Marvel Rivals Reveals Season 1 Balance Changes

Summary

• NetEase has released a new balance patch for Marvel Rivals before Season 1 launches on January 10.
• Fans are happy to see buffs to Storm’s abilities, as the character is considered one of the least effective Duelists.
• Several other tweaks have been made to the various team-up abilities in Marvel Rivals.

Developer NetEase has released a new balance patch for Marvel Rivals ahead of the game’s brand-new season later this week. The patch includes nerfs, buffs, and other changes to various characters, including Black Panther, Hawkeye, Namor, and Psylocke. This gives Marvel Rivals players quite a few things to figure out as they brace for Season 1, which will make significant changes of its own.

Released at the tail end of 2024, Marvel Rivals has quickly become one of the most popular new releases in recent memory, breathing new life into the ever-crowded hero-shooter genre. Filled with iconic characters, Marvel Rivals‘ impressive roster is just one piecce of the puzzle, with the game featuring the hallmarks of a team-oriented shooter, complete with payloads, capture points, and powerful abilities. This roster will grow with the release of Marvel Rivals Season 1, which is all about The Fantastic Four. However, ahead of this update’s release, NetEase has dropped a balance patch that players won’t want to miss.

There’s a lot to go over in Marvel Rivals‘ sprawling new patch, which makes changes to every hero category in the game. Starting with Marvel Rivals‘ selection of Duelists, Black Panther, Hawkeye, Hela, and Scarlet Witch have all received small nerfs. However, characters like Black Widow, Magik, Moon Knight, Wolverine, and Winter Soldier have all received buffs, ranging from health boosts to reduced effect cooldowns. Perhaps the most welcome change is a buff to Storm’s abilities, who has been considered one of the least effective Duelists in Marvel Rivals up to this point. Now, the X-Men fighter’s Bolt Rush deals 80 damage instead of 80, with Storm’s Wind Blade projectile speed getting boosted from 100m/s to 150m/s.

Venom, Thor, and Captain America, who are all Vanguards in Marvel Rivals, have received buffs of their own. Both Captain America and Thor have had their health increased, with Venom seeing an increase in his Feast of the Abyss damage. Capping things off with Marvel Rivals‘ Strategist selection, several changes have been made to Cloak & Dagger, Jeff the Land Shark, Luna Snow, Mantis, and Rocket Raccoon. Cloak & Dagger has had their Dagger Storm cooldown decreased from 15 seconds to just 12, with Jeff seeing an increase in the healing of his Joyful Splash from 140/s to 150/s. Rocket Raccoon’s repair mode has been raised to 70 per/s from its original 60 per/s.

To end the patch, several other tweaks have been made to the various team-up abilities presented in Marvel Rivals, which are essentially extra abilities that are activated if players pick certain heroes in a given match. Some of them are passive, while some actually grant players an extra offensive or defensive option. Hawkeye and Black Widow team-ups, along with Hela, Thor, and Loki team-ups, have all had their Marvel Rivals season bonuses reduced to 15%. Certain cooldowns on team-ups between Rocket Raccoon, The Punisher, and Winter Soldier have decreased, as have ones between Thor Storm and Captain America.

Marvel Rivals Season 1 Balance Patch Notes

Duelist

Black Panther

• Reduce the additional health provided to self after refreshing Vibranium Marks with Spirit Rend from 40 to 30, and the upper limit of additional health provided from 120 to 75.

Black Widow

• Increase the range of the first effect of Edge Dancer from a 3-meter radius to a 5-meter radius.
• Reduce the time required for Fleet Foot to recover from 0 stamina to full from 12s to 4s.
• Reduce the time required for Electro-Plasma Explosion (ultimate ability) to reach maximum power from 1s to 0.6s.

Hawkeye

• Slightly reduce the spread angle between every two Blast Arrows.
• Reduce the triggering distance of passive ability Archer’s Focus from 60 meters to 40 meters. Reduce the maximum additional damage of the passive from 80 to 70.

Hela

• Reduce base health from 275 to 250.

Magik

• Increase Umbral Incursion damage in Darkchild form from 115 to 135.

Moon Knight

• Increase the number of talons generated by Hand of Khonshu (ultimate ability) from 10 to 14.
• Increase the explosion radius of each talon from 4 meters to 5 meters.

Namor

• Adjust the throwing feel of Monstro Spawn and Frozen Spawn. Now, Namor can more accurately throw them to the desired location.

