Season Zero is over, and the first season of Marvel Rivals has arrived, bringing a wave of new content and balance adjustments. Let's dive into the significant updates.

Table of Contents

• What’s New in the First Season?
• New Heroes
• New Maps and Mode
• Battle Pass
• Celestial Rank
• What Are the Balance Adjustments for Heroes?
  • Vanguard
  • Duelist
  • Strategist
• Team-Up

What’s New in the First Season?

This season's theme? An undead invasion orchestrated by Dracula himself! To combat this darkness, the Fantastic Four have joined the fight. Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman are available now, with more Fantastic Four members arriving later in the season.

New Heroes

• Mister Fantastic: A mid-range duelist with abilities for quick movement between enemies and allies, area damage, and temporary damage absorption.

• Invisible Woman: A strategist whose attacks heal allies. She can create shields, manipulate enemies, and, of course, turn invisible!

New Maps and Mode

Two new maps, part of "Empire of Eternal Night: Midtown," bring the battle to Grand Central Terminal and other locations in a ravaged New York City.

A new game mode, "Doom Match," is designed for 8-12 players. The top 50% survive to win after a set number of knockouts.

Battle Pass

Season One's Battle Pass is double the size of Season Zero's, reflecting the three-month season length. Out of 10 skins, 8 are premium. While most skins are visually appealing, Peni Parker's Blue Tarantula skin is a simple color swap, lacking significant visual changes. The free Battle Pass track still offers Units and Lattice for completing tasks.

Celestial Rank

A new "Celestial" rank has been added between "Grandmaster" and "Eternity," comprising three divisions. The high barrier to entry means not all players will reach it, but it may improve future ranking progression.

As with many online games, a rank reset occurs at the end of each season. Your starting rank in Season One will be seven levels below your Season Zero ending rank (e.g., Platinum I in Season Zero starts at Silver II in Season One).

What Are the Balance Adjustments for Heroes?

Balancing a large roster is challenging, leading to adjustments in Season One.

Vanguard

• Captain America: Received significant buffs, including reduced cooldown on Shield and Rush abilities, and increased health. Ultimate ability recharge cost is reduced, but grants less bonus health.

• Doctor Strange: Damage reduced at close range, shield recovery speed decreased.

• Thor: Health increased, gains crowd-control immunity during Ultimate.

• Hulk: Slightly nerfed; Gamma Shield grants less health.

• Venom: Buffed; gains more armor based on lost health, and increased ultimate ability base damage.

Duelist

• Black Panther: Reduced bonus health from Spirit Rend upgrade.

• Black Widow: Several improvements, including increased radius for Edge Dancer and reduced cooldown for Fleet Foot.

• Hawkeye: Slightly nerfed; reduced explosive arrow spread, Archer's Focus activation distance, and maximum bonus damage.

• Hela: Reduced health.

• Magik: Increased Umbral Incursion damage in Darkchild form.

• Moon Knight: Increased number and blast radius of talons from Ultimate.

• Namor: Throw accuracy adjusted.

• Psylocke: Ultimate ability now checks for opponent barriers.

• Punisher: Slightly reduced spread for Deliverance and Adjudication.

• Scarlet Witch: Enhanced; increased Chaos Control damage, but reduced damage-over-time percentage and increased Chthonian Burst damage.

• Storm: Significantly enhanced; faster projectiles, increased damage, and increased bonus health from Ultimate.

• Squirrel Girl: Improved squirrel targeting, reduced squirrel tsunami health.

• Winter Soldier: Increased health, increased main attack damage, slightly reduced area damage, and increased health gain from abilities.

• Wolverine: Increased health, reduced damage reduction from Undying Animal.

Strategist

• Cloak & Dagger: Reduced Dagger Storm cooldown, increased dashes in Ultimate.

• Jeff the Land Shark: Adjusted Ultimate range, increased Joyful Splash healing.

• Luna Snow: Slightly nerfed; increased dance mode change break time.

• Mantis: Reduced Nature's Favor acceleration.

• Rocket Raccoon: Increased healing speed in recovery mode.

Team-Up

Team-Up bonuses adjusted for several heroes: Hawkeye and Hela weakened, Namor, Rocket Raccoon, Magneto, and Storm enhanced.

These balance changes are relatively minor, with Hela remaining a top pick. The impact of the new heroes on the meta remains to be seen.