Developer NetEase Games has pulled back the curtain on Marvel Rivals Season 3.5, revealing a first look at Blade and many of the other additions coming in August.
The studio offered a breakdown for everything included in the mid-season refresh today, including how players will be able to use the legendary comic book Daywalker’s abilities to cut through the new content included in the upcoming August 8 update. It follows the launch of Season 3: The Abyss Awakens – and Jean Grey – just weeks ago and is a sign that NetEase intends to stick to its quick content release schedule.
Marvel Rivals Season 3.5 Adds Blade and New Team-Ups Next Week
Blade’s introduction into Marvel Rivals as an actual playable character and not just a creative bit or world-building has been a long time coming. The infamous vampire-hunting hero first made his debut all the way back in Season 1, but has been sidelined as an NPC since.
Now, players finally have the chance to control Blade for themselves, and NetEase didn’t hold back. He’ll arrive next week as a Duelist, using his shotgun as a mid-to-close-range weapon before going in for the kill with his Ancestral Sword. Finally, players can use the Sword of Dracula for Blade’s ultimate ability, allowing him to tear through entire enemy teams with style.
“Almost a century ago, Eric Brooks was born of two worlds: the light of his mother’s embrace and the dark of the vampire that attacked her,” a description from NetEase says. “After embracing his existence as a dhampir, he became the Daywalker, the ultimate vampire hunter, combining unmatched combat skills and unwavering supernatural abilities.
“When Dracula reigned over New York City, it was none other than Blade who confronted him first. By then, however, it was too late. Dracula had mastered the almighty power of Chronovium, defeating the Daywalker and imprisoning him within the castle dungeon.
“After Dracula’s fall, Blade was sent to Wakanda to recover, but his story is far from over. Now recruited by Shuri to save all existence, Blade stands awake and at the ready against the dark forces of Hela and Knull.”
With the launch of the Marvel Rivals Season 3.5 update next week comes changes to the team-up abilities. Guardian Revival and Atlas Bond are both being removed from the experience, and Loki is being removed from Ragnarök Rebirth. In place of these adjustments come two new team-ups: Duality Dance and Vibrant Vitality. The former includes Adam Warlock and Luna Snow, while the latter brings Mantis together with either Groot or Loki. Existing team-ups are also expanding, with Iron Fist joining Chilling Assault, Star-Lord joining Rocket Network, and Blade joining Lunar Force.
NetEase Is Making a Splash With Marvel Rivals in August
Also set to join NetEase’s popular hero shooter come August 8 are adjustments to how players can help maintain a positive environment in their matches. In what the studio calls “Operation: Shield the Community,” players will be able to utilize a custom text chat filter, allowing users to mute specific words. NetEase says it will monitor popular muted words, which may then be added to its official list, while also saying that it’s been able to monitor all in-game voice chat conversations since July 24.
Marvel Rivals Season 3.5 will also introduce increased penalties for players who leave in the middle of Competitive game modes. Examples include longer bans from Competitive play and larger point deductions, with remaining players gifted point compensation at the end of affected matches. Leaver penalties will be handled on a case-by-case basis, with NetEase promising to speed up the appeals process for those looking to appeal a ban.
Finally, the new Resource Rumble game mode and its Throne of Knull map will arrive later in the month alongside an August 22 update. NetEase stops short of detailing exactly what makes these additions stand apart from other maps and modes but teases more with plans to premiere a gameplay deep dive soon. Expect to see Resource Rumble first launch in Quick Match before it joins Competitive at a later date.
Marvel Rivals is chugging forward as NetEase works to maintain the two-month seasonal release schedule it promised back in April. It means more characters will be added faster as the team continues to address player feedback with frequent updates.
Marvel Rivals Season 3.5 launches next week. While we wait for full patch notes, you can see how the cast of The Fantastic Four: First Steps reacted to the Invisible Woman’s infamous Malice skin.
Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
