Marvel Rivals Season One: A Deep Dive into New Content and Balance Changes
The zero season has concluded, and Season One has arrived, bringing a wave of fresh content and balance adjustments. Let's explore 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 revolves around an undead invasion orchestrated by Dracula, countered by the newly arrived Fantastic Four. Two members are initially available, with more to follow.
New Heroes
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- Mister Fantastic: A mid-range duelist with abilities for swift movement between allies and enemies, area damage, and temporary damage absorption.
- Invisible Woman: A strategist whose attacks heal allies, capable of creating shields, manipulating enemy positioning, and, naturally, turning invisible.
New Maps and Mode
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Two new maps, part of "Empire of Eternal Night: Midtown," introduce battles in Grand Central Terminal and other locations within a devastated New York City. A new "Doom Match" mode, supporting 8-12 players, declares the top 50% of players as victors after a set number of knockouts.
Battle Pass
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Season One's Battle Pass is double the size of the zero season's, reflecting the three-month season length. Eight of the ten skins are premium, with most considered visually appealing, though Peni Parker's Blue Tarantula skin is criticized for minimal visual changes. The free track still offers Units and Lattice.
Celestial Rank
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A new "Celestial" rank, tiered into three divisions, sits between "Grandmaster" and "Eternity." While accessibility might be limited, it could potentially ease future ranking progression. A season-end rating reset, dropping players seven ranks from their zero season final placement (e.g., Platinum I drops to Silver II), is implemented.
Balance Adjustments for Heroes
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Season One includes various minor balance tweaks to address hero disparities.
Vanguard:
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- Captain America: Received significant buffs, including reduced cooldown on Shield and Rush abilities, and increased health. Ultimate ability cost reduced, but grants less extra health.
- Doctor Strange: Damage reduced at closer range, shield recovery speed decreased.
- Thor: Health increased, gains crowd control immunity during ultimate.
- Hulk: Slightly nerfed; Gamma Shield grants less health.
- Venom: Buffed with increased armor based on lost health and increased ultimate damage.
Duelist:
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- Black Panther: Reduced extra health from Spirit Rend upgrades and maximum additional health.
- Black Widow: Improved with increased radius on Edge Dancer, reduced Fleet Foot recovery time, and faster ultimate charge time.
- Hawkeye: Slightly nerfed; reduced explosive arrow spread, Archer’s Focus activation distance, and maximum passive damage bonus.
- Hela: Health reduced. New Twitch Drops available.
- Magik: Increased Umbral Incursion damage in Darkchild form.
- Moon Knight: Increased ultimate talons and blast radius.
- Namor: Throw accuracy adjusted.
- Psylocke: Ultimate skill now checks for opponent barriers.
- Punisher: Slightly reduced spread for Deliverance and Adjudication.
- Scarlet Witch: Enhanced with increased Chaos Control damage, but reduced damage-over-time percentage and increased Chthonian Burst damage.
- Storm: Significantly strengthened with faster, higher-damage projectiles, increased right-click damage, and increased and sustained ultimate health bonus.
- Squirrel Girl: Increased squirrel predictability, reduced squirrel tsunami health.
- Winter Soldier: Enhanced with increased health gain from abilities, increased main attack damage, but reduced area damage.
- Wolverine: Health increased, damage reduction from Undying Animal decreased.
Strategist:
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- Cloak & Dagger: Dagger Storm cooldown reduced, increased ultimate dashes.
- Jeff the Land Shark: Ultimate range adjusted, Joyful Splash healing increased.
- Luna Snow: Minor nerf to dance mode change break.
- Mantis: Reduced Nature's Favor acceleration.
- Rocket Raccoon: Increased healing speed in recovery mode.
Team-Up:
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Hawkeye and Hela weakened, Namor, Rocket Raccoon, Magneto, and Storm enhanced in Team-Up bonuses.
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The balance adjustments are largely subtle, with the impact of new heroes on the meta remaining to be seen.
