The Legendary Beginning of Marvel Rivals: what the Update brought

Marvel Rivals Season One: A Deep Dive into 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 explore 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

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Season Theme: Dracula's Undead Invasion! The Fantastic Four answer the call, with Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman debuting this season, with more team members to follow.

New Heroes

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• Mister Fantastic: A mid-range Duelist with mobility skills, area damage, and temporary damage absorption.
• Invisible Woman: A Strategist whose attacks heal allies, capable of creating shields, manipulating enemies, and—surprise!—turning invisible.

New Maps and Mode

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• Empire of Eternal Night: Midtown: Two new maps featuring Grand Central Terminal and other locations in a ravaged New York City.
• Doom Match: A new mode for 8-12 players, with the top 50% winning 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 a simple recolor. The free track still provides Units and Lattice.

Celestial Rank

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A new "Celestial" rank, with three divisions, sits between Grandmaster and Eternity. Its impact remains to be seen, potentially easing high-rank progression. A season-end rank reset occurs, dropping players seven ranks from their Season Zero finish (e.g., Platinum I drops to Silver II).

Balance Adjustments

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Several heroes received adjustments to fine-tune the meta.

Vanguard:

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• Captain America: Buffed with reduced cooldown on Shield and Rush, and increased health.
• Doctor Strange: Minor adjustments to Maelstrom of Madness damage and shield recovery. Image: ensigame.com
• Thor: Health increase and crowd-control immunity during ultimate.
• Hulk: Slight nerf to Gamma Shield health.
• Venom: Buffed with increased armor scaling and ultimate damage.

Duelist:

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• Black Panther: Nerfed with reduced Spirit Rend health bonuses.
• Black Widow: Improved with increased Edge Dancer radius and reduced Fleet Foot cooldown. Image: ensigame.com
• Hawkeye: Slight nerf to explosive arrow spread and Archer’s Focus range/damage. Image: ensigame.com
• Hela: Health reduction.
• Magik: Increased Umbral Incursion damage.
• Moon Knight: Buffed with increased ultimate talons and blast radius.
• Namor: Throw accuracy adjustments.
• Psylocke: Bug fix for ultimate interaction with barriers.
• Punisher: Reduced Deliverance and Adjudication spread.
• Scarlet Witch: Enhanced with increased Chaos Control damage and Chthonian Burst damage. Image: ensigame.com
• Storm: Significantly buffed with faster projectile speed, increased damage, and enhanced ultimate health bonus. Image: ensigame.com
• Squirrel Girl: Improved squirrel targeting and reduced squirrel tsunami health. Image: ensigame.com
• Winter Soldier: Buffed with increased health from abilities, main attack damage, and base health. Image: ensigame.com
• Wolverine: Buffed with increased health.

Strategist:

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• Cloak & Dagger: Buffed with reduced Dagger Storm cooldown and increased ultimate dashes.
• Jeff the Land Shark: Ultimate range and Joyful Splash healing adjusted. Image: ensigame.com
• Luna Snow: Minor nerf to dance mode interruption.
• Mantis: Nerfed with reduced Nature's Favor acceleration.
• Rocket Raccoon: Increased healing speed in recovery mode.

Team-Up:

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Hawkeye and Hela nerfed; Namor, Rocket Raccoon, Magneto, and Storm buffed.

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These balance changes are subtle but impactful. The new heroes' influence on the meta remains to be seen.