Biggest Character Changes In Season 2

Summary

• Hulk becomes more agile with increased movement speed and reduced cooldowns on abilities.
• Hela sacrifices mobility for increased offensive power and encourages strategic gameplay.
• Peni Parker receives major buffs, including landing critical hits and increased base health.

With Season 1 of Marvel Rivals on its way out, developers NetEase have released a brand new set of patch notes to highlight some of the changes being made to the wide array of heroes and villains who make up the game’s massive roster. While Season 0 acted as a bit of a testing ground for the developers to see how all the characters were fitting in, Season 1 was where they began to tweak and adjust some of the game’s more overpowered or severely annoying abilities that players had grown frustrated with.

For the latest season, it’s clear that a lot of the focus has gone into ensuring that those heroes and villains who have felt a little underused or forgettable also get time to shine on the battlefield. At the same time, there’s also been some surprisingly significant buffs and nerfs for several characters that players definitely need to know about before jumping into a ranked or quick match. Here are all the biggest changes coming in Marvel Rivals Season 2 in terms of character balancing.

8

Hulk

Hulk Is Going To Become A Lot More Agile With The New Patch

Biggest Changes:

• Base Movement Increased From 600 To 650
• Indestructible Guard Cooldown Reduced From 12 To 10 Seconds
• Minimum Charge Time Of Incredible Leap Decreased To 0.5 Seconds

Despite already being a pretty common sight in Season 1, the giant green wrecking ball is seemingly going to become even more popular thanks to his movement and overall agility receiving a significant upgrade. Getting in and out of the action is going to be much easier for Hulk with the new season, and thanks to the Indestructible Guard cooldown being reduced, it means he still has plenty of defense to keep him going after the enemy team starts focusing their fire on him.

Though an increase from 600 to 650 for movement speed may seem a little light on the surface, it can make a huge difference when trying to land that final shot on a weak Strategist or Duelist after they are forced to make a retreat. This feels like an appropriate buff that can help make Hulk even more fun to play without making the Vanguard too overpowered in the process.

7

Hela

Hela May Be Slower, But She’ll Be Acquiring Even More Offensive Power In Exchange

Biggest Changes:

• Astral Flock Cooldown Increased From 12 To 15 Seconds
• Spell Field Damage Of Piercing Night Increased From 30 To 35
• Soul Drainer Cooldown Decreased From 12 To 10 Seconds

After reigning terror across servers in Season 0 and continuing to spread chaos in Season 1, Hela is receiving some pretty drastic changes that will slightly alter the way she is played. Astral Flock, which is her main form of mobility, has taken a heavy hit in terms of cooldown time, but in exchange, Hela will be capable of dealing even more damage with her offensive abilities, allowing her to comfortably remain near the top of the charts in terms of DPS damage dealers.

At the same time, these changes will also encourage Hela players to be a bit more strategic in how they play, since making a quick getaway is going to be much more difficult now that Astral Flock has become less reliable. Having Hela be more stationary also gives the opponent more of a chance to pick her off — if they can avoid being shot down by her first, that is.

6

Mantis

No More Waiting Around To Give An Ally A Health Or Damage Re-Fill

Biggest Changes:

• Reduce Base Health From 275 To 250
• Effects Of Healing Flower And Allied Inspiration Can Be Stacked Up To A Maximum Of 16 Seconds

Mantis is often considered to be one of the very best healers in the game when it comes to consistency, considering she’s always able to give an ally a quick health boost as soon as they need it. The issue, though, is that, very often, an ally would receive a health or damage buff that would end up running out too quickly, forcing Mantis to hang around until it runs out rather than traveling between teammates over the course of a match.

With this brand-new buff, she will now be able to stack both of these abilities, which saves her needing to quickly rush back to provide a quick re-fill. Her base health being cut down does mean she will need to rely on her teammates to defend her a little more often, but the added buff to her healing and damage boosts more than makes up for this.

5

Mister Fantastic

Reed Richards Is Gaining Some Much-Needed Buffs To Bolster His Overall Damage And Reliability

Biggest Changes:

• Base Health increased From 350 To 375
• Flexible Elongation New Effect: Enemies Within Range Now Suffer A 35% Slow Effect. Reduce Flexible Elongation Cooldown Time From 10s To 8s
• New Ability: When Mister Fantastic Uses His Ultimate Ability, He Gains Bonus Health Equal To That When Entering The Inflated State

While Mister Fantastic is an extremely fun character to use thanks to his creative moveset and abilities, it quickly became clear after he was introduced that he was a Duelist who was struggling to find his place in the game. To help improve his pickrate, NetEase are giving this guy a ton of buffs, including an increase to his health and base damage, alongside brand-new features that will make some of his abilities a lot stronger.

