Marvel Rivals is a constantly evolving game. And with the new season arriving on April 11, 2025, we can expect even more changes. But if you’ve been a little checked out and are planning to return for Season Two and want to know where the meta currently is on this wildly successful hero shooter, especially if you favor Human Torch, Iron Man, and/or Cloak and Dagger, read on.
Recent meta changes
After the last update, a lot of Strategist Ultimate abilities (Luna, Mantis, Invisible Woman, Cloak and Dagger) got their durations shortened and had their activation costs increased, which means it is harder for teams to simply save an Ultimate and win a team fight with it. Incredibly powerful Ultimates like Cloak and Dagger’s got significantly nerfed in particular. Because of this, a “dive” meta has emerged, with tanks like Captain America, Venom, and Thing and attackers like Spider-Man and others attacking enemy healers much more successfully.
Dr. Strange and Hulk have fallen off a bit, since they both got their maximum health reduced (and melee heroes like The Thing punch straight through Strange’s shield), so Magneto, Thing, and Groot are more prevalent. With dive characters being more powerful, anti-dive characters like Namor and even Peni Parker (particularly in triple-Vanguard teams) are seeing more play.
Now let’s talk about a few specific character balance changes.
Human Torch changes
Human Torch’s primary attack now travels faster and has two more projectiles, making him better at taking out single targets, particularly at close range (such as after his ground slam ability). His Ultimate is now more expensive and takes longer to charge, but it does more damage, meaning it’s a bigger threat than before.
Iron Man changes
Iron Man got buffed in several ways, but took a few nerfs too.. His single target go-to ability “Uni-beam” got buffed, dealing more damage. When he is teamed up with Hulk, it still boosts the damage further, but not by nearly as much, making the Gamma Team-Up less necessary for him to do his best work. He also had his Repulsor Blast (primary attack) damage reduced when hitting enemies directly, but the spell field (splash) damage increased, meaning he’ll be better at taking out groups of enemies but worse at single target damage. This creates clear use cases for Uni-beam and Repulsor Blast, so make sure you are getting close and using Uni-beam when taking out single targets and major threats, and Repulsor Blast against grouped up enemies.
Cloak & Dagger changes
Unlike the changes to Iron Man, Cloak and Dagger’s changes made their heals more effective with direct hits, with Dagger’s healing Lightforce Dagger doing 16 healing, up from 10. The spell field healing went down from 18 to 16, meaning she won’t do as much healing to surrounding allies. This means she’s better at healing single targets, which is something she suffered more at before. Invisible Woman, Luna, and Loki still do better single target healing, but this helps bridge the gap a bit.
Naturally, we expect things to change up a bit once Season Two arrives next week. For now, if you’re looking to get some hours in with the current meta, these tips ought to prepare you for the state of the game as of early April, 2025. Now, if you don’t mind, me and my fellow Cloak & Dagger players have to get back to fearing Magneto. Cheers!
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