Marvel Rivals came out of the gate swinging, and it was rewarded handsomely for it. Marvel Rivals‘ 33 playable heroes and eight maps at launch were met with 10 million players in just three days, and that number has only continued to grow alongside the amount of content that developer NetEase has added to the hero shooter.
But alongside new playable heroes, maps, modes, and seasonal events, each season of Marvel Rivals has brought with it a bevy of mechanical tweaks, often centered around keeping its ever-growing roster of heroes balanced. Marvel Rivals Season 2 – set to begin on April 11 – is bringing another onslaught of these mechanical changes, some of which seem to prove that no feature is safe from tampering.
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Marvel Rivals Season 2 Proves That No Feature Is Sacred
The Changes to Marvel Rivals’ Team-Up Abilities Explained
During the Marvel Rivals Season 2: Hellfire Gala Dev Vision video, NetEase confirmed an assortment of changes coming this season. Some of the biggest changes are those relating to Marvel Rivals‘ team-up abilities. To begin with, NetEase is completely removing Magneto and Scarlet Witch’s Metallic Chaos team-up, along with Thor, Captain America, and Storm’s Voltaic Union.
A few heroes are also being removed from their current team-ups. Psylocke will be removed from Magik and Black Panther’s Dimensional Shortcut. Winter Soldier is being removed from Rocket Raccoon and Punisher’s Ammo Overload. And Namor is being removed from Luna Snow and Jeff the Land Shark’s Chilling Charisma. Namor will instead be joining The Hulk and Iron Man’s Gamma Charge ability, replacing Doctor Strange.
Marvel Rivals Season 2 is also adding three all-new team-up abilities to the hero shooter, all of which find these displaced heroes new homes. New Vanguard hero Emma Frost will give Psylocke and Magneto the Mental Projection team-up ability, which will spawn illusory projections of the heroes to confuse enemies. Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch will receive the Arcane Order team-up, which seems to give Wanda’s primary fire a temporary damage boost. And the Winter Soldier and Captain America will receive the Stars Aligned team-up, giving Bucky the ability to leap towards allies and perform a ground-pound attack, damaging nearby enemies.
No Marvel Rivals Feature is Set in Stone
Team-up abilities are one of Marvel Rivals‘ most unique selling points, and usually, multiplayer games don’t tend to mess too much with their defining features. Before this latest announcement, many fans assumed Marvel Rivals‘ team-up abilities would remain pretty much the same forever, with only slight balancing tweaks and additional team-ups expected.
But these dramatic changes to Marvel Rivals‘ team-up abilities seem to prove that none of the game’s features are safe from being altered, no matter how important they are to the game’s core structure. But these changes aren’t necessarily a bad thing at all.
During the recent Dev Vision breakdown, NetEase states that it’s made these changes in order to keep the game fresh, and to keep Marvel Rivals‘ roster from getting stale. These changes are very likely to achieve that goal. Veteran players will not only need to learn how to use and counter a handful of new team-up abilities, they’ll also be unable to rely on some of the most powerful team-ups from the game’s previous seasons. Hopefully, this should lead to a more diverse competitive scene, with an array of different team compositions that fans don’t usually see.
It’s a shame to see beloved team-up abilities like Metallic Chaos bite the dust, especially for players who main Magneto, but these shake-ups could be vital for the future of Marvel Rivals‘ competitive landscape.
Third-Person Shooter
Action
Multiplayer
- Released
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December 6, 2024
- ESRB
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T For Teen // Violence
- Developer(s)
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NetEase Games
- Publisher(s)
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NetEase Games