Marvel Rivals is Already Nerfing Its Spiciest New Team-Up…

Season 3, The Abyss Awakens, launched on July 11, and Marvel Rivals is now preparing for a particularly sweltering summer with a so-called Summer Special Event on July 17. This event debuts a costume catalog theme dubbed the Marvel Rivals Swimsuit Special and, not unlike Krakoa Resort, is a swimwear line depicting beloved characters having fun in the sun.

Marvel Rivals Swimsuit Special skins have been revealed for Psylocke and Loki, which will be available in the store on July 18, as well as for Thor, Thing, and Luna Snow, which will be available in the Summer Event.

However, Marvel Rivals may have allowed things to get a little too hot already this summer, and is taking action to correct that. Indeed, alongside broader and less significant patch notes detailing the upcoming Summer Special event, NetEase has deemed it necessary to create an entire balance patch post adjusting Jean Grey and Wolverine’s Team-Up, Primal Flame, as it was apparently so overpowered as to warrant such a swift nerf, and Wolverine in particular may suffer quite severely as a result.

Marvel Rivals players are unhappy with wolverine/phoenix team-up.

Marvel Rivals Players Are Unhappy With New Season 3 Team-Up

Marvel Rivals players come together to express their frustration over a new team-up in Season 3 of NetEase Games' popular hero shooter.

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By Matthew O’Dwyer

Marvel Rivals is Dulling Wolverine’s Claws in Season 3

Going into Marvel Rivals Season 3 and knowing the Team-Up Wolverine would gain when paired with the newly playable Jean Grey, it was undoubtedly clear how powerful Wolverine was to be. Wolverine was already ridiculously strong beforehand, yet this new Team-Up ability, titled Phoenix Warrior, essentially turns him into a vanguard/tank and boosts his survivability potential exponentially with every use of Feral Leap, a 12-second cooldown dash attack that snatches an enemy and temporarily enhances Wolverine’s ordinary attack to Berserk Claw Strike. The description of Primal Flame’s Phoenix Warrior ability reads:

“Jean Grey imbues Wolverine with the awe-inspiring Phoenix Force. With this power, Wolverine’s Feral Leap transforms into Phoenix Warrior. While active, he is enveloped in Phoenix flames that continuously scorch nearby enemies, dealing Percentage Damage. In this state, Wolverine’s abilities gain Lifesteal when inflicting damage.”

It’s not difficult to imagine how wildly overpowered Primal Flame can be, then, and it consequently has been if NetEase has decided to nerf it so precipitously. So, while Marvel Rivals’ Jean Grey and Wolverine might still queue together for one reason or another in a team composition following the July 17 patch, Wolverine is unlikely to be as big of a threat to vanguards as he is right now. As Marvel Rivals’ balance patch notes read:

Duelist

Wolverine

Time to temper Logan’s rage and slightly reduce his survivability.
- Increase Berserk Claw Strike Base Damage from 6 to 8. Reduce Percentage Damage per attack at maximum Rage from 4.5% to 3.5%.
- Increase Regenerative Healing Factor cooldown from 90s to 105s. Increase cooldown reduction from 10s to 12s when participating in KOs.

Team-Up Abilities

Primal Flame (Phoenix - Wolverine)

Our fiery mutant duo’s bond has been a little too hot to handle. So we’re cooling down Wolverine’s healing when teaming up with Phoenix.
- Reduce Lifesteal gained during Phoenix Warrior from 33% to 25%.

This nerf will affect Wolverine mains greatly and possibly trivialize Primal Flame entirely, but it’s also probably in Marvel Rivals’ best interest as it wouldn’t have been acknowledged and acted on so hastily if it wasn’t proving to be detrimental to the overall gameplay experience. Plus, Marvel Rivals’ Team-Ups and Team-Up abilities are perpetually in jeopardy with none ever being safe from persecution or a wholesale deletion from the live-service hero shooter, so the nerf to Phoenix Warrior was probably only a matter of ‘when,’ not ‘if.’ If anything, Wolverine mains are lucky it wasn’t simply removed from the game.

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