Marvel Rivals Season 1.5 Brings Buffs to Vanguards and Duelists

Vanguards and Duelists are getting buffed in the second half of the first Marvel Rivals season. Strategists are also going to receive adjustments, however, most of them are going to be nerfs.

Vanguard Changes

Captain America and Venom are the big winners of the Vanguard buffs while Thor follows closely. Magneto and Doctor Strange, both of the most dominating tanks in the first half of Season 1, are receiving nerfs to their survivability.

Buffs to both Captain America and Venom might signal a shift from double shields to a dive meta. A dive meta would mean that Vanguards and Duelists would always try their best to dive behind the enemy lines and try to pick off-position Strategists and Duelists.

Captain America:

• He will be able to shield himself with Living Legend mid-leap.
• Increase Vibranium Energy Saw’s projectile speed from 60m/s to 80m/s, with ricochets ramping up from 100m/s to a supercharged 150m/s.
• Reduce the energy cost of Freedom Charge (ultimate ability) from 3100 to 2800.
• Enhance Captain America’s combat experience by separating Sentinel Strike from melee attacks. Captain America will be able to use melee attacks while his shield is thrown or during the Team-Up Ability Charged Aegis state to activate the first two hits of Sentinel Strike. Additionally, while airborne, using melee attacks will no longer trigger the Super-Soldier Slam ability.

Doctor Strange:

• Reduce base health from 650 to 600.

Groot:

• Increase Thornlash Wall placement range from 15 meters to 18 meters.

Magneto:

• Increase Iron Volley projectile damage from 35 to 40.
• Increase Metallic Curtain’s energy consumption from 50/s to 65/s; Reduce its Maximum Duration from 2s to 1.5s.

Thor:

• Remove the shared cooldown time after the duration of Awakening Rune ends.

Venom:

• Adjust the knock back effect of Frenzied Arrival from vertical to inward, with an inward knockback angle of 75°.
• Reduce the energy cost of Feast of the Abyss (ultimate ability) from 2800 to 2500.

Duelist Changes

Players who think Spider-Man and Iron Fist are already annoying with their recent kit might be frustrated to know that both of them have received buffs. Iron Fist will be a lot tankier which means that he will be even more of a pain to kill. Spider-Man, on the other hand, will have a shorter cooldown time on his Web-Cluster which means he can stick players more frequently and deal a lot more damage.

Hawkeye and Black Widow are also getting buffs. Hawkeye in particular is getting a buff on his Crescent Slash, presumably due to where the meta is headed.

Black Widow:

• Increase the magazine capacity of the Red Room Rifle from 8 to 15.
• Enhance the slow effect of Electro-Plasma Explosion (Ultimate Ability) on enemies from 80% to 55%. Additionally, it will apply a 15% Vulnerability effect to hit enemies for 4 seconds.

Hawkeye:

• Increase base health from 250 to 275.
• Reduce projectile damage of Blast Arrow from 20 to 15, while the spell field damage will be increased from 25 to 32.
• Reduce the cooldown time for Crescent Slash from 15s to 12s.
• Increase bow draw speed during the duration of Hunter’s Sight (Ultimate Ability) and raise damage multiplier from 1.2 to 1.35.

Hela:

• The Damage Falloff of Nightsword Thorn at 30 meters will be changed from 70% to 80%.

Iron Fist:

• Reduce the damage of Jeet Kune Do’s 1st, 2nd, and 5th strikes from 32 to 30, while the 3rd and 4th strikes will deal 15 damage instead of 16. The final, devastating 6th strike has been dialed back from 55 to 50. The cooldown reduction for Dragon’s Defense has been extended from 1s to 1.5s. The damage of each hit from Yat Jee Chung Kuen will take a hit, dropping from 19 to 10 flat damage (including during Living Chi). However, each strike from the Yat Jee Chung Kuen now delivers an extra blow, dealing damage equal to 1.7% of the opponent’s maximum health (including during Living Chi).
• Increase the additional maximum health granted by Harmony Recovery from 50 to 150. A new decay mechanism for the extra health has also been introduced: one second after the ability ends, the additional health will deplete at a rate of 25 health per second.
• Increase the maximum Bonus Health converted from damage blocked during Dragon’s Defense from 150 to 200.
• Increase base health from 250 to 300.

Iron Man:

• Increase Unibeam damage from 120/s to 140/s.
• Increase Unibeam (Armor Overdrive) damage from 180/s to 190/s.

Magik:

• Decrease the damage dealt by Demon’s Rage (regular state) from 80/s to 72/s.
• Reduce the energy cost of Darkchild (ultimate ability) from 3700 to 3400.

