Marvel Rivals Season 1 Part 2 - Release Date. New Heroes, and Competitive Changes
We have an official start time for Marvel Rivals Season 1’s second part, which means new heroes and balance changes are on the way that will change the game forever.
Marvel Rivals Season 1: Eternal Night Falls began on Jan. 10, with the developers splitting the season into two distinct parts centered around the Fantastic Four and other new content. Now, we have a start date for Part 2, along with details on what else is coming to the game.
Marvel Rivals Season 1 Part 2: Start and End Time
Like many players predicted, Marvel Rivals Season 1 Part 2 will begin on Feb. 21 at around 2 am CT, depending on downtime, with all of its new content added at once. Based on the Darkhold Battle Pass, the overall season should end on either April 10 or 11.
This will be the launch of the second half of Season 1, with new content like more heroes, skins, and balance changes being added to the game. There are also a handful of important updates being made tot he game’s ranked mode.
This will not bring a new battle pass or other things that only release at the start of an entirely new season. Instead, this will function as a half-season update with changes to impact gameplay and a few other pieces of new content—with more to come.
Marvel Rivals Season 1 Part 2: New Heroes
Both Human Torch and The Thing are releasing on Feb. 21, completing the first season’s hero drops by bringing the Fantastic Four together for the game’s roster.
As the Marvel Rivals devs have said, Season 1 is double the size of a normal season. Future seasons will not include four heroes or as many supplemental pieces of content, such as maps or game modes, unless the team says otherwise.
“During our brainstorming sessions, we unanimously agreed that bringing [the Fantastic Four] into Marvel Rivals in one Giant-Size season was the way to go,” Marvel Rivals creative director Guangguang said. “This two-in-one season features double the playable content of a regular season and will bring our total playable character count to 37 at the end of Season 1.”
Moving forward, the normal update slate will be two new heroes per season, one per each part since seasons will still be split into two parts running over a three month period.
Marvel Rivals Season 1 Part 2: Balance Adjustments
No news on what content will be changed specifically in the Season 1 Part 2 patch, but the developers have said the update will feature “major balance adjustment.”
We did receive a minor patch on Feb. 6 to fix some ongoing bugs and weird interactions, though we have not received a major balance adjustment since Season 1 started on Jan. 10. The Season 1 Part 2 patch should bring changes to more than a dozen heroes with commentary from the developers explaining why each change was made.
Marvel Rivals Season 1 Part 2: Competitive Changes
Another big thing the Marvel Rivals team has confirmed for Season 1 Part 2 is multiple changes to how Ranked mode will work, specifically regarding rewards and ranked resets throughout a season.
When Season 1 Part 1 concludes on Feb. 21 at around 2am CT, ranks for that portion of the season will be locked. That means the following:
- Players who reached Gold Rank or above will received the Invisible Woman: Blood Shield costume reward.
- Players who reached Grandmaster rank or above will receive a Crest of Honor.
Starting in the second half of Season 1, the developers are shaking things up. Players will now need to play a minimum of 10 competitive matches to be eligible for any rewards but those rewards are also changing slightly.
Based on the announcement, Marvel Rivals should have a new ranked reward costume every half-season for players who reach at least Gold rank. Additionally, players who reach Grandmaster, Celestial, Eternity, or One Above All ranks will receive Crests of Honor with unique designs based on the rank moving forward.
As for seasonal rank resets, they do apply to half seasons. Starting with Season 1 Part 2, here is how the Marvel Rivals team plans to handle rank resets:
- At the start of a new Season, players will see a drop of six divisions from where they finished in the previous season. This is down from the seven-division drop that occurred between Season 0 and Season 1.
- Players will only drop four divisions at the start of each season’s second half. ”For example, if you ended the first half of Season 1 at Diamond I, you'll start the second half at Platinum II.”
Related Article: Marvel Rivals - All Leaked Upcoming Heroes in Season 1
Marvel Rivals Season 1 Part 2: Esports Impact
Every new Marvel Rivals update will have some form of impact on the competitive scene thanks to it usually bringing at least a few small changes to the game. Season 1 Part 2 will shake up the meta by releasing two new heroes and a major balance patch.
The Thing will be the first new Vanguard added to the game since launch, giving tank players more options when other top picks like Doctor Strange or Magneto are either banned or not the right hero for the job. Likewise, Human Torch will let players control parts of the map and stun enemies with his flames as a Duelist, at least according to his leaked abilities.
We will need more info on the Season 1 Part 2 balance adjustments before making any other predictions, however.
