gaming

Marvel Rivals season 9.5 launches with Vanguard balance changes; The Hood arrives Aug 7

Season 9.5 for Marvel Rivals launched today and introduces balance adjustments across multiple Vanguard characters, plus a new villain, The Hood, coming on August 7. Several Vanguards received buffs to abilities and Team-Up interactions while Venom and Peni Parker were nerfed to reduce oppressive play patterns. The changes reshape team compositions and counterplay by softening high-risk/high-reward dive and control strategies and boosting some survivability and Team-Up utility.

• Season 9.5 is live now; The Hood (Parker Robbins) will be added to the roster on August 7.
• Devil Dinosaur received a minor Frenzied Feast buff and his Team-Up with Jeff now lasts longer and heals allies more.
• Doctor Strange’s Daggers of Denak now deal more single-hit damage and his Gamma Maelstrom (Hulk Team-Up) cooldown was reduced; Magneto’s Metallic Chaos (Scarlet Witch Team-Up) now applies a minor launch-up; Rogue’s Defensive Stance damage reduction multiplier and Regen Shield capacity were increased.
• Venom had his bonus health reduced and swing cooldown increased to discourage backline diving; Peni Parker’s Cyber-Web Snare Immobilize was made less frequent by increasing its cost, slightly weakening her control and survivability while increasing freedom of her secondary fire.