February 13, 2025

Marvel Rivals, the brand new hero shooter primarily based on Marvel comics characters, begins its first full season later this week. The free-to-play sport launched season 0 on Dec. 6 and shortly reached 20 million gamers. 

After the abbreviated season 0, we’re beginning the primary full (13-week) season. We’re gotten a flood of confirmed particulars, and here is what we learn about season 1, together with the trailer for the season. 

Marvel Rivals season 1 begin time

The Everlasting Evening Falls trailer says the season begins Friday, Jan. 10. The trailer’s YouTube web page specifies that it is 4 a.m. ET/1 a.m. PT.

Learn extra: Marvel Rivals: Easy methods to Select Which Heroes and Roles to Play

Sue Storm can pull unsuspecting enemies into your workforce, permitting for a fast elimination.

Marvel/Seize by Adam Benjamin

New Marvel Rivals heroes and maps

The brand new trailer on Monday gave us transient glimpses of the Implausible 4 — Invisible Girl, Mr. Implausible, Human Torch and The Factor. They are a becoming addition to the sport, given its premise that two Physician Dooms from completely different timelines are warring for management. (It additionally helps construct hype for the brand new Implausible 4 film, First Steps, coming this summer season.) Invisible Girl will take the function of a strategist, and Mr. Implausible shall be a duelist. Although not showing till later within the season, The Factor shall be a vanguard, with Johnny Storm including one more duelist to the roster.

I had an opportunity to check out the brand new heroes earlier than the season and had two essential takeaways. First, Mr. Implausible is formally a duelist, however his function very a lot blends with vanguards. His Reflexive Rubber skill lets him retailer and bounce incoming harm again at enemies, and his skill to generate overhealth makes him far tankier than most duelists. In many of the video games I performed with or in opposition to him, he was absorbing nearly as a lot harm because the workforce’s tanks. 

Second, Invisible Girl has lots to maintain monitor of. I loved the high-actions-per-minute play type, however some gamers is perhaps fatigued by having to trace the restricted vary of her major fireplace, the well being of her deployable shields, the a number of inputs for her push/pull skill and the cooldowns of all her skills. She has loads of utility, however successfully managing these numerous sources is the important thing to her success.

When enemies overextend, you should utilize Invisible Girl’s final to stop enemy strategists from therapeutic them whereas additionally therapeutic your workforce contained in the radius.

Marvel/Seize by Adam Benjamin

The season shall be divided into two halves, with Mr. Implausible and the Invisible Girl being added in the beginning of the season, whereas Factor and the Human Torch be a part of up within the second half. We’ll get one new convoy map, Midtown, the place gamers will escort the Fanastic 4’s robotic ally H.E.R.B.I.E. to Avengers tower. We’re additionally getting an all-new arcade sport mode, Doom Match, which is able to happen in Physician Unusual’s Sanctum Sanctorum. A 3rd map, Central Park, shall be added midseason. 

The Sanctum Sanctorum under a large red moon

Put together for some portal pandemonium within the Sanctum Sanctorum’s arcade mode.

Marvel

The devs mentioned that is twice what they’ve deliberate for future seasons, so it is in all probability protected to count on one new hero in the beginning of future seasons and one other about six weeks later, with one or two new maps per season. That might imply eight new heroes per 12 months, and 4 to eight new maps. That is a powerful quantity of content material for a live-service sport.

There have been many different Marvel Rivals leaks not too long ago, together with hero fashions or skills for characters like Ultron, Emma Frost and Jean Gray. These all have but to be confirmed and will not present up in season 1, however they do counsel a wholesome content material roadmap for the sport, important for retaining gamers engaged over the 12 months. 

Battle go

Skins for Loki, Wolverine and Scarlet Witch

Marvel/Screenshot by CNET

Season 0 featured an abbreviated battle go, and builders have mentioned the season 1 go will characteristic “double the content material and pleasure,” within the newest dev vision video. That features 10 new costumes, styled across the season’s Everlasting Evening theme.

The season 1 battle go will price 990 lattice (about $10 value of in-game forex). You may earn 600 lattice and 600 items (collectively, about $12 value of in-game forex) for those who full the battle go. 

Stability modifications

The devs have seen your Reddit posts — Hawkeye and Hela are getting nerfs to start out season 1, though the modifications look somewhat tame in comparison with group expectations. Jeff’s final can be being adjusted. And buffs are coming the best way of Captain America, Cloak and Dagger, Storm, Venom and Wolverine, amongst others.

The devs have launched full patch notes detailing the modifications, and the stats on the Rivals web site shall be up to date with new steadiness numbers. The Rivals website has additionally been up to date with pick and win rate stats  and can obtain new updates each half season.

Ranked reset and mouse acceleration

The dev imaginative and prescient video additionally revealed that gamers’ ranks will drop seven divisions — a platinum 1 rank will begin the brand new season at silver 2, of their instance. By that math, anybody in gold 2 or decrease shall be again at bronze 3 to start out the season.

Moreover, the sport is introducing the celestial rank, which is able to characteristic the usual three tiers and seem after the grandmaster rank.

The builders additionally mentioned that season 1 will embody the much-requested mouse acceleration settings choice, which means nobody must resort to enhancing sport information if they do not need that characteristic. 

For extra on Marvel Rivals, try my suggestions for getting began and my information to picking which heroes and roles to play.