The most important of these to know about is the slow effect that comes from using Flexible Elongation, which makes Fantastic somewhat of a dive character as he can jump in, lock an opponent down, and pummel them with a barrage of punches. The addition of bonus health when activating his ultimate right from the get-go is also a nice added touch that improves his survivability, and it is just one of many changes that will make him far more reliable in battle.

4

Adam Warlock

Warlock’s Ultimate Has Been Tweaked To Work A Little Differently

Biggest Changes:

• Increase Cooldown For Soul Bond From 30s To 40s
• Ultimate Ability Now Restores 30% Of A Fallen Ally’s Maximum Health Instead Of A Fixed 100 Health

In previous versions of the game, Adam Warlock’s ultimate ability, which can bring his team back to life, would grant everyone who was resurrected 100 HP. While this wasn’t too bad for squishy Duelist heroes, for Vanguards, it would be barely enough to keep them going for very long until they were inevitably gunned down by the enemy.

In Season 2, however, the shoe is on the other foot, thanks to the total amount being fixed to 30%. Duelists will be receiving slightly less than 100 HP, while Vanguards will be given a small chunk of extra health compared to before to coincide with their maximum HP amount. However, Soul Bond is also going to be much less reliable with the cooldown being increased, forcing players to prioritize Warlock’s other abilities more when in battle.

3

Peni Parker

Being Able To Land Crits Is Going To Make Peni A Lot More Dangerous

Biggest Changes:

• Cyber-Web Cluster Now Has A Chance To Crit. Movement Penalty While Firing Reduced From 40% To 20%
• Base Health Increased From 650 To 750

There have been many Vanguard players crying out for Peni to receive some much-needed buffs to improve her kit, but little did anyone expect NetEase would go this far. Her Cyber-Web Cluster, which is her primary mode of fire, can now land critical hits, and considering it’s a weapon that doesn’t need to be reloaded, this is a huge damage buff for the young and quirky inventor.

With the movement penalty also being cut in half, Peni won’t feel quite as sluggish or cumbersome anymore, allowing her to evade incoming abilities and ultimate attacks a lot easier, while still dishing out continual damage. The cherry on top is her base health being increased to a staggering 750, making her a true powerhouse who can tank hits for her team, even without a shield ability to protect her.

2

Moon Knight

Moon Knight’s Receiving A Handy New Ability Effect Which Will Drastically Improve His Survivability

Biggest Changes:

• Moon Blade Ability Will Restore 25 Bonus Health For Each Enemy Hit, Stacking Up To 100. After 3 Seconds, The Bonus Health Will Start To Fall Off At 20 Per Second
• Crescent Dart Projectile Speed Increased From 120 m/s to 150 m/s
• Ultimate Ability Duration Increased From 3.5 Seconds To 4.5 Seconds, And The Number Of Talons Are Increased From 14 To 18. The Fall Speed Of The Talons Has Also Been Slightly Enhanced

Moon Knight is a hero who feels like he’s already been adjusted several times over the game’s short lifespan, but he’s actually receiving some very favorable buffs for the new season. The most important to know about is that his Moon Blade ability will now gift Moon Knight bonus health with each hit, and considering this highly mobile Duelist is usually far away from his healers, it gives Moon Knight players a bit more survivability while on the frontlines.

Despite his ultimate ability being a huge matter of concern last season, it’s not only going to be lasting longer, but it will also bolster the number of talons that are thrown down too. Thankfully, this ultimate is nowhere near as powerful as it once was, though this update will once again still make it one of the deadliest abilities in the game.

1

Rocket Raccoon

With Some Newly Added Healing Capabilities, Rocket Will No Longer Be Solely Focused On Damage Buffs

Biggest Changes:

• Decreased The Healing Area Of Repair Mode Spheres From 70 Health/s To 50 Health/s, But Added A New Effect Of One-Time Healing Of 55 Health To Allies. Projectile Speed Increased From 4.5m/s To 7m/s
• Extend Cooldown For Jetpack Dash From 6 Seconds To 10 Seconds
• Ultimate Ability Damage Boost Reduced From 40% To 25%, But Allies Linked To The C.Y.A Will Now Receive 100 Additional Health Per Second, Capping At 150. Ultimate Ability Energy Cost Increased From 3700 To 4000

For a while now, Rocket has felt a little bit overshadowed by the other Strategists in the game. While his ultimate ability would be useful for gifting some extra damage to his teammates, at the end of the day, most people want a healer who’s able to provide shields and health when the going gets tough, rather than damage.

NetEase has clearly paid attention to this online discourse, as Rocket’s ultimate will now provide more than enough healing, at the expense of the damage being reduced. He won’t be as fast on his feet anymore due to the jetpack nerf, but this is ultimately a small drawback considering how much more healing he will now be able to provide, while still retaining his damage-boosting abilities that help to make him unique.