Marvel Rivals' Legendary Start: Update Highlights

The zero season has come to a close, and the first season of *Marvel Rivals* is now in full swing, bringing a slew of exciting new content and balance tweaks to enhance your gameplay experience. Let's dive into the key updates that you should know about.

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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 0 0 Comment on this What’s New in the First Season?

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Theme of the Season: Brace yourself for an undead invasion, led by none other than Dracula! To fend off the darkness, the Fantastic Four have stepped into the battle. Two members of this iconic team are already available, with the rest to be introduced as the season unfolds.

New Heroes

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Mister Fantastic: As a duelist, he excels at medium-range combat. His abilities enable him to swiftly navigate between foes and allies, inflict area damage, and temporarily absorb incoming damage.

Invisible Woman: This strategist not only heals allies with her attacks but also can create protective shields, manipulate enemy positions with push and pull mechanics, and, unsurprisingly, turn invisible.

New Maps and Mode

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Explore the new map "Empire of Eternal Night: Midtown," where you can fight across a ravaged New York City, including iconic spots like Grand Central Terminal.

Dive into the new "Doom Match" mode, designed for 8-12 players. Victory is secured by the top 50% of players once a predetermined number of knockouts is achieved.

Battle Pass

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The first season's Battle Pass is double the size of the zero season's and will last for three months. It includes 10 skins, with 8 of them exclusive to the premium version. While most skins are visually striking, the Blue Tarantula for Peni Parker merely changes the color of the default outfit, lacking significant alterations. As with the previous season, you can earn Units and Lattice by completing tasks in the free track of the Battle Pass.

Celestial Rank

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A new "Celestial" rank has been introduced, positioned between "Grandmaster" and "Eternity," and it comprises three divisions. While most players may not reach beyond "Bronze," this addition could make climbing the ranks easier in the future. At the end of each season, there's a rating reset; your starting rank in the first season will be seven levels below your final rank in the zero season. For instance, if you finished at Platinum I, you'll start at Silver II.

What Are the Balance Adjustments for Heroes?

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Balancing a diverse roster of characters with unique abilities is a challenge in any game, and Marvel Rivals is no different. The first season brings a series of minor adjustments to various heroes.

Vanguard

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Captain America has received significant buffs to bolster his tank role:

• Shield cooldown reduced from 3 seconds to 2 seconds.
• Rush ability cooldown decreased from 12 seconds to 10 seconds.
• Health increased from 650 to 675 points.
• Ultimate ability cost reduced from 3,400 to 3,100, with the health bonus decreased from 110 to 100 points.

Doctor Strange has seen reasonable tweaks:

• Damage for Maelstrom of Madness and Gamma-version decreases by 70% at a range of 8 meters (from 5 meters).
• Shield recovery speed reduced from 80/s to 70/s.

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Thor has been improved:

• Health increased by 25 points.
• Gains crowd-control immunity during his ultimate ability.

Hulk experienced a slight nerf:

• Gamma Shield now grants 200 health instead of 250.

Venom, already a strong hero, received a buff:

• Gains more armor based on lost health (coefficient increased from 1 to 1.2).
• Base damage of his ultimate ability increased by 10 points.

Duelist

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Black Panther has seen reductions:

• Extra health from upgrading marks with Spirit Rend reduced from 40 to 30.
• Maximum additional health decreased from 120 to 75.

Black Widow has been enhanced with several small changes:

• Radius for the first effect of Edge Dancer increased from 3 to 5 meters.
• Recovery time for Fleet Foot reduced from 12 to 4 seconds.
• Time to reach maximum power for her ultimate ability shortened from 1 second to 0.6 seconds.

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Hawkeye has been slightly nerfed:

• Spread angle between explosive arrows narrowed.
• Passive ability Archer’s Focus activation distance reduced from 60 meters to 40 meters.
• Maximum bonus damage from his passive skill decreased from 80 to 70.

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Hela saw a health reduction from 275 to 250, but remains a top DPS choice. New Twitch Drops for Hela include a skin and other rewards, available by watching live streams with Twitch Drops enabled.

Magik deals more damage in Darkchild form, increasing from 115 to 135.

Moon Knight has been enhanced:

• Number of talons generated by his ultimate increased from 10 to 14.
• Blast radius of each claw increased from 4 meters to 5 meters.

Namor had his throw accuracy adjusted.

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Psylocke has a bug fix: the ultimate skill now checks for barriers against opponents.

The Punisher has slightly reduced spread for Deliverance and Adjudication.

Scarlet Witch has been enhanced:

• Damage of Chaos Control increased from 50/s to 60/s.
• Damage-over-time percentage reduced from 5% to 3%.
• Damage of Chthonian Burst increased from 30 to 35.

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Storm has been significantly strengthened:

• Normal attacks now release faster, more damaging projectiles.
• Right-click damage increased.
• Bonus health after using her ultimate increased from 350 to 450, decaying at 100 per second instead of disappearing instantly.

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Squirrel Girl changes:

• Squirrels now target the nearest enemy after bouncing.
• Health of squirrel tsunami reduced by half.

Winter Soldier has been enhanced:

• Health from right-click and E abilities increased from 30 to 40.
• Main attack damage increased from 70 to 75.
• Area damage reduced from 70 to 65, with damage falloff at 40 meters reduced from 65% to 60%.
• Base health increased from 250 to 275 points.

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Wolverine, the leading tank, has been boosted:

• Health increased from 300 to 350.
• Damage reduction coefficient for Undying Animal decreased from 50% to 40%.

Strategist

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Cloak & Dagger:

• Cooldown of Dagger Storm reduced from 15s to 12s.
• Number of dashes during ultimate increased from 3 to 4.

Jeff the Land Shark:

• Ultimate range adjusted to a 10-meter cylindrical field with a height of 5 meters.
• Healing from Joyful Splash increased from 140/s to 150/s.

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Luna Snow has seen a minor nerf:

• Mode change break during dance increased from 0.1s to 0.5s.

Mantis has been weakened:

• Acceleration from Nature's Favor reduced from 2.5m/s to 1.5m/s.

Rocket Raccoon has an increased healing speed in recovery mode from 60 to 70 units per second.

Team-Up

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The following changes affect the benefits heroes receive from Team-Up:

• Hawkeye and Hela have their season bonus reduced by 5%.
• Namor, Rocket Raccoon, Magneto, and Storm have been enhanced. Namor's monsters deal more damage, Rocket Raccoon heals better, Magneto's projectile damage has increased, and Storm's charged storm hits more frequently and with greater force.

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Overall, these balance adjustments are relatively minor. While a few characters may gain slight popularity, Hela continues to be a constant ban at higher ranks. The introduction of new heroes will likely influence the meta, and only time will reveal the shifts in power dynamics.