Marvel Rivals Season One: A Deep Dive into New Content and Balance Changes

The zero season has concluded, and Season One of Marvel Rivals has arrived, bringing a wave of fresh content and balance adjustments. Let's explore 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, and more to come.

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 maps: "Empire of Eternal Night: Midtown," featuring locations like Grand Central Terminal in a ravaged New York City.
• New game mode: "Doom Match" for 8-12 players. The top 50% survive to win.

Battle Pass

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Season One's Battle Pass is double the size of the zero season's, reflecting the three-month season length. Eight of the ten skins are premium. While most skins are visually appealing, Peni Parker's Blue Tarantula skin is a simple color swap. The free pass still offers Units and Lattice.

Celestial Rank

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A new "Celestial" rank has been added between Grandmaster and Eternity, comprising three divisions. Its impact on overall ranking remains to be seen. A season-end rank reset occurs, dropping players seven ranks from their zero-season finish.

Balance Adjustments for Heroes

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Numerous heroes received adjustments to balance gameplay. Below is a summary of notable changes:

Vanguard:

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• Captain America: Received significant buffs to health, Shield cooldown, and Rush cooldown.
• Doctor Strange: Minor adjustments to Maelstrom of Madness damage and shield recovery.
• Thor: Health increase and crowd-control immunity during his ultimate.
• Hulk: Slight nerf to Gamma Shield health.
• Venom: Buffs to armor gain and ultimate damage.

Duelist:

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• Black Panther: Nerfed extra health from Spirit Rend.
• Black Widow: Improvements to Edge Dancer radius, Fleet Foot recovery, and ultimate charge time.
• Hawkeye: Slight nerfs to explosive arrow spread, Archer's Focus activation distance, and passive damage bonus.
• Hela: Health reduction. New Twitch Drops available.
• Magik: Increased Umbral Incursion damage.
• Moon Knight: Increased ultimate talon count and blast radius.
• Namor: Throw accuracy adjustments.
• Psylocke: Bug fix for ultimate interaction with barriers.
• Punisher: Reduced spread for Deliverance and Adjudication.
• Scarlet Witch: Enhanced Chaos Control damage, but reduced damage-over-time percentage. Chthonian Burst damage increased.
• Storm: Significant buffs to attack speed, damage, and ultimate health bonus.
• Squirrel Girl: Adjustments to squirrel targeting and tsunami health.
• Winter Soldier: Buffs to health gain from abilities, main attack damage, and base health.
• Wolverine: Increased health and reduced Undying Animal damage reduction.

Strategist:

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• Cloak & Dagger: Reduced Dagger Storm cooldown and increased ultimate dashes.
• Jeff the Land Shark: Adjusted ultimate range and increased Joyful Splash healing.
• Luna Snow: Minor nerf to dance mode interruption.
• Mantis: Reduced Nature's Favor acceleration.
• Rocket Raccoon: Increased healing speed in recovery mode.

Team-Up:

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Hawkeye and Hela nerfs; Namor, Rocket Raccoon, Magneto, and Storm buffs to their team-up bonuses.

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The impact of these balance changes and new heroes on the meta remains to be seen. Hela continues to be a top pick.