NetEase Video games rolled out its Season 1 mid-season replace for Marvel Rivals final week, and with it has come a reign of terror from the hero shooter’s rising listing of flying heroes.
Followers of the favored aggressive multiplayer sport hopped in to take a look at the replace after it went reside Friday, February 21. It got here with headlines reminiscent of new characters The Factor and Human Torch, alongside a brand new Central Park map, a military of steadiness tweaks, and extra to maintain followers of the Marvel spinoff sport entertained whereas work on Season 2 continues. Players have discovered loads to like up to now, however for each change the group welcomes, there’s one factor hogging the entire consideration: the sky.
Marvel Rivals matches for gamers of all talent ranges have been plagued with flying heroes, particularly the likes of Iron Man, Storm, and Human Torch, because the replace went reside a couple of days in the past. Characters beforehand seen as minor aerial annoyances have graduated into all-around menaces thanks to some new key parts. The emergence of a legion of aerial hero specialists is much from sufficient to interrupt the expertise, however it has seen gamers diverting their consideration from aims as they work to cope with this new development.
There’s one apparent offender behind the group’s newfound worry of flying heroes: Human Torch. As with every main content material drop, new heroes are going to draw consideration from these seeking to check out new content material for themselves. Marvel Rivals’ mid-season replace provides a whopping two new heroes into the combination, so it’s no shock to see one in every of every on both group in each informal and aggressive modes. Within the case of Improbable 4’s Johnny Storm, which means virtually all the time having to fret about one pleasant and one enemy Human Torch for each match. It is lots by itself, however Marvel Rivals has greater than only one hothead to fret about.
Final week’s replace additionally introduced buffs to the already fashionable Iron Man and his Unibeam capacity. These are nothing to scoff at, as NetEase moved to extend its injury from 120/s to 140/s, whereas additionally pumping up its Armor Overdrive injury by 10/s. Iron Man lives within the air no matter map alternative, and with buffs engaging gamers to hop into matches as Tony Stark extra usually, it’s leaving these on the bottom with no alternative however to counter-pick or begin praying.
Storm, in the meantime, was hit with a number of small nerfs to her equipment however stays a secret weapon for gamers with the talent to successfully use her in battle. She’s been slowly crawling her manner up Marvel Rivals’ Hero Sizzling Record following steadiness tweaks earlier in Season 1, which means gamers are nonetheless being pulled in by the X-Males hero’s weather-based skills.
Marvel Rivals Tier Record: Greatest Heroes
Marvel Rivals Tier Record: Greatest Heroes
In idea, your common 12v12 Marvel Rivals sport may have all three of those heroes pop up on each groups, giving gamers six flying characters to be careful for. Toss in these with flying skills like Scarlet Witch and Physician Unusual in addition to excessive mobility names like Spider-Man and matches can rapidly turn out to be a nightmare for anybody unable to land their pictures. It is making for an particularly brutal time for melee heroes like Wolverine as they do their finest to seek out alternatives to sneak in a couple of swings. Those that favor Marvel Rivals’ Strategist help position are working into their very own points as they purpose at their teammates in want of therapeutic.
As NetEase continues to roll out extra updates and playable heroes from throughout Marvel canon, the steadiness between the land and sky will certainly shift. Nonetheless, gamers are in search of new methods to fight their worry of flying characters, together with selecting hit-scan heroes like Punisher and Hela. One other factor protecting followers grounded throughout these making an attempt occasions are copious quantities of memes about their struggles.
A group of melee heroes preventing off a horde of flying heroes pic.twitter.com/X9xo8rIhjy
— Lucas Evan Fryman (@LucasFryman) February 22, 2025
— MarvelPlays (@PlaysMarvel) February 22, 2025
Why is nobody speaking abt how exhausting it’s as a help to heal them
esp with sue… perhaps we buff her vary quickly
— Su
(@marieannfred1) February 22, 2025
Marvel Rivals launched in December and instantely grew to become an enormous hit for Marvel and NetEase. Final week, we realized about why its success virtually by no means got here to be. We additionally spoke with the indie developer behind a home made Physician Octopus idea that was adequate to win over hundreds of followers. For extra on Marvel Rivals, you possibly can learn up on current NetEase layoffs that impacted members of its Seattle group.
Michael Cripe is a contract contributor with IGN. He is finest identified for his work at websites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Make sure you give him a comply with on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).