Mister Fantastic:

• Increase the spell field radius after landing from Flexible Elongation from 2.5 meters to 5 meters. Additionally, Flexible Elongation will now feature a knockback effect, launching enemies outward within the area upon landing. The recharge time for a single use of Flexible Elongation will be adjusted from 8s to 10s.
• Increase the damage of Brainiac Bounce (Ultimate Ability) spell from 50 to 70. Increase the energy cost from 2800 to 3400. Additionally, a new damage decay mechanism has been introduced: spell field damage will begin to decrease starting at 3 meters and will reach a maximum reduction of 50 at 10 meters.

Moon Knight:

• Reduced the Hand of Khonshu talons falling speed.
• Correct the damage trigger logic for Hand of Khonshu. The previous mechanism that dealt 75 damage when positioned at the center of the spell field has been removed. Increase the damage of each hit from 75 to 150.

Scarlet Witch:

• Gain an additional 100 Bonus Health upon activating Reality Erasure (Ultimate Ability). After the ability ends or is interrupted, this Bonus Health will decay at a rate of 50/s.

Spider-Man:

• Reduce Web-Cluster energize time from 3s to 2.5s.

Star-Lord:

• Increase Rocket Propulsion’s maximum energy from 1200 to 1800.

Storm:

• The Damage Falloff of Wind Blade at 30 meters will be changed from 70% to 60%.
• Reduce Storm’s damage increase from Thunder during Weather Control from 16% to 12%. However, the damage increase for allies within range has been increased from 8% to 10%.
• Reduce Storm’s damage increase from Enhanced Thunder during Weather Control from 30% to 25%.

Strategist Changes

Strategists aren’t receiving big buffs this time. Most of them are getting adjusted and given slight nerfs to the costs of their ultimates. Adam Warlock is the only Strategist getting a buff this patch which strengthens his healing abilities after casting Soul Bond.

Adam Warlock:

• Increase the damage of Quantum Magic from 55 to 60. Additionally, the Damage Falloff at 40 meters will be changed from 50% to 60%.
• Increase the healing amount provided by Soul Bond to linked allies from 10/s to 15/s.

Cloak & Dagger:

• Increase the energy cost to activate Eternal Bond (Ultimate Ability) from 3400 to 4000. The healing amount of each segment will be increased from 220/s to 250/s, the duration will be reduced from 10s to 8s, and the pause time between segments decrease from 1s to 0.67s. Now, the healing effect from each segment will not stack; when overlapping, only one healing effect is applied. Additionally, camera control is unlocked during the activation of Eternal Bond.
• Increase the Vulnerability inflicted on enemies by Terror Cape from 20% to 28%.

Invisible Woman:

• Increase the energy cost of Invisible Boundary (ultimate ability) from 4000 to 4300.

Loki:

• Increase the energy cost of God of Mischief (ultimate ability) from 3400 to 4000.
• Increase Mystical Missile charges from 10 to 12.

Luna Snow:

• Increase the energy cost to activate Fate of Both Worlds (Ultimate Ability) from 4000 to 4500.

Team-Up Ability Changes

There are also some adjustments regarding team-ups. Symbiote Bond, the team-up ability between Peni Parker, Spider-Man, and Venom, is going to receive an adjustment that will take away the damage reduction effect upon activation and change it into an invincibility effect. The duration of the team-up ability is shortened because of this.

Atlas Bond:

• Increase the healing amount of Frozen Chi from 50 to 75, and the slow effect on enemies from 20% to 30%.

Dimensional Shortcut

• Reduced the Rewind Time for Psionic Disc from 5s to 3s. Additionally, the conversion ratio of lost health to blue armor will be increased from 0.5 to 0.8.
• Reduced the Rewind Time for Wakandan Master from 5s to 3s. Additionally, the conversion ratio of lost health to blue armor will be increased from 0.5 to 0.8.

Gamma Charge:

• Reduce Unibeam (Gamma Overdrive) damage from 220/s to 200/s.
• Reduce Hulk’s Team-Up Anchor health bonus from 150 to 100.

Lunar Force:

• Full Moon New Effect: Continuously heal Moon Knight for 25 health per/s while within the effect area.

Symbiote Bond:

• Reduce Spider-Man’s Suit Expulsion duration from 4s to 1s. Replace the 50% damage reduction effect with a new invincibility effect during the duration.
• Reduce Peni Parker’s Armor Expulsion duration from 4s to 2s. Replace the 50% damage reduction effect with a new invincibility effect during the duration.