Marvel Rivals Season 1.5 is here, arriving with two new characters, a whole bunch of tweaks for the existing roster, and more here's everything included, and when you can play itTech17:14, 20 Feb 2025Updated 17:15, 20 Feb 2025The Fantastic Four will finally be complete in Marvel Rivals this week(Image: Netease/Marvel)It's been a bizarre week for Marvel Rivals. While the game keeps pulling in new players, Netease laid off the entire US-based development team on a week where main rival Overwatch kicked off its new Season 15.Whether you're playing Rivals or have switched back to Blizzard's shooter, this week sees the full might of the Fantastic Four combine for the first time Season 1 added Mr Fantastic and The Invisible Woman from Marvel's 'First Family', but now it's time for the dynamic duo of The Human Torch and The Thing to finally join the roster.Here's when you can play the game, and we have the full patch notes nice and early from the team at Netease, too.Marvel Rivals has attracted a lot of Overwatch players(Image: NetEase Games)Season 1 Part 2 of Marvel Rivals is expected to arrive at 8 AM GMT on February 21 (the same day as the latest Fortnite season) for UK gamers. For everyone else, you'll find the timings below, which is an hour earlier than we'd anticipated.12 AM PST3 AM EST9 AM CETAs for those new Heroes, here's all we know about their abilities.Human Torch:Primary - Fire Cluster - Launch forward a splittable fireball.Q - Supernova - Unleash shockwaves to deal damage to enemies within range. During skill activation, the flame field will transform into a fire tornado.Right Click - Blazing Blast - Launch a fireball that creates a flame field.LSHIFT - Plasma Body - Hold LSHIFT to enter a state of accelerated ascent.E - Pyro Prison - Connect flame fields to form a fire wall that deals burning damage to enemies.F - Flaming Meteor - Dive towards the ground and stun nearby enemiesTeam-Up - Storm consumes fire tornado into her Ultimate, or Human Torch can add fire to her Tornado.The Thing:Primary - Combination Punch - Quick and continuous punches.Q - Slam Moment - Uses tremendous force to knock all enemies in front of you into the air.Right Click - Thunderbolt Punch - Deliver a devastating punchLSHIFT - Furious Charge - Continuously charge forward, lifting up enemies in your path, leaving behind a seismic zone that prohibits displacement.E - Battlefield Support - Jump towards teammates and add damage reduction to them and yourself.Passive - Solid as a Rock - Immune to knockback and other displacement effects.Team-Up - Wolverine can interact with Hulk or The Thing. Once confirmed by both sides, Hulk or The Thing can raise Wolverine. Press the button to throw him toward the crosshair.Here are the full patch notes, courtesy of Netease.New content - All PlatformsHeroes and Costumes- The Thing and Human Torch are ready to rock out and flame on!- New Costumes: The Thing - Trench Coat and First Family, along with Human Torch - Negative Zone Gladiator and First Family!Maps and Modes- Enter the new Convergence map - Empire of Eternal Night: Central Park.- New: An extra 0.5 seconds of grace time will be added at the end of the overtime in all modes, optimizing situations where games may end abruptly (like when players cannot be detected due to certain hero abilities or when accidentally drift slightly outside the valid range).- New: In Quick Mode, matchmaking for substitutes will no longer occur when a quick match is about to end.- Optimization: Improved loading speed at the start of matches.Season Battle Pass and Season Story Events- The season event Midnight Features II is here!- The first round of the season 1.5 Twitch Drops event is live! Players can earn the "Two-in-One" spray and Hela's "Great Galaxy" emote. Also, stay tuned for a second round, expected to arrive mid-season 1.5, featuring a brand-new costume reward! (Keep an eye on official announcements for exact times!)- Players who purchase the Luxury Battle Pass and redeem all its rewards can now convert any leftover Chrono Tokens for Units at a specific ratio.Ranked- New: Season 1 has been split into S1.0 and S1.5, with S1.0 concluding on February 21, 2025, at 8:00 AM (UTC+0). Rewards including the costume and Crest of Honors will be distributed accordingly. In S1.5, players will retain their ranks from the end of S1.0.- New: S1.5 Gold Rank costume rewards include Invisible Woman - Blood Shield and Human Torch - Blood Blaze.- New: Crest of Honor rewards for S1.5 will feature distinct designs for Grandmaster, Celestial, Eternity, and Top 500.- New: A "Hide Own Name (Competitive)" feature is now available for players at Diamond III and above. Once activated, your true identity will be under wraps during the loading screen, hero selection, and the start of the match. Other players won't be able to see your name right away! After a short period in the battle, your real name will pop back up.General- Career System: Season statistics will now distinguish between S1.0 and S1.5, with the added ability to filter Tournament data only.- Account Deletion: A new account deletion option has been added under Settings - Other, allowing players to initiate the account deletion process.- Inactivity Detection: AFK timers will pause during the wait to respawn.- Reticle Customization: All changes will now automatically upload to server storage, preventing loss due to local issues.- Graphics and Settings: Optimized the brightness of some scene floors when "Reflection Quality" is set to "Off."- Discord Binding Interface: Adjusted to generate an invitation code only upon clicking "Generate."New Content - PCGraphics and Settings- NVIDIA DLSS 4 is available now, featuring DLSS Multi Frame Generation for GeForce RTX 50 Series GPU. DLSS Multi Frame Generation generates up to three additional frames per traditionally rendered frame, providing even faster performance for gamers.- AMD Radeon Anti-Lag 2 is available now, reducing the system latency (the time between user inputs and visual responses). It works best in GPU-limited scenarios. (Anti-Lag 2 Requires AMD Radeon RX 5000 Series or newer GPU)- Fixed AMD FSR3 Frame Generation frame pacing for smoother experience.New Content - Console- Adjusted the "Model Detail" graphics setting tier for Xbox Series S to enhance performance and stability.