverine receives Continuous Healing for the entire duration of the ability.
54.1%across 9,060 matches
CyclopsDuelist
BLAST SLASH
When teaming up with Cyclops, Blast Slash is permanently active.
51.4%across 4,216 matches
HulkVanguard
GAMMA FASTBALL
When teaming up with Wolverine, unlocks the Fastball Special. Upon mutual confirmation, Hulk hurls Wolverine forward
54.5%across 3,662 matches
Best allies per hero, ranked by how often teams won with both on the field. Win rates are shrunk toward 50% by sample size at the source, because duo samples are far thinner than solo ones. This is not the same as a Team-Up, which is a specific ability a pair unlocks. A Team-Up is a game mechanic: these two heroes on one team unlock an extra ability. The win rate is how often teams containing both won, which is not the same as how much the Team-Up itself contributed. Match data as of Aug 31, 2026. Which heroes pair, and what the ability is called, come from the game itself. Team-Ups are reshuffled between seasons, so this list is refreshed rather than written once.
Ban suggestions
Heroes to ban against Wolverine
Highest expected impact: heroes that beat Wolverine hard and that the ladder already spends its bans on, so you are not the only person treating them as a problem.
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How is this calculated?
Counter rating is how lopsided that hero is against Wolverine, 7 to 10 for a hard counter and 3 to 6 for a soft one. It comes from this site's matchup data.
Ban share is the percentage of every ban that named that hero, counted across the ranked divisions where the ban phase runs, so it does not describe lower divisions or Quick Play. Ban counts are drawn from community match data, as of Aug 31, 2026. It sums to 100% across the roster, so 9% means roughly one ban in eleven. Declined bans are not counted. Combined multiplies the counter rating by the ban share, after damping the share so the most banned hero on the roster cannot swamp a genuinely bad matchup. A hero has to both answer Wolverine and be someone the ladder already treats as a problem.
Why bans and not pick rate: a ban is chosen before the match and on purpose, which makes it the cleanest signal that a hero is considered a problem. It is also the same question this panel is asking. This is our own figure, not the same as a published ban rate, so the two will not match.
Win rate by map
Where Wolverine actually performs. Bars above the average line are green, below it red.
Hell's heavenDomination50.5%- CECelestial huskDomination49.6%
MidtownConvoy49.2%
Spider-islandsConvoy48.7%
Heart of HeavenConvergence48.5%
Hall of DjaliaConvergence48.4%
ArakkoConvoy48.2%
Birnin t'challaDomination48.1%
Shin-shibuyaConvergence48.0%
Lower ManhattanConvergence47.8%
- Best maps
- Hell's heaven (50.5%), Celestial husk (49.6%), Midtown (49.2%)
- Worst maps
- Yggdrasill path (46.2%), Royal palace (46.4%), Krakoa (46.5%)
17 maps with enough recorded matches, which is not necessarily every map in the game. One row per map, averaged across its modes by match volume. The scale is zoomed to the data, so read the axis. Win rates are shrunk toward 50% by sample size at the source, so a thinly played map reads closer to even than it played., as of Aug 31, 2026.
Win rate by rank
How Wolverine holds up as lobbies get better. They gain 2.3 points from Bronze to Celestial+.
- 46.8
- 47.9
- 49.5
- 49.0
- 48.8
- 49.7
- 49.1
- Bronze8.3% pick
- Silver7.3% pick
- Gold7.9% pick
- Plat6.7% pick
- Diamond8.2% pick
- GM10.8% pick
- Cel+*13.0% pick
Bars above the 50% line are green, below it red. The scale is zoomed to the data, so read the axis. Divisions marked with an asterisk are faded because the sample is thin, and their win rate can swing on a handful of matches. Higher divisions always have far fewer matches than Bronze, and win rates are shrunk toward 50% by sample size at the source, which flattens the thinnest divisions further., as of Aug 31, 2026.
Strongest duos
Every mapped matchup
The boxes above show the top three per role. This is the full picture for Wolverine, strongest first.
Loses to32
- Elsa Bloodstonehard8/10
- Iron Manhard8/10
- Jubileehard8/10
- Phoenixhard8/10
- White Foxhard8/10
- Human Torchhard7/10
- Scarlet Witchhard7/10
- Deadpoolhard7/10
- Star-Lordhard7/10
- Luna Snowsoft5/10
- Peni Parkersoft5/10
- Stormsoft5/10
- Ultronsoft5/10
- Cyclopssoft6/10
- Jeff the Land Sharksoft6/10
- Psylockesoft6/10
- Squirrel Girlsoft6/10
- Moon Knightsoft5/10
- Bladesoft4/10
- Gambitsoft4/10
- Helasoft4/10
- Lokisoft4/10
- Namorsoft4/10
- Magiksoft4/10
- The Punishersoft4/10
- Adam Warlocksoft4/10
- Winter Soldiersoft4/10
- Hawkeyesoft4/10
- Daredevilsoft4/10
- Mantissoft4/10
- Black Panthersoft3/10
- Black Widowsoft3/10
Wolverine counters, answered
Who counters Wolverine in Marvel Rivals?
Elsa Bloodstone is the strongest answer to Wolverine right now, rated 8 out of 10. The elephant gun pierces, and he has to close the gap in a straight line to reach her.
Who is Wolverine good against?
Wolverine punishes Hulk hardest, rated 8 out of 10. His damage scales off the target's max health, and Hulk has the largest pool in the game.
Is Wolverine still worth playing on the Season 9.5 roster?
Wolverine sits at a 48.0% win rate and shows up in 7.9% of matches. Read that as a shape rather than a verdict: 9 heroes counter them hard, and 15 matchups go their way. The win rate is community match data. These win rates are shrunk toward 50% in proportion to sample size at the source, so a rarely played hero reads closer to even than it actually played. The D tier letter is that data's call, not ours, and the rank is our ordering of those win rates rather than a rating we measured. Statistical data is based on external APIs and publicly available information. It may differ from official data.