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Marvel Rivals has finally unleashed its first trailer and look at its upcoming Season 2 which will unleash the popular Hellfire Gala theme in the game. The trailer promised the arrival of mutants on the land of Krakoa to celebrate their win over Dracula.
However, an unexpected threat, Ultron has crashed the party and heroes are back on duty to defend their safe haven and save their celebrations with new team-ups, new maps and some new heroes to battle this threat. Before you jump into the upcoming Marvel Rivals season, here are the early patch notes that reveal all you need to know.
Marvel Rivals Season 2 release date and time
Marvel Rivals Season 2 will release on April 11, 2025 at midnight UTC globally and servers are expected to go offline a few hours after the update is out.
Check out our coverage on Marvel Rivals server status where we’ll have all the downtime details mentioned.
Marvel Rivals Season 2 early patch notes
Emma Frost arrives as a Vanguard and Ultron soon to be released
After months of speculation and leaks, Emma Frost is finally confirmed to arrive as a Vanguard hero in Marvel Rivals. She’ll bring her powerful might to the game with her telepathic abilities and hard rock Diamond transformation which can easily damage enemies massively and disrupt the opposing team’s strategy.
Check out all her leaked abilities arriving in the game once she’s available to play as soon as Season 2 is released. Furthermore, Ultron will also be arriving as a playable hero, but in Season 2.5 which hits the game in May 2025.
Hellfire Gala themed Battle Pass
The heroes are also getting a makeover ahead of the gala as the new Season 2 Hellfire Gala Luxury Pass will bring in fashionable skins for these heroes: Captain America, Bruce Banner, Black Widow, Black Panther, Luna Snow, Cloak and Dagger, Wolverine, Psylocke, and Magik.
Furthermore skins for Ultron and Emma Frost will be sold separately to match with the fashionable Hellfire Gala theme that the new season is bringing to the game.
New Krakoa map
Marvel Rivals Season 2 will change the map rotation significantly as a new Domination mode map, Hellfire Gala: Krakoa is arriving to the game. This map will be themed after the iconic location where X-Men were seen enjoying the Gala in the trailer.
While this map is active, existing Domination maps will be rolled out of the mix for competitive playlists as NetEase plans to add one more map, possibly Arakko in Season 2.5 when Ultron arrives to the game.
Costume Colors and Gifting feature
Starting when Season 2 launches on April 11th, an initial selection of some of the more popular skins will receive new color options to allow for further customization and player individuality. More details to come soon as the season approaches.
Furthermore, players will finally be able to gift costumes and other in-game store items to their friends.
New Team-Up abilities and changes
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As mentioned earlier by NetEase devs, Team-Up abilities will receive a huge overhaul in Season 2 as new Marvel Rivals heroes are being added. The new abilities will include the following:
- Stars Aligned – Winter Soldier can pounce toward allies for a quick reposition that sends out a large shockwave, damaging nearby enemies. He can also clash with a friendly Captain America, causing greater damage and a debuff to nearby enemies.
- Arcane Order – Scarlet Witch can tap into Doctor Strange’s magic to transform her Chthonian Burst into a rapid-fire, long-range projectile that’s independent from her chaos energy meter.
- Mental Projection – Psylocke and Magneto can summon an incorporeal clone of themselves through Emma Frost’s powers for either an offensive boost or a tricky distraction.
Moreover, some existing Team-Up abilities are also receiving big changes. They are:
- Metallic Chaos and Voltaic Union retired
- Psylocke removed from Dimensional Shortcut
- Winter Soldier removed from Ammo Overload
- Namor removed from Chilling Charisma; added to Gamma Charge
- Dr. Strange removed from Gamma Charge
Competitive updates and rank resets
Here are all the changes coming to Competitive mode in Marvel Rivals Season 2:
- Pick/Ban heroes now starts at Gold 3
- Eternity+ players barred from queuing competitive in teams larger than 2 people; duo and solo queue only
- Points earned/lost now more closely reflect individual performance
- Minimum level raised to 15
Coming to Rank Reset, all players will drop 9 competitive divisions when Season 2 starts on April 11th. That means if you’re in Diamond 1, you’ll find yourself in Silver 1.
Season 2 Nerfs and Buffs
While there are going to be some new additions, the Marvel Rivals hero meta will undergo drastic changes with some heroes being buffed and some nerfed to balance the gameplay. Here’s a list of all the buffed, nerfed and changed heroes in Season 2:
- Buffed – Peni Parker, Scarlet Witch, Mister Fantastic, Black Widow, Rocket Raccoon, Jeff the Land Shark, Captain America, Winter Soldier, Moon Knight
- Nerfed – Loki, Adam Warlock
- Changed – Doctor Strange (offense nerf, defense buff)
Miscellaneous Updates
- Starting when Season 2 launches on April 11th, Marvel Rivals will introduce weekly missions in addition to the existing daily missions and challenges. The total amount of Chrono Tokens on offer will remain unchanged.
- Some of the networking upgrades implemented at launch have broken compatibility with replay data from Seasons 0 and 1. Please make sure to save all of your favorite replays so you don’t lose anything!
- Histogram showcasing the current rank distribution of the player base, notably excluding players not actively participating in competitive play revealed most players in Season 1.5 were in Gold rank.
Marvel Rivals
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Platform(s):
macOS, PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X -
Genre(s):
Fighting, Shooter