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 fresh 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 orchestrated by Dracula! The Fantastic Four are here to save the day, with Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman already available, and more team members to be released throughout the season.

New Heroes

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• Mister Fantastic: A mid-range duelist with abilities enabling swift movement between allies and enemies, 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 the "Empire of Eternal Night: Midtown" setting, are now live, featuring locations like Grand Central Terminal in a ravaged New York City. A new "Doom Match" mode, supporting 8-12 players, has also been introduced. The top 50% of players, after a certain knockout threshold, are declared winners.

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. 8 out of 10 skins are premium, with most offering visually appealing designs. The Blue Tarantula skin for Peni Parker, however, is considered a minor update. Free Battle Pass completion rewards Units and Lattice.

Celestial Rank

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A new "Celestial" rank has been added between "Grandmaster" and "Eternity," comprising three divisions. Due to its difficulty, not all players will reach this rank.

A season-end rank reset is implemented, with a seven-level decrease from the previous season's final rank. For example, a Platinum I player in Season Zero starts Season One at Silver II.

Balance Adjustments for Heroes

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This section details adjustments made to various heroes to improve balance.

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 cost is reduced, but grants slightly less health.
• Doctor Strange: Experienced moderate adjustments, with damage reduction on certain abilities and a slightly slower shield recovery.
• Thor: Health increased, and gained crowd-control immunity during his Ultimate ability.
• Hulk: Slightly nerfed, with his gamma Shield granting less health.
• Venom: Buffed, with increased armor based on lost health and increased Ultimate ability damage.

Duelist

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• Black Panther: Nerfed, with reduced extra health from upgrades.
• Black Widow: Improved with increased radius on an ability, reduced recovery time on another, and faster Ultimate ability charge time.
• Hawkeye: Slightly nerfed, with reduced spread angle on explosive arrows, reduced passive ability activation distance, and reduced maximum bonus damage.
• Hela: Health reduced. New Twitch Drops available.
• Magik: Increased damage on an ability.
• Moon Knight: Buffed, with increased talons and blast radius on his Ultimate ability.
• Namor: Throw accuracy adjusted.
• Punisher: Slightly reduced spread on abilities.
• Scarlet Witch: Enhanced, with increased damage on abilities, but reduced damage-over-time percentage.
• Storm: Significantly buffed, with faster projectiles, increased damage, and increased and sustained health bonus from her Ultimate.
• Squirrel Girl: Adjustments to squirrel targeting and health.
• Winter Soldier: Buffed, with increased health gain from abilities, increased main attack damage, and increased base health.
• Wolverine: Buffed, with increased health and reduced damage reduction.

Strategist

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• Cloak & Dagger: Cooldown reduced on an ability, and increased dashes on their Ultimate.
• Jeff the Land Shark: Ultimate range adjusted, and healing increased on an ability.
• Luna Snow: Minor nerf to her dance ability.
• Mantis: Nerfed, with reduced acceleration on an ability.
• Rocket Raccoon: Increased healing speed.

Team-Up

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Team-Up bonuses adjusted for several heroes, with some receiving nerfs and others receiving buffs.

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These balance changes are generally subtle. While some heroes might see increased popularity, the meta remains largely unchanged, and the impact of the new heroes is yet to be fully determined.