Marvel Rivals Season 4: Heart of the Dragon launches September 12 at 09:00 UTC with a 2-3 hour maintenance window. NetEase is rolling out Angela as the game's first flying tank alongside sweeping balance changes that target overpowered supports and buff struggling Vanguards.
The update brings Angela's unique aerial combat abilities, nerfs Luna Snow and Loki's dominance, and makes all arcade modes permanent. PlayStation 4 players can finally jump in when the season goes live.
Angela Brings Aerial Combat to the Tank Role
Angela breaks new ground as Marvel Rivals' first flying Vanguard. She switches between dual axes on the ground and a lance in the air, each with different combat focuses.
Her ground setup uses dual axes for standard melee combat. When airborne, Angela swaps to a lance that deals burst damage and can skewer enemies. She can carry skewered targets short distances before releasing them.
Angela's shield provides 250 health points of protection and works in both modes. Her ultimate, Hand of Heaven, drops a destructible battle banner that damages and binds enemies in place. The banner works like Groot's ultimate but can be deployed from the air.
Vanguards Get Much-Needed Buffs
Season 4 addresses the tank role's struggles against ranged DPS heroes like Hela and Phoenix. Most Vanguards are getting significant improvements.
Thor gets major ultimate upgrades. Movement speed jumps from 600 to 700, and enemies get stunned for 1 second when he lands. These changes make his ultimate much more threatening.
Peni Parker sees dual improvements to her Spider-Drone system. The drones now slow enemies by 8% for 2 seconds per hit, stacking up to 40%. Her ultimate also fires drones faster, dropping the interval from 0.7 to 0.5 seconds.
Doctor Strange trades some health for better offense. Maelstrom of Madness cooldown drops from 8 to 6 seconds, but his base health falls from 600 to 575.
The dominant tanks face nerfs. Emma Frost sees Diamond Form cooldown increased from 15 to 18 seconds, while her Telepathic Pulse energy generation against shields drops from 10 to 5 per second. Captain America loses his 5% damage boost from team-ups.
Luna Snow and Loki Finally Get Nerfed
NetEase is targeting the two most oppressive supports in the game. Luna Snow's Fate of Both Worlds ultimate duration drops from 12 to 10 seconds. The patch notes even joke about it: "See, we do nerf her!"
Loki takes multiple hits. His illusions now only copy 80% of the original hero's damage and healing, down from 100%. God of Mischief duration shrinks from 15 to 12 seconds, and the residual period after using copied abilities drops from 5 to 3 seconds.
Several underused supports are getting buffed. Jeff the Land Shark now leaves an 8-meter healing pool after his ultimate that heals for 100 HP per second for 8 seconds. Invisible Woman gets improved slow effects and a new slowing component to her ultimate. Ultron's ultimate now deals 125% damage to bonus health.
Duelist Changes Mix Nerfs and Buffs
Scarlet Witch gets the biggest change in the patch. Reality Erasure damage jumps from 800 to 9999, making it nearly a guaranteed kill. The ultimate also pulls enemies within 15 meters during charge-up. She can now be healed during Mystic Projection too.
Magik loses her 15% team-up damage bonus but gets massive compensation buffs. Magik Slash charges faster (1.8 to 1.2 seconds) and now pierces enemies while reducing cooldowns. All her abilities get damage increases, from Soulsword (65 to 75) to normal melee attacks (30 to 40).
Moon Knight can now store 2 Moon Blade charges with 6-second recharge timers each. Winter Soldier's Trooper's Fist second hit now prevents mobility abilities for 1 second.
Overpowered duelists face reductions. Black Panther loses health (300 to 275) and bonus health generation (30 to 25). Psylocke's Wing Shuriken retrieve damage drops from 12 to 8 per hit.
Squirrel Girl gets rebalanced for less long-range dominance. Burst Acorn damage falls from 110 to 100, while Squirrel Blockade damage rises from 35 to 50. Mammal Bond cooldown increases from 10 to 15 seconds.
