No meta is ever stagnant for long in a live-service game with a healthy playerbase and a massive roster that needs balancing. This is true, too, of Marvel Rivals, which only recently released a new playable character, Ultron, alongside mid-season balance adjustments and changes for the debut of Season 2.5. Some of Marvel Rivals’ latest updates are already being nerfed, however, such as the brand-new Team-Up abilities for Jeff the Land Shark and Storm and Peni Parker and Rocket Raccoon, while Moon Knight is being buffed with a 25-point increase in base health.
Marvel Rivals’ Thor has been subject to copious adjustments since launch. It was only about a month ago now that Thor was nerfed fairly heavily, to the disdain of Thor mains. He’s quite a different character now than he was even before Season 2.5, with a lot to consider between Thorforce and the Awakened State. Fortunately, with the new balance adjustments arriving in Marvel Rivals tomorrow, Thor may have a bit more viability when it comes to his kit.
Marvel Rivals Players Aren't Happy About the Jeff and Thor Nerfs
Marvel Rivals players come together to express their collective frustration over nerfs being made to Jeff the Land Shark and Thor.
Marvel Rivals’ Thor is Tanky, But Can Be Quite the Punching Bag
For the longest time, one of Thor’s primary issues was that he is locked into the Awakened state when players activate his Awakening Rune ability. Awakening Rune lasts for five seconds, and in that short amount of time players are unable to use any other ability, meaning the when and where of its usage is paramount.
As one of Marvel Rivals’ vanguards, it can be tempting to pop Awakening Rune in the frontline as it does grant bonus health and enhances his ordinary M1 attack, Mjolnir Bash, yet it also leaves Thor quite powerless and vulnerable without any other abilities in his kit to rely on, even if there are a handful of teammates nearby.
In any case, Thor has hardly been a character worth staking a competitive match on lately. And, while he may not necessarily be at that level after tomorrow, either, Marvel Rivals is taking a fairly big step in that direction with a buff Thor sorely demanded.
Marvel Rivals’ God of Thunder is About to Get a Lot Craftier
Thanks to the upcoming balance adjustment patch, players are going to be able to cancel out of the Awakened state. As Marvel Rivals’ Version 20250619 Balance Post patch notes read:
- Awakening Rune New Mechanic: After casting Awakening Rune, you can now manually cancel the Awakened state after a brief delay.
It’s plain to see how this will give Thor a lot more kit creativity as players will no longer be forced to tank incoming damage in a hectic fray, even if that is ironically one of the main purposes of his role in Marvel Rivals, and be melted instantly. If nothing else, it should allow for Thor to maintain greater mobility and hopefully avoid the needless damage he’s accustomed to absorbing.
Thor’s cancelable Awakened state will soon join the ranks of Mister Fantastic’s cancelable Inflated state, which may have been the source of inspiration for Thor’s change.
That said, this doesn’t necessarily mean Thor will immediately jump to the top of everyone’s Marvel Rivals tier lists. It’s a tremendously overdue buff for the character, to be sure, and his survivability should improve based on this buff. Still, only time will tell if more ancillary buffs or major overhauls to mechanics, such as hypothetically being able to use one or more other abilities while in the Awakened state, are required to hoist him onto the same pedestal that other vanguards rest atop.
Marvel Rivals
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 78 /100 Critics Rec: 84%
- Released
- December 6, 2024
- ESRB
- T For Teen // Violence
- Developer(s)
- NetEase Games
- Publisher(s)
- NetEase Games
WHERE TO PLAY
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
- Cross-Platform Play
- Limited - console crossplay, no PC crossplay
- Cross Save
- No
- Franchise
- Marvel
- Number of Players
- 1-6
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Unknown
- PC Release Date
- December 6, 2024
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- December 6, 2024
- PS5 Release Date
- December 6, 2024
- Genre(s)
- Third-Person Shooter, Action, Multiplayer
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
- How Long To Beat
- 7.5 hours
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
- File Size Xbox Series
- 20 GB
