Technologies

Marvel Rivals Season 4 Release Time: Angela Abilities and Balance Changes

Thor’s sister Angela joins the roster next season, while overperforming strategists Luna Snow and Loki get nerfs.

Marvel Rivals season 4 is about to begin, bringing a one-winged angel of vengeance to the free-to-play game’s roster of playable heroes. No, we’re not talking about Sephiroth: The next vanguard is Angela, the former Image Comics angelic bounty hunter and current Marvel Comics Asgardian goddess.

While the radiant new tank is the centerpiece of the season 4 update, a new map, hero balance changes, cosmetics and live events will also shake up how the game plays over the next two months.

If you’ve been following the character leaks, you might be bummed out that a certain horned Defender isn’t making his appearance quite yet. Rest assured that the melee fighter Daredevil has been revealed as the next playable character for Marvel Rivals season 4.5, though it’s unclear what his role or abilities will be.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

When does season 4 start?

Marvel Rivals season 4 starts on Friday, Sept. 12. Expect servers to go down for a couple hours around midnight PT before being turned back on in the early morning. When the servers come back online, you can download and play the newest seasonal content.

Angela’s abilities in Marvel Rivals

Angela joins the roster as another vanguard — the first new tank since Emma Frost was added to the game in season 2. The Asgardian angel is the first flying tank, which means the pressure is no longer on Doctor Strange to use his levitation spell to take the fight to the skies. Angela has a strong mix of tools that let her deal damage, block enemy attacks and displace opponents who have wandered too far from their team as a mobile but close-range attacker.

The new tank quickly rotates her arsenal depending on the situation at hand. On the ground, she wields powerful dual axes that hack and slash chunks of enemy health bars away.

When Angela takes to the skies with her third ability, however, she uses a lance that does powerful burst damage — enemies that are struck by this weapon are skewered, and Angela can carry them a short distance before they’re released.

Angela can also summon a 250-health point shield that protects her from attacks — it reminds me of Captain America’s personal shield rather than Doctor Strange’s team-protecting arcane ward.

Once players have dealt enough damage to the enemy team, they can unleash Angela’s ultimate ability. The Hand of Heven throws down a battle banner, damaging enemies and binding them to a single location. The banner can be destroyed, but it won’t be easy to do once Angela swings her blades at her trapped opponents. This ability is a strong crowd control tool, and is fairly reminiscent of Groot’s ultimate, though it seems to be usable from the air, which will grant it more impressive range.

It’s not immediately clear to me if Angela will fit into brawl team compositions, where players smash into one another on the frontline, or dive team compositions, where players try to end the fight before it even starts by removing key enemy heroes from the backline. She seems like a Swiss army knife of a tank, with a kit of abilities that lets her do a little bit of everything. Only time will tell if she excels in any of her niches.

Big balance changes inbound for vanguards and strategists

In the Dev Vision Vol. 9 video, Marvel Rivals developers explained which heroes are receiving changes in season 4 and why. The full numerical breakdown of every hero change is included in NetEase’s detailed patch notes.

Individual hero changes keep different roles feeling impactful

The game balance of Marvel Rivals season 3 turned most vanguard heroes into punching bags. These tanky characters (such as the Thing, Hulk and Thor) are supposed to soak up damage to protect their teammates while creating advantages by pushing further into the battlefield, but strong long-ranged damage dealers such as Hela and Phoenix quickly struck them down.

In season 4, many tanks are getting buffed in order to compensate for their lack of shield. Peni Parker and Thor are getting their ultimate abilities buffed. While ultimates are supposed to be game-changing moments that players activate back and forth to change the flow of battle, Peni and Thor’s ultimates made them sitting ducks, having to expose themselves for very little advantage. The patch makes their ultimates stronger, hopefully making picking these characters feel like a more impactful choice.

Doctor Strange is also receiving a buff to his offensive power, increasing the power of his dark magic, while dominant tanks Emma Frost and Captain America will be nerfed to bring them more in line with the rest of the cast.

Whereas vanguards have been getting bullied, we saw strategists potentially having their most impactful season yet. These healers defined the flow of the game in season 3, with powerful abilities essentially shutting down fights by making players nigh-on invincible for their duration.

The must-pick strategists, Luna Snow and Loki, are also getting nerfs in season 4 — they’ve long outperformed the other heroes in the same role and are getting dialed back. On the other hand, Ultron, Jeff the Shark and Invisible Woman are getting buffs to their ultimate abilities to make them more viable in high-level play.

