Vadim "Vadim" Dybinskiy The zero season has ended, and it’s time for the first. The season’s launch introduced a lot of new content and balance changes to the game. Below, we’ll go over all the significant updates worth noting.
What’s New in the First Season?
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Theme of the Season: An undead invasion led by Dracula! To combat the forces of darkness, the Fantastic Four have joined the fray. Two members of the team are already available, with the others to be added as the season progresses.
New Heroes
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Mister Fantastic: A duelist who attacks at medium range. His abilities allow him to quickly move between enemies and allies, deal area damage, and temporarily absorb damage.
Invisible Woman: A strategist whose attacks heal allies on impact. She can create shields, push or pull enemies, and yes—she can turn invisible. You probably didn’t see that coming!
New Maps and Mode
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Two new maps, "Empire of Eternal Night: Midtown," are now available. Superheroes can battle at Grand Central Terminal and other locations in a destroyed New York City.
A new game mode, "Doom Match" is designed for 8–12 players. Once a certain number of knockouts is reached, the top 50% of players become the winners.
Battle Pass
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The first season’s Battle Pass is twice the size of the zero season's. Unlike the zero season, subsequent seasons will last three months, so their Battle Passes will have more content.
Of the 10 skins, 8 are part of the premium version. Most of the skins are highly appealing. However, Blue Tarantula for Peni Parker, with only a color swap of the default outfit, lacks significant visual changes. As before, completing numerous tasks from the free portion of the Battle Pass can earn you some Units and Lattice.
Celestial Rank
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A new rank, "Celestial", has been added between "Grandmaster" and "Eternity". It consists of three divisions. Most of them can't get out of the "Bronze", so not all players will see this innovation. On the other hand, it may make it easier to climb the rankings in the future.
Like in many online games, Marvel Rivals has introduced a rating reset at the end of each season. Your starting rank in the first season will depend on your final rank in the zero season, with a drop of seven levels. For example, if you ended the zero season at Platinum I, you’ll start the first season at Silver II.
What Are the Balance Adjustments for Heroes?
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As is common in such games, some characters turn out stronger than others due to the challenge of balancing a large roster with unique abilities. Marvel Rivals is no exception, and the first season includes a range of minor changes.
Vanguard
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Captain America was one of the weakest tanks, so it received solid buffs:
- It would be great if the cooldown for the Shield could be completely removed. Instead, the cooldown has been reduced from 3 seconds to 2 seconds.
- The captain's mobility has improved, as the cooldown for his Rush ability has been decreased from 12 to 10 seconds.
- He died too often, despite his speed and shield. So, his health increased from 650 to 675 points.
- Earlier, the Ultimate ability took a very long time to recharge, so the cost was reduced from 3,400 to 3,100, but now it grants 100 extra health instead of 110 points.
Doctor Strange saw reasonable adjustments:
- Damage for Maelstrom of Madness and Gamma-version decreases by 70% at a range of 8 meters (from 5 meters).
- Shield recovery speed reduced from 80/s to 70/s.
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Thor received improvements:
- His health increased by 25 points.
- Gains crowd-control immunity while using his ultimate ability, making him less vulnerable during its use.
Hulk was slightly nerfed: gamma Shield now grants 200 health instead of 250.
Venom, despite already being strong, was buffed:
- Gains more armor based on lost health (coefficient increased from 1 to 1.2).
- It is not known exactly what this change relates to, but the base damage of his ultimate ability has increased на 10 points.
Duelist
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Black Panther has reduced the extra health from upgrading marks with Spirit Rend from 40 to 30. Also, it will even be less tenacious, because maximum additional health has been reduced to 75 from 120.
Black Widow was improved thanks to several small changes:
- Radius for the first effect of Edge Dancer increased from 3 to 5 meters.
- It will be easier to defend because the recovery time for the Fleet Foot has been reduced from 12 to 4 seconds.
- Time to reach maximum power for her ultimate ability shortened from 1 second to 0.6 seconds. Yes, a sniper still can't kill with a single hit to the head, but that's something.
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Hawkeye, while still retaining his strengths, was slightly nerfed:
- The spread angle between explosive arrows was narrowed slightly. What this is for is not clear, because almost no one uses such arrows.
