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Marvel Rivals Season 4 Patch Notes: Angela, Buffs, Nerfs, and New Modes

Marvel Rivals Season 4: Heart of the Dragon brought Angela, hero balance changes, permanent Arcade modes, quality-of-life updates, and a September 18 follow-up patch.
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Marvel Rivals Season 4, titled Heart of the Dragon, launched September 12, 2025, with Angela as its new hero, a broad balance update, and permanent Arcade modes. The early follow-up patch, released September 18, added chat and replay improvements and a visual fix for Angela in Giant-Size Brain Blast. This is a guide to those September 2025 updates, not a description of the live game in October 2026.

When did Marvel Rivals Season 4 start?

NetEase announced Season 4, Heart of the Dragon, on September 4, 2025. The update was scheduled to begin September 12 at 09:00 UTC, with an estimated two to three hours of maintenance. Those are the announced launch details, not a statement about current availability. Official Season 4 launch notes

The launch announcement also introduced new story entries, a Battle Pass with 10 all-new costume sets, the Scroll of the Immortal Beasts event, and a PlayStation 4 version download after maintenance.

Who is Angela, and what is her Season 4 Team-Up?

Angela joined Marvel Rivals as the new hero in Season 4. The September 4 balance post names her Team-Up with Thor as Divine Armory: Angela is the Team-Up Anchor and gains 100 health, while Thor receives Thunderstrike Pike. The post does not provide a standalone breakdown of Angela’s full ability kit, so no further ability details are included here. Official Season 4 balance post

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What new modes came to the Arcade hub?

The Season 4 notes list new and returning Arcade options. They state that the modes in this section became permanent. The rules below are the published patch specifications.

Mode Objective and rules
Conquest (Annihilation) Earn one point for each enemy defeated; the first team to 50 points wins. The listed map is Tokyo 2099: Ninomaru.
Free Fight Uses the Quick Match Domination, Convergence, and Convoy rules. Duplicate heroes are allowed, and each team may ban two heroes.
Clone Rumble Two heroes are selected at random, with a single-map capture objective and a 100% capture target.
Giant-Size Brain Blast Returning mode; the launch notes list it among the Arcade options but do not give further rules here.
Conquest Listed as an Arcade option; the launch notes do not provide additional mode rules here.
Doom Match Listed as an Arcade option; the launch notes do not provide additional mode rules here.

Players could queue for one to six modes and group with any number of friends, according to the launch notes. Official Season 4 launch notes

Which heroes were buffed or nerfed in Season 4?

The official balance post adjusted heroes across Vanguard, Duelist, and Strategist roles. These are selected examples of specified changes, not evidence of how the heroes performed in matches afterward.

Vanguard

  • Doctor Strange: Maelstrom of Madness cooldown decreased from 8 to 6 seconds; base health decreased from 600 to 575.
  • Thor: Ultimate movement speed increased from 600 to 700, and landing now stuns nearby enemies for 1 second.
  • Peni Parker: Spider-Drone hits gained a stacking slow, and the drone interval is faster during her Ultimate.

Duelist

  • Blade: Ancestral Sword slash damage increased from 22 to 24.
  • Psylocke: Wing Shuriken retrieve damage decreased from 12 to 8 per hit.
  • Magik: Lost a Team-Up damage bonus but received several direct damage increases and changes to Magik Slash.
  • Scarlet Witch: Can be healed during Mystic Projection; her listed Ultimate damage value increased substantially and gained a pull effect.

Strategist

  • Luna Snow: Ultimate duration decreased from 12 to 10 seconds.
  • Invisible Woman: Ultimate healing increased and gained a slow effect.
  • Jeff the Land Shark: His Ultimate now leaves a healing pool.
  • Loki: Illusion ratio and Ultimate shapeshift time decreased.
  • Ultron: His Ultimate gained bonus-health damage.

The balance post also changed Team-Ups: Magik joined Doctor Strange’s Arcane Order, Magik and Psylocke’s Dimensional Shortcut was removed, and Black Panther joined Hulk’s Gamma Charge. Official Season 4 balance post

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What other Season 4 systems changed?

The launch notes included quality-of-life and customization additions beyond hero balance and modes:

  • An emoji wheel rework and costume rotation among unlocked looks.
  • An option to hide other players’ custom Ultimate effects.
  • Friend suggestions based on battle performance and preferred heroes.
  • Slow walk on PC and configurable squad voice chat.
  • Downloadable high-resolution Gallery Cards on PC and PlayStation 5.
  • Team lobby entrance animations and disconnect pause for custom tournament rooms.
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What changed in the September 18 follow-up patch?

The separate September 18 follow-up announced Summer Special Vol. 2, chat formatting support, richer hero statistics in Replay Data, and various fixes. Its Angela-related note reduced her “excessively oversized head” in Giant-Size Brain Blast. That was a visual adjustment in the mode, not a combat buff or nerf. Official September 18 patch notes

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