Damage-dealing duelists also received key balance changes in this patch, though I suspect they won’t impact the meta as much as the vanguard and strategist tweaks. Moon Knight, Scarlet Witch and Blade will be on the receiving end of buffs this season.

Squirrel Girl’s long range damage is getting nerfed, since she had too much potential to control low-rank matches. Black Panther is losing some health points and Psylocke is losing burst damage, which means players will have more time to react to and defeat these backline threats in high-rank matches.

Team ups shake up as Angela joins the roster

In addition to balance changes for individual heroes, Marvel Rivals is balanced around powerful synergetic «team up» abilities that can only be activated when specific groups of heroes are on the same team. These offer a range of perks, from extra abilities that can be activated in a fight to passive improvements that make heroes even deadlier if they have the right teammates.

In season 4, certain existing team ups are being removed or tweaked, while a new team up is being added for Angela. Here are all of the changes.

New — Divine Armory: Angela anchors a new team up for Thor, allowing him to throw thunderous spears at his opponents, restoring ability-generating Thorforce charges on hit. Thor is able to jump to the location where the spear landed, which will enable him to become an integral part of dive team compositions.
Updated — Gamma Charge: Black Panther joins the existing Hulk and Namor team up. If Hulk is on the team, Black Panther gains a gamma shield that protects him from damage after dropping below the threshold of 100 health points.
Updated — Arcane Order: Magik joins the existing Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch team up. If Doctor Strange is on the team, Magik gains the ability to throw a magical chain that binds two enemies together, slowing their movement if they try to split up.
Removed — Dimensional Shortcut: Black Panther can no longer use Magik’s Limbo dimension to rewind his position and gain temporary health.

What else does NetEase have in store for Marvel Rivals players in season 4?

Season 4 is shifting the fight away from the planet Klyntar and back to Earth. That means there will be a new map for players to fight across. Players will be able to dive into the Eighth City of K’un-Lun as Daredevil and Angela fight over the fate of the city’s newest prisoner.

More casual players will likely be happier about the new Arcade Hub. Previously limited-time game modes like Giant-Size Brain Blast and Clone Rumble will become permanent fixtures in this menu, alongside Conquest, Doom Match and Free Fight game modes.

Free-to-earn accessory cosmetics, which were introduced in season 3, are getting expanded upon in season 4. Magneto, Scarlet Witch, Luna Snow and Cloak and Dagger players will all be able to earn new wearable accessories for their favorite hero.

Another cosmetic change applies to legendary costumes. If a player is using a skin that changes the visual effects of an ultimate ability, other people are now able to see those effects as well (with the option to toggle the visual effects off in the settings menu).

A long-awaited competitive change isn’t arriving in season 4, but we finally got an update on it alongside the new info. Placement matches are being worked on and will come to Marvel Rivals’ ranked mode at a later date.

When placement matches are implemented, new accounts will need to play a series of games to decide their true rank — players won’t have to fight their way up from bronze if their true skill lies much higher on the ranked ladder. It’s promising to hear that this is being worked on, and it gives me some hope that Marvel Rivals’ matchmaking — one of the weakest aspects of the game — will hopefully be improved in the near future.

Technologies

Social Media and AI Want Your Attention at All Times. This New Documentary Says That’s Bad

Your Attention Please, a documentary premiering this week at SXSW in Austin, Texas, explores how we live in the attention economy.

«Do you remember the world before cellphones?»

The question comes early in Your Attention Please, a documentary premiering this week at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. And it hit me harder than I expected. As a 27-year-old tech reporter, I realized I don’t have too many clear memories of life before smartphones. My adolescence unfolded alongside the rise of smartphones, social media, push notifications and the routine of endless scrolling. Like many people my age, I’ve spent most of my life inside the attention economy — without ever really stepping outside it.

That’s the uneasy territory the documentary explores.

CNET was given exclusive early access to the film’s trailer, embedded below.

Exploring how tech shapes our behavior

Director Sara Robin said she originally set out to make something smaller: a documentary about people trying to reclaim their attention by breaking unhealthy phone habits. In an interview with CNET, Robin described the idea as a personal story about focus and self-control in an age of constant distraction.

As Robin interviewed researchers, technologists and families affected by social media and cyberbullying, the film’s scope widened. What started as a question about individual habits quickly became a larger investigation into how modern technology systems are designed to shape human behavior. The story stretches from the rise of social media to the emerging influence of AI.

