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Marvel Rivals Guide

Marvel Rivals Balance Changes (Season 2.5 - Patch Notes)

News

Updated on Jun 10, 2025

Jun 10, 2025

Overview

Season 2.5 of Marvel Rivals launched on May 30th, and we've got you covered with all the balance changes from the latest patch notes.

The TLDR is that Jeff-Nado is unbelievably overpowered, the flier meta is back, Thor's rework feels like a huge nerf, and Ultron has many teams running triple Strategist again.

It's a huge shake-up to the current meta.

Quick Summary of balance changes:

Buffed	Stange, Magneto, Hawkeye, Hela, Namor, Squirrel Girl, Star-Lord, Storm, The Punisher, Luna Snow
Adjusted	Thor, Black Widow, Jeff the Land Shark, Rocket Raccoon
Nerfed	Captain America, Groot, Emma Frost, Psylocke, Iron Man, Human Torch, Iron Fist

How the Meta is Changing

With the addition of Ultron, we're seeing a new era of flyer comps. Many heroes can't even interact with fliers, so previously meta Vanguards like The Thing have taken a hard fall.

Overall, Dive comps are much weaker in Season 2.5 compared to Season 2, but are certainly not unplayable. Staples of dive comps like Black Panther and Magik are struggling because they have very few counterplay options against Triple Strategist and Flyer comps.

Poke Comps are the most dominant strategies for Season 2.5, because heroes like Hela, Hawkeye, The Punisher, Strange, and Magneto all received buffs. Additionally, poke comps are a natural counter to flying comps.

Due to the power and difficulty of countering it, Jeff-Nado has become the foundation of the meta-comp this season. The duration, Jeff Swallow, and damage of the combined ults have made Iron Man a counter-meta pick. His Invincible Pulse Cannon is the only reliable method of shutting down the Jeff-Nado.

Captain America was hit very hard with nerfs and has far less self-sustain. For Cap mains, playing around the increased downtime of his shield has proven very difficult.

Thor's rework has been received as a net nerf. Although his Awakened Form uptime has increased, his previous dive-frontline playstyle is pretty much impossible to utilize now. His function in a team is now very limited.

Competitive Mode Changes

For ranked play in Competitive mode, there are now map pool rotations. This season, Yggsgard: Royal Palace and Tokyo 2099: Shin-Shibuya are leaving the pool.

Emma Frost's map, Hellfire Gala: Krakoa, and Ultron's Hellfire Gala: Arakko both enter the rotation.

Rank Resets and Season Lengths

The devs have settled on rank resets only occurring at the start of a season, and no longer reset at the mid-season update.

The start of each season will rank reset of a 9 divisions demotion (if you ended Season 2.5 at Diamond I, your Season 3 journey begins at Silver I).

Going forward, a full season will also only last for 2 months each. That means every month we'll have a major update and a new hero added!

Bans have also been added to Gold and Platinum ranks, meaning you no longer have to rank all the way up to Diamond to get your most loathed enemy heroes out of your games!

Buffed Heroes

Doctor Strange

-Adjust the damage falloff of Daggers of Denak from starting at 10m and reducing to 62.5% at 20m to starting at 10m and reducing to 80% at 20m.

-Remove the range damage falloff of Maelstrom of Madness.

Magneto

-Increase the charging speed of rings from 4s/stack to 3s/stack.

-(nerf) Reduce the proportion of damage caused by Magnetic Resonance and Soul Resurgence illusions from 30% to 20%.

Hawkeye

-Increase the base damage of his arrow from 32 to 34.
-increase the projectile damage of Blast Arrow from 15 to 16; Increase the spell field damage from 32 to 34.
-Increase the maximum focus from 70 to 75. Increase the charging speed when aiming at an enemy from 100/s to 108/s and charge falloff speed from 30/s to 32/s.

-The Team-Up Anchor effect for Hawkeye has been removed, along with the Allied Agents Team-Up Ability.

-Hawkeye unlocks a new Ice Arrow ability through his Team-Up with Luna Snow.

Hela

-Increase the charge capacity of the Nightsword Thorn from 8 to 10.

Namor

-Increase the Cooldown of Blessing of the Deep from 15s to 20s.
-Expand Horn of Proteus (Ultimate Ability) inner circle radius from 3m to 3.5m and outer circle radius from 8m to 9m. Decrease the outer circle radius hit damage from 200 to 180.
-Adjust Monstro Spawn Damage Falloff from starting at 20m, reducing to 30% at 40m, to starting at 20m, reducing to 50% at 40m.

-(nerf) Increase Gamma Monstro cooldown from 15s to 20s.

Squirrel Girl

-Increase the capacity of Burst Acorn from 10 to 12.
-Decrease the cooldown of Mammal Bond from 12s to 10s.
-Optimize the user experience of Squirrel Blockade, Tail Bounce, and Unbeatable Squirrel Tsunami (Ultimate Ability).

Star-Lord

-(nerf) Increase the energy cost of Galactic Legend (Ultimate Ability) from 3100 to 3400.

-Extend the maximum target range from 30m to 40m. Adjust the damage falloff from reducing to 60% at 40m to reducing to 75% at 40m.

Storm

-Increase damage of Omega Hurricane (Ultimate Ability) from 150/s to 160/s.

-Storm gains the Shark Surge ability through her Team-Up with Jeff the Land Shark.

