Marvel Rivals Update: News and Features

Marvel Rivals Season One: A Comprehensive Overview of New Content and Balance Changes

Season Zero is over, and the highly anticipated Season One of Marvel Rivals has arrived, bringing a wave of fresh content and significant balance adjustments. Let's delve into the key 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 centers around an undead invasion orchestrated by Dracula! The Fantastic Four have answered the call, with Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman debuting as playable heroes, with more team members to be released throughout the season.

New Heroes

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• Mister Fantastic: A mid-range Duelist with abilities enabling swift movement between allies and enemies, area-of-effect damage, and temporary damage absorption.
• Invisible Woman: A Strategist whose attacks heal allies. She can create shields, manipulate enemy positioning, and, of course, turn invisible.

New Maps and Mode

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• New Maps: "Empire of Eternal Night: Midtown" introduces battles in locations like Grand Central Terminal within a ravaged New York City.
• New Mode: "Doom Match" is an 8-12 player mode where the top 50% survive to win after a set number of knockouts.

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 offering appealing designs. The Blue Tarantula skin for Peni Parker, however, is considered a minor update. Free pass completion rewards Units and Lattice.

Celestial Rank

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A new "Celestial" rank has been added between Grandmaster and Eternity, divided into three sub-divisions. Its impact on the overall ranking system remains to be seen. A season-end rank reset is in place, dropping players seven ranks from their Season Zero final placement.

Balance Adjustments for Heroes

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Numerous heroes received adjustments to fine-tune balance. Below is a summary of the key changes:

Vanguard:

• Captain America: Significant buffs to health, mobility (Rush cooldown reduction), and Ultimate ability cost reduction.
• Doctor Strange: Moderate adjustments to damage and shield recovery.
• Thor: Health increase and crowd-control immunity during Ultimate.
• Hulk: Slight nerf to Gamma Shield health.
• Venom: Buffs to armor scaling and Ultimate ability damage.

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Duelist:

• Black Panther: Nerfs to Spirit Rend health gain and maximum additional health.
• Black Widow: Buffs to Edge Dancer radius, Fleet Foot recovery time, and Ultimate ability charge time.
• Hawkeye: Minor nerfs to explosive arrow spread, Archer’s Focus activation distance, and passive skill damage.
• Hela: Health reduction. New Twitch Drops available.
• Magik: Increased Umbral Incursion damage.
• Moon Knight: Buffs to Ultimate ability 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.
• Storm: Significant buffs to normal attack projectile speed and damage, right-click damage, and Ultimate ability 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.

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Strategist:

• Cloak & Dagger: Dagger Storm cooldown reduction and increased dashes in Ultimate ability.
• Jeff the Land Shark: Ultimate ability range and Joyful Splash healing adjustments.
• Luna Snow: Minor nerf to dance mode change break time.
• Mantis: Nerf to Nature's Favor acceleration.
• Rocket Raccoon: Increased healing speed in recovery mode.

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Team-Up:

• Nerfs: Hawkeye and Hela season bonuses reduced.
• Buffs: Namor monster damage, Rocket Raccoon healing, Magneto projectile damage, and Storm charged storm effectiveness.

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The impact of these balance changes, particularly the new heroes, on the meta remains to be seen. While some characters have received noticeable adjustments, the overall balance shifts are subtle.