Marvel Rivals Season 2 is officially on the way, and the developers at NetEase are cooking up some Hellfire.
On April 11, Marvel Rivals Season 2: Hellfire Gala will begin, bringing with it dozens of chances to the game that the development team has been working on in the shadows. This includes new heroes, costumes, missions, rewards, and updates to core mechanics like Team-Ups.
Screenshot via NetEase Games
As part of Marvel Rivals Season 2, Emma Frost and Ultron will join the game as the 38th and 39th playable heroes. Emma will be released alongside Season 2 on April 11, while Ultron is set to bring destruction at some point in May.
Emma Frost is a Vanguard that can use versatile telepathic abilities alongside a diamond encrusted transformation to shield and fight alongside her team. She will be the second new tank added to the game, following The Thing from Season 1.5.
Ultron will join the fray in Seaosn 2.5 in May, though his full list of abilities has already leaked, alongside the fact he is a Strategist.
Additionally, the Marvel Rivals team is switching its initial release schedule for seasonal content. Instead of running seasons on a three month schedule, future seasons will run in a two-month format. This means, starting with Season 3, a new hero will be released every month.
For Season 2, Marvel Rivals will see players enter the Mutant safe-haven—the living island Krakoa.
New game modes are also in the works as the developers work on providing a variety of ways for players to enjoy controlling their favorite Marvel heroes and villains.
A new, major balance patch will go live for Marvel Rivals Season 2 at launch, meaning many heroes will be buffed or nerfect based on the developers’ view on current meta data and other factors.
Screenshot via NetEase Games
Marvel Rivals will also receive enhancements to its “network protocols” to improve game performance, though older replays from Season 0 and Season 1 won’t be supported in the new game client once the update goes live on April 11.
Marvel Rivals will hold true to its initial design plan, introducing new Team-Up abilities for heroes in the game while rotating existing Team-Ups out for an unknown period of time. This means new strategies between hero pairings will be unlocked, while others will become less useful.
Mental Projection allows Magneto and Psylocke to summon clones of themselves using Emma Frost’s power that function similar to Loki clones. Arcane Order gives Scarlet Witch a magical boost in the form of a new offensive spell that deals massive damage.
Stars Aligned looks like the most on-brand for Cap and Bucky, as it gives Winter Solider a new leap in ability that also has the ability to clash with Steve’s shield.
A new, Hellfire Gala-themed battle pass will be added to Marvel Rival when Season 2 launches, giving
For the most popular costumes in the game, Marvel Rivals will also be adding color options, giving players more ways to “personalize” their favorite heroes. Starting in Season 2 players can also gift costumes and other items from the store to friends.
Related Article: Marvel Rivals Pick-Up Bundle Guide: Price and All Rewards
NetEase is changing the mission structure for Season 2 too, adding weekly missions to pair with daily and challenge missions. This adjustment will not give players additional Chrono Tokens, but will streamline the process of earning them while balancing the distribution.
Not only does this set of updates for Marvel Rivals Season 2 set the game up for casual success, but it once again shows the developers are dedicated to making competitive action a diverse playground at every level.
The balance adjustments will provide changes to heroes that are heavily used and ignored on the roster depending on what rank you are at, while the Team-Ups fundamentally alter how hero pairings work. For example, Namor no longer having as much synergy with Luna will directly impact how often the two heroes are target banned in certain matchups.
That doesn’t even touch on things like a new map rotation removing Yggsgard – Royal Palace and Tokyo 2099 – Shin-Shibuya in place of Shin-Shibuya in ranked modes, or the game’s upcoming rank reset. This will all have a huge impact on the game and its esports scene.