The Punisher

-Reduce the movement slow rate of Final Judgement (Ultimate Ability) from 20% to 10% when not firing, and from 40% to 30% when firing.
-Increase Adjudication's magazine size from 30 to 40, single hit damage from 18 to 19, and slightly reduce spread when firing.

-As the Team-Up Anchor, The Punisher gains a maximum health increase of 25 and a 5% boost in damage output.

-(nerf) The Punisher loses the Infinite Punishment ability he once had through his Team-Up with Rocket Raccoon.

Luna Snow

-Increase Light & Dark Ice Healing Amount and Damage from 20 per round to 22.

-Add a new effect to Absolute Zero: Now grants 50 Bonus Health per enemy hit.

-Increase the energy cost of Fate of Both Worlds (Ultimate Ability) from 4500 to 5000.

Hawkeye

Hela

Dr. Strange

Magneto

Namor

Squirrel Girl

Star-Lord

Storm

The Punisher

Luna Snow

Adjusted Heroes

Thor

-Adjust Hammer Throw ability effect to a standard ability. Remove the Thorforce cost and the universal cooldown. Adjust the ability cooldown to 6s. Thor gains 1 Thorforce from each Hammer Throw enemy hit. Decrease the throw hit damage from 70 to 45, and the return damage from 30 to 20.
-Decrease the shield value gained when consuming Thorforce. Adjust the Bonus Health gained from each Thorforce consumed from 100 to 75 and adjust the maximum Bonus Health from 200 to 150.

Black Widow

-Black Widow loses the Supersensory Hunt ability she once had through her Team-Up with Hawkeye.

-Black Widow unlocks a new Pulse Rifle ability through her Team-Up with The Punisher.

Jeff the Land Shark

-Add a new effect to Joyful Splash: Now also deals damage to enemies at 70/s and can heal allies through other allies and enemies. Damage falloff starts at 20m to a maximum of 65% at 40m; Reduce healing per second from 150 to 130.
-Change Aqua Burst to a charge ability (max 3 charges, 3s per charge); New effect: direct hits now launch enemies up; Increase spell field damage from 40 to 45.
-Change the effect of Healing Bubble from One-Time Healing to Healing Over Time. Increase Healing Amount from the previous instant 85 to 120 over 4s. Reduce max charges from 6 to 3 and remove the enemy launch-up effect.
-Add a new effect to Hide and Seek: It now has an energy cap (max 120) that drains by 20/s while submerged and restores 15/s when not.
-It's Jeff!'s (Ultimate Ability) overflow healing on swallowed allies now grants 45 Health per second as Bonus Health, up to 150.
-Increase the damage reduction received when taking a critical hit from 50% to 70%.
-Increase the energy cost of It’s Jeff (Ultimate Ability) from 4000 to 4500.

Rocket Raccoon

-Reduce Repair Mode direct hit Healing Amount from 55 to 50.

-New Team-Up Ability with Peni Parker: Web Server

-Rocket's B.R.B. is upgraded to a Web Beacon.

-Peni Parker unlocks a new Armored Spider-Nest ability through her Team-Up with Rocket Raccoon.

-Loses the Team-Up Ability: Ammo Overload

Thor

Black Widow

Jeff

Rocket

Nerfed Heroes

Captain America

-Adjust base health from 600 to 575.
-Increase the delay of shield recovery from 2s to 4s after unleashing Living Legend.
-Increase the energy cost of Freedom Charge (Ultimate Ability) from 2800 to 3100.

Emma Frost

-Increase the range of Telepathic Pulse from 15.5m to 18m.
-Decrease the shield value of Mind's Aegis from 500 to 400.
-Increase the cooldown of Carbon Crush from 5s to 6s.
-Decrease the hit damage of Crystal Kick from 50 to 40, and decrease the extra damage dealt when propelling the enemies into the wall from 100 to 90.

Groot

-Decrease the damage of Vine Strike per hit from 70 to 65.
-Increase Ironwood Wall's cooldown from 8s to 12s.

Psylocke

-Decrease the retrieval damage of Wing Shurikens from 14 to 12 per hit.
-Decrease the Invisibility Duration of Psychic Stealth from 3s to 2s.

-Reduce the proportion of damage caused by Magnetic Resonance and Soul Resurgence illusions from 30% to 20%.

Iron Man

-Decrease the projectile damage of the third Repulsor Blast from 50 to 45, and decrease the Spell Field Damage from 60 to 55.
-Reduce Armor Overdrive maximum Bonus Health from 100 to 50.

-Remove Iron Man's Gamma Overdrive from the Gamma Charge Team-Up

-(buff) Gain a new Team-Up Anchor effect from the Stark Protocol Team-Up. 5% damage boost

Human Torch

-Reduce the damage of Fire Cluster from 7 per hit to 6 per hit.
-Increase the charge speed of Blazing Blast from 2s to 3s.
-Decrease the shield value gained from Flaming Meteor from 75 to 50 and increase the cooldown from 15s to 20s.

-Increase cooldown of Storm Siblings, Wedded Harmony, and Cooperative Comrades from 20s to 25s.

Iron Fist

-Lower the Dragon's Defense damage blocked Bonus Health conversion rate from 1.5 to 1.3. Decrease the maximum Bonus Health converted from damage blocked from 200 to 175. Slightly decrease the dash distance of Yat Jee Chung Kuen in the z-axis direction when there is no target.
-Reduce Dragon's Defense cooldown reduction from Jeet Kune Do hits from 1.5s to 1s.

-5% universal damage nerf to his Team-Up Anchor bonus