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Season 3.5 of Marvel Rivals is set to come out on Friday, August 8. This massive mid-season update will bring Blade, a new Duelist, and a new map. Furthermore, NetEase will release changes to heroes, which will shift the meta. Unfortunately, it appears that Vanguards will receive the short end of the stick, once again.
On Wednesday, the game developer revealed a gameplay video of Blade. The upcoming Duelist looks really fun to play with and has a versatile kit, allowing him to take enemies down from both close and medium range. On top of this, the vampire hunter can apply debuffs to enemies, which will hurt tanks the most.
Tanks will receive another nerf in Marvel Rivals
It’s no secret that Vanguards are not very popular in Marvel Rivals Season 3. Recent changes have caused the community to stay away from them, which is why we now see more teams go with a solo tank. The 2-2-2 comp still reigns supreme, but if NetEase doesn’t improve tanks, we might see the three-Duelist composition take over soon.
While it’s too early to judge, Blade seems to be a nightmare for tanks. His gameplay video shows him taking down enemies fairly quickly, but also applying debuffs to them. More specifically, the video shows Blade applying a debuff to Emma Frost.
For now, it’s hard to tell what the debuff does, but it appears that it either reduces or entirely stops incoming healing. Considering that Vanguards get the most healing, due to their massive HP pool, they will be mostly affected by the addition of the new hero.
‼️ BLADE CHARACTER TRAILER
— Miller Ross (@mmmmmmmmiller) July 30, 2025
Slice and dice! ⚔️ Here's the full character trailer for Blade, the brand new playable hero coming to #MarvelRivals with the launch of Season 3.5 on Friday, August 8th. pic.twitter.com/TmFfwbwD1X
Blade’s abilities in Marvel Rivals were leaked, and so far, he sounds quite powerful. As we are waiting for NetEase to release balance changes for heroes in Season 3.5, we certainly hope that they will include buffs for tanks. The addition of the Duelist is certainly a nerf for Marvel Rivals tanks, and with Wolverine in the lineup, it will be interesting to see ban rates for these two heroes.
About the Author
Marvel Rivals
- Platform(s): macOS, PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X
- Genre(s): Fighting, Shooter