- Passive ability Archer’s Focus activation distance reduced from 60 meters to 40 meters. Now, his opponents can feel more comfortable at long distance.
- Maximum bonus damage from his passive skill decreased from 80 to 70. However, it can still kill with a single headshot.
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Hela's health has been reduced from 275 to 250. Needless to say, it won't change anything? She's still the best dps. By the way, there are new Twitch Drops, which this time include a skin and other rewards for Hela. To get them, you need to watch live streams of the game on Twitch, which have Twitch Drops enabled. After a few hours, you will be able to collect all the rewards and enjoy them on your account.
Magik deals more damage to Umbral Incursion in Darkchild form. It was 115, it became 135. It's a pity that it won't make her more resilient.
Moon Knight, already strong, and now even better:
- Number of talons generated by his ultimate increased from 10 to 14.
- A significant boost for Knight is that the blast radius of each claw has increased from 4 metres to 5 metres.
For Namor, the accuracy of throws in his abilities has been adjusted.
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It sounds more like a bug fix: the ultimate Psylocke skill will check for barriers against opponents.
The Punisher has slightly reduced the spread for Deliverance and Adjudication.
For the most part, Scarlet Witch has been enhanced:
- Changed damage of Chaos Control increased from 50/s to 60/s. At low ranks, she will be even better than before, and at high ranks, this will not help her in any way.
- Damage-over-time percentage reduced from 5% to 3%.
- Damage of Chthonian Burst increased from 30 to 35.
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The significant strengthening of Storm may make it more popular:
- Normal attacks release projectiles that now fly faster and deal more damage.
- Damage from right-clicking the mouse button has increased.
- Bonus health granted after using her ultimate increased from 350 to 450. Now, this health decays at 100 per second instead of disappearing instantly.
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Squirrel Girl Changes:
- Added a little more predictability. Squirrels now target the nearest enemy after bouncing.
- Health of squirrel tsunami became 2 times less. Now opponents will destroy them much more often.
Much to the surprise of many, Winter Soldier has been enhanced:
- They decided to increase his health by using abilities. The health provided by the right-click and E has changed. It used to be 30 but now it is 40.
- Damage main attacks increased from 70 to 75.
- Area damage reduced from 70 to 65, with damage falloff at 40 meters reduced from 65% to 60%.
- It looks like the soldier had a hard time surviving before using the ulta, because his base health increased from 250 to 275 points.
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The leader among the tanks, Wolverine, gets a boost:
- Despite the fact that even 300 health is too much for a damage dealer, it has been increased to 350.
- Damage reduction coefficient for Undying Animal decreased from 50% to 40%.
Strategist
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Cloak & Dagger
- To get closer to the effectiveness of other supports, cooldown of Dagger Storm reduced from 15s to 12s.
- Previously, when using ulta, there were 3 dashes. Now there will be 4 of them, which is a good improvement in the character's mobility.
Jeff the Land Shark
- Ultimate range adjusted from a 10-meter sphere to a 10-meter cylindrical field with a height of 5 meters.
- Healing from Joyful Splash increased from 140/s to 150/s. It can be difficult for them to get in, so let every drop of the stream be more useful.
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Many expected that Luna Snow would be very weakened in the update, but it was only made one deterioration: during the dance, the mode change has a break of 0.5s instead of 0.1s. Obviously, as long as she dances, no one will be able to kill her and those she protects. Exception: the witch's ulta.
Mantis was also weakened. Reduced acceleration from Nature's Favor from 2.5m/s to 1.5m/s.
Rocket Raccoon has received an increase in healing speed in recovery mode from 60 to 70 units per second.
Team-Up
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The following changes relate to the benefits that heroes receive from Team-Up.
Weakened Hawkeye and Hela. Both players have their season bonus reduced by 5%.
Enhanced Namor, Rocket Raccoon, Magneto and Storm. Namor monsters deal more damage, raccoon heals better, Magneto has an increase in the damage of his projectile, and Storm's charged storm will hit more often and harder.
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Overall, these balance adjustments are relatively minor. A few characters may become slightly more popular, but Hela remains a constant ban at higher ranks. What’s more intriguing is how the new heroes will impact the meta. Only time will tell how the power dynamics shift.
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