NetEase has revealed everything coming with Marvel Rivals Season 5: Love is a Battlefield, which will go live on November 14th, 2025.
The new season brings a wave of changes that will affect both casual and professional play, including new heroes, balance changes, and more.
New Hero: Gambit
Gambit will arrive in the first half of Season 5 as the game’s latest Strategist, a role that hasn’t seen a new addition since Ultron in Season 2.5.
The X-Men hero boasts an aggressive playstyle that allows players to alternate between two sets of cards. ‘Hearts’ is his support stance, which focuses on healing allies and cleansing status effects, while ‘Spades’ is his offensive stance, which applies damage and anti-heal on enemies.
His kit is also equipped with decent mobility with a dash, and can hold his own in a fight with his staff, allowing players to slam the ground or perform a multi-hit spinning strike.
His ultimate ability empowers nearby allies, adding an explosive effect to projectiles while also boosting their jump height.
Balance Changes Coming in Season 5
Season 5 brings some of the most drastic changes to Marvel Rivals meta so far, including another shake-up to the library of Team-Ups in the game.
These are all the Team-Up additions, removals and changes coming to Marvel Rivals:
- New Team Up:
- Explosive Entanglement (Anchor: Gambit – Magneto): Magneto’s primary fire is temporarily replaced with metallic swords, which causes a delayed secondary explosion on impact.
- Sword of Duality (Anchor: Cloak & Dagger – Hawkeye): Hawkeye’s Crescent Slash launches a projectile that buffs and heals allies, while damaging enemies and applying anti-heal.
- Blade of Khonshu (Anchor: Moon Knight – Blade): Blade dashes forward and slices enemies, unleashing rapid sword strikes that launch Moonblades to nearby enemies.
- Retired Team-Ups:
- Lunar Force (Anchor: Cloak & Dagger – Blade and Moon Knight): Blade and Moon Knight create a personal dome that makes them invisible and applies healing.
- Operation Microchip (Anchor: Punisher – Black Widow): Black Widow’s primary fire pierces through enemies for a short amount of time.
- Team Up Changes:
- Hawkeye is removed from Chilling Assault (Anchor: Luna Snow – Iron Fist), losing the ability to fire a freezing arrow that pierces through walls.
- Black Widow is added to Primal Flame (Anchor: Phoenix – Wolverine), gaining the ability to switch to explosive projectiles that heal allies and damage enemies, but cannot land critical hits.
The Dev Vision Volume 11 vlog also shared insights into upcoming balance changes in Season 5.
It promises buffs to Vanguards such as The Thing, Hulk, Captain America and Peni Parker, to give the role ‘a boost in team utility’ according to ‘Zhiyong’, Lead Combat Designer for Marvel Rivals. For example, Captain America’s ultimate ability will also charge ally ultimates faster, and teammates will receive healing while standing on a Peni Parker web.
Other buffs have also been promised for Duellists, improving Wolverine’s capabilities against Vanguards and making Spider-Man’s combos ‘feel smoother and more consistent.’ Some Strategists will also be buffed starting November 14th, including Cloak & Dagger and Loki.
How this Could affect Esports
The Marvel Rivals Ignite Grand Finals in DreamHack Atlanta concluded NetEase’s first competitive season for the game. No updates have been shared on plans for the esports scene, though some teams have shared a commitment to the game, hinting at a potential second season.
Changes coming to Season 5 will impact events such as the seasonal Championships, an open bracket tournament where factions and professional organisations can compete. Additionally, future creator events similar to the Courage Clash may also take place during the next season.
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