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. This detailed overview covers all 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, with 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, invisibility.

New Maps and Mode

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• Empire of Eternal Night: Midtown: Two new maps featuring locations like Grand Central Terminal in a ravaged New York City.
• Doom Match: A new mode for 8-12 players where 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, spanning three months with significantly more content. Eight of the ten skins are premium, with most offering visually appealing designs. The Blue Tarantula skin for Peni Parker, however, is a simple recolor. The free track still provides Units and Lattice.

Celestial Rank

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

Balance Adjustments for Heroes

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This section details numerous minor balance changes across various hero classes. Note that these are summarized for brevity.

Vanguard:

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• Captain America: Received significant buffs to health, ability cooldowns, and Ultimate ability cost.
• Doctor Strange: Minor adjustments to damage and shield recovery.
• Thor: Health increase and crowd-control immunity during Ultimate.
• Hulk: Slight nerf to Gamma Shield health.
• Venom: Buffs to armor scaling and Ultimate ability damage.

Duelist:

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• Black Panther: Nerfed extra health from Spirit Rend.
• Black Widow: Several improvements to ability range, cooldown, and power-up time.
• Hawkeye: Slight nerfs to arrow spread and passive ability range/damage.
• Hela: Health reduction. New Twitch Drops available.
• Magik: Increased Umbral Incursion damage.
• Moon Knight: Buffs to Ultimate ability talons and blast radius.
• Namor: Throw accuracy adjustments.
• Psylocke: Bug fix for Ultimate ability interaction with barriers.
• Punisher: Reduced spread for Deliverance and Adjudication.
• Scarlet Witch: Mostly buffed, with increased damage and adjustments to damage over time.
• Storm: Significant buffs to attack speed, damage, and Ultimate ability health gain.
• Squirrel Girl: Adjustments to squirrel targeting and health.
• Winter Soldier: Several buffs to health, attack damage, and ability health gain.
• Wolverine: Buffs to health and 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: Slight nerf to dance mode interruption.
• Mantis: Nerfed Nature's Favor acceleration.
• Rocket Raccoon: Increased healing speed in recovery mode.

Team-Up:

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• Hawkeye and Hela: Nerfed Team-Up bonuses.
• Namor, Rocket Raccoon, Magneto, and Storm: Enhanced Team-Up bonuses.

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The balance changes are largely subtle. While some heroes might see increased popularity, the meta's evolution will depend heavily on the impact of the new heroes.