The clock ticked down as you finalized your hero selection, a bead of sweat trickling down your brow. Your carefully constructed strategy hinged on Doctor Strange’s agility, but a gut feeling told you something was off. Then it hit you: Season 6 was live, and everything had changed.
Marvel Rivals Season 6 has landed, shaking up the hero roster with a volley of buffs and nerfs. Several characters are being tweaked to refine combat balance and team dynamics. Let’s break down who’s getting a power-up and who’s being brought down a peg.
Season 6 Buffs: Rising Tides
Ever noticed how a new guitar player always cranks the amp to 11? Season 6 feels a bit like that, with several heroes getting significant boosts. The changes listed below went into effect January 16.
Vanguard Enhancements
Captain America
Cap’s shield is slinging back into the meta with a cooldown decrease:
- Reduce Vibranium Energy Saw cooldown from 8s to 6s.
Doctor Strange
The Sorcerer Supreme is now more slippery, thanks to an animation cancel during Cloak of Levitation.
- Cloak of Levitation New Effect: Re-casting during use now interrupts the ability, preserves current movement speed and allows for new movement input to change trajectory.
- Increase the Maelstrom of Madness conversion ratio of Dark Magic to damage from 1.2 to 1.3
Emma Frost
The White Queen’s energy gain is getting a boost:
- Increase Energy gained
- Hero hits from 10/s to 12/s
- Sentience hits from 15/s to 18/s
- Shield hits from 5/s to 6/s
Hulk
Hulk’s abilities get amped up, enhancing sustainability and overall strength.
- Reduce Hero Hulk Incredible Leap minimum charge time from 0.5s to 04s; maximum charge time from 2s to 1.7s.
- In Hero Hulk form, reduce Gamma Burst cooldown from 8s to 6s and increase projectile Damage from 70 to 75.
- In Monster Hulk form, Hulk is now immune to launch and knockback effects.
What’s the deal with Strategist buffs in Season 6?
In a twist, Season 6 introduces no buffs for the Strategist class. The logic? A response to the perceived over-reliance on triple-support team compositions. This approach signals a desire to diversify team builds, potentially shaking up the meta. Instead, expect to see some rebalancing in the form of nerfs to this class.
Duelist Improvements
Black Panther
Wakanda gets a slight boost to both offense and defense:
- Increase Spear Toss Damage from 45 to 50.
- Gain 50% Damage Reduction during Bast’s Descent (Ultimate Ability) startup animation.
Blade
The Daywalker’s arsenal becomes more versatile. Choose wisely!
- Daywalker Dash New Effect (When wielding Hunter’s Shotgun): Slow enemies by 40% for 1.5s. Increase second hit damage from 20 to 50.
- Daywalker Dash New Effect (When wielding Ancestral Sword): Remove Slow effect from enemies and apply 8% Healing Reduction per strike (32% total if all hit), for 3s. Reduce Damage from 15 to 8 per hit.
- Reduce pellets fired per round of Hunter’s Shotgun from 12 to 11. Damage falloff now starts at 15m (was 20m); at 30m, damage drops to 50% of base (was 40%).
Iron Fist
Lin Lie’s strikes become faster and hit harder!
- Increase Jeet Kune Do’s fourth strike damage from 30 to 35.
- Increase Dragon’s Defense maximum duration from 1s to 1.2s.
Season 6 Nerfs: Balancing the Scales
What goes up must come down, right? These characters face a reduction in power in the new season. Imagine it as tightening a bolt on an over-tuned engine; bringing everything back into harmony.
Vanguard Reductions
Angela
Angela’s Shield Stance gets a hit, making her easier to knock down.
- Reduce Shielded Stance Shield Value from 350 to 300.
Duelist Adjustments
Daredevil
The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen gets some of his fiery power dialed down:
- Reduce the Devil’s Chain high damage range from 80 to 75.
- Reduce Devil’s Throw single Projectile Damage from 32.5 to 30 (total from 65 to 60 on a single target).
- Reduce Fury gained from Devil’s Latch when grappling a surface from 2 to 1.
Strategist Rebalancing
Gambit
The King of Cards sees a reduction in both healing and ultimate effectiveness.
- Reduce Big Easy Impact Healing Amount per explosion from 25 to 15 (total from 75 to 45).
- Reduce Ragin’ Royal Flush’s Healing from 75/s to 55/s.
- Bridge Boost bounces on a single target are now set to a maximum of 2.
Invisible Woman
Sue Storm becomes a little less impenetrable, her protective abilities slightly diminished.
- Reduce Guardian Shield value from 250 to 200.
- Reduce shield restoration rate after reclaiming from 42/s to 34/s (total time unchanged).
- Reduce Guardian Shield healing to Invisible Woman from 50/s to 25/s.
Rocket Raccoon
Rocket’s agility gets a slight reduction.
- Reduce Movement Speed during Wild Crawl from 10m/s to 8m/s.
Season 6 Hero Adjustments: Fine-Tuning
Beyond simple buffs and nerfs, some characters get more nuanced tweaks. Let’s examine these specific changes.
How do Namor’s Season 6 changes affect his playstyle?
Namor
Namor’s reliance on Team-Ups is being lessened in favor of improved base power.
- Reduce Aquatic Dominion time for a single charge from 12s to 10s.
- Increase default Monstro Spawn Health from 100 to 125 and Damage from 17 to 18.
- Increase Enhanced Monstro Spawn Damage from 11 to 12.
Cloak & Dagger
Ty and Tandy’s support capabilities get a rework, updating both healing and flexibility.
- New Effect: When a Spell Field is created, allies in range get a One-Time Healing of 60.
- Reduce Dagger Storm Healing from 55/s to 45/s.
- Veil of Lightforce & Terror Cape Adjustments:
- These 2 abilities now share charges, capped out at 2 with each taking 12s to recharge. After using either, both abilities enter a 2s cooldown.
Team-Up Abilities in Season 6: Double the Trouble
New Synergies
Mr. Pool’s Interdimensional Toy Box
Deadpool and Jeff the Land Shark team up for shenanigans. Jeff gets Jeff’s Cuddle Buddy, a water-spewing fountain that hinders enemy visibility. Deadpool gets:
- +50 Health as Vanguard
- +5% Damage as Duelist
- +5% Healing as Strategist
Parker Power-Up
Peni Parker and Spider-Man join forces. Spidey gains a Web Bomb that damages and applies Spider-Tracers. If unthrown, it grants a Web Cluster charge and bonus health. Peni gets a Health increase of 50.
What Team-Ups have been adjusted or removed?
The Ever-Burning Bond Team-Up exits in Season 6, and Peni-Parker is leaving the Rocket Network.
Team-Up Balance Adjustments
Deep Wrath
Namor’s team-up damage gets reduced:
- Increase Tidal Dirge cooldown from 20s to 30s.
- Reduce Undead Monstro Damage from 12 to 10.
- Reduce Berserk state Undead Monstro Damage from 7 to 6.
Vibrant Vitality
Loki’s blessing is less powerful: Reduce Deific Blessing ally Damage Boost effect from 25% to 15%.
That’s your briefing on the Marvel Rivals Season 6 changes. How will these adjustments impact your go-to strategies and favorite heroes?