The team behind Marvel Rivals, one of our favorite games of last year, has revealed the changes coming next week for the game’s mid-season update. In addition to Ultron, a new playable character, there’s a new map, a new limited-time mode, and a ton of balance changes.
Despite his character history of destruction and conquest, Ultron is a strategist, Marvel Rivals’ healer class. He’s also the first healer who can fly, placing him among the ranks of characters like Human Torch and Iron Man. Based on what we can see in the trailer, his primary fire is a laser that ends with a burst of damage, and he can both heal allies and grant them shield.
Ultron will be accompanied by a new map, Arakko. “Once Krakoa’s sister island, Arakko has lost all its vitality,” creative director Guanguang says in the video update. It’s been overrun by a somehow-even-more-evil version of Ultron after he combined himself with Cerebro to become X-tron.
A new limited-time mode called Ultron’s Battle Matrix Protocol will be available on June 6. It’s a single-player mode where you assemble a roster of computer-controlled heroes to battle enemies while you observe from the sky as one of Ultron’s drones. By unlocking buffs and abilities, the battles can get wacky, as the video shows off a massive Venom, a rapidly firing Hela, and a Namor with an army of Monstro spawn turrets.
Season 2.5 also comes with a smattering of balance adjustments. Groot, Captain America, Emma Frost, Iron Fist, Human Torch, and Psylocke will all receive buffs, while Doctor Strange, Magneto, Squirrel Girl, and Punisher will all receive buffs. Meanwhile, Jeff will receive a “partial adjustment for a fresh experience,” reworking several of his key abilities. You can read the specific changes for each character here.
Team-up abilities, one of the game’s most notable features, are also receiving some changes. Team-ups between Hawkeye and Black Widow, Rocket and Punisher, Luna Snow and Jeff, and Spider-Man, Venom, and Peni are all being removed, and Iron Man is no longer a part of the team-up with Hulk and Namor. However, six new team-ups will be added to compensate: Luna Snow and Hawkeye, Jeff and Storm (who combine ultimates to make a Jeff-nado), Jeff and Venom, Punisher and Black Widow, Rocket and Peni, and Iron Man and Ultron. You can find the full details of each team-up and a list of team-ups that are changing right here.
Finally, Marvel Rivals will receive some new cosmetic options, including emojis you can use to react mid-game, moods you can add to your character nameplate, and the ability to see your Lord character portraits in the character select screen at the start of the game.
The season 2.5 update goes live on May 30. For more Marvel Rivals, you can read our review, where we called the game “a culmination of the successful shooters that came before it.”
