Marvel Rivals Season 4 is Making Its Most Annoying Duelist…

Marvel Rivals Season 4 is just around the corner, and it already looks like it could be one of the game's most impactful updates yet. After a Duelist-heavy Season 3, the new update will introduce a powerful Vanguard and some major roster adjustments. Patch notes show NetEase is trying to shake up team compositions and competitive play, but the changes coming to one controversial Marvel Rivals duelist could stop this attempt in its tracks.

For a character already on the edge of being overpowered, the changes to Black Panther in Marvel Rivals Season 4's patch notes sure do look confusing. For one, next season, T'Challa will trade his Dimensional Shortcut Team-Up with Magik for Hulk's Gamma Charge, granting him a shield bubble and brief crowd-control immunity when under pressure. To (hopefully) balance things out, his base health and regeneration are being nerfed as well, but some players worry these changes won't make much of an impact.

Marvel Rivals Season 4 Misses the Mark on Its Most Technical (and Frustrating) Duelist

Marvel Rivals reveals new skins for Magik and Black Panther.

In theory, Black Panther's role as a high-damage dive Duelist in Marvel Rivals should come with drawbacks — primarily lower survivability. Yet Black Panther's unique combination of mobility, healing, huge area-of-effect mark, and totally silent movement made him the most banned hero in Season 3.5's competitive play. At 300 HP, he often felt tankier than he should, and his ability to heal made him a nightmare to chase down.

To be fair, the character's upcoming nerfs in Marvel Rivals Season 4 aim to address this concern. Black Panther's base HP is reduced from 300 to 275, and Spirit Rend's bonus health gain when striking Vibranium Marked enemies is dropped from 30 to 25. On paper, this makes him easier to punish when caught out, but with the new Team-Up, it's very possible that they won't make a big difference at all.

By granting him an overshield and a window of crowd-control immunity, it's very possible that, thanks to the new Team-Up, good Black Panther players will even see this patch as a buff.

Why Some Marvel Rivals Players Consider Black Panther Overpowered

Magik and Black Panther Fight Back in Marvel Rivals

Many players argue that Black Panther's biggest problem isn't his health, but his damage, especially considering how fast his one-shot combo can be. Of course, most of Marvel Rivals' best duelists have one-shot combos. When Panther's is played well, however, his skill refresh creates a damage cycle that gives opponents very little chance to react.

The Season 4 adjustments may slightly clip his claws, but they do not address the core frustrations players have with his design. Instead, he risks being just as durable, without reducing his frustratingly oppressive presence. This is especially true for those Marvel Rivals players who really know how to master Black Panther, as they ould run wild thanks to the get-out-of-jail free card Hulk provides.

In Defense of Marvel Rivals' Black Panther Mains

Among Panther players, it's often said that the character isn't overpowered, just difficult to counter. While that's certainly debatable, Black Panther is one of Marvel Rivals' hardest characters to master, so it's understandable that some feel as though the damage output is equal to the effort. Still, the character's damage potential is widely considered his most significant issue, even among those who play him.

Some Black Panther players worry that lowering his survivability will make him overly reliant on a Team-Up, making him a feast-or-famine pick.

The consensus among all of these Black Panther players, however, is that Magik's Dimensional Shortcut will not be a terrible loss. Some simply feel that the new Hulk synergy could tilt the balance too far in the opposite direction. That tension will only become clear once Marvel Rivals' Season 4 launches and players test out the changes in-game.

Marvel Rivals Season 4 Brings More Than Black Panther Changes

While Black Panther's changes are one of the more curious highlights of the update, the upcoming season is also adding plenty of new content. The opening act is Angela, a new Vanguard who can transform weapons mid-fight, swapping between offense and defense as needed. After Marvel Rivals' Duelist-heavy Season 3, her arrival looks like it'll offer teams some much-needed tanking versatility.

The season's headliner will no doubt be Daredevil's addition to Marvel Rivals later in the season. Players will also get access to K'un Lun: Heart of Heaven, a hybrid Convergence map mixing Payload and Capture Point mechanics, on September 25, 2025. Thankfully, fans won't have to wait long to get their hands on it all, as Season 4 launches September 12. With any luck, it'll finally bring a different insta-ban with it.

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