Marvel Rivals’ biggest Season 2 update adds a playable hero, a new map, and tons of new gameplay changes.
NetEase Games has officially revealed Marvel Rivals Season 2.5’s biggest changes and additions. This midseason update adds Ultron as a playable hero, Arakko as a new map, new balance changes to heroes and team-up abilities, and a limited-time game mode. A few of the game’s long-standing team-up abilities are also being removed, and heroes like Jeff the Land Shark and Thor are getting nerfed.
Here’s the Ultron character reveal video:
Marvel Rivals unveils new playable character Ultron
Ultron is finally coming to Marvel Rivals, but it might not be in the form players were expecting him to take. For starters, Ultron isn’t a Duelist (damage class) or a Vanguard (tank class). He’s a Strategist (support class), and the first Strategist to be able to fly, no less.
Judging by the trailer, Ultron appears to be packing an impressive kit of damage and support abilities. He can summon drone versions of himself to heal allies and fire an energy beam called the Encephalo-Ray. His Ultimate ability is called Rage of Ultron, and it summons several drones that can independently heal allies and attack enemies.
Ultron is coming to Season 2.5 with a new map: Arakko. Arakko is Krakoa’s sister island, both islands once being halves of a sentient island named Okkara. A disaster impacted Okkara involving a mutant god named Annihilation a long time ago, splitting the island into two.
Today, Arakko has been abandoned–making it the perfect stronghold for Ultron, who has taken the island over and turned it into his machine-made base.
New auto-chess game mode
Season 2.5 is also introducing a new limited-time experimental game mode called Ultron’s Battle Matrix Protocol. This is an auto-chess game mode that has players choose from several cards to build up their teams of heroes, and then position them on grid-based maps. The heroes will then battle each other, but take note–not all heroes will be available in this mode at launch.
Season 2.5 team-up ability additions and removals
Six new team-up abilities are coming to Marvel Rivals in Season 2.5. The highlights are Rocket Network, which has Rocket Raccoon and Peni Parker team-up to upgrade Rocket’s B.R.B. to a Web Beacon. Our favourite new team-up is the Jeff-nado, which has Storm and Jeff the Land Shark team up to throw a shark tornado at enemies.
Here are all the new team-ups:
- Chilling Assault (Luna Snow–Hawkeye)
- Jeff-nado (Storm–Jeff the Land Shark)
- Operation: Microchip (The Punisher–Black Widow)
- Rocket Network (Rocket Raccoon–Peni Parker)
- Stark Protocol (Iron Man–Ultron)
- Symbiote Shenanigans (Venom–Jeff the Land Shark)
Additionally, five team-ups have been removed or altered:
- Allied Agents (Hawkeye–Black Widow)
- Ammo Overload (Rocket Raccoon–The Punisher)
- Chilling Charisma (Luna Snow–Jeff the Land Shark)
- Gamma Charge (Hulk–Iron Man/Namor)
- Symbiote Bond (Venom - Peni Parker/Spider-Man)
Season 2.5 balance updates
Marvel Rivals Season 2.5 is also implementing a number of new balance changes for players to keep an eye out for. A big portion of the roster has received buffs and nerfs, but we’ll outline the highlights here. First, the big buffs:
Hawkeye: the archer’s base arrow damage, maximum focus, charging speed, spell field damage and charge falloff speed have been increased.
- Hela: the Goddess of Death’s Nightsword Thorn charge capacity has been increased
- Namor: the Sub-Mariner’s ultimate now has a wider radius of damage, and his Monstro Spawn damage falloff has been adjusted.
- Squirrel Girl: more Burst Acord capacity and decreased Mammal Bond cooldown.
Now, here are the big nerfs:
- Jeff the Land Shark: Jeff is getting a pretty complex rework. His Joyful Splash deals damage to enemies now, but its healing is also blocked by enemies. It also generally does less healing. Healing Bubble now does healing over time rather than one-time healing, aqua burst is a charge ability, and Hide and Seek has an energy cap.
- Thor: this is undoubtedly a nerf. Thor’s Hammer Throw is now a standard ability that grants one Thorforce per hit, and consuming Thorforce grants less shields and bonus health. The Hammer Throw change could be good for racking up Thorforce, but the Thorforce change will be bad for his survivability.
There are plenty more balance updates to go over in this upcoming 30 May patch. More details can be found in NetEase’s official patch notes here.
