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Season 5 Buffs and Nerfs Explained in Detail


With Season 5 of <em>Marvel Rivals</em>, new buffs and nerfs for its roster of characters have arrived, altering the game’s balance to keep things engaging. As new heroes Gambit and Rogue debut during the Season’s “Love is a Battlefield” theme, many characters have received significant strengths or reasonable adjustments. With an extensive balance patch for Season 5, players will have plenty to explore.

November 14, 2025, marks the start of Season 5, when all changes from the upcoming balance patch will be implemented. As Gambit joins the game’s roster as a surprise Strategist, each character may gain or lose properties to various abilities. Similar to the last round of buffs and nerfs, Marvel Rivals has also made crucial changes to several Team-Ups, affecting how certain heroes match up with each other.

Every Season 5 Character Buff

Nearly Everyone Gains Something Good

Marvel Rivals Maestro Hulk MVP animation screen

Marvel Rivals Maestro Hulk MVP animation screen

There are many buffs in Season 5, affecting perhaps the widest variety of characters ever seen in a balance patch. Heroes in every role seem to receive attention from buffs this time around, gaining either minor adjustments to existing skills or fresh features for underused abilities. This diversifies several characters that have been in Marvel Rivals for a long time, keeping them interesting and fresh for even the most veteran players.

20 out of the 44 characters in Marvel Rivals for Season 5 are getting changed through some sort of balance adjustment. This marks the biggest patch for the game in the last two Seasons at least, likely leading to a dramatic shift in which characters are strongest.

Each of these character buffs will apply in every Marvel Rivals game mode, from single-player PvE to standard PvP matches. The following table goes over each Season 5 buff, including which characters they affect and their role on a team:

Hero

Role

Buff(s)

Angela

Vanguard

  • Increased Movement Speed of Assassin’s Charge’s accelerated dash state
  • Increased Heaven’s Retribution (Ultimate) spear Health

Captain America

Vanguard

  • Freedom Charge (Ultimate) now boosts Ultimate Energy gained by nearby allies

Groot

Vanguard

  • Ironwall gains Unstoppable status when within 15m of Awakened Ironwood Walls

Even new characters like Angela in Marvel Rivals gained substantial buffs, indicating how detailed these balance changes are compared to last Season. Many of the buffs this Season aim to increase or add utility to specific skills, giving players more freedom to use the innate abilities of different heroes. This added variety indicates a healthy growth of the game, making heroes you don’t see far more interesting to control.

Every Season 5 Character Nerf

Very Few Heroes Toned Down Into The Game’s Latest Era

Marvel Rivals The Thing symbiote skin MVP animation

In contrast, there are only a couple of small nerfs to characters in Season 5, indicating that many heroes seem to be in a balanced place from the developer’s perspective. While some characters might seem overpowered in specific team compositions, the individual strength of any one hero has not drawn enough attention to tone down any of their abilities.

That being said, there are still a couple of notable changes, which can be seen in the table below:

Hero

Role

Nerfs(s)

Magneto

Vanguard

  • Reduced Metal Bulwark and Iron Bulwark shield value from 250 to 200

The Thing

Vanguard

  • Removed Embattled Leap damage reduction from single leap target
  • Removed Embattled Leap damage reduction to self
  • Reduced Stone Haymaker base damage
  • Removed Stone Haymaker Bonus Health gained during ability activation

The Thing received the brunt of the nerfs in Season 5, but the character also gained many buffs to compensate. This represents a larger rework of the character, whose gameplay relies on Stone Haymaker left him in an odd position to balance.

The possibility of more nerfs coming in Season 5.5 is unclear., which is slated to start when Rogue releases as the next new character on December 12, 2025. However, this will undoubtedly come with even more enhancements to characters as well, so perhaps Marvel Rivals is beginning to change their focus as Seasons continue.

Every Season 5 Team-Up Balance Change

Some Synergies Removed Or Adjusted To Promote New Team Comps

Mimicking every seasonal update, Marvel Rivals’s Team-Up changes involve removing some synergies between characters. Mainly this is done to eliminate Team-Ups that are rarely used or do not align with the vision of the new Season. For Season 5, these are the Team-Ups being removed completely:

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Sarah Parker
Sarah Parker is a research analyst and content contributor with a strong interest in business strategy, organizational behavior, and social development. With a background in sociology and public policy, she focuses on exploring the intersection between research and real-world application. Sarah regularly contributes articles that bridge academic insights and practical relevance, aiming to foster critical thinking and innovation across sectors.