The Legendary Beginning of Marvel Rivals: what the Update brought

Marvel Rivals Season One: A Comprehensive Update Overview

Season Zero is over, and the highly anticipated Season One 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 centers around an undead invasion spearheaded by Dracula! The Fantastic Four have answered the call to arms, with Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman debuting as playable heroes. More Fantastic Four members are promised as the season progresses.

New Heroes

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• Mister Fantastic: A mid-range duelist with abilities enabling swift movement between allies and enemies, area-of-effect damage, and temporary damage absorption.
• Invisible Woman: A strategist whose attacks heal allies. She boasts shield creation, enemy manipulation (push/pull), and, naturally, invisibility.

New Maps and Mode

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Two new maps, set in a ravaged New York City, are introduced: "Empire of Eternal Night: Midtown," featuring locations like Grand Central Terminal. A new "Doom Match" mode supports 8-12 players, with the top 50% emerging victorious 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 out of ten skins are premium, with most boasting attractive designs. However, Peni Parker's Blue Tarantula skin is criticized for its minimal visual changes. The free track still offers Units and Lattice for completing tasks.

Celestial Rank

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A new "Celestial" rank, divided into three divisions, is inserted between "Grandmaster" and "Eternity." While accessibility might be limited, it could potentially improve future ranking progression. A season-end rank reset is implemented, dropping players seven ranks from their Season Zero finish (e.g., Platinum I becomes Silver II).

Balance Adjustments for Heroes

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Season One introduces various balance tweaks across hero classes.

Vanguard

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• Captain America: Received significant buffs, including reduced cooldown on his Shield and Rush abilities, and increased health. His Ultimate ability's cost is reduced.
• Doctor Strange: Underwent moderate adjustments, with damage reductions at closer ranges and a slower shield recovery speed.
• Thor: Health increased, and gained crowd-control immunity during his Ultimate.
• Hulk: Slightly nerfed; his Gamma Shield now grants less health.
• Venom: Buffed with increased armor scaling based on lost health and increased Ultimate ability damage.

Duelist

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• Black Panther: Nerfed; reduced extra health from Spirit Rend upgrades.
• Black Widow: Improved with increased radius for Edge Dancer and reduced cooldown for Fleet Foot.
• Hawkeye: Slightly nerfed; reduced explosive arrow spread, passive ability activation distance, and maximum bonus damage.
• Hela: Health reduced. New Twitch Drops offer a Hela skin and other rewards.
• Magik: Increased Umbral Incursion damage in Darkchild form.
• Moon Knight: Buffed with increased talons and blast radius for his Ultimate.
• Namor: Throw accuracy adjusted.
• Punisher: Slightly reduced spread for Deliverance and Adjudication.
• Scarlet Witch: Enhanced with increased Chaos Control damage and Chthonian Burst damage.
• Storm: Significantly buffed; faster projectiles, increased damage, and increased and persistent health bonus from her Ultimate.
• Squirrel Girl: Added predictability to squirrel targeting and reduced squirrel tsunami health.
• Winter Soldier: Buffed; increased health gain from abilities, increased main attack damage, and increased base health.

Strategist

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• Cloak & Dagger: Dagger Storm cooldown reduced. Ultimate ability now has an extra dash.
• Jeff the Land Shark: Ultimate range adjusted, and Joyful Splash healing increased.
• Luna Snow: Slightly nerfed; increased break time during her dance.
• Mantis: Nerfed; reduced acceleration from Nature's Favor.
• Rocket Raccoon: Increased healing speed in recovery mode.

Team-Up

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Team-Up bonuses adjusted for several heroes, with some receiving nerfs (Hawkeye, Hela) and others receiving buffs (Namor, Rocket Raccoon, Magneto, Storm).

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The balance changes are generally subtle. While some heroes might see increased popularity, the impact of the new heroes on the meta remains to be seen.