Psylock

• Now Dance of the Butterfly (ultimate ability) will check for barriers (including Magneto’s Metal Bulwark, Hulk’s Indestructible Guard, etc.).

The Punisher

• Slightly reduce the spread of Deliverance and Adjudication.

Scarlet Witch

• Increase Chaos Control’s fixed damage from 50/s to 60/s.
• Reduce the percentage damage per second from 5% to 3%.
• Increase Chthonian Burst’s projectile damage from 30 to 35.

Storm

• Increase Wind Blade projectile speed from 100m/s to 150m/s and left-click damage from 50 to 55.
• Increase Bolt Rush damage from 70 to 80.
• After releasing Omega Hurricane (ultimate ability), the bonus health provided for herself will be increased from 350 to 450. Moreover, following its conclusion, the extra health will no longer vanish instantly but will instead diminish at a rate of 100 per second.

Squirrel Girl

• Addition of a new effect to the Unbeatable Squirrel Tsunami (ultimate ability): the squirrels will rush towards the nearest enemy after bouncing instead of bouncing randomly.
• Reduce the squirrel tsunami health from 600 to 300.

Winter Soldier

• Increase the bonus health provided by Bionic Hook and Tainted Voltage from 30 to 40.
• Increase Roterstern’s projectile damage from 70 to 75.
• Reduce the area damage from 70 to 65 and reduce damage decay from 65% at 40 meters to 60%.
• Increase base health from 250 to 275.

Wolverine

• Increase base health from 300 to 350.
• Reduce the damage reduction ratio provided by Undying Animal from 50% to 40%.

Vanguard

Captain America

• Reduce the delay time for shield restoration after releasing Living Legend from 3s to 2s.
• Reduce Liberty Rush cooldown from 12s to 10s.
• Increase base health from 650 to 675.
• Reduce the energy cost for releasing Freedom Charge (ultimate ability) from 3400 to 3100
• Reduce the additional health provided per second to self after releasing it from 110 to 100.

Doctor Strange

• Add damage falloff to Maelstrom of Madness and Gamma Maelstrom. Starting at 5 meters and reducing to 70% at 8 meters.
• Slightly decrease the shield value recovery rate after releasing Shield of the Seraphim from 80/s to 70/s.

Thor

• Increase base health from 500 to 525.
• Added immunity to control effects during God of Thunder (ultimate ability).

Hulk

• Reduce the Indestructible Guard gamma shield value for Hero Hulk from 250 to 200.

Venom

• Increase the Symbiotic Resilience bonus health ratio gained per lost health point from 1 to 1.2.
• Increase the base damage of Feast of the Abyss (ultimate ability) from 40 to 50.

Strategist

Cloak & Dagger

• Reduce Dagger Storm cooldown from 15s to 12s.
• Increase the number of dashes in Eternal Bond (ultimate ability) from 3 to 4.

Jeff the Land Shark

• Adjust It’s Jeff! (ultimate ability) range from a 10m sphere to a 10m radius, 5m high cylindrical spell field.
• Increase the healing of Joyful Splash from 140/s to 150/s.

Luna Snow

• Increase the interval for switching between healing and damage in Fate of Both Worlds from 0.1s to 0.5s.

Mantis

• Reduce Nature’s Favor (passive) movement boost from 2.5m/s to 1.5m/s.

Rocket Raccoon

• Increase the healing of Repair Mode from 60 per/s to 70 per/s.

Team-Up Abilities

Hawkeye – Black Widow

• Reduce Hawkeye’s season bonus from 20% to 15%.

Hela – Thor – Loki

• Reduce Hela’s season bonus from 20% to 15%.

Luna Snow- Namor

• Increase Frozen Spawn damage from 25 to 27.
• Increase Frozen Spawn slowing effect applied to hit enemies from 25% to 30%.
• Increase berserk state Frozen Spawn damage from 16 to 18.

Rocket Raccoon – The Punisher – Winter Soldier

• Reduce the cooldown of Ammo Invention from 45s to 40s.

Scarlet Witch – Magneto

• Increase Metallic Fusion projectile damage from 55 to 60.
• Increase Metallic Fusion spell field damage from 30 to 35.

Thor – Storm – Captain America

• Reduce the cooldown of Charged Gale from 20s to 15s.
• Increase the damage of Charged Gale from 50 to 55.