Ninja claims Marvel Rivals “made a mistake” in Season 1.5 update

The new Marvel Rivals Season 1.5 update, startled players with its mid-season shakeup, adding two new heroes, Human Torch and The Thing, as well as a series of balance modifications. This patch, as outlined in the patch notes, includes a mix of nerfs and buffs targeted at changing the meta, with adjustments to practically every hero.

Standouts include Captain America’s increased survivability, Venom’s beefed-up ultimate, and significant nerfs to support Cloak & Dagger’s ultimate, which now takes longer to charge. Storm’s long-range damage was reduced, but Iron Fist’s health and healing were increased, sparking controversy about the game’s future direction.

Ninja, a popular streamer on the other hand, criticized the update, where heroes like Venom and Captain America gained substantial power, and the streamer believes Marvel Rivals made a huge mistake by over-tuning the tank class.

Ninja slams latest Marvel Rivals update for “unnecessarily” buffing Vanguards

Popular Fortnite streamer Ninja switched gears to streaming Marvel Rivals ever since the game came out and has been a vocal advocate about the free-to-play title while grinding in its competitive lobbies. In his recent video, the streamer was seen playing with his team and losing rounds as a Strategist when his frustration kicked in.

Around the 11 minute 18 second mark, Ninja begins blasting the update by saying, “You know what Marvel Rivals has done by the way, lately which is really really annoying? And this is not a good look. This is a terrible trend. First off, Vanguards did not need buffs. Tanks were f***ing busted already. I’m going to throw that out there.”

In the comments above, the streamer refers to Venom’s ultimate buff which allows players to recharge his ult quicker than before and Captain America’s movement and attack buffs that change the endgames in competitive lobbies. But soon enough, he shifted his focus to the trend he referred to earlier, where whenever players learned to master a new character, thus making the hero rise in the ongoing meta, Rivals devs further buffed up that character according to player favorability.

“People started to learn how good these characters were, Captain America, Wolverine, and then they’re buffing them. Then everyone started to realize when Luna’s ult swaps to damage boosts, Venom one shots through it, so people started playing Venom, and then they buffed his ultimate. Right as the meta changed, they buffed Venom!”, exclaimed Ninja further to his comments.

However, soon enough Ninja switched his character to Adam Warlock, thus securing a Victory at the end of the video. The conversation around the hero balance isn’t anything new, rather players have been suggesting Rivals to add more Vanguards in the game to balance the meta.

But instead, NetEase is focused on making bug fixes with each update, as the upcoming March 6 update is said to bring another round of adjustments to some characters which are becoming popular each day.