balance · February 19, 2025
Marvel Rivals Season 1.5 Update Adjusts Hero Abilities and Ultimate Costs
Marvel Rivals Season 1.5 lands with balance adjustments across the entire roster, tweaking ultimate costs, base health pools, and hero mechanics. Captain America, Iron Fist, and Cloak & Dagger receive notable kit overhauls, while team-up abilities see targeted changes.
Marvel Rivals Version 20250221 kicks off Season 1.5 with a sweeping round of balance adjustments. The update alters hero survivability, tweaks ultimate energy costs, and reworks specific mechanics for Vanguards, Duelists, and Strategists ahead of comprehensive team-up overhauls planned for Season 2.
Vanguard Adjustments
Captain America receives increased survivability, a faster Vibranium Energy Saw with projectile speeds raised from 60m/s to 80m/s and ricochets reaching 150m/s, and a reduced ultimate cost for Freedom Charge from 3100 to 2800. Sentinel Strike is now separated from standard melee attacks, and mid-leap melee no longer triggers Super-Soldier Slam. Doctor Strange drops from 650 to 600 base health. Groot's Thornlash Wall placement range increases from 15 meters to 18 meters. Magneto deals more damage with Iron Volley up from 35 to 40, but Metallic Curtain's energy consumption rises from 50/s to 65/s alongside a duration drop from 2s to 1.5s. Thor removes the shared cooldown after Awakening Rune ends. Venom adjusts Frenzied Arrival's knockback to an inward 75-degree angle and lowers Feast of the Abyss ultimate cost from 2800 to 2500.
Duelist Tweaks
Black Widow's Red Room Rifle magazine capacity jumps from 8 to 15, and Electro-Plasma Explosion's slow effect drops to 55% while applying a 15% Vulnerability effect for 4 seconds. Hawkeye gains base health from 250 to 275, lower Blast Arrow damage at 15 down from 20 with higher spell field damage at 32 up from 25, a 12s cooldown on Crescent Slash, and faster bow draw speed with a 1.35 damage multiplier during Hunter's Sight. Hela's Nightsword Thorn damage falloff at 30 meters shifts from 70% to 80%. Iron Fist receives a base health increase to 300, adjusted Jeet Kune Do strike damage, lower flat Yat Jee Chung Kuen damage paired with a new 1.7% max health damage per strike, and higher bonus health from Harmony Recovery and Dragon's Defense. Iron Man's Unibeam damage increases to 140/s, and Armor Overdrive Unibeam rises to 190/s. Magik's Demon's Rage regular damage drops to 72/s, and Darkchild ultimate cost lowers to 3400. Mister Fantastic expands Flexible Elongation's spell field radius to 5 meters with a new knockback effect, increases Brainiac Bounce damage to 70 with a new damage decay mechanism, and raises ultimate cost to 3400. Moon Knight adjusts Hand of Khonshu talon falling speed, removes center damage, and increases hit damage to 150. Scarlet Witch gains 100 bonus health upon casting Reality Erasure that decays at 50/s. Spider-Man reduces Web-Cluster energize time to 2.5s. Star-Lord increases Rocket Propulsion max energy to 1800. Storm adjusts Wind Blade falloff at 30 meters to 60%, lowers her own Thunder damage increase to 12%, raises ally damage increase to 10%, and reduces Enhanced Thunder damage boost to 25%.
Strategist Adjustments
Adam Warlock increases Quantum Magic damage to 60, alters 40-meter falloff to 60%, and raises Soul Bond healing to 15/s. Cloak & Dagger increases Eternal Bond ultimate cost to 40, segment healing to 250/s, reduces duration to 8s with faster segment pauses, prevents healing stacking, unlocks camera control during the ultimate, and increases Terror Cape Vulnerability to 28%. Invisible Woman increases Invisible Boundary ultimate cost to 4300. Loki raises God of Mischief ultimate cost to 4000 and increases Mystical Missile charges to 12. Luna Snow increases Fate of Both Worlds ultimate cost to 4500.
Team-Up Ability Changes
Atlas Bond increases Luna Snow's Frozen Chi healing to 75 and slow to 30%. Dimensional Shortcut reduces rewind time for Psylocke and Black Panther to 3s and increases lost health to blue armor conversion from 0.5 to 0.8. Gamma Charge reduces Gamma Overdrive Unibeam damage to 200/s and drops Hulk's anchor health bonus to 100. Lunar Force adds a continuous 25 health per second heal to Moon Knight inside the Full Moon area. Symbiote Bond reduces Peni Parker and Spider-Man armor and suit expulsion durations while replacing the 50% damage reduction effect with full invincibility.
Why this patch matters
Version 20250221 reshapes match pacing by tweaking ultimate generation speeds for supports and rebalancing duelists and tanks ahead of the anticipated Season 2 team-up system overhauls.