Marvel Rivals Season 4 will upend the hero shooter’s meta with a new hero and some major balance changes come September 12– changes that include a long-awaited nerf to Luna Snow’s ultimate ability.
In the latest Dev Vision video, developer NetEase breaks down what’s new and what’s changing in Season 4 but doesn’t dive into many nitty-gritty details. In addition to a new Vanguard hero, Angela, to help kick off the season, a number of heroes are seeing significant balance adjustments to make them more (or sometimes less) competitive.
Chief among those changes is a decrease in the duration of Luna Snow’s powerful ultimate, Fate of Both Worlds. NetEase hasn’t released the patch notes just yet so we don’t have the specific numbers involved, but it’s a change that has felt like it’s been a long time coming. Luna’s ultimate has always been among the best in the game, capable of making teammates within it nearly invincible and able to stop an enemy push in its tracks. Its lengthy duration often brought fights to a standstill, much to the frustration of some players.
Her ultimate becomes extra annoying when paired with a Loki, who could copy Luna’s ultimate for yet another lengthy period of invulnerability. Loki, too, is seeing some nerfs to his damage and healing in Season 4.
Vanguard heroes getting hit with nerfs include Emma Frost and Captain America, while a handful of Duelists are also being brought down a peg. Squirrel Girl is having her long-range poke reduced, Psylocke’s burst-damage potential is being adjusted, and Black Panther is being hit with a reduction to his survivability.
On the buff front, a number of Vanguard, Strategist, and Duelist heroes are receiving some help. Blade, Moon Knight, and Scarlet Witch will be buffed to make them more viable damage-dealing picks, while Thor and Peni Parker will receive buffs to their ultimate abilities in order to give them “more playmaking material,” according to NetEase. Doctor Strange, often nerfed, will receive an offensive buff.
As for Strategists, NetEase wants to give players more options and “bring more diversity in the role.” That has translated to buffs to ultimate abilities for characters like Invisible Woman, Ultron, and Jeff the Land Shark. Combined with the nerf to Luna’s ultimate, the Strategist field should be a little more interesting in Season 4. NetEase notes that popular heroes like Cloak and Dagger, Magneto, and Phoenix aren’t receiving balance changes this time around, but that it will be keeping an eye on the meta in Season 4.
Balance changes are just the tip of the iceberg for Marvel Rivals Season 4, which will also add a new Vanguard hero, the Asgardian Angela, to the roster. Angela will be able to wield different weapons depending on the situation, including a spear to dive into enemy lines, dual axes for cleaving through foes, and a shield for blocking incoming damage.
Team-up abilities are seeing major changes, too. Thor and Angela will gain a team-up that gives Thor the ability to throw and then dive to one of Angela’s spears. Existing team-up abilities are seeing some adjustments, with Dimensional Shortcut being removed. Magik instead joins the Arcane Order team up, while Black Panther will join Hulk’s Gamma Charge team up, which will grant Black Panther a gamma shield when at critical health.
NetEase additionally confirmed a number of new features coming alongside Marvel Rivals Season 4, including the permanent addition of Clone Rumble and Giant-Size Brain Blast to Arcade mode, a new map, custom ultimate ability visual effects becoming visible for everyone (with an option to disable it), and another wave of summer-inspired skins for heroes like Mantis, Punisher, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, and The Thing. NetEase also announced it’s working on adding competitive-placement matches in response to feedback about the game’s current seasonal rank resets, though the feature won’t be coming as part of Season 4.
Marvel Rivals Season 4 launches September 12, the same day the game arrives on PlayStation 4.
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