The zero season has concluded, and we're now diving into the excitement of the first season of Marvel Rivals. This launch brings a wave of fresh content and significant balance changes that promise to reshape the game's landscape. Let's delve into the key updates and adjustments that players should be aware of.
Table of Contents:
- What’s New in the First Season?
- New Heroes
- New Maps and Mode
- Battle Pass
- Celestial Rank
- What Are the Balance Adjustments for Heroes?
- Vanguard
- Duelist
- Strategist
- Team-Up
What’s New in the First Season?
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The theme for this season is an undead invasion led by Dracula himself! In response, the Fantastic Four have stepped up to the challenge. Two members are already playable, with the rest slated to join as the season unfolds.
New Heroes
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- Mister Fantastic: A medium-range duelist with abilities that allow him to swiftly maneuver between foes and allies, inflict area damage, and temporarily absorb damage.
- Invisible Woman: A strategist whose attacks not only heal allies but also enable her to create shields, manipulate enemy positions, and, of course, become invisible.
New Maps and Mode
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The "Empire of Eternal Night: Midtown" map introduces battles in a ravaged New York City, including iconic locations like Grand Central Terminal. Additionally, the new "Doom Match" mode pits 8-12 players against each other, with the top 50% emerging victorious upon reaching a set number of knockouts.
Battle Pass
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This season's Battle Pass is significantly larger than the zero season's, reflecting the extended three-month duration of upcoming seasons. Eight out of ten skins are available in the premium version, with most being visually appealing. However, the Blue Tarantula skin for Peni Parker is a simple recolor and lacks the visual flair of others. Players can still earn Units and Lattice by completing tasks in the free portion of the Battle Pass.
Celestial Rank
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A new "Celestial" rank has been introduced between "Grandmaster" and "Eternity", comprising three divisions. While it may be out of reach for most players stuck in "Bronze", it could facilitate climbing the ranks in the future. As with many online games, Marvel Rivals resets ratings at the end of each season, with players starting the first season seven ranks below their zero season finish.
What Are the Balance Adjustments for Heroes?
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Balancing a roster with diverse abilities is always a challenge, and Marvel Rivals has implemented various minor changes to address this.
Vanguard
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- Captain America: Buffed to improve his tanking capabilities with a reduced Shield cooldown from 3 to 2 seconds, a Rush ability cooldown drop from 12 to 10 seconds, health increased from 650 to 675, and a reduced Ultimate ability cost from 3,400 to 3,100 with 100 extra health instead of 110.
- Doctor Strange: Adjusted with a 70% damage reduction for Maelstrom of Madness and Gamma-version at 8 meters (up from 5 meters) and a shield recovery speed reduction from 80/s to 70/s.
- Thor: Improved with a 25-point health increase and crowd-control immunity during his ultimate ability.
- Hulk: Nerfed with Gamma Shield now granting 200 health instead of 250.
- Venom: Buffed with increased armor based on lost health (coefficient from 1 to 1.2) and a 10-point increase in base damage of his ultimate ability.
Duelist
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- Black Panther: Reduced extra health from Spirit Rend from 40 to 30 and maximum additional health from 120 to 75.
- Black Widow: Enhanced with an increased Edge Dancer radius from 3 to 5 meters, reduced Fleet Foot recovery time from 12 to 4 seconds, and a shortened time to reach maximum power for her ultimate ability from 1 second to 0.6 seconds.
- Hawkeye: Slightly nerfed with a narrowed spread angle for explosive arrows, reduced Archer’s Focus activation distance from 60 to 40 meters, and a decrease in maximum bonus damage from 80 to 70.
- Hela: Health reduced from 275 to 250, yet still the top DPS. New Twitch Drops include a skin and other rewards for Hela.
- Magik: Damage to Umbral Incursion in Darkchild form increased from 115 to 135.
- Moon Knight: Enhanced with an increase in talons generated by his ultimate from 10 to 14 and a blast radius increase from 4 to 5 meters.
- Namor: Adjusted for accuracy of throws in his abilities.
- Psylocke: Fixed a bug where the ultimate skill didn't check for barriers against opponents.
- The Punisher: Slightly reduced spread for Deliverance and Adjudication.
- Scarlet Witch: Enhanced with increased Chaos Control damage from 50/s to 60/s, reduced damage-over-time percentage from 5% to 3%, and increased Chthonian Burst damage from 30 to 35.
- Storm: Strengthened with faster and more damaging projectiles, increased right-click damage, and bonus health after using her ultimate increased from 350 to 450 with a decay rate of 100 per second.
- Squirrel Girl: Changes include more predictable squirrel targeting and reduced health of squirrel tsunami.
- Winter Soldier: Enhanced with increased health from abilities, main attack damage increased from 70 to 75, reduced area damage from 70 to 65, and base health increased from 250 to 275.
- Wolverine: Boosted with health increased from 300 to 350 and a damage reduction coefficient for Undying Animal decreased from 50% to 40%.
Strategist
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- Cloak & Dagger: Improved with a reduced Dagger Storm cooldown from 15 to 12 seconds and increased dashes from 3 to 4 during their ultimate.
- Jeff the Land Shark: Adjusted with an ultimate range change to a 10-meter cylindrical field with a height of 5 meters and increased healing from Joyful Splash from 140/s to 150/s.
- Luna Snow: Weakened with a mode change break during her dance increased from 0.1s to 0.5s.
- Mantis: Weakened with reduced acceleration from Nature's Favor from 2.5m/s to 1.5m/s.
- Rocket Raccoon: Enhanced with increased healing speed in recovery mode from 60 to 70 units per second.
Team-Up
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Team-Up benefits have been adjusted:
- Weakened Hawkeye and Hela with a 5% reduction in their season bonus.
- Enhanced Namor, Rocket Raccoon, Magneto, and Storm with various improvements to their abilities.
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These balance changes are relatively minor, with a few heroes potentially seeing increased popularity. However, Hela remains a constant ban at higher ranks. The introduction of new heroes will undoubtedly influence the meta, and it will be fascinating to see how these power dynamics evolve over time.
