Marvel Rivals Dev Confirms Nerfs and Buffs Coming with Season 1 Balance Changes

Marvel Rivals Season 1 balance changes are almost here, and NetEase Games has revealed details that promise tweaks for popular heroes like Captain America, Cloak & Dagger, and Jeff the Land Shark.

The team detailed its reasoning for the buffs and nerfs that will soon be delivered with version 20250110 in a post on its website. Despite launching last month, NetEase says it’s pleased with the “vibrant diversity of lineups” it’s seen so far, but still sees room for improvement.

“Therefore, in the first half of Season 1, we are set to make balance adjustments to certain heroes, allowing a wider roster to participate in more intricate gameplay, ensuring a richer, more engaging and diverse gameplay experience for everyone,” the team explained .

Some of the balance tweaks arriving in the first half of Marvel Rivals Season 1 include small nerfs to a few of the more dominant heroes in the roster. Hulk’s Indestructible Guard gamma shield goes from 250 to 200 health, while Hela will be hit with a base health reduction, bringing her from 275 to 250. Hawkeye also gets a drop in his mid-range damage alongside a small increase to his melee resistance. Then there’s Luna Snow, whose ultimate ability will now take longer to transition from damage to healing.

The list of heroes that will benefit from the buffs, meanwhile, is quite long, with Cloak & Dagger, Storm, Punisher, Moon Knight and more needed improvements in one form or another. Captain America gets some of the more extensive balance tweaks, with NetEase aiming to improve his survivability. Jeff’s Joyful Splash healing also gets an increase from 140/s to 150/s, while the team has also moved to make his ultimate ability warning marker more closely match its actual radius.

Marvel Rivals Season 1 launches on Friday, January 10. In one X/Twitter postsNetEase announced that a maintenance period will begin tomorrow, January 9, from 23.00 to 01:10 PST. Servers go offline during this time and the team cautions that server return times may vary based on progress.

Alongside today’s patch notes, NetEase revealed what it’s calling the Hero Hot List, a statistical page detailing the pick and win rates for heroes across console and PC quickplay and competitive matches. It’s a list that will almost certainly change with Season 1, not only because of the balance adjustments, but the introduction of four new heroes with the Fantastic Four. Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman starts with the first half of the season, with The Thing and the Human Torch arriving in the second half.

You can read the full balance changes scheduled to arrive in the first half of Marvel Rivals Season 1 below.

Marvel Rivals first half of season 1 balance changes

VANGUARD

Captain America

Steve will gain some improved survivability, allowing for more frequent entry and exit of combat.

– Reduced shield restoration delay time after releasing Living Legend from 3s to 2s.

– Reduced Liberty Rush cooldown from 12s to 10s.

– Increase base health from 650 to 675.

– Reduce the energy cost of releasing Freedom Charge (ultimate ability) from 3400 to 3100; Reduce the extra health given per second to yourself after you release it from 110 to 100.

Doctor Strange

We will reduce the threat area and increase the defense window for Sorcerer Supreme.

– Add damage drops to Maelstrom of Madness and Gamma Maelstrom. Starts at 5 meters and reduces to 70% at 8 meters.

– Lowered shield value recovery rate slightly after releasing Shield of the Seraphim from 80/s to 70/s.

Thor

The God of Thunder could use some increased survivability and improved the success rate of his ultimate ability.

– Increase base health from 500 to 525.

– Added immunity to check effects under God of Thunder (ultimate ability).

Hulk

Dr. Banner has been dominant, but some reduced sustained combat ability when he enters the battlefield will bring him more in line with other Vanguards.

– Reduce the value of Indestructible Guard gamma shield for Hero Hulk from 250 to 200.

Married

With increased survivability and the threat of his ultimate abilities, the symbiote threat will strike fear into the backlines of all enemy teams.

– Increase the Symbiotic Resilience bonus health ratio gained per lost health points from 1 to 1.2.

– Increase the base damage of Feast of the Abyss (ultimate ability) from 40 to 50.

DUELIST

Black Panther

We’re slightly reducing T’Challa’s combat survivability.

– Reduced the additional health granted to yourself after refreshing Vibranium Marks with Spirit Rend from 40 to 30, and the upper limit of additional health from 120 to 75.

Black Widow

Natasha greatly needed optimization as she rated the release experience of her abilities as well as a slight increase to the threat of her ultimate abilities,

– Increased the range of the first effect of Edge Dancer from a 3-meter radius to a 5-meter radius.

– Reduced the time it takes for Fleet Foot to recover from 0 stamina to full from 12s to 4s.

– Reduced the time required for Electro-Plasma Blast (ultimate ability) to reach maximum effect from 1s to 0.6s.

Hawkeye

We’re reducing the mid-range damage capacity, reducing the threatening combat radius, and slightly improving the melee resistance of the avenging archer.

– Reduce spread angle slightly between every other blast arrows.

– Reduce the trigger distance of passive ability Archer’s Focus from 60 meters to 40 meters. Reduced maximum additional damage on passive from 80 to 70.

Whole

The Goddess of Death has been a threat, and we want to reduce her combat power a bit.

– Reduce base health from 275 to 250.

Magic

The Queen of Limbo needed an increase to her threat after unleashing her ultimate ability.

– Increased Umbral Incursion damage in Darkchild form from 115 to 135.

