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Season 1 of Marvel Rivals is right around the corner, and the devs have revealed the details of what to expect. On January 10, the Preseason will end and the Season 1 of Marvel Rivals will begin. We know that The Fantastic Four will join Marvel Rivals, but there is a lot more to it.
Season 1 Eternal Night Falls
During the latest Dev Live, released on January 7, the Creative Director, Guangguang, and Lead Combat Designer, Zhiyong, talk about the upcoming Season 1 for Marvel Rivals. They reveal that it will focus on The Fantastic Four trying to stop Dracula, who is controlling New York City.
New Maps and Characters
Season 1 will add four new characters:
- Mr. Fantastic (Duelist)
- Invisible Woman (Strategist)
- Human Torch
- The Thing
As well as three new maps:
- Eternal Night Falls: Sanctum Sanctorum
- Eternal Night Falls: Midtown
- Eternal Night Falls: Central Park
The Season will last for three months and will be divided into two halves, with each of them lasting six to seven weeks. The first two characters that will join the roster are Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman, while Human Torch and The Thing will have to wait for the second half of the Season.
As for maps, the first half of the Season will add Eternal Night Falls: Midtown as a Convoy Map and Sanctum Sanctorum in a brand-new Arcade mode: Doom Match. We can expect to see The Human Torch, The Thing, and Eternal Night Falls: Central Park in the second half.
Marvel Rivals Season 1 Battle Pass
As expected, the Battle Pass will be themed around Eternal Night Falls and will be double the size of the Preseason one. We will see 10 different skins and their accompanying cosmetics. The Season 1 Battle Pass will cost 990 Lattice, but you can get 600 Lattice and 600 Units back by completing it, so it does look like a good deal.
Doom Match
As mentioned, the Doom Match is a new Arcade game mode, set in Sanctum Sanctorum, the residence of Dr. Strange. As the Lead Combat Designer Zhiyong said: “Here the very fabric of reality intertwines and folds within the Astral Plane creating a wondrous and chaotic battleground.” In this game mode, 8-12 players will fight, presumably in a free-for-all match, with the top 50% claiming victory.
Eternal Night Falls: Midtown
This is a Convoy map but with a couple of peculiar details. Here, the convoy is actually H.E.R.B.I.E, traveling from the Baxter Building to the Avengers Tower. Additionally, Midtown will also feature a different form of environment destruction: Recursive Destruction. This will let you turn the clock back to revert any destruction previously made at that point. A very interesting take!
Balancing
Based on Analysis and feedback, the devs realized that the combination of shields and ranged heroes has become the meta, with ranged Duelists being the most popular choices. Moving forward, they will nerf Hela and Hawkeye, to ensure that all ranged heroes are viable and have a chance to shine.
Next, Captain America and Venom will get “empowered to charge into battle and protect their allies”. Moving on, Wolverine and Storm will get improvements to make sure they “shine in specialized compositions”, probably boosting their Team-Up abilities.
Cloak and Dagger only got a vague mention, saying: “We are elevating their potential, making them more formidable in diverse team setups”. Lastly, the legend himself, Jeff the Land Shark will get slight tweaks to his ultimate ability, “to better align to early warning signals”.
More details will be revealed on their official website, as Season 1 draws closer.
Hero Pick Rates and Win Rates
Speaking of the website, at the end of Season 0, the devs will add a Hero Hot List on the Marvel Rivals website. There you will be able to see the pick rates and win rates for all the heroes. For Quick Match statistics, PC and console players will be merged together. On the other hand, Competitive statistics will be separate for PC and consoles.
These statistics will be adjusted every half-season.
Rankings
When Season 1 goes live, every player’s competitive rank will drop by seven divisions. For example, if you ended Season 0 with Platinum 1, you will begin Season 1 from Silver 2.
Additionally, a new rank, called Celestial, will be added between Grandmaster and Eternity. As usual, it will have three divisions.
Preferences
In Season 1, NetEase plans to add the option for increased frame rates, for those players who want and can support them, for a better competitive experience. Next, they will add Streamer Mode to Marvel Rivals, for aspiring streamers out there. Usually, Streamer mode hides your personal or sensitive information from your screen, so you can safely share your screen with the viewers.
This is it for the first half of Season 1. The second half will add Human Torch and The Thing, most likely the Eternal Night Falls: Central Park map, refresh the Hero Hot List, and more. We’ll get more details as is draws closer.