Marvel Rivals Season 1 launches later this week and will bring significant balance changes.
The online hero shooter has been in Season 0 since its release last month, and despite a perceived dominance of certain characters, NetEase’s analysis reveals “significant shifts in team compositions” and “a vibrant diversity of lineups”.
The patch notes continue: “However, as the skill level escalates, compositions centered around double shields and ranged have displayed considerable prowess. Despite this, players have continuously honed and experimented with new compositions and strategies, further enriching the battlefield.”
As such, Season 1 will bring various balance changes to ensure a “richer, more engaging, and diverse” experience, although there will be no extensive changes to Team-Up abilities – redesigns and adjustments will arrive in Season 2.
The new season brings nerfs to some particularly dominant characters: Hulk’s Indestructible Guard shield value has been reduced; Hawkeye’s medium-long range damage has been decreased; and Hela has had her base health reduced.
At the other end of the spectrum, Black Widow has been buffed with increased range of her ultimate ability, Namor’s egg-throwing will be more accurate, and Storm has received an overall increase to her damage capability.
Meanwhile, NetEase has released a Hero Hot List to show the most frequently chosen heroes across PC and console in both Quickplay and Competitive modes.
In Quickplay, Jeff the Land Shark tops both lists surprising nobody – he was even the star of a Splatoon-style arcade mode over Christmas.
In Competitive mode, Luna Snow is top for PC players while Cloak & Dagger is top for console players. Black Widow and Storm are the least popular, hence the incoming buffs.
Season 1 will be released on Friday, 10th January.
The new season will bring the Fantastic Four as playable heroes, although players are concerned the design of the Invisible Woman (Sue Storm) is too similar to Dagger, making them hard to tell apart in the heat of battle. Skins will likely be used to make them stand out.
It’s probably going to be hard to tell the difference between these two during a fight
byu/Kalequity inmarvelrivals
Marvel Heroes has proven exceptionally popular since its release, reaching an all-time concurrent player peak of 480,990 on Steam and maintaining strong placement among the platform’s most played games.
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