Season 3, The Abyss Awakens, launched on July 11, andMarvel Rivalsis 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 theMarvel Rivals Swimsuit Specialand, not unlike Krakoa Resort, is a swimwear line depicting beloved characters having fun in the sun.
Marvel RivalsSwimsuit 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 Rivalsmay 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 adjustingJean 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 is Dulling Wolverine’s Claws in Season 3
Going intoMarvel RivalsSeason 3and 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, whileMarvel Rivals’ Jean Greyand 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. AsMarvel Rivals’ balance patch notes read:
Primal Flame (Phoenix - Wolverine)
This nerf will affect Wolverine mains greatly and possibly trivialize Primal Flame entirely, but it’s also probably inMarvel 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-Upsand 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.
