Marvel Rivals Update: Legendary Beginnings

Season Zero is over, and the first season of Marvel Rivals has arrived, bringing a wave of new content and balance adjustments. Let's dive into the significant updates.

Table of Contents

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

What's New in the First Season?

This season's theme? An undead invasion led by Dracula! The Fantastic Four have answered the call to arms, with Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman already available, and more to come.

New Heroes

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

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

A new "Doom Match" mode, designed for 8-12 players, crowns the top 50% after a set number of knockouts.

Battle Pass

Season One's Battle Pass is double the size of Season Zero's, reflecting the three-month season length. Of the 10 skins, 8 are premium. While most skins are visually appealing, Peni Parker's Blue Tarantula skin is a simple color swap. The free track still offers Units and Lattice.

Celestial Rank

A new "Celestial" rank, nestled between Grandmaster and Eternity, adds three new divisions. While accessibility may be limited, it could potentially ease future ranking climbs. A season-end rank reset is in place, dropping players seven ranks from their Season Zero finish (e.g., Platinum I starts at Silver II).

Balance Adjustments for Heroes

This season brings minor adjustments to several heroes:

Vanguard

Captain America: Received significant buffs, including reduced cooldowns for Shield and Rush, and increased health.

Doctor Strange: Experienced adjustments to Maelstrom of Madness damage and shield recovery speed.

Thor: Health increase and crowd-control immunity during his ultimate.

Hulk: Slight nerf to his gamma Shield health.

Venom: Buffs to armor gain and ultimate damage.

Duelist

Black Panther: Reduced extra health from Spirit Rend upgrades.

Black Widow: Improvements to Edge Dancer radius, Fleet Foot recovery time, and ultimate power-up time.

Hawkeye: Slight nerfs to explosive arrow spread, Archer’s Focus activation distance, and passive skill bonus damage.

Hela: Health reduction.

Magik: Increased Umbral Incursion damage in Darkchild form.

Moon Knight: Increased ultimate talon count and blast radius.

Namor: Throw accuracy adjustments.

Psylocke: Ultimate skill now checks for opponent barriers.

Punisher: Reduced spread for Deliverance and Adjudication.

Scarlet Witch: Enhanced Chaos Control damage and Chthonian Burst damage, but reduced damage-over-time percentage.

Storm: Significant buffs to projectile speed, damage, and ultimate bonus health.

Squirrel Girl: Improved squirrel targeting and reduced squirrel tsunami health.

Winter Soldier: Increased health from abilities, main attack damage, and base health; reduced area damage.

Wolverine: Increased health and reduced damage reduction from Undying Animal.

Strategist

Cloak & Dagger: Reduced Dagger Storm cooldown and increased ultimate dashes.

Jeff the Land Shark: Adjusted ultimate range and increased Joyful Splash healing.

Luna Snow: Increased mode change break during dance.

Mantis: Reduced Nature's Favor acceleration.

Rocket Raccoon: Increased healing speed in recovery mode.

Team-Up

Team-Up bonuses adjusted for several heroes: Hawkeye and Hela nerfed, Namor, Rocket Raccoon, Magneto, and Storm buffed.

While these balance changes are relatively minor, their impact on the meta remains to be seen. The new heroes will undoubtedly play a significant role in shaping the future of Marvel Rivals.