Marvel Rivals' first balance patch gives Hela a slap on the wrist

Part of the beauty of Marvel RivalsNetEase's hero shooter, featuring characters from the comic book publisher's biggest companies, stands out in that it doesn't feel like a glossy, e-sports-focused competitive game, opting instead for goofy fun and overpowered kits. It's refreshing after watching it Overwatch 2 Sand off all the rough edges to become the best esports hero shooter on the market. However, hoping that the miracle would last felt like a pipe dream Marvel Rivalsas at some point NetEase had to make some balance changes that would tone down some of the gimmicks. However, now we have the details about the first balance patch that will be released alongside the game Fantastic four-focused season and it contains just the right amount of optimizations that are encouraging for the game's future.

NetEase released the full patch notes after teasing them earlier this week when it released Season 1 information. Some of the previously announced hero changes are here, like the nerfs for Hela and Hawkeye and the buffs for Venom and Captain America, but there are also a handful of smaller changes to a large portion of the roster. I still maintain that Cap needs a little more damage to his equipment if he wants to become a brawler, and that Hela's minimal health reduction isn't enough, but making a few slight tweaks here and there rather than the slider is probably the right approach to turn too far in either direction.

Individual heroes have been rebalanced, but several team-up abilities have also received some improvements. Almost everyone affected received some kind of benefit, be it in the form of shorter cooldowns or increased damage output. The full notes patch is as follows:

VANGUARD

Captain America
Steve will gain slightly improved survivability, allowing him to get in and out of combat more often.

• Reduce shield recovery delay time after Living Legend release from 3 to 2 seconds.
• Reduces the cooldown of Liberty Rush from 12 to 10 seconds.
• Increase base health from 650 to 675.
• Reduce the energy cost of releasing Freedom Charge (ultimate ability) from 3400 to 3100; Reduces the additional health you grant yourself per second after releasing it from 110 to 100.

Doctor Strange
We will reduce the threat range and increase the Sorcerer Supreme's defense window.

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

Thor
The God of Thunder could use a slightly increased survivability and improve the success rate of his ultimate ability.

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

Hulk
Dr. Banner has been dominant so far, but some reduced sustain ability upon entering the battlefield will bring him more in line with other Vanguards.

• Reduce the Indestructible Guard Gamma Shield value for Hero Hulk from 250 to 200.

Poison
With increased survivability and the threat of his ultimate ability, the symbiote menace will strike fear into the back lines of all opposing teams.

• Increase the bonus health ratio of Symbiotic Resilience per point of health lost 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.

• Reduce the additional health you receive even after refreshing Vibranium Marks with Spirit Rend from 40 to 30 and the cap on additional health from 120 to 75.

Black widow
Natasha desperately needed some optimization in how she evaluates the release experience of her abilities, as well as a slight increase in the threat of her ultimate ability.

• Increase the range of Edge Dancer's first effect from a 3 meter radius to a 5 meter radius.
• Reduce the time it takes for Fleet Foot to recover from 0 stamina to full stamina from 12 to 4 seconds.
• Reduce the time required for Electroplasma Blast (ultimate ability) to reach maximum power from 1s to 0.6s.

Hawkeye
We will be reducing mid- to long-range damage ability, reducing threat combat radius, and slightly improving melee resistance for the Avenging Archer.

• Slightly reduce the spread angle between every two explosion arrows.
• Reduce the trigger 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
The Goddess of Death was a threat and we will slightly reduce her combat strength.

• Reduce base health from 275 to 250.

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

• Increases the damage of Umbral Incursion in Darkchild form from 115 to 135.

Moon Knight
The threat to his ultimate ability is slightly increased by the Hand of Khonshu.

• Increase the number of claws generated by Hand of Khonshu (ultimate ability) from 10 to 14.
• Increase the blast radius of each claw from 4 meters to 5 meters.

Namor
We optimize the throwing feeling of Namor's eggs!

• Adjust the throwing feel of Monstro Spawn and Frozen Spawn. Now Namor can throw them more precisely where he wants them.

