Marvel Rivals: Season 11 Buffs & Nerfs Explained

Published Nov 13, 2026, 6:30 PM EST Matthew Danielson is a Senior Gaming Staff Writer for Screen Rant, using their expertise in fighting games, RPGs, and action titles to provide insight into your favorite experiences. Matthew does a bit of everything, including helping ideate new content surrounding the hottest games and classics that continue to stoke nostalgia. With multiple years of experience, Matthew is your go-to expert on a variety of topics, from detailed fighting game experience to the most nuanced builds for your favorite RPG. Matthew has worked for Screen Rant as a Gaming Senior Staff Writer since August 2022, and has been proud to release many articles that have helped people with unique problems while playing games. As a long-time fan of TTRPG games, Matthew is also a veteran DM for Dungeons and Dragons, having hosted numerous campaigns over nearly a decade. Season 11 marks another big era of change for Marvel Rivals, with the ever-popular hero shooter not just gaining a new character, but also applying a huge series of nerfs and buffs to roster heroes. Due to intense player feedback, the game is moving to reduce the survivability of Vanguards and Strategists, while increasing Duelist damage. However, this is just the start of how the game is changing. Players can expect more clarity from developers about why characters have gotten a nerf or buff, as the patch notes for Season 11 are extensive. Ever since the sweeping Team-Up changes, balance tweaks have been fewer in Marvel Rivals, but that is certainly not the case now. In fact, there are more changes in Season 11 than the past few seasonal updates combined, marking a huge shift to character strengths. Every Season 11 Character Buff Explained Few Heroes Have Gotten Stronger Through This Balance Patch Very few characters have gotten a buff in Season 11, as most heroes have either been nerfed or gotten some neutral quality-of-life options. That being said, some Duelists received the biggest benefits of the balance patch, gaining stronger endurance or higher damage potential. This is to keep up with the survival tools of the game's strongest Strategists and Vanguards, who make certain Duelist play styles far riskier for less reward. Squirrel Girl is a character that got a huge rework in Season 11, similar to Black Widow or Scarlet Witch in past updates. To see the full extent of her changes, you might want to boot up the game for yourself. The tables below go over every buff in the Marvel Rivals Season 11 patch, including what characters they apply to and what role they are usually in: Character Role Buff(s) Angela Vanguard Divine Judgment Movement Speed and Bonus Health buffs adjusted Divine Judgment buffs now last for 6 seconds instead of AoE restriction Increased Axes of Ichors damage for the first three strikes In Dual-Axe form, increased Bonus Health gained per Axes of Ichor hit In Dual-Axe form, increased continuous damage dealt within Divine Judgment Deadpool Vanguard Increased Bonus Health granted to self from The Big Test (Ultimate) Increased damage to Bonus Health conversion during The Big Test — Upgraded Doctor Strange Vanguard (With Invisible Woman Team-Up) Increased damage to Bonus Health conversion Groot Vanguard Increased damage of Thornlash Wall when it triggers the Flora Colossus effect (With Mantis Team-Up) Wild Wall now gains Flora Colossus passive effect Rogue Vanguard (With Gambit Team-Up) Reduced cooldown of Mr. & Mrs. X ability When in Defensive Stance, increased damage to Energy conversion ratio Increased damage of the first two hits of Power Surge Punch Character Role Buff(s) Venom Vanguard Slightly increased the detection radius of Dark Predation primary attack Black Cat Duelist (With Black Panther Team-Up) Increased Bonus Health after Feline Alliance cast During Feline Alliance, increased Fortune gained per enemy hit During Feline Alliance, increased the cap of possible Fortune from 100 to 200 Increased the maximum Fortune gained per single cast of Feline Fury Black Widow Duelist (With Hawkeye Team-Up) New ability applied during Focused State During Focused State, Black Widow gains Bonus Health based on damage dealt Reduced Focus stacks required to enter Focused State with Hawkeye Increased Electro-Plasma Blast damage range (With Phoenix Team-Up) Increased Electro-Plasma Blast damage Elsa Bloodstone Duelist (With Devil Dinosaur Team-Up) Reduced cooldown of Smoky Snare ability Human Torch Duelist Adjusted the projectile speed of Fire Cluster from random to fixed Character Role Buff(s) Squirrel Girl Duelist Mammal Bond ability now increases