Marvel Rivals Season One: A Comprehensive Update Overview
Season Zero is behind us, and Season One of Marvel Rivals has arrived, bringing a wave of new content and balance adjustments. Let's delve into 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 revolves around an undead invasion spearheaded by Dracula! The Fantastic Four are here to fight back, with Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman initially available, and more team members joining later.
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, capable of creating shields, manipulating enemy positions, and, of course, turning invisible.
New Maps and Mode
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- Two new maps, part of "Empire of Eternal Night: Midtown," feature battles in Grand Central Terminal and other locations within a ravaged New York City.
- "Doom Match," a new mode for 8-12 players, declares the top 50% of players as winners once a knockout threshold is reached.
Battle Pass
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Season One's Battle Pass is double the size of Season Zero's, reflecting the three-month season length. Eight of the ten skins are premium, with most considered visually appealing, though Peni Parker's Blue Tarantula skin is noted for its minor visual changes. The free pass still offers Units and Lattice rewards.
Celestial Rank
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A new "Celestial" rank, divided into three divisions, sits between "Grandmaster" and "Eternity." Its impact on overall ranking progression remains to be seen. A season-end rank reset is in place, with a seven-level drop from the previous season's final rank (e.g., Platinum I drops to Silver II).
Balance Adjustments for Heroes
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This section details numerous minor adjustments to various heroes, aiming to refine the game's balance. Specific changes are outlined below for each hero class.
Vanguard
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- Captain America: Received significant buffs, including reduced cooldown on Shield and Rush abilities, and increased health. Ultimate ability cost reduced, but grants less bonus health.
- Doctor Strange: Minor adjustments to Maelstrom of Madness damage and shield recovery speed.
- Thor: Health increase and crowd-control immunity during ultimate.
- Hulk: Slight nerf to Gamma Shield health.
- Venom: Buffs to armor gain based on lost health and ultimate ability damage.
Duelist
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- Black Panther: Nerfed; reduced extra health from Spirit Rend upgrades.
- Black Widow: Improved; increased radius for Edge Dancer, reduced cooldown for Fleet Foot, and faster ultimate activation.
- Hawkeye: Slight nerf; reduced explosive arrow spread, passive ability activation distance, and maximum bonus damage.
- Hela: Health reduction. New Twitch Drops available.
- Magik: Increased Umbral Incursion damage in Darkchild form.
- Moon Knight: Buffed; increased talons and blast radius in ultimate ability.
- Namor: Throw accuracy adjustments.
- Psylocke: Bug fix for ultimate ability interaction with barriers.
- Punisher: Reduced spread for Deliverance and Adjudication.
- Scarlet Witch: Enhanced; increased Chaos Control damage, but reduced damage-over-time percentage. Chthonian Burst damage increased.
- Storm: Significant buffs; faster and stronger projectiles, increased right-click damage, and increased and sustained bonus health from ultimate.
- Squirrel Girl: Adjustments to squirrel targeting and tsunami health.
- Winter Soldier: Enhanced; increased health gain from abilities, increased main attack damage, but reduced area damage. Health increased.
- Wolverine: Buffed; increased health and reduced damage reduction from Undying Animal.
Strategist
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- Cloak & Dagger: Dagger Storm cooldown reduced. Ultimate ability now has four dashes instead of three.
- Jeff the Land Shark: Ultimate range and Joyful Splash healing adjusted.
- Luna Snow: Minor nerf to dance mode interruption.
- Mantis: Nerfed; reduced acceleration from Nature's Favor.
- Rocket Raccoon: Increased healing speed in recovery mode.
Team-Up
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Team-Up bonuses adjusted for several heroes, with nerfs to Hawkeye and Hela, and buffs to Namor, Rocket Raccoon, Magneto, and Storm.
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The balance changes are largely subtle, though some heroes might see increased popularity. The impact of the new heroes on the meta remains to be seen.
