Marvel Rivals Season One: A Comprehensive Update Overview
Season Zero is over, and the first season 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: Dracula's undead invasion! The Fantastic Four are here to fight back, with Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman initially available, more to come later.
New Heroes
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- Mister Fantastic: A mid-range duelist with abilities for quick movement, area damage, and temporary damage absorption.
- Invisible Woman: A strategist whose attacks heal allies, capable of creating shields, manipulating enemies, and, of course, turning invisible.
New Maps and Mode
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- Two new "Empire of Eternal Night: Midtown" maps featuring locations like Grand Central Terminal in a ravaged New York City.
- "Doom Match," a new mode for 8-12 players where 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 Season Zero's, reflecting the three-month season length. Eight of the ten skins are premium, with most offering appealing designs. However, Peni Parker's Blue Tarantula skin is considered a minor visual update. Free pass completion rewards Units and Lattice.
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 implemented, dropping players seven ranks from their Season Zero finish (e.g., Platinum I becomes Silver II).
Balance Adjustments for Heroes
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Several heroes received adjustments to address power imbalances.
Vanguard
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- Captain America: Buffed with reduced cooldown on Shield and Rush abilities, and increased health. Ultimate ability cost reduced.
- 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: Buffed with increased armor based on lost health and ultimate ability damage.
Duelist
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- Black Panther: Nerfed with reduced extra health from Spirit Rend upgrades.
- Black Widow: Improved with increased radius for Edge Dancer and reduced cooldown on Fleet Foot.
- Hawkeye: Slightly nerfed with reduced explosive arrow spread, Archer’s Focus activation distance, and passive skill damage.
- Hela: Health reduction. New Twitch Drops available.
- Magik: Increased Umbral Incursion damage in Darkchild form.
- Moon Knight: Buffed with 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 with increased Chaos Control damage and Chthonian Burst damage.
- Storm: Significantly buffed with faster projectiles, increased damage, and increased ultimate health bonus.
- Squirrel Girl: Adjustments to squirrel targeting and tsunami health.
- Winter Soldier: Buffed with increased health gain from abilities, increased main attack damage, and increased base health.
- Wolverine: Buffed with increased health and reduced damage reduction from Undying Animal.
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Strategist
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- Cloak & Dagger: Dagger Storm cooldown reduction and increased dashes in ultimate.
- Jeff the Land Shark: Ultimate range and Joyful Splash healing adjustments.
- Luna Snow: Minor nerf to dance mode interruption.
- Mantis: Nerfed with reduced acceleration from Nature's Favor.
- 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 impact of these balance changes and new heroes on the meta remains to be seen.