overall primary attack speed After Mammal Bond, projectiles no longer drop or bounce when fired After Mammal Bond, projectiles create AoE explosions when hitting anything Increased Squirrel Blockade projectile speed Squirrel Blockade now generates an Acorn Rain AoE for a short duration Adjusted maximum damage falloff from Burst Acorn damage Squirrel Girl now gains 25 Bonus Health when using Tail Bounce ability Star-Lord Duelist During Galactic Legend (Ultimate), increased Element Guns ammo capacity (With Adam Warlock Team-Up) reduced Cosmic Soul cooldown (With Adam Warlock Team-Up) reduced resurrection cooldown timer Winter Soldier Duelist Adjusted maximum damage falloff from Roterstern ability Adam Warlock Strategist Increased the number of bounces from Avatar Life Stream ability (With Storm Team-Up) increased speed boost of Soaring Surge ability Cloak & Dagger Strategist Increased Darkforce Cloak damage in Cloak form Increased movement speed of Veil of Lightforce and Terror Cape Each enemy hit by Veil of Lighforce/Terror Cape reduces Dagger Storm cooldown (With The Hood Team-Up) Twilight Veil/Void Veil now launches back enemies hit Character Role Buff(s) Invisible Woman Strategist Increased the Slow ratio of Psionic Vortex at the ability's edge Jubilee Strategist (With Blade Team-Up) increased Lifesteal ratio granted to self and allies Increased healing provided within spell field of Firework Finale (Ultimate) Increased rotation speed of outer plasmoids of Firework Finale Mantis Strategist Life Energy Blast non-critical hits now grant 0.3 Life Orbs Luna Snow Strategist (With White Fox Team-Up) increased healing when Spirit Fox hits allies (With White Fox Team-Up) increased damage when Spirit Fox hits enemies (With Adam Warlock Team-Up) increased healing ratio of healing converted to self Loki Strategist (With Hela Team-Up) lower cooldown for other abilities when illusion is destroyed Rocket Raccoon Strategist Each cast of Jetpack Dash now grants 25 Bonus Health to self White Fox Strategist Increased base duration of Fox Form Awakening Increased bonus duration of Fox Form Awakening per Spirit Tail Increased damage of Claw Strikes during Fox Form Awakening Reduced cooldown of Predatory Pounce ability during Fox Form Awakening Can now receive healing while in Kumiho Unleashed (Ultimate) form Even past buffs and nerfs in Marvel Rivals didn't have as many small tweaks as Season 11 does, as even characters that didn't get adjusted much got a small change. Characters like Black Widow and Black Cat got some huge quality-of-life features that will make them stronger, with Angela being another hero rewarded by the patch. While you may see some Strategists in the buffs list, keep in mind that they will be targeted for far more balancing in the next section. Every Season 11 Character Nerf Explained Sweeping Reductions To Strong Heroes And Their Best Abilities Where most balance changes in Marvel Rivals have reduced character healths and cooldowns, this patch is focused on greatly weakening CC across the board. "CC" is a term referring to abilities that lock down opponents, such as Luna Snow's ability to freeze enemies or Mantis' skill that puts them to sleep. Anything that stuns a character is getting weakened, to support the patch's thesis of reducing rampant self-survivability among Vanguards and Strategists. In turn, this greatly helps Duelists thrive in Season 11, but you won't know how until you see exactly what has changed. Follow the tables below to figure out which characters have been nerfed, and what skills are taking the biggest hits in Season 11: Character Role Nerf(s) Deadpool Vanguard Removed 50 Bonus Health granted to allies when casting The Big Test Removed Bonus Health granted to allies during The Big Test — Upgraded Devil Dinosaur Vanguard Reduced control duration and launch effect after Savage Predation hits an enemy Removed Slow effect applied to enemies within Buddy Barrier Reduced Buddy Barrier duration and shield value Reduced Bonus Health granted by Apex Advantage from Bleed damage (With Punisher Team-Up) Increased Primal Punishment ability cooldown Doctor Strange Vanguard Reduced the value of Shield of the Seraphim from 850 to 800 Reduced the overall recovery speed of Shield of the Seraphim (With Hulk Team-Up) Reduced minimum Gamma Maelstorm energy retained (With Invisible Woman Team-Up) Reduced bonus shield value granted to Shield (With Invisible Woman Team-Up) removed Bonus Health from Pisonic Vortex Emma Frost Vanguard Reduced shield value of Mind's Aegis from 400 to 350 Reduced recovery speed of Mind's Aegis shield (With Luna Snow Team-Up) Reduced Iced Out