Marvel Rivals will receive its mid-Season 1 update on February 21, bringing new heroes, big changes to the game’s meta, and a rank reset for competitive mode enjoyers, developer NetEase has announced.
In a blog post, NetEase said competitive players will have their ranks drop four divisions following the mid-season update. The mid-season rank drop is happening due to “major balance changes” that are expected to “shake-up the battlefield” for the remainder of the game’s first competitive season.
There are a few additional changes coming to competitive as well, with a new Gold rank and above costume for players to earn and Crests of Honor cosmetics for players at Grandmaster rank and above that will have a unique design each season. NetEase said players will need to complete 10 matches in competitive mode in order to claim the rewards for any given season.
What balance changes are in store for Marvel Rivals is still under wraps, but NetEase did confirm that the Human Torch and The Thing will be making their debut alongside the mid-season update. The Thing will be a new Vanguard character. Meanwhile, Human Torch will be added to the game’s increasingly large Duelist lineup. With the additions of the two heroes, the entire Fantastic Four will be playable in Marvel Rivals, with NetEase having added Invisible Woman and Mr. Fantastic at the beginning of Season 1.
NetEase has already said players can expect new two new playable characters every season–one at the beginning and another at the season’s mid-point, with each Marvel Rivals seasons lasting three months.
The first major balance changes for Marvel Rivals as part of Season 1 nerfed some of its most popular damage-dealing Duelist characters while buffing many of the game’s powerful Strategist (aka support) heroes. Given how dominate Strategists and their game-halting healing ultimate abilities currently are, it’s likely nerfs are incoming for characters like Cloak & Dagger and Luna Snow. However, players will have to wait for the official patch notes to see what’s in store for Marvel Rivals mid-Season 1 update.