The zero season of *Marvel Rivals* has concluded, paving the way for an exciting first season filled with fresh content and balance tweaks. Let's delve into the significant updates that are set to enhance your gaming experience.
What’s New in the First Season?
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The theme of the first season revolves around an undead invasion led by none other than Dracula. To counter this dark force, the Fantastic Four have stepped into the battle. Two members of this iconic team are already playable, with the rest slated for release as the season unfolds.
New Heroes
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**Mister Fantastic**: As a duelist, he engages enemies at medium range. His abilities enable rapid movement between foes and allies, inflict area damage, and offer temporary damage absorption.
**Invisible Woman**: A strategist whose attacks not only damage enemies but also heal allies. She can generate shields, manipulate enemy positions, and, as her name suggests, turn invisible.
New Maps and Mode
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The "Empire of Eternal Night: Midtown" map introduces battles in a ravaged New York City, featuring iconic locations like Grand Central Terminal.
The new "Doom Match" mode supports 8–12 players, crowning the top 50% as winners once a certain number of knockouts is achieved.
Battle Pass
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The inaugural season's Battle Pass is double the size of the zero season's, with future seasons lasting three months and offering even more content. The premium version includes 8 out of 10 skins, though some, like the Blue Tarantula for Peni Parker, offer minimal visual changes. Both free and premium tracks offer rewards, including Units and Lattice.
Celestial Rank
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A new "Celestial" rank has been added between "Grandmaster" and "Eternity," comprising three divisions. While most players may not reach this level, it could ease the climb through the ranks. As with many games, the season reset sees players drop seven levels from their zero season finish; for instance, a Platinum I player would start at Silver II.
What Are the Balance Adjustments for Heroes?
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Balancing a large roster with unique abilities is a challenge, and *Marvel Rivals* has made several minor adjustments to ensure a more even playing field.
Vanguard
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**Captain America**: Buffed to address his weaker tank status, his Shield cooldown has been reduced from 3 to 2 seconds, Rush ability cooldown from 12 to 10 seconds, health increased from 650 to 675, and Ultimate ability cost reduced from 3,400 to 3,100, now granting 100 extra health instead of 110.
**Doctor Strange**: His Maelstrom of Madness and Gamma-version damage decreases by 70% at a range of 8 meters (from 5 meters), and shield recovery speed drops from 80/s to 70/s.
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**Thor**: Gains 25 more health and crowd-control immunity during his ultimate.
**Hulk**: His gamma Shield now grants 200 health instead of 250.
**Venom**: Buffed despite his strength, with increased armor based on lost health (coefficient from 1 to 1.2) and a 10-point increase in his ultimate ability's base damage.
Duelist
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**Black Panther**: Extra health from Spirit Rend's upgraded marks reduced from 40 to 30, and maximum additional health lowered from 120 to 75.
**Black Widow**: Enhanced with an increased radius for Edge Dancer's first effect from 3 to 5 meters, reduced recovery time for Fleet Foot from 12 to 4 seconds, and a faster time to reach maximum power for her ultimate ability, now 0.6 seconds instead of 1 second.
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**Hawkeye**: Slightly nerfed with a narrowed spread angle for explosive arrows, reduced passive ability activation distance from 60 to 40 meters, and decreased maximum bonus damage from 80 to 70.
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**Hela**: Health reduced from 275 to 250, yet remains a top DPS choice. New Twitch Drops offer a skin and other rewards for Hela, available by watching streams with Drops enabled.
**Magik**: Damage in Darkchild form increased from 115 to 135 for Umbral Incursion.
**Moon Knight**: Enhanced with an increase in talons generated by his ultimate from 10 to 14 and a larger blast radius from 4 to 5 meters.
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**Namor**: Adjusted for better accuracy in throw abilities.
**Psylocke**: Ultimate skill now checks for barriers against opponents.
**The Punisher**: Slightly reduced spread for Deliverance and Adjudication.
**Scarlet Witch**: Enhanced with increased damage for Chaos Control from 50/s to 60/s, reduced damage-over-time percentage from 5% to 3%, and increased damage for Chthonian Burst from 30 to 35.
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**Storm**: Strengthened with faster and more damaging normal attack projectiles, increased damage from right-clicking, and a boost in bonus health after using her ultimate from 350 to 450, now decaying at 100 per second instead of disappearing instantly.
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**Squirrel Girl**: Squirrels now target the nearest enemy after bouncing, and the health of her squirrel tsunami halved, making them easier to destroy.
**Winter Soldier**: Enhanced with increased health from abilities (from 30 to 40), main attack damage increased from 70 to 75, area damage reduced from 70 to 65 with falloff at 40 meters reduced from 65% to 60%, and base health increased from 250 to 275.
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**Wolverine**: Health increased from 300 to 350, and damage reduction coefficient for Undying Animal decreased from 50% to 40%.
Strategist
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**Cloak & Dagger**: Cooldown for Dagger Storm reduced from 15 to 12 seconds, and the number of dashes during their 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, and healing from Joyful Splash increased from 140/s to 150/s.
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**Luna Snow**: Mode change during dance now has a break of 0.5s instead of 0.1s.
**Mantis**: Acceleration from Nature's Favor reduced from 2.5m/s to 1.5m/s.
**Rocket Raccoon**: Healing speed in recovery mode increased from 60 to 70 units per second.
Team-Up
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Team-Up bonuses have been adjusted. **Hawkeye** and **Hela** have their season bonus reduced by 5%, while **Namor**, **Rocket Raccoon**, **Magneto**, and **Storm** receive enhancements. Namor's monsters deal more damage, Rocket Raccoon heals better, Magneto's projectile damage increases, and Storm's charged storm hits more often and harder.
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These balance adjustments are relatively minor, with a few characters potentially becoming more popular. Hela continues to be a constant ban at higher ranks. The introduction of new heroes will undoubtedly shake up the meta, and it will be fascinating to see how the power dynamics evolve over time.
