Marvel Rivals season 2 is approaching its midseason update next week, and today we got our first glimpse of some of the changes coming to the game. 

The Marvel Rivals Season 2.5 update is a much-needed refresh for Rivals, which has struggled with declining Steam player numbers all season (not the full picture, but currently down to about one-third of the average players compared with January) and a player base that’s grown increasingly frustrated with one another.

What’s the cure for all this? Adding one of the most-anticipated new heroes and also leaning full bore into the zaniness by letting Storm and Jeff the Landshark team up to create a Jeff-nado.

Here’s what we learned about the Marvel Rivals season 2.5 update from today’s developer vision video. 

Marvel Rivals season 2.5 start date

Season 2.5 kicks off next Friday, May 30, UTC. We don’t have an exact start time, but for these major season updates the game tends to go offline in the middle of the night ET/PT and come back online in the wee hours of the launch date. 

New hero: Ultron

Officially announced at the start of season 2, Ultron joining the roster as a strategist might have been the most well-known «secret» that Rivals has been hiding since launch. If you’d asked me last year which role Ultron was most likely to slot into, I would’ve guessed duelist or vanguard, but a free-flying strategist with unique healing mechanics is a welcome change of pace for the role. 

Ultron’s video preview shows us a strategist who can leap in the air to escape divers and who has an attack range to take on enemy fliers. This could make him a great counter-pick to certain enemy comps, but we’ll have to wait for his full kit details to know for sure.

I’d love to see more strategists with unique mechanics like Loki’s clones or Invisible Woman’s shields — as much as I enjoy the shoot-to-heal strategist gameplay, I think the game’s in a better place when there’s more variety in the roster. So I’m likewise glad to see that Ultron’s ultimate isn’t another variation of «big heals in a circle» like most strategists’ ultimates — instead Ultron shoots a series of rapid-fire beams that heal allies and damage enemies. 

It’s no Loki Doppelganger, but it’s something different.

New map: Arakko

As usual, the midseason update adds a new map alongside the new hero — this time, we’re getting Arakko, the former sister island of Krakoa (season 2.0’s new map), which has been mechanized by X-tron, the version of Ultron that was reborn through Krakoa’s resurrection chamber. The map appears to be a payload map — convoy or possibly convergence — with heroes escorting the objective toward a lore-relevant destination.

A bunch of new team-ups and balance changes

The Rivals midseason patch is surprisingly hefty according to the latest developer vision video. The game is adding six new teamups, including a new one between Iron Man and Ultron, as well as two new team-ups for Jeff — the aforementioned Jeff-nado, plus the ability to use Venom’s symbiote to shoot healing tendrils onto (into?!) allies. Luna Snow can also give Hawkeye a stunning ice arrow, Rocket and Peni power up each other’s deployable abilities, and Punisher gives Black Widow’s rifle a piercing upgrade. 

In exchange, season 2.5 will say goodbye to four previous team-ups, including the notorious Symbiote Bond wherein Venom players gave Spider-Man and Peni Parker an extra damage burst to help melt your backline. Also leaving are Luna Snow and Jeff’s ice combo, Hawkeye and Black Widow’s afterimage team-up and Ammo Overload for Rocket and Punisher. In addition, Iron Man will no longer benefit from a team-up with Hulk (though Namor still does).

Rivals devs also addressed the current metagame, framing it as a «rock-paper-scissors dynamic» among mobile dive compositions (Cap, Iron Fist, Human Torch), wall-and-brawl comps (Groot paired with other mid-to-close-range heroes like Thing, Winter Soldier and Mister Fantastic) and triple-strategist compositions. It doesn’t feel like the fairest analogy, as the devs pointed to both of the latter comps as countering the high mobility comps, rather than being a true (theoretical) rock-paper-scissors where each composition is strong against one alternative and weak to another. 

Still, the developers are shaking things up in season 2.5 with balance changes, and the result is that Strange and Magneto are getting buffed while Groot, Cap and Emma Frost get hit with nerfs. Mobility-focused duelists Iron Fist, Human Torch and Psylocke are getting nerfs while Punisher, Storm and Squirrel Girl will receive «modest» buffs. The only strategist mentioned in the dev vision video’s upcoming balance tweaks was Luna Snow, whose ult charge gets another nerf, offset by a «mild boost» to her other abilities. 

I’m a little worried about some of these changes on paper. Targeting overperforming heroes is fine, but buffs to heroes like Punisher and Squirrel girl feel risky. I’m not a fan of buffing «noobstomper» heroes into relevance, but I’ll wait until I see the details and how things feel in the game before I actually panic. It’s also a bit perplexing that Rivals devs seem focused on increasing ult charge requirements for Luna Snow instead of just making it last less than an eternity. 

Other changes: New tactics mode, emoji

Perhaps the biggest surprise in the season 2.5 announcement was the addition of a new experimental mode called Ultron’s Battle Matrix Protocol. It’s an autobattler that lets you choose a team of six heroes, enhance their abilities, and unleash them against opposing teams. I have zero experience with autobattlers like Teamfight Tactics of Hearthstone Battlegrounds, but it was as fun watching a massive Venom looming over the battlefield as it was seeing a Namor with six (I counted) active turrets. 

The game is also introducing emoji, finally allowing you to nonverbally express your disdain for the teammates begging for healing while Spider-Man and Iron Fist treat you like a punching bag.