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Marvel Rivals is back with a new season, and that means new heroes as well, though NetEase is going much further with season 9. The new trailer and developer breakdown have given us not only our first looks at the two new playable characters, but they’ve also revealed a major rework for another character, huge changes to team-ups, new abilities for each character, and a host of other updates that should make the game that much better in the long run, so let’s jump in with the new faces.
Season 9 is kicking things off with the X-Men favorite Jubilee as a strategist, and she’s already looking like a powerhouse. Jubilee will launch with season 9 on July 10th, but we also got our first look at the second here of the season, Red Hood. The update is going to include far more than just the new characters, as it will include a rework of Black Widow, a host of nerfs and buffs, and a completely reworked Team-up system that looks to bring those back to relevance.
Jubilee Should Be A Strategist Powerhouse
Jubilee’s abilities start with her standard attack, which is Energy Plasmoids. Jubilee fires light blasts that heal friends and damage enemies, and triggering a Sparkle Mark briefly boosts your attack speed and enables firing without consuming energy. She also has two team-up abilities to choose from, with one being Hellfire Sparks and the other being Vampiric Kin, and you can select one to be active at any given time. Hellfire Sparks transforms Energy Plasmoids into a hitscan attack that grants you self-healing. Vampiric Kin deploys a Vampiric Field that gives Life Steal to allies standing within the field when they attack enemies.
Jubilee’s other main abilities include Sparking Sprint, which wraps you in vampiric energy to gain a speed boost and use Energy Blasts at no cost. Once it’s finished, you’ll generate a fireworks energy field around yourself that deals damage and knocks back enemies. Dazzling Detonation detonates a firework energy orb that deals damage to enemies in the area and applies blind and vulnerability effects. This can also be used on an ally, and it grants them healing and a speed boost.
Next is Blooming Ball, which launches a tracking orb of Vampiric energy that damages enemies and heals allies within its radius. Striking the orb or hitting targets near it charges it up and increases both the size and healing power, and you’re able to recall it as well. Jubilee also has a passive known as Sparkle Mark, which means that when you hit Dazzling Detonation or Firework Finale, it applies a Sparkle Mark. Energy Plasmoids can now dentonate marks, granting a healing boost and bonus health while dealing damage to enemies.
Finally, there’s Jubilee’s Ultimate titled Firework Finale. The ability lets you charge up and unleash a massive ring of firework clusters, which launch up nearby enemies. The clusters orbit Jubilee and create a field that damages enemies and heals allies. Expanding the cluster radius outward will launch up struck enemies as well, making this a great way to push a team backwards and regain central position while also healing allies and doing some damage.
Black Widow Is Getting A Massive Overhaul
One of the early Marvel Rivals characters that has seemingly lagged behind other competitors for a while is Black Widow. Widow certainly has her fans and can do some big-time damage in the right hands, but overall, she tends to be a difficult character to be effective with. Now the character is getting a massive overhaul, and it’s really the first time the game has ever taken this sort of rework to a character.
The issue with Black Widow, according to the team, has been the use of her sniper mode and balancing the damage output given the one-shot KO nature of the character. After several attempts to get the character where they wanted without completely reworking her, they’ve finally made some major changes, and that includes the removal of her sniper rifle from her standard attack kit.
Instead, her base attack damage has been raised, and her ultimate shot is actually now a standard ability. She still has her spinning kick, her sprint, and her super jump, and the jump and sprint now have no restrictions. She also has a new ability that allows her to hit AoE damage by jumping in the air and bringing her Widow’s Bites Gauntlets down onto the ground.
The biggest change though is her Ultimate, which is now where her Sniper Mode lives. It lasts for a set duration or until all of the bullets have been used, whichever happens first, and the bullets can now pierce enemies and have a wider hit box, so you can hit more enemies more often. This should make a big impact, but how much remains to be seen.
All New Team-Ups, Abilities, and Shields
The other major change is to the Team-Ups system, which has been completely reworked from the ground up. Gone are the anchor characters of the past, and in their place are two team-up abilities per character. You can choose which one goes into effect ahead of a match or in a spawn area, and while one is more of a passive effect that can be used independently of anyone else, the other is an ability that requires that team-up character to be in the match with you.
There are several new team-ups in the game this time around as well, including a big one for Magneto fans. Gamma Blade is between Hulk and Magneto, and gives Magneto a Gamma-charged sword he can hit foes with while also setting off gamma explosions. Then there’s Joyful Splash, which is a team-up between Hulk and Jeff the Shark that has Jeff spraying glowing green gamma water at opponents.
Season 9 also makes a big change to health, as there are now Regenerative Shields for certain characters, especially for high-mobility heroes who specialize in flanking and diving. The shields kick into effect if a character can avoid taking damage for 5 seconds, and if they do, their shields will rapidly recharge over the next 5 seconds. This change was made to get characters back into the fight sooner than a respawn, but if managed correctly, it can help keep you from getting knocked out in the first place as well.
There have also been a host of buffs and nerfs, and the new balance changes affect about 80% of the roster. Nerfs include Angela, Peni Parker, Rogue, Captain America, Deadpool (Vanguard), Venom, Cyclops, Star-Lord, Punisher, and Rocket Raccoon. Buffs include Devil Dinosaur, Thor, The Thing, Doctor Strange, Hawkeye, Storm, Scarlet Witch, Black Cat, Hela, Elsa Bloodstone, Psylocke, Adam Warlock, White Fox, Mantis, Cloak & Dagger, and Ultron.
As for Red Hood, we’ll have to wait and see what their abilities include, though the rumor is that he’s a vanguard, so get ready for one of the more unique Tanks in the game if that ends up being true. We’ll find out more about Red Hood in season 9.5.
Season 9 of Marvel Rivals begins on July 10th.
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