“Marvel Rivals: Hellfire Gala” is the second season of “Marvel Rivals” and has brought along X-Men member Emma Frost, a new map, teamups, and more.
“Marvel Rivals” is a free-to-play hero shooter featuring a host of classic and obscure characters from Marvel’s history. Players battle on multiple maps in classic modes such as domination and escort.
Hero
Emma Frost is a new vanguard released with the launch of season 2. She can throw a shield in front of her, which allows her to block off angles from a distance. This also allows her to counter ultimates such as Iron Man and Magneto.
Emma also has a diamond form she can turn into, which reduces her damage, buffs melee damage, and gives new abilities. The first is a kick that sends enemies back, similar to Iron Fist, the second is a short dash that grabs enemies in the way. Emma’s ultimate pulls enemies closer to her and disables the use of ultimate abilities by enemies in range.
Emma Frost is a very versatile and strong tank, being able to prevent enemies from using ultimates can change the tide of the battle. Her diamond form is also strong, as her grab can counter most ultimates in the game. The shield that she puts in front of her can be strong sometimes, while in other situations it is useless.
With the launch of season 2, Emma Frost received a team-up with Psylocke and Magneto, which allows them to create illusionary projections of themselves that copy their moveset and deal damage.
Overall, Emma Frost is a strong addition to the Vanguard roster and will be a top pick in competitive modes.
In the second half of the season, Ultron will be released as a playable character.
Team-ups
In season 2, new team-ups were added, while some were removed, and others had characters rearranged.
Besides the already mentioned Emma Frost team-up, Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch received a team-up together, along with Captain America and Winter Soldier receiving a team-up. The Scarlet Witch team-up is strong, allowing her to do more damage and eliminate enemies more quickly. The Captain America team-up is fine, it allows Winter Soldier to dash to allies, doing damage and slowing nearby enemies, but the ability is not as great compared to other team-ups.
Some characters were shifted out of team-ups, such as Namor being added to Hulk’s team-up with Iron Man, granting him a squid that fires a laser beam, which seems to be better than his previous team-up with Luna Snow. Psylocke was also removed from her team-up with Magik, along with Winter Soldier being removed from his team-up with Rocket Raccoon.
Two team-ups were removed entirely, such as Scarlet Witch and Magneto’s Metallic Chaos and Thor, Captain America, and Storm’s Voltaic Union.
The shifting of team-ups every few seasons is a great idea to keep things fresh and introduce new abilities, but some of the downsides are the removal of past team-ups, which might not return for a long time.
Map
Season 2 adds a new domination map in Hellfire Gala: Krakoa. The main mechanic of the map is portals, which teleport players around the map and activate randomly. Krakoa is one of the most visually stunning maps in the game, next to Tokyo 2099 and Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda.
The capture points on Krakoa are generally well balanced and not too obstructed except for one of the locations named the Cradle, this point feels unfair at times to retake the point and there’s a pit under a point which players can fall into, which leads to players having to walk around to get back on point.
A new convoy map named Arakko is expected to drop in the second half of season 2
Events
Season 2 brings the Cerebro Database event, which involves players completing rows of challenges for gallery cards, units, and a Mantis skin. Another event is Play Matches and Earn Rewards, this event involves completing nine matches for a new Scarlet Witch Skin. There are also new ranked rewards for players to grind, along with Twitch Drops
Marvel Rivals has been knocking it out of the park with events, as they come around often, which allows players to unlock plenty of free skins and cosmetics, while also saving units towards skins in the shop
Balancing
Many characters received changes with the season launch. Adam Warlock and Loki got nerfs to their healing as Soul Bond and Regeneration Domain received increased cooldowns, which makes Adam Warlock feel terrible to play as most of the time you are waiting on his cooldowns for healing.
Rocket Raccoon received a change to his ultimate, which gives teammates overshield and also changes to his healing, these changes finally bring him on par with Invisible Woman and Luna Snow. Doctor Strange received nerfs to his Dark Magic and the damage he does, which makes him feel worse than other vanguards, with his main use now for portals onto the point.
Mister Fantastic received many buffs, which bring him back to par with other duelists and make him a good counter to dive characters such as Spider-Man, Venom, and more.
Season 2 so far has been an 8/10 experience as Emma Frost is a welcome addition to the roster, but there are some questionable decisions in balancing, team-ups, and map design. If Marvel Rivals keeps it up with consistent content, the game will continue to remain popular for years to come.
This isn’t all of the content with season 2, however, as Ultron, Arakko, new events, and a skin customization feature are expected to come later in the season.
