Marvel Rivals fans are gearing up for the Season 3.5 update and the long-awaited arrival of Blade as a playable character. The new season officially begins on August 8th, following 2-3 hours of downtime beginning at 9 AM UTC / 5 AM EDT. But while we wait for the new content to drop, NetEase has unveiled the full patch notes for the Season 3.5 update. These patch notes follow the previously revealed list of hero balance updates, covering the new content and bug fixes headed our way. That means we now have a pretty in-depth look at what to expect when Marvel Rivals goes back online after this massive update.
As expected, the Season 3.5 update will officially bring Blade into the game as a playable character. After plenty of teaser content in prior seasons, Blade will fully join the fight on August 8th when the update arrives. Along with his introduction comes some new story lore in the game for Blade, Iron Man, and Rocket Raccoon. And of course, Blade can’t come to Marvel Rivals without bringing along a few bundles in the in-game shop, either.
Along with the arrival of Blade, players can look forward to a new Queen’s Codex reward event, featuring the new The Thing – Symbiote Thing costume as a free reward. Those who pay for the Premium Codex can also snag the Queen in Black costume for Hela. The half-season update will also usher in new changes to in-game chat moderation, adjustments for ranked play and matchmaking, and several bug fixes and optimizations.
Marvel Rivals Patch Notes for Season 3.5 Update
Marvel Rivals servers will go offline at around 9 AM UTC / 5 AM EDT on August 8th to prepare for the Season 3.5 patch. The update is expected to take around 2-3 hours, with NetEase offering updates via the official @MarvelRivals account on X. Once the game returns, the new Season 3.5 content should be available to install on PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PS5.
For the full details of what’s to come, check out the official Marvel Rivals patch notes for August 8th’s update below:
All-New Content
All Platforms
New Hero
- Blade is on his feet and itching to join the fight in Marvel Rivals!
New Stories
- New Blade lore – Cut to The Chase
- New Iron Man lore – The Celestial Iron Man
- New Rocket Raccoon lore – The Deepest Bond
Limited-Time Event: Queen’s Codex
- The Queen is coming! Battle to earn XP and level up to earn rewards, including the The Thing – Symbiote Thing costume absolutely FREE!
- Unlock the Premium Codex to claim even more rewards, such as the Hela – Queen in Black costume, an all-new dynamic spray, and more! Plus, once you unlock Premium, you gain permanent access to the event until all rewards are claimed. No time limit!
- Available from: August 8th, 2025, at 09:00:00 (UTC)
New Systems
- Custom Muted Words: Players can now set up their own defenses against words they’d rather not see in chat. If a message contains a muted word, it will be filtered out.
- Faction Tab in Chat: Added a new Faction tab to the chat system.
- Emoji can now be displayed in more scenarios, including while KO’d and during battle settlement.
New In Store
- Blade – Polarity Edge Bundle
- Blade – Emoji Bundle
- Blade Dynamic Mood Bundle
- Available from: August 8th, 2025, at 09:00:00 (UTC)
Twitch Drops
- As Season 3.5 kicks off, get ready for a new round of Twitch Drops. Simply accumulate the required viewing time to claim your rewards.
- This round’s drops include the Mantis – Will of Galacta costume along with related bundle content.
- Drops Period: August 8th, 2025, at 00:00:00 (UTC) to September 5th, 2025, at 09:00:00 (UTC)
Tournaments
- We’re introducing latency equalization technology to the S3 Marvel Rivals Championship. When a server or geographic location causes significant ping differences between factions, the system will auto-balance latency for fairer matches.
- Newly added the Balance Latency option to Custom Game – Tournament Rooms. Hosts can now enable this option and set thresholds.
Rank Adjustments
Rank Rewards
- New Rank Settlement Rewards: Reach Gold for the cool Blade- Emerald Blade costume. Earn all-new Nameplate Frames at Diamond and Platinum, plus rock fresh Crests of Honor for Grandmaster, Celestial, Eternity, and the illustrious Top 500.
Team Matchmaking Adjustments
- Players in Bronze, Silver, and Gold can queue for Competitive in any team size except 5-player teams.
- Players in Platinum, Diamond, and Grandmaster can queue for Competitive in teams of up to 3 players.
- Players in Celestial, Eternity, and One Above All can queue for Competitive in teams of up to 2 players.
Surrender & Disconnect Rule Adjustments
- Surrender Trigger: In the first round, if a player disconnects and does not reconnect within 90 seconds, their team may vote to surrender. The required votes passes with 1 less than the current team members. (E.g., if 4 remain, 3 votes are needed.)
Disconnect Penalty and Compensation Adjustments
Invalid Matches
- If any player disconnects during loading, ban/pick phase, hero select, or within the first 70 seconds of a match, the match is deemed invalid. The disconnected player receives a T1 Penalty (see below for details) that scales with repeated offenses and penalty count increases. For other players, the match ends with no result or penalty.
Valid Matches
- If a player disconnects after 70 seconds, the following applies:
- Disconnected player does NOT reconnect before the match ends:
- If the match ends within 90 seconds of their disconnect, normal settlement based on match result and stats; no penalty.