Team-Up System Gets Major Restructuring
Angela and Thor form the new Divine Armory team-up. Angela gains 100 health as anchor while Thor gets the Thunderstrike Pike ability.
Arcane Order expands to include Magik alongside Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch. Magik gets the Chain of Cyttorak ability, but Scarlet Witch's Sorcery Surge explosion damage drops from 12 to 6.
Black Panther joins Gamma Charge with Hulk and Namor, gaining Gamma Vibranium Armor. However, the Dimensional Shortcut team-up between Magik and Psylocke gets completely removed, stripping Black Panther of his Wakandan Master ability.
All Arcade Modes Go Permanent
The Arcade Mode Hub becomes a permanent fixture with six different modes:
Conquest (Annihilation) scores 1 point per kill with first to 50 winning on Tokyo 2099: Ninomaru. Free Fight uses Quick Match rules but allows duplicate heroes and gives each team 2 hero bans.
Clone Rumble returns with players choosing from 2 randomly selected heroes for single-map domination. Giant-Size Brain Blast, standard Conquest, and Doom Match all stay with their current rules.
Players can queue for 1-6 modes simultaneously and group with any number of friends. Hero proficiency still has daily caps in arcade modes.
New Battle Pass and Cosmetics
The Fruit of Immortality battle pass features 10 new costume sets. Preview images show upcoming outfits for Moon Knight, Loki, and Phoenix.
Angela gets three store bundles at launch: Skuld 2099 Bundle, Emoji Bundle, and Cerulean Lightbringer Costume. The Scroll of the Immortal Beasts event offers a free Ultron Wasteland Robot skin.
Twitch Drops return from September 12 to October 10 with Blade's Will of Galacta costume as the main reward.
Competitive Season Reset and Rewards
Ranks drop by 7 divisions based on Season 3.5 placement. Diamond I players start Season 4 at Gold II. Reaching Gold unlocks Angela's Siriana's Silver costume.
New rewards include nameplate frames for Diamond and Platinum ranks, plus updated Crests of Honor for Grandmaster through Top 500.
The Marvel Rivals Championship continues with dynamic nameplates for top finishers and exclusive sprays for completing 10 Open Qualifiers. Platinum III remains the minimum rank requirement.
College Perks Gets 10 New Skins
The College Perks rotation adds highly requested skins including Spider-Man's Spider-Punk 2099 and Loki's Presidential Attire. The full list includes Luna Snow's Mirae 2099, Thor's Love and Thunder, Psylocke's Blood Kariudo, Peni Parker's Yatsukahagi, Magik's Eldritch Armor, Mantis's Jade Maiden, Mister Fantastic's The Maker, and Hela's Yami no Karasu.
PlayStation 4 Launch and Quality of Life Updates
Marvel Rivals debuts on PS4 on September 12, marking the first previous-gen console release. The game maintains full feature parity with current-gen versions.
New systems include an overhauled emoji wheel, costume rotation for randomized appearances, and custom VFX visibility controls. PC players get slow walk functionality, while console players can download high-res gallery cards locally.
Other additions include friend suggestions based on performance data, improved squad voice chat options, and disconnect pause for tournament rooms.
Bug Fixes and Map Changes
The update fixes Star-Lord's Cosmic Confusion targeting bug and Winter Soldier's visual arm distortion issues. Several terrain problems that caused character clipping also get resolved.
Arakko gets a slight mission vehicle speed increase for attackers in section 1. The pre-match hero selection wheel gets a "Strike Squad" favorites bar for faster picks.
New Story Content Teases Future
Season 4 adds new narrative content including the Heart of the Dragon serial and individual lore pieces for Angela, Iron Fist, and Loki. The update confirms Daredevil will join as a playable character in Season 4.5, though his abilities remain unannounced.
Marvel Rivals Season 4 represents the game's biggest balance update yet. The flying tank concept, major support nerfs, and permanent arcade modes should significantly shake up the current meta when the season launches this Friday.
