Marvel Rivals Season 1 hero balance changes: Captain America buff, Hawkeye nerfed, and more

NetEase Games recently released a new blog for Marvel Rivals Season 1 on the official website, outlining the upcoming character balances. The developers stated that the team had analyzed a lot of data from Season 0 and would be making a few adjustments to level the playing field. Although the publisher has plans for bigger changes, those are reserved for Season 2. Meanwhile, the pointers discussed in the post will come into effect after the first seasonal update goes live.

Marvel Rivals Season 0 had a few empowered characters in the roster that created some dominating metas. As such, the devs plan on improving the state of some characters while keeping a check on the power level of others. Fans can expect these balance changes to shift the meta and potentially create new playstyles.

This article will highlight the upcoming balance changes in Marvel Rivals Season 1.

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All hero balance changes for Marvel Rivals Season 1

Here is a quick overview of the character balance changes coming to Marvel Rivals Season 1, as per the official blog:

Vanguard

Captain America

• Reduce the delay time for shield restoration after releasing Living Legend from 3s to 2s.
• Reduce Liberty Rush cooldown from 12s to 10s.
• Increase base health from 650 to 675.
• Reduce the energy cost for releasing Freedom Charge from 3400 to 3100; Reduce the additional health provided per second to self after releasing it from 110 to 100.

Doctor Strange

• Add damage falloff to Maelstrom of Madness and Gamma Maelstrom. Starting at 5 meters and reducing to 70% at 8 meters.
• Slightly decrease the shield value recovery rate after releasing Shield of the Seraphim from 80/s to 70/s.

Thor

• Increase base health from 500 to 525.
• Added immunity to control effects during God of Thunder.

Hulk

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

Venom

• Increase the Symbiotic Resilience bonus health ratio gained per lost health point from 1 to 1.2.
• Increase the base damage of Feast of the Abyss from 40 to 50.

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Duelist

Black Panther

• Additional health refreshing Vibranium Marks with Spirit Rend were reduced from 40 to 30, and the upper limit of additional health provided was reduced from 120 to 75.

Black Widow

• Increase the range of the first effect of Edge Dancer from a 3-meter radius to a 5-meter radius.
• Reduce the time required for Fleet Foot to recover from 0 stamina to full from 12s to 4s.
• Reduce the time required for Electro-Plasma Explosion to reach maximum power from 1s to 0.6s.

Hawkeye

• Slightly reduce the spread angle between every two Blast Arrows.
• Reduce the triggering distance of the passive ability Archer's Focus from 60 meters to 40 meters. Reduce the maximum additional damage of the passive from 80 to 70.

Hela

• Reduce base health from 275 to 250.

Magik

• Increase Umbral Incursion damage in Darkchild form from 115 to 135.

Moon Knight

• Increase the number of talons generated by the Hand of Khonshu from 10 to 14.
• Increase the explosion radius of each talon from 4 meters to 5 meters.

Namor

• Adjust the throwing feel of Monstro Spawn and Frozen Spawn. Now, Namor can more accurately throw them to the desired location.

Psylocke

• Now Dance of the Butterfly will check for barriers like Magneto's Metal Bulwark and Hulk's Indestructible Guard.

The Punisher

• Slightly reduce the spread of Deliverance and Adjudication.

Scarlet Witch

• Increase Chaos Control's fixed damage from 50/s to 60/s.
• Reduce the percentage of damage per second from 5% to 3%.
• Increase Chthonian Burst's projectile damage from 30 to 35.

Storm

• Increase Wind Blade projectile speed from 100m/s to 150m/s and left-click damage from 50 to 55.
• Increase Bolt Rush damage from 70 to 80.
• After releasing Omega Hurricane, her bonus health will be increased from 350 to 450. Moreover, following its conclusion, the extra health will no longer vanish instantly but diminish at a rate of 100 per second.

Squirrel Girl

• New effect added to the Unbeatable Squirrel Tsunami - the squirrels will rush towards the nearest enemy after bouncing instead of bouncing randomly.
• Reduce the squirrel tsunami health from 600 to 300.

Winter Soldier

• Increase the bonus health provided by Bionic Hook and Tainted Voltage from 30 to 40.
• Increase Roterstern's projectile damage from 70 to 75.
• Reduce the area damage from 70 to 65 and reduce damage decay from 65% at 40 meters to 60%.
• Increase base health from 250 to 275.

Wolverine

• Increase base health from 300 to 350.
• Reduce the damage reduction ratio provided by Undying Animal from 50% to 40%.

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Strategist

Cloak & Dagger

• Reduce Dagger Storm cooldown from 15s to 12s.
• Increase the number of dashes in Eternal Bond from 3 to 4.

Jeff the Land Shark

• Adjusted It's Jeff! range from a 10m sphere to a 10m radius with a 5m high cylindrical spell field.
• Increase the healing of Joyful Splash from 140/s to 150/s.

Luna Snow

• Increase the interval for switching between healing and damage in Fate of Both Worlds from 0.1s to 0.5s.

Mantis

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

Rocket Raccoon

• Increase the healing of Repair Mode from 60 per/s to 70 per/s.

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Team-Up Abilities

Hawkeye and Black Widow

• Reduce Hawkeye's season bonus from 20% to 15%.

Hela, Thor, and Loki

• Reduce Hela's season bonus from 20% to 15%.

Luna Snow and Namor

• Increased Frozen Spawn damage from 25 to 27.
• Increased Frozen Spawn slowing effect applied to hit enemies from 25% to 30%.
• Increased berserk state Frozen Spawn damage from 16 to 18.

Rocket Raccoon, The Punisher, and Winter Soldier

• Reduce the cooldown of Ammo Invention from 45s to 40s.

Scarlet Witch and Magneto

• Increase Metallic Fusion projectile damage from 55 to 60.
• Increase Metallic Fusion spell field damage from 30 to 35.

Thor, Storm, and Captain America

• Reduce the cooldown of Charged Gale from 20s to 15s.
• Increase the damage of Charged Gale from 50 to 55.

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Fans can keep an eye out for the official website for more information about Marvel Rivals Season 1.

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