- If the match ends 90-150 seconds after their disconnect
- Disconnected player receives a T1 Point Penalty and Competitive Matchmaking Ban (both scale with repeat offenses) and penalty count increases (win or lose). If the disconnected team loses, remaining teammates receive ranked point compensation.
- If the match ends 150+ seconds after their disconnect:
- Disconnected player receives a T2 Point Penalty and Competitive Matchmaking Ban (both scale with repeat offenses) and penalty count increases (win or lose). If the disconnected team loses, remaining teammates receive ranked point compensation.
- Disconnected player RECONNECTS before the match ends:
- If their team wins:
- Normal settlement; no penalty.
- If their team loses:
- Penalty is based on disconnect-to-reconnect time (as above), but no Competitive Matchmaking Ban.
- Teammates receive compensation on loss only if the disconnect lasted more than 90 seconds.
- If their team wins:
- Disconnected player does NOT reconnect before the match ends:
Points Compensation
| Rank | Points |
|---|---|
| Bronze | 12 |
| Silver | 12 |
| Gold | 12 |
| Platinum | 8 |
| Diamond | 8 |
| Grandmaster | 8 |
| Celestial | 4 |
| Eternity | 4 |
| One Above All | 4 |
- Compensation points vary by rank.
- If the final score after compensation is above -1, it will be capped at -1. For example, If a Gold player was supposed to lose 10 points, but receives a disconnect compensation of +12, the result would be +2. Since this is above -1, the final deduction will be set to -1.
AFK Penalty Adjustments
Invalid Matches
- If a player is detected AFK within the first 70 seconds, the match is invalid:
- Inactive Player: T2 Penalty (scaling with repeat offenses) and penalty count increases.
- Other Players: Match ends immediately with no result or deductions.
Valid Matches
- If a player is detected AFK after the first 70 seconds:
- If their team wins: Normal settlement, no penalty.
- If their team loses: Inactive player receives a T2 Penalty and Competitive Matchmaking Ban (scaling with repeat offenses) and penalty count increases. Teammates do not receive compensation.
Combined AFK & Disconnect Penalty
- If a player is both inactive and disconnects, the highest penalty applies.
- If a team is faced with both inactive and disconnected players and that team loses, compensation is granted to fully engaged teammates.
Penalty & Ban Scaling for Competitive
| Repeat Offenses | Competitive Ban | T1 Penalty | T2 Penalty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15 minutes | 25 | 30 |
| 2 | 1 hour | 30 | 35 |
| 3 | 3 hours | 35 | 40 |
| 4 | 8 hours | 40 | 45 |
| 5 or more | 20 hours | 40 | 45 |
- Specific penalty rules described above will be enforced accordingly.
Quick Match Penalties
- In Quick Match mode, we’ve also strengthened the penalty duration for players who disconnect and leave the game:
| Repeat Offenses | Quick Match Ban |
|---|---|
| 1 | Warning |
| 2 | 15 minutes |
| 3 | 30 minutes |
| 4 | 1 hour |
| 5 or more | 8 hours |
- We will continue to monitor disconnections and early exits in both Ranked and Quick Match modes and adjust these rules as necessary. If you believe you were wrongly penalized, please contact customer support for a prompt review.
Fixes and Optimizations
All Platforms
- Rank reward Nameplate Frames can now be displayed in more areas (lobby, career, friends, faction, leaderboards, gifts, invites, custom games, etc).
- Hero display in team lobby now supports camera scroll.
- Clicking on your nameplate while in a team lobby can now quickly switch styles.
- Improved Venom’s Tickle Me Pink emote animation for his default costume.
- The “Special” tab in the Store now lets you browse all available Moods, Emoji, and unique Emotes.
Graphics & Performance
PC
- PC Shader Compilation Rework: The mandatory shader compilation wait on first launch has been removed. Instead, essential global shaders will now preload in the background after installation/update. (Shader preload speed depends on your GPU, entering a match before preloading competes may cause performance issues, including stuttering, network lag, rendering errors, or crashes.)
- The performance test tool now provides graphics settings optimization recommendations based on your test results.
- In-game UI animation details will now automatically adjust based on your effects detail settings to improve overall performance.
Maps and Modes
- Fixed several terrain issues that could cause characters to sometimes become stuck or clip into strange areas.
Heroes
- Jumping the Gun: Polished up a minor bug where Emma Frost, Iron Fist, Phoenix, and Wolverine were out-leaping the competition with slightly higher jump heights. Now everyone’s jump is perfectly balanced, as all things should be!
- Iron Fist’s Silent Sanctuary: Resolved an issue where Lin Lie’s Harmony Recovery would sometimes end without playing its ending sound effect. The Iron Fist can now find his inner peace with the proper zen, no more silent retreats in K’un-Lun!
- Venom & Spider-Man Slinging in Style: Spidey and The Symbiote can now set separate keybinds for simple and manual swinging. Choose your web-slinging style on the fly!
- Panther & Wolverine’s Sneaