Marvel Rivals Season 6.5 is set to drop on February 13, 2026, and a big part of it will be focusing on balancing the characters with nerfs and buffs to make the game more competitive than before. The update will focus on nerfing overpowered heroes and, at the same time, will give buffs to underpowered ones and therefore make the game more balanced.
Dropping in the middle of the season, the update will be nerfing popular heroes like Doctor Strange, Moon Knight, and Phoenix while giving buffs to heroes like Venom, Rogue, and Adam Warlock who remain heavily underused. While these buffs and nerfs may not be significant, they are designed to be more of a quality-of-life tweak, which will throw a spanner in the works of the current metas.
Buffs
| Hero | Buff Change |
|---|---|
| Rogue | Base health increased, and ultimate ability scaling improved |
| Venom | The projectile speed of his blockade ability increased |
| Deadpool | Defensive Stance conversion increased, and Fatal Attraction cooldown reduced |
| Squirrel Girl | Projectile speed of her blockade ability increased |
| Star-Lord | Ultimate energy cost reduced |
| Storm | Weather Control aura range expanded and bonus health effects enhanced |
| The Punisher | Ultimate energy requirement reduced |
| Wolverine | Ultimate energy cost reduced |
| Adam Warlock | New flight ability added to his kit |
| Ultron | Drone ability range increased |
Nerfs
| Hero | Nerf Change |
|---|---|
| Doctor Strange | Shield regeneration reduced from 70 to 60 per second |
| Thor | Damage falloff increased, and ultimate damage reduced |
| Moon Knight | Bonus maximum health reduced from 100 to 75 |
| Phoenix | Base health reduced from 275 to 250 |
| Psylocke | Bonus health gained from Storm Surge reduced, and the Hammer Throw bonus is adjusted |
| Invisible Woman | Force Physics cooldown increased from 8 seconds to 10 seconds |
| Loki | Bonus health gained from Storm Surge reduced, and the Hammer Throw bonus is adjusted |
Fans pointed out how some heroes were overused due to their overpowered nature, while others remain underused. This update focuses heavily on making all the heroes more usable in a plethora of situations, making the hero selection more diverse and the overall game more competitive. It will take time to see what becomes of the existing metas after this update, but a more balanced game is always appreciated.