The Legendary Beginning of Marvel Rivals: what the Update brought

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. Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman are initially available, with more team members joining later.

New Heroes

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• Mister Fantastic: A mid-range duelist with abilities for rapid movement between enemies and allies, area damage, and temporary damage absorption.
• Invisible Woman: A strategist whose attacks heal allies. She can create shields, manipulate enemies' positions, and, of course, turn invisible.

New Maps and Mode

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• Two new maps, part of "Empire of Eternal Night: Midtown," featuring locations like Grand Central Terminal in a devastated New York City.
• A new "Doom Match" mode for 8-12 players. 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. While most skins are visually appealing, Peni Parker's Blue Tarantula skin is a simple recolor. The free track offers Units and Lattice.

Celestial Rank

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A new "Celestial" rank is introduced between Grandmaster and Eternity, comprising three divisions. The impact on overall ranking progression remains to be seen. A season-end rank reset occurs, with a seven-level drop (e.g., Platinum I becomes Silver II).

Balance Adjustments for Heroes

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This section details numerous minor adjustments to various heroes, aiming for improved balance.

Vanguard

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• Captain America: Received buffs to shield cooldown, Rush ability cooldown, and health. Ultimate ability cost reduced, but health gain slightly lowered.
• Doctor Strange: Damage reduced at close range, shield recovery speed decreased.
• Thor: Health increased, gained crowd control immunity during ultimate.
• Hulk: Gamma Shield health reduced.
• Venom: Armor gain increased, ultimate damage slightly increased.

Duelist

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• Black Panther: Extra health from Spirit Rend and maximum additional health reduced.
• Black Widow: Increased radius for Edge Dancer, reduced Fleet Foot cooldown, and faster ultimate charge time.
• Hawkeye: Slightly reduced arrow spread, reduced Archer’s Focus activation distance and maximum bonus damage.
• Hela: Health reduced. New Twitch Drops available.
• Magik: Increased Umbral Incursion damage.
• Moon Knight: Increased ultimate talons and blast radius.
• Namor: Throw accuracy adjusted.
• Psylocke: Ultimate now checks for opponent barriers.
• Punisher: Reduced spread for Deliverance and Adjudication.
• Scarlet Witch: Increased Chaos Control damage, reduced damage-over-time percentage, increased Chthonian Burst damage.
• Storm: Significantly buffed with faster projectiles, increased damage, and increased ultimate health gain with decay.
• Squirrel Girl: Improved squirrel targeting, reduced squirrel tsunami health.
• Winter Soldier: Increased health gain from abilities, increased main attack damage, reduced area damage.
• Wolverine: Increased health, reduced Undying Animal damage reduction.

Strategist

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

Team-Up

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Several heroes received Team-Up adjustments, with some buffs and nerfs to their synergy bonuses.

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The impact of these balance changes and new heroes on the meta remains to be seen.