The Legendary Beginning of Marvel Rivals: what the Update brought

Marvel Rivals Season One: A Deep Dive into New Content and Balance Changes

The zero season is over, and Season One has arrived, bringing a wave of new content and balance adjustments to Marvel Rivals. Let's explore the significant updates.

Table of Contents

• What's New in Season One?
• New Heroes
• New Maps and Mode
• Battle Pass
• Celestial Rank
• Balance Adjustments for Heroes:
  • Vanguard
  • Duelist
  • Strategist
  • Team-Up

What's New in Season One?

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This season's theme: Dracula's undead invasion! The Fantastic Four join the fight against the forces of darkness. Two members are initially available, with more to come throughout the season.

New Heroes

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• Mister Fantastic: A mid-range duelist with abilities for quick movement between enemies and allies, area damage, and temporary damage absorption.
• Invisible Woman: A strategist whose attacks heal allies. She can create shields, manipulate enemies, and, of course, turn invisible.

New Maps and Mode

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Two new maps, part of the "Empire of Eternal Night: Midtown" setting, feature battles in locations like Grand Central Terminal within a ravaged New York City.

A new "Doom Match" mode supports 8-12 players. The top 50% win after a set number of knockouts.

Battle Pass

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Season One's Battle Pass is double the size of the zero season's, reflecting the three-month season length. Eight of the ten skins are premium. While most skins are visually appealing, Peni Parker's Blue Tarantula skin is a simple recolor. The free track offers Units and Lattice.

Celestial Rank

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A new "Celestial" rank sits between "Grandmaster" and "Eternity," divided into three divisions. The high barrier to entry means not all players will reach it.

A season-end rank reset is implemented, dropping players seven ranks from their final zero-season placement.

Balance Adjustments for Heroes

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Several heroes received adjustments to balance gameplay:

Vanguard:

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• Captain America: Buffs to shield cooldown, Rush ability cooldown, and health. Ultimate ability cost reduced, but health gain slightly lowered.
• Doctor Strange: Minor adjustments to Maelstrom of Madness damage and shield recovery.
• Thor: Health increase and crowd-control immunity during ultimate.
• Hulk: Slight nerf to Gamma Shield health.
• Venom: Buffs to armor gain and ultimate ability damage.

Duelist:

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• Black Panther: Nerfs to Spirit Rend health gain.
• Black Widow: Improvements to Edge Dancer radius, Fleet Foot recovery time, and ultimate activation time.
• Hawkeye: Slight nerfs to explosive arrow spread, Archer’s Focus activation distance, and passive damage bonus.
• Hela: Health reduction. New Twitch Drops available.
• Magik: Increased Umbral Incursion damage in Darkchild form.
• Moon Knight: Increased ultimate talon count and blast radius.
• Namor: Throw accuracy adjustments.
• Psylocke: Bug fix for ultimate ability interaction with barriers.
• Punisher: Reduced spread for Deliverance and Adjudication.
• Scarlet Witch: Enhanced Chaos Control damage, but reduced damage-over-time percentage and increased Chthonian Burst damage.
• Storm: Significant buffs to normal attack projectile speed and damage, right-click damage, and ultimate health gain.
• Squirrel Girl: Adjustments to squirrel targeting and tsunami health.
• Winter Soldier: Buffs to health gain from abilities, main attack damage, and base health.
• Wolverine: Increased health and reduced Undying Animal damage reduction.

Strategist:

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• Cloak & Dagger: Reduced Dagger Storm cooldown and increased ultimate dashes.
• Jeff the Land Shark: Adjusted ultimate range and increased Joyful Splash healing.
• Luna Snow: Slight nerf to dance mode interruption.
• Mantis: Reduced Nature's Favor acceleration.
• Rocket Raccoon: Increased healing speed in recovery mode.

Team-Up:

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• Hawkeye and Hela: Nerfed team-up bonuses.
• Namor, Rocket Raccoon, Magneto, and Storm: Enhanced team-up bonuses.

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The balance changes are mostly minor, though some heroes might see increased popularity. The impact of the new heroes on the meta remains to be seen.