Along the way, Robin and her collaborators kept hearing the same observation from different corners of the digital world: Social media didn’t just change how people communicate; it quietly rewired what we value. Experiences that were once private or emotional — friendship, affection, belonging — began to acquire numerical equivalents. Followers, likes, comments, views and shares began to be how we saw our own self-worth. In the architecture of social platforms, those numbers function as a kind of social currency.

Trisha Prabhu, a digital-safety advocate and inventor of the anti-cyberbullying technology ReThink, argues that social platforms did more than create new online spaces. She says they fundamentally reshaped how social validation works. The metrics that define popularity often reward attention-seeking behavior and amplify conflict, while genuine connection is now harder to quantify and, therefore, easier to overlook.

Prabhu warns that the same dynamics already driving problems like cyberbullying could accelerate as automated systems become more capable. AI tools can generate abusive messages at scale, produce convincing impersonations or create deepfakes that spread rapidly online. In some cases, the technology may even blur the line between human interaction and machine-generated communication, which could deepen loneliness or encourage harmful behavior.

«There’s AI exacerbating existing harms [like automating cyberbullying], but then I also think that there’s AI creating completely new harms,» Prabhu told CNET. «There are reports of AI tools encouraging users, including minor users, to commit self-harm… Even for the everyday user who’s not experiencing the extreme outcome, I think we have to ask ourselves how much of our time and connection we want spent with an AI tool as opposed to a fellow human being.»

Bringing attention to attention

What struck Robin during filming the documentary was how universal these anxieties felt. Across conversations with families, educators and advocates around the world, the themes were remarkably consistent: overstimulated attention, declining focus in classrooms, rising anxiety among young people and a persistent sense of dread that comes from always being plugged in.

Those shared concerns have helped spark a coordinated moment around the film’s release.

On March 11, more than 25 organizations focused on digital well-being will simultaneously release the trailer for Your Attention Please as part of an initiative called Stand for Their Attention. What began as a small collaboration among five groups quickly grew as word spread through advocacy networks. The coalition now includes organizations such as Common Sense Media, Protect Young Eyes, Mothers Against Media Addiction, the Center for Humane Technology, Smartphone Free Childhood and Scrolling to Death.

The idea behind the synchronized launch is simple: Use the attention surrounding the documentary to highlight the growing movement that’s already working to reshape digital culture.

Many people feel overwhelmed by the scale of the problem, Robin says, but behind the scenes, a widening ecosystem of advocates is experimenting with ways to build healthier digital environments, from redesigning products to changing norms around screen use.

The campaign also arrives at a moment of growing scrutiny around the attention economy. Lawmakers in the US and abroad are increasingly debating how social platforms affect youth mental health and childhood development. Boycotts around AI use are taking off. Researchers are studying how these algorithms and chatbots influence behavior. Individuals are trying to figure out how much technology belongs in everyday life.

What can we do about it?

Despite the weight of those conversations, Robin says the goal of the film isn’t to leave audiences feeling powerless. In fact, the rapid rise of public awareness around AI has made her more optimistic than she was during the early days of social media. The systems shaping digital life, she argues, are built by people, which means they can also be rebuilt.

«We have more power than we think,» Robin said. «And there are a lot of different ways to get involved in this, from changing individual habits to changing the culture in your own family and in your community, designing technology differently, getting engaged in these conversations, all the way to pushing for legislative change.»

The film intentionally avoids presenting a single solution.

Instead, Your Attention Please asks a broader question: What happens when attention, one of the most human parts of our lives, becomes one of the most valuable commodities in the global economy? And perhaps more importantly, what kind of digital world do we want to build next?

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for March 12, #535

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for March 12, No. 535.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a tough one, with some very unusual categories. The blue one is pretty fun, actually. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: City of Brotherly Love.

Green group hint: NBA star.

Blue group hint: Grr! Meow! Roar!

Purple group hint: Think alphabet.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Philadelphia teams.

Green group: Associated with Larry Bird.

Blue group: Sports figures with animal names.

Purple group: Sports figures whose first names sound like two letters.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is Philadelphia teams. The four answers are 76ers, Flyers, Penn and Temple.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is associated with Larry Bird. The four answers are Celtics, French Lick, Pacers and Sycamores.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is sports figures with animal names. The four answers are Bear Bryant, Cat Osterman, Catfish Hunter and Tiger Woods.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is sports figures whose first names sound like two letters. The four answers are Casey Stengel (KC), CeeDee Lamb (CD), Katie Ledecky (KT) and Vijay Singh (VJ).

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Thursday, March 12

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for March 12.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? I found 7-Across tricky. Read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.