Psylocke
We will provide other heroes with more options to counter the Demon Slayer's ultimate ability.

• Now Dance of the Butterfly (ultimate ability) looks for barriers (including Magneto's metal bulwark, Hulk's indestructible guard, etc.).

The punisher
We're slightly increasing the damage ability of Frank's weapons.

• Slightly reduce the spread of Deliverance and Adjudication.

Scarlet Witch
We're increasing Wanda's combat strength when facing duelists or strategists.

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

Storm
The Weather Witch needed an overall increase in her damage ability; We're also optimizing the feel of her left-click projectile and the trigger experience of her ultimate.

• Increase Wind Blade's projectile speed from 100 m/s to 150 m/s and left-click damage from 50 to 55.
• Increases Bolt Rush damage from 70 to 80. – After triggering Omega Hurricane (Ultimate Ability), the additional health it is granted is increased from 350 to 450. Additionally, upon completion, the extra health will no longer disappear immediately, but will decrease at a rate of 100 per second.

Squirrel Girl
We're increasing the threat of Doreen and her furry friends in their ultimate ability.

• Addition of a new effect to Invincible Squirrel Tsunami (Ultimate Skill): The squirrels will charge towards the nearest enemy after bouncing instead of bouncing randomly.
• Reduce Squirrel Tsunami's health from 600 to 300.

Winter Soldier
We'll be adjusting Bucky by reducing his long-range combat strength and increasing his medium-range close-combat survivability.

• Increase the bonus health of Bionic Hook and Tainted Voltage from 30 to 40.
• Increase Redstar's projectile damage from 70 to 75. – Reduce 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
Logan receives an increase in base combat strength, but a slight decrease in additional survivability after activating Immortal Beast.

• Increase base health from 300 to 350.
• Reduce the damage reduction rate of Immortal Beast from 50% to 40%.

STRATEGIST

Cloak and dagger
Ty and Tandy will receive an increase in their healing ability as well as an expansion in the coverage area of ​​their ultimate ability.

• Reduces the cooldown of Dagger Storm from 15 seconds to 12 seconds.
• Increase the number of dashes in Eternal Bond (ultimate ability) from 3 to 4.

Jeff the Land Shark
We'll be adjusting the range of his ultimate to better match the warning marker. In addition, we will also increase his healing ability.

• Customize it. It's Jeff! (ultimate ability) range from a 10m sphere to a 5m high cylindrical spell field with a 10m radius.
• Increase Joyful Splash healing from 140/s to 150/s.

Luna Snow
While we enjoyed her leaving out the bass, we made adjustments to Luna's ultimate to prevent players from abusing her healing abilities.

• Increase the healing to damage transition interval in Fate of Both Worlds from 0.1s to 0.5s.

mantis
We'll be making Mantis a little less light on its feet and reducing its roaming support ability.

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

Rocket Raccoon
Rocket could use an upgrade to his healing ability.

• Increase healing in repair mode from 60 per/s to 70 per/s.

TEAM-UP SKILLS

Hawkeye – Black Widow
To further mitigate Hawkeye's oppression, we will be reducing his seasonal buff.

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

Hela – Thor – Loki
Similar to Hawkeye, Hela's overwhelming power is slightly reduced.

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

Luna Snow Namor
We will increase the threat of Namor's frozen spawn.

• Increases Frozen Spawn damage from 25 to 27.
• Increase Frozen Spawn's slowing effect applied to enemies hit from 25% to 30%.
• Increases Frozen Spawn damage from 16 to 18 while in Berserk state.

Rocket Raccoon – The Punisher – Winter Soldier
One of Rocket's best tools will be available more often!

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

Scarlet Witch – Magneto
A little disappointing, but the damage ability of this father-daughter team-up ability is increased.

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

Thor-Storm-Captain America
We will be improving the damage ability of Storm's side of this team-up ability.

• Increase Charged Gale's damage from 50 to 55.

• Reduces the cooldown of Charged Storm from 20 to 15 seconds.