Marvel Rivals developer NetEase has delved into the changes coming in the Season 3.5 update, showcasing the latest addition to the game's roster, Blade, changes to character team-ups, a new map, a new game mode, new features to help catch and penalize toxic players, and more.
Most of the new features, like Blade and NetEase's new monitoring of voice chat in matches and reviews of muted words, will arrive with the update on August 8, 2025. The new game mode, Resource Rumble, and the new map that it's introducing, Throne of Knull, won't arrive until a later update on August 22, 2025.
Regarding the team-up changes, two are being removed from play entirely: Guardian Revival and Atlas Bond. Loki is the only character who is being removed from a team-up, as Ragnarok Rebirth will now be a Hela/Thor team-up. Two new team-ups are being introduced, Duality Dance, which includes Adam Warlock and Luna Snow, and Vibrant Vitality, which includes Mantis and Groot/Loki.
Iron Fist will join the Chilling Assault team-up, and Star-Lord will join the Rocket Network team-up. Blade, as the new kid on the block, will join the Lunar Force team-up with Moon Knight and Cloak & Dagger.
Beyond NetEase monitoring voice chat more closely and a custom filter for text chat to filter out muted words, the studio is also introducing harsher penalties for players who leave competitive matches. Players who quit competitive matches early will receive longer bans and larger point deductions, while the players who have to stick it out with a handicap thanks to their former teammate quitting will be offered point compensation when the match is over.
If you get booted from the match through no fault of your own, like losing a connection or your system crashing, NetEase promises to review mistaken bans and appeals faster, so players aren't wrongly sidelined.
Marvel Rivals was one of the biggest games at the top of the year, and while its active player base (on Steam, at least) has declined from the heights it was hitting in January, it still has tens of thousands of players each day. As NetEase continues to update and add to the game, it'll be interesting to see if it is able to repeat, or even surpass its launch numbers, with future changes and updates.
After all, a strong launch for a free-to-play live service game is a great thing, but the sign of a healthy live-service game is being able to leapfrog those launch numbers with a new update, something Marvel Rivals has not yet done.
About the author: David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining Wccftech in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US reporter for Wccftech's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
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