Marvel Rivals Midseason Starts Next Week: Start Time, New Heroes and More

Marvel Rivals, the new hero shooter based on Marvel comics characters, is almost halfway through its first full season. The free-to-play game launched season 0 on Dec. 6 and quickly reached 20 million players before starting its first full season in early January. 

Next week's midseason update will bring two new heroes, one new map and (thank Odin) will not feature a rank reset as originally announced. 

Marvel Rivals season 1 second half start time

The second half of season 1 will start on Friday, Feb. 21, although the precise start time has yet to be announced. Season 1 began at 1 a.m. PT.

Read more: Marvel Rivals: How to Choose Which Heroes and Roles to Play

New Marvel Rivals heroes and maps

Season 1 brings the Fantastic Four -- Invisible Woman, Mr. Fantastic, Human Torch and The Thing -- to Marvel Rivals. They're a fitting addition to the game, given its premise that two Doctor Dooms from different timelines are warring for control. (It also helps build hype for the new Fantastic Four movie, First Steps, coming this July.) 

We've already gotten Invisible Woman in the strategist role and Mr. Fantastic as a duelist. The midseason patch will add The Thing as a vanguard and Johnny Storm as yet another duelist.

A new map, Central Park, will be added in the midseason patch. So far in season 1, we've gotten one new convoy map, Midtown, where players escort the Fantastic Four's robotic ally H.E.R.B.I.E. to Avengers tower. We also got an all-new arcade game mode, Doom Match, which takes place in Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum. 

Prepare for some portal pandemonium in the Sanctum Sanctorum's arcade mode.

Marvel

The devs said this is twice what they have planned for future seasons, so it's probably safe to expect one new hero at the start of future seasons and another about six weeks later, with one or two new maps per season. That would mean eight new heroes per year, and four to eight new maps. That's an impressive amount of content for a live-service game.

There have been many other Marvel Rivals leaks recently, including hero models or abilities for characters like Ultron, Emma Frost and Jean Grey. These all have yet to be confirmed and won't show up in season 1, but they do suggest a healthy content roadmap for the game, essential for keeping players engaged over the year. 

Battle pass

Marvel/Screenshot by CNET

The season 1 pass features 10 new costumes, styled around the season's Eternal Night theme. The battle pass costs 990 lattice (about $10 worth of in-game currency). You can earn 600 lattice and 600 units (collectively, about $12 worth of in-game currency) if you complete the battle pass. 

Balance changes

So far, no balance changes have been announced for the midseason patch. Hawkeye and Hela received nerfs to start season 1, and Jeff's ultimate was also adjusted. Captain America, Cloak and Dagger, Storm, Venom and Wolverine, among others received buffs to their kits. 

The start of the season was accompanied by full patch notes detailing the changes, and the stats on the Rivals website were similarly updated with new balance numbers. The Rivals site will also update pick and win rate stats at midseason.

No midseason rank reset

"When the second half of the season begins, there will be no rank reset," Rivals devs confirmed in a blog post. This was a swift 180 from the initial announcement just a day earlier that they intended to drop everyone's ranks by four divisions, just six weeks after everyone's ranks dropped seven divisions at the start of the new season. 

The announcement was unpopular with players, who felt that resets every six to seven weeks added a level of futility to the ranked climb. Going forward, ranks will be reset six divisions at the start of a new season (approximately every 13 weeks). 

For more on Marvel Rivals, check out my tips for getting started and my guide to choosing which heroes and roles to play.