Marvel Rivals launched its Ancient Powers Awaken event on August 21st, bringing three new character skins and the game's first group emote system to Season 3.5. The mini-pass event runs until September 12th and costs 690 Lattice for premium access.
Free Doctor Strange Skin Headlines Event Rewards
Players can unlock Doctor Strange's "Old Man Strange" skin without spending money. The Wastelanders Collection costume shows the Sorcerer Supreme with gray-white hair and glowing blue fingertips, plus an MVP animation. It's available at level 14 of the free progression track.
The event uses a battle pass system where players earn XP through matches to unlock rewards. Daily XP limits control how fast players can progress through the 21 available tiers.
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Premium Pass Features Legendary Venom and Iron Fist Skins
Premium pass buyers get access to two major character updates. Venom's legendary "Reborn King in Black" skin sits at the final tier and includes dramatic flame effects during his ultimate ability. The skin features a symbiote dragon design that appears in both the costume and its MVP animation.
Iron Fist's "Phoenix Fist" skin comes at level 7 with fire-themed visual effects on his hands. His emotes now include flaming chi effects, and he gets a dedicated MVP animation called "You're all free now."
Both premium skins include enhanced visual and audio effects during gameplay. Premium pass owners can unlock rewards permanently, even after the event ends.
First Group Emote Launches With Jeff and Emma Frost
Marvel Rivals introduced group emotes through "My Baby and Me," featuring Jeff the Land Shark and Emma Frost. Two players can trigger a synchronized hug animation when standing near each other. The emote works solo or as a coordinated duo interaction.
Leaked information suggests future group emotes might include Winter Soldier and Venom combinations, though no release dates are confirmed.
Complete Reward Breakdown
The 21-tier system splits between free and premium tracks:
Free rewards include: Phoenix-themed sprays and nameplates, 400 Chrono Tokens, 400 Unstable Molecules, Doctor Strange's costume and emote, plus Iron Fist's Phoenix Chi emote.
Premium additions feature: Mantis's Kitty Cat emote, both legendary skins with MVP animations, Venom's "In This Together" emote, and exclusive nameplates themed around the Phoenix Force and King in Black storylines.
Iron Man Gets Store-Exclusive Extrembiote Armor
Separately from the event, Iron Man's new legendary skin hit the store for 2,200 units. The Extrembiote Armor features symbiote infestation design with glowing green eyes and a forehead marking. Its intro animation shows Iron Man riding the symbiote dragon from the new Throne of Knull map.
The skin bundle includes an emote where Iron Man makes facial expressions in a mirror.
Balance Changes Target Three Heroes
The update tweaks three characters. Blade gets stronger with life steal during Bloodline Awakening increased from 60% to 65%, while his self-healing reduction drops from 40% to 35%. This gives him roughly 6% more effective life steal.
Human Torch takes nerfs to his area denial. Flame field damage over time drops from 25 to 20 per second, and Pyro prison damage decreases from 50 to 40 per second.
Loki's primary fire damage falls by 5 points, from 30 to 25. The reduction affects his clones too, but healing stays unchanged.
Resource Rumble Mode Debuts With New Map
Ancient Powers Awaken coincides with Resource Rumble, a new game mode where teams fight for randomly ordered resource points. Each captured location adds to the team score until someone hits the victory threshold.
The mode starts in Quick Match before potentially moving to Competitive based on player feedback. It launches alongside Klyntar: Throne of Knull, a underground arena connected to the surface through the Venom Spire.
The new map ties into Season 3.5's story about Knull's reawakening and his conflict with the Phoenix Force.
Discord Integration Improves Social Features
Marvel Rivals now supports Discord's Social SDK with unified friend lists and cross-platform chat. Rich Presence lets players see what their friends are doing across different devices.
These changes build on earlier Season 3.5 improvements like better matchmaking, refined ranking systems, and stronger anti-toxicity measures through automated chat screening.
Event Progression Stays Simple
Players advance through daily match completion and XP earning. The system maintains daily limits to prevent grinding through all rewards immediately. Free players get substantial content including the Doctor Strange skin, while premium buyers access the full reward pool including both legendary character skins.
The structure follows previous Marvel Rivals events like Queen's Codex and Summer Party, keeping familiar progression mechanics while adding the group emote system and higher-tier premium content.