Diamond shield value Adjusted damage dealt from Psychic Spear based on max health Groot Vanguard Reduced overall health of Ironwood Wall from 600 to 550 Character Role Nerf(s) Rogue Vanguard (With Gambit Team-Up) Adjusted single-hit damage of kinetic explosion (With Gambit Team-Up) Reduced healing granted to allies within range In Defensive Stance, reduced damage absorption radius Peni Parker Vanguard Reduced Cyber-Web Cluster explosion damage Increased detonation delay of Arachno-Mine after triggering Venom Vanguard Reduced the Bonus Health granted by Symbiotic Resilience from 100 to 75 Reduced Bonus Health from Symbiotic Resilience based on lost health Adjusted damage falloff of Frenzied Arrival at various ranges Elsa Bloodstone Duelist Adjusted the damage falloff distance of Double-Barrel Blaster (With Devil Dinosaur Team-Up) Enhanced effect has one ability charge removed Phoenix Duelist Reduced direct and area damage dealt upon detonating a Spark Reduced the number of Sparks applied to foes from Endsong Inferno shockwave Character Role Nerf(s) Squirrel Girl Duelist Reduced Imprison duration of Squirrel Blockade projectile stun Reduced damage dealt by initial hit of Squirrel Blockade Reduced Burst Acorn overall damage Winter Soldier Duelist Reduced Roterstern spell field damage from 45 to 40 Wolverine Duelist Reduced Rage-based bonus damage dealt during Last Stand (Ultimate) impact Increased cooldown of Feral Leap ability Adam Warlock Strategist Reduced the initial healing of Avatar Life Stream from 95 to 55 (With Storm Team-Up) Reduced damage boost to allies from Enhanced effect Cloak & Dagger Strategist Increased Dagger Storm cooldown Reduced self-healing granted by Dagger Storm Reduced the Blind duration after Terror Cape hits an enemy Character Role Nerf(s) Gambit Strategist Increased the spread angle of Kinetic Cards to hit fewer allies Reduced self-healing from Healing Hearts after activation Invisible Woman Strategist Increased Veiled Step cooldown from 6 seconds to 8 Reduced Slow ratio at the center of Psionic Vortex Jubilee Strategist Removed the 20% healing boost to allies upon detonating a Sparkle Mark Mantis Strategist Reduced Sleep duration from Spore Slumber from 3.5 seconds to 1.5 Increased Life Orb cost to cast Allied Inspiration from 1 to 2 Reduced self-healing provided by Nature's Favor when it is active Luna Snow Strategist Reduced the freeze duration to enemies hit by Absolute Zero (With White Fox Team-Up) Removed Charm effect applied by Spirit Fox Character Role Nerf(s) Ultron Strategist Reduced the Bonus Health granted to allies by Imperative: Firewall Reduced the Movement Speed boost granted to allies by Imperative: Firewall Loki Strategist Increased Deception ability cooldown from 15 seconds to 18 (With Mantis Team-Up) Removed Regeneration Domain damage boost buff Rocket Raccoon Strategist Reduced the healing provided by Repair Mode when passing through allies Reduced continuous self-healing from Repair Mode Adjusted damage falloff of primary attacks at various ranges White Fox Strategist Reduced Spirit Sanctuary shield value from 200 to 100 Removed the Invincibility effect granted to allies by Spectral Surge Reduced Charm effect radius applied to enemies by Spectral Surge As you can see, the Strategists and Vanguards in Marvel Rivals are clearly the targets of Season 11's nerfs, with several characters having key elements modified. For example, Vanguards almost across the board lost the shield value of their abilities if they had a protective skill, making it harder for them to survive. Likewise, self-healing was seen often in the nerfs, reducing the endurance of Strategists as well. Some of the most affected characters from the Season 11 nerfs are Mantis, Luna Snow, Doctor Strange, and Devil Dinosaur. However, Devil Dinosaur might be the particular target of future nerfs due to his strength in past Seasons. This will hopefully prevent team battles from becoming endless slogs in the hero shooter, allowing players to eliminate each other faster. Having long, drawn-out battles between characters who can't die has been a big problem across multiple Seasons. This interesting shift in Season 11 of Marvel Rivals might address the biggest player complaints yet, with Nightcrawler and Draula shaking up the game even more. Systems Released December 6, 2024 ESRB T For Teen // Violence Developer(s) NetEase Games Publisher(s) NetEase Games Engine Unreal Engine 5 Multiplayer Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op Franchise Marvel Platform(s) PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC Genre(s) Third-Person Shooter, Action, Multiplayer