Moon Knight

The Hand of Khonshu will receive a slight increase in the threat of his ultimate abilities.

– Increase the number of claws generated by Hand of Khonshu (ultimate ability) from 10 to 14.

– Increased the blast radius of each talon from 4 meters to 5 meters.

Namor

We’re optimizing the throwing feel of Namor’s eggs!

– Adjust the casting feel of Monstro Spawn and Frozen Spawn. Now Namor can more accurately throw them to the desired location.

Psylocke

We will give other heroes more opportunities to counter the demon slayer’s ultimate.

– Now Dance of the Butterfly (ultimate ability) will check for barriers (including Magneto’s Metal Bulwark, Hulk’s Indestructible Guard, etc.).

The Punisher

We are slightly increasing the damage capacity of Frank’s weapon.

– Slightly reduce the spread of deliverance and judgment.

The Scarlet Witch

We’re increasing Wanda’s combat strength when facing Duelists or Strategists.

– Increased Chaos Control’s fixed damage from 50/s to 60/s.

– Reduce the percentage damage per second from 5% to 3%.

– Increased Chthonian Burst’s projectile damage from 30 to 35.

Storm

The weather witch needed an overall increase in her damage output; We’re also optimizing the feel of her left-click projectile and the release experience of her ultimate.

– Increased Wind Blade projectile speed from 100m/s to 150m/s and left click damage from 50 to 55.

– Increased Bolt Rush damage from 70 to 80.

– After unleashing Omega Hurricane (ultimate ability), the bonus health she herself gets will be increased from 350 to 450. Also, the extra health after the conclusion will no longer disappear instantly, but will instead decrease at a rate of 100 per second. second.

Squirrel girl

We increase the threat of Doreen and her furry friends in their ultimate abilities.

– Added a new effect to the invincible squirrel tsunami (ultimate ability): the squirrels will rush towards the nearest enemy after jumping instead of jumping randomly.

– Reduce squirrel tsunami health from 600 to 300.

Winter Soldier

We’re tweaking Bucky by reducing his long-range combat strength and increasing his survivability in medium-close combat.

– Increase the bonus health provided by Bionic Hook and Tainted Voltage from 30 to 40.

– Increased Roterstern’s projectile damage from 70 to 75.

– Reduce area damage from 70 to 65 and reduce damage drop from 65% at 40 meters to 60%.

– Increase base health from 250 to 275.

Wolverine

Logan will receive an increase to the basic combat power, but a slight decrease in the additional survivability after activating the Undying Animal.

– Increase base health from 300 to 350.

– Reduce the damage reduction ratio of Undying Animal from 50% to 40%.

STRATEGIST

Cloak & Dagger

Ty and Tandy will receive an increase in their healing ability as well as an extension to the range of their ultimate abilities.

– Reduced Dagger Storm cooldown from 15s to 12s.

– Increase the number of lines in Eternal Bond (ultimate ability) from 3 to 4.

Jeff the Land Shark

We will be adjusting the range of his ultimate so that it now better matches the alert marker. In addition, we will also increase his healing ability.

– Adjust It’s Jeff! (ultimate ability) ranges from a 10m sphere to a 10m radius, 5m high cylindrical spell field.

– Increase the healing of Joyful Splash from 140/s to 150/s.

Luna Snow

While we’ve enjoyed her bass drop, we’ve made adjustments to Luna’s ultimate to prevent players from abusing its healing abilities.

– Increased the interval to switch between healing and damage in Fate of Both Worlds from 0.1s to 0.5s.

Mantis

We’re going to make Mantis a bit smaller in fleet size, reducing her roaming support capacity.

– Reduce Nature’s Favor (passive) movement boost from 2.5m/s to 1.5m/s.

Rocket raccoon

Rocket could use an improvement to his healing ability.

– Increase the healing of Repair Mode from 60 pr/s to 70 pr/s.

TEAM-UP ABILITIES

Hawkeye – Black Widow

To further tone down Hawkeye’s suppression, we’ll be reducing his seasonal buff.

– Reduce Hawkeyes Season Bonus from 20% to 15%.

Hela – Thor – Loki

Like Hawkeye, Hela’s overwhelming power will be slightly reduced.

– Reduce Hela’s season bonus from 20% to 15%.

Luna Snow- Namor

We will increase the threat of Namor’s Frozen Spawn.

– Increased Frozen Spawn damage from 25 to 27.

– Increased the Frozen Spawn braking effect applied to hit enemies from 25% to 30%.

– Increase berserk state Frozen Spawn damage from 16 to 18.

Rocket Raccoon – The Punisher – Winter Soldier

One of Rocket’s best tools will be available more often!

– Reduced the cooldown of Ammo Invention from 45s to 40s.

Scarlet Witch – Magneto

Somewhat overwhelmingly, the damage output of this father-daughter Team-Up ability will be enhanced.

– Increased Metallic Fusion projectile damage from 55 to 60.

– Increased Metallic Fusion spell field damage from 30 to 35.

Thor – Storm – Captain America

We will be improving the damage output on Storm’s side of this Team-Up ability.

– Reduced the cooldown of Charged Gale from 20s to 15s.

– Increase the damage of Charged Gale from 50 to 55.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor at IGN. He began writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work on outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.

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