Marvel Rivals’ sweaty summer continues in its season 9.5 update, which kicks off in-game very soon.
Ahead of the launch, NetEase has revealed a ton of what players can expect in the update, including a new hero, a bunch of new sultry costumes to suit the summer season, and other content updates to keep the Marvel fans invested.
Here’s everything we know so far about season 9.5 of Marvel Rivals.
Table of contents
Marvel Rivals season 9.5 patch notes
New hero: The Hood
Marvel Rivals’ newest hero alongside season 9.5 is The Hood, a Vanguard. Parker Robbins was a common criminal who came into possession of demonic gear including a cloak that grants him powers, but he’s also got some big-ass guns to back that up.
In the game, The Hood’s abilities include switching between human and demon forms, dual pistols, and using his cloak to create protective shields for allies. When transforming into his demon form, his dual pistols change his entire arms into assault rifles. Bad-ass.
For his ultimate, The Hood enters full demon state, transforming into “a fully realized Gun Demon” where he fires massive rounds that punch through enemies, shields, and gives bonus health to nearby teammates.
Fun fact: The Hood in Marvel Rivals is voiced by WWE wrestler and New York native Damian Priest. For more detailed info on the villain from the comics and other media, check out Marvel.com’s write-up about him.
Hero nerfs and buffs
VANGUARD
Devil Dinosaur (buff)
- Increased Maximum Health Percentage Damage dealt by the first four attacks of Frenzied Feast from 5 percent to 8 percent, and the fifth attack from 10 percent to 12 percent.
- When selecting the Team-Up with Jeff the Land Shark, increase Surf & Turf maximum duration from 4s to 5s, and the healing effect on allies from 40 to 60.
Doctor Strange (buff)
- Increased Daggers of Denak single-hit damage from 16 to 18 and projectile charges from 10 to 12.
- When selecting the Team-Up with Hulk, reduce Gamma Maelstrom cooldown from 8s to 6s.
Magneto (buff)
- When selecting the Team-Up with Scarlet Witch. Enhanced Effect: The Metallic Chaos projectile hit now adds a minor Launch Up effect to enemies.
Peni Parker (nerf)
- Removed the direct Immobilize effect upon hitting enemies with Cyber-Web Snare. New Effect: Now applies a stack of Web-Tracer and a 30 percent Slow effect for 1s. The Web-Tracer lasts for 5s. If an enemy with a Web-Tracer is hit by the snare again, they will be Immobilized for 0.7s.
- Adjusted Cyber-Web Snare to be a charge-based ability, with a maximum of 2 charges.
- Reduced Bonus Health cap provided to Peni by Cyber-Webs from 200 to 150.
Rogue (buff)
- Increased the damage reduction multiplier while in Defensive Stance from 55 percent to 60 percent.
- Increased Regenerative Shield capacity from 250 to 275.
Venom (nerf)
- Reduced the Bonus Health provided by Symbiotic Resilience from 120% of lost health to 110 percent.
- Increased Venom Swing cooldown from 8s to 10s.
DUELIST
Black Panther (nerf)
- When selecting the Team-Up with Storm, reduce the area damage to enemies from 40 to 30, and increase the cooldown from 12s to 15s.
Cyclops (buff)
- Increased cooldown reduction provided to Ricochet Force per Optic Blast hit from 0.15s to 0.25s.
- When selecting the Team-Up with Gambit, increase the Concussive Beam Attack Frequency boost from 10 percent to 15 percent.
Elsa Bloodstone (nerf)
- When selecting the Team-Up with Devil Dinosaur, reduce the health of an activated Smoky Snare trap from 100 to 50, and its Control duration from 1.5s to 1.2s.
Hela (nerf)
- When selecting the Team-Up with Namor, reduce Undead Monstro single-hit damage from 15 to 10.
Moon Knight (buff)
- Adjusted Crescent Dart and Moon Blade bounce damage decay from 30 percent to 20 percent per bounce.
- When selecting the Team-Up with Cloak & Dagger, reduce Luminous Moon cooldown from 15s to 12s.
- Base Effect: Increase dash duration from 0.3s to 0.35s and dash distance from 12m to 15m.
- Enhanced Effect: Moon Knight gains a 3s healing effect of 20 Health/s after leaving the Phased state.
Phoenix (buff)
- Increased the damage dealt when detonating Sparks from 35 to 40, and increase the area damage from 12 to 15.
- When selecting the Team-Up with Rogue, increase Telekinetic Beatdown damage dealt from 45 to 55.
Wolverine (buff)
- Berserker Rage Adjustment: Increase Rage gained per hit taken from 5 to 8. Adjust Rage decay timer from starting after 4s of no Rage gained to after 5s. At maximum Rage, reduce the decay rate from 15/s to 10/s.
Scarlet Witch (buff)
- When selecting the Team-Up with Doctor Strange:
- Base Effect: The ability has an 8s cooldown and 8s duration. When activated, Chthonian Burst is replaced with Mystic Burst, allowing magic missiles to be fired freely with no energy cost.
- Enhanced Effect: Becomes a toggle-type ability. When toggled on, Mystic Burst replaces Chthonian Burst, allowing magic missiles to be fired freely with no energy cost.
STRATEGIST
Gambit (buff)
- When selecting the Team-Up with Magneto, adjust the Launch Up Frequency of the spell field from 0.5s to 1s.
Jubilee (buff)
- Increased Energy Plasmoids single-hit damage from 10 to 11 and single-hit healing from 14 to 15.
Loki (buff)
- Increased Mystical Missile Projectile Speed from 100m/s to 120m/s.
White Fox (buff)
- Reduced the energy cost of Kumiho Unleashed (Ultimate Ability) from 4,800 to 4,300. After casting, automatically apply the Blessed by the Nine effect to all allies within a 10m radius for 3s.
New summer skins
A new wave of Swimsuit Special skins will arrive in the shop after the update, including outfits for Star-Lord, Winter Soldier, Scarlet Witch, Black Cat, Storm, and Magik, as seen above.
Storage optimization
Marvel Rivals’ file size is getting a re-work in the update, and in the new season, the devs are “implementing a massive texture compression overhaul” to shrink the game’s size on hard drives. PC players can expect a reduction of a whopping 40 GB, while PS5 and Xbox Series X|S will decrease by 15 GB.
This will also require a larger update download than usual, but once it’s downloaded, the game will be way smaller overall. Optimization for the game has been a huge pain point and big request for some time, so this is a big highlight of the new season.
This article is being written and updated in real time as info is revealed via NetEase Games.
