What does DPS mean in Marvel Rivals?

Online video games are full of all sorts of weird terminologies and abbreviations, so much so that it seems like playing a game feels like you need your own glossary of dictionary to understand.

This is especially true when it comes to team communication (comms) in hero shooters like Marvel Rivals where talking or pinging is key to victory. You really need to know, on the fly, what’s being said as it’s being said so you can quickly react and adjust.

One common term in online games is DPS, which is an abbreviation for something that can be crucial in any kind of competitive game you’re playing. If you’re new to hero shooters or just have never heard the term before, we have all the info you need on what DPS means in Marvel Rivals.

Marvel Rivals DPS meaning

In Marvel Rivals, DPS stands for damage per second. It’s a common term in gaming that’s used to describe a character or weapon’s damage capabilities. It’s also used to describe a role in a hero shooter, like Marvel Rivals.

In Rivals, the three roles are Vanguard, Duelist, and Strategist. While Vanguards are often called tanks, and Strategists are called supports or healers, Duelists are the DPS or damage heroes of the game.

Basically, if someone in your game is talking about DPS or a DPS hero, they mean a Duelist or how much damage a character or player is doing or can do. Traditionally, though, damage per second is meant to damage how much damage someone or something can do in one second’s time.

If you want to win in Rivals or any other game, for that matter, you will want to increase your DPS by either swapping to a different hero capable of dealing more damage, or performing better in a damage-dealing role. In Rivals or other hero shooters, this can sometimes mean switching off of that role so someone else can play it to pick up the slack.

DPS is all about the rate at which you can deal damage in a game, but in most instances in 2025 and beyond, it’s simply used to describe damage or a damage-dealing role, such as the Duelist in Marvel Rivals or Damage role in Overwatch 2.

DPS heroes in Marvel Rivals

The Duelist role is the main source of dealing damage or DPS in Marvel Rivals, although all three of the game’s roles are capable of it. But when someone is talking about DPS in the game, they are talking about the Duelists.

Here’s the current list of confirmed DPS (Duelist) heroes in Marvel Rivals so far:

• Black Panther
• Black Widow
• Hawkeye
• Hela
• Human Torch
• Iron Fist
• Iron Man
• Magik
• Mister Fantastic
• Moon Knight
• Namor
• Psylocke
• The Punisher
• Scarlet Witch
• Spider-Man
• Squirrel Girl
• Star-Lord
• Storm
• Winter Soldier
• Wolverine