- Improved focus navigation in the mail system for easier content management.- Optimized aim assist range and mechanics, making crosshair deceleration more visually intuitive.Fixes - All PlatformsGeneral- Fixed an issue where some UI prompts in the team voice system would occasionally delay or disappear.- Resolved a rare issue where players couldn't operate after reporting a player.- Corrected a variety of language and text issues.Maps and Modes- Fixed terrain issues that could cause characters to become stuck or clip through odd locations.- Resolved various issues including floating broken objects, collision errors, etc.- Addressed several sound issues on maps.- Corrected a rare bug in Doom Match, that displayed multiple players in first place.- Rectified an issue in Conquest mode where, after reconnecting to a match, indicators, such as KO Streaks would not be displayed.HeroesPlenty of heroes and villains are getting tweaks(Image: NetEase Games)- Fixed various hero SFX issues.- Resolved a series of quirky pairing performance issues between various heroes.- Spider-Man's Wall Crawl Woes: Fixed an issue where Spider-Man sometimes couldn't use his abilities while falling from the top of a wall. The web-slinger can now strike without a hitchno more sticky situations!- Hulk's Banner Backtrack: Resolved a glitch where Hulk couldn't be detected by vehicles or mission areas during his transformation back to Bruce Banner. The big guy's identity shift is now seamless!- Doctor Strange's Portal Precision: Fixed a bug where Doctor Strange's portals could get destroyed if they intersected with broken Recursive Destruction objects during the rewind phase in Empire of Eternal Night: Midtown. The Sorcerer Supreme's portals are now as reliable as his magic!- Iron Fist's Jumping Jack: Addressed an exploit that allowed Iron Fist to perform rapid consecutive jumps under specific conditions. The martial artist's acrobatics are now finely tuned!- Loki's Revival Riddle: Fixed an issue where Loki would incorrectly indicate he was out of Adam Warlock's revival range while transforming within Adam Warlock's ultimate range.- Mister Fantastic's Elasticity Error: Fixed an unexpected interaction where Mister Fantastic's ultimate bounce range preview was affected by Cloak's Phased state. The stretchy hero's powers are now back on track!- Captain America's Unbound Shield: Corrected an issue where during Captain America's ultimate, he couldn't be stunned by Spider-Man's ultimate.- Squirrel Girl's Sonic Surprise: Resolved a sound issue where Squirrel Girl's hit sound effect was occasionally too sharp. Her acorns now land with a perfect pop!- Venom's Damage Dilemma: Fixed a problem where Venom's ultimate sometimes failed to deal damage. The symbiote's ferocity is now fully unleashed!- Mister Fantastic's Elastic Aim Adjustment: Fixed an issue where Mister Fantastic's arm orientation sometimes didn't align with the targeting reticle when using his abilities. Now, the stretchy hero can hit the mark with precisionno more twisted arms!- Magneto's Magnetic Misfire: Addressed an issue where Magneto's ultimate could pass through characters without dealing damage due to discrepancies between collision models and visual effects. The collision body is now properly optimized to better suit the visual presentation.- Portal Peril Prevention: Fixed an issue where if certain heroes were eliminated by terrain after using their abilities to pass through Doctor Strange's portals, it would sometimes not count as a KO for the Sorcerer Supreme. Now, every portal pitfall will be counted!- Doctor Strange's Visual Vanishing Act: Fixed a problem where other players sometimes couldn't see Doctor Strange's ultimate effect. The Eye of Agamotto will now dazzle everyone on the battlefield!- Doctor Strange's Control Conundrum: Resolved an issue where Doctor Strange's ultimate control effect could be overridden by Luna Snow's or Scarlet Witch's control effects, prematurely ending his control. The Sorcerer Supreme's spells now hold strongno more magic mix-ups!- Cloak & Dagger's Ice Imprisonment: Resolved an issue where, while using their ultimate, if being frozen by Luna Snow, Cloak & Dagger would remain frozen even after taking damage. They can now break free from Luna's icy grips!- Peni Parker's Cyber Conundrum: Fixed a quirky situation where if Peni Parker was defeated while using Cyber-Bond and resurrected by Rocket Raccoon's beacon, she would be stuck in her Cyber-Bond animation. She will now be revived without any lingering effects!- Mister Fantastic's Stretch Cancel: Fixed a glitch where Mister Fantastic's Stretch Punch could be interrupted by Distended Grip during its wind-up phase, yet still erroneously deal damage. Now, the stretchy hero's attacks are consistentno more bouncing back from unfair hits!- Loki's Ultimate Illusion Fix: Resolved an issue where, after transforming into another hero and using their ultimate, the ultimate's effects could remain in the scene if Loki was defeated during the process. We've ensured that his tricks vanish appropriatelyno more ghostly ultimates haunting the battlefield!- Rocket's Revival Resurgence: Fixed an issue where heroes revived by Rocket Raccoon's B.R.B. occasionally became unable to move. Now, everyone can get back into the action without a hitchno more stuck-in-place moments after a heroic comeback!- Moon Knight's Bounce Damage Fix: Resolved an issue where Moon Knight's bounce attack would occasionally fail to deal damage. Now, his strikes hit true.Article continues below- Winter Soldier's Targeting Trouble: Addressed an issue where Winter Soldier's ultimate sometimes visually appeared to hit targets but would actually miss. The sharpshooter's aim is now spot on!For more on Marvel Rivals, check out what the devs had to say about a potential Switch 2 port of the free-to-play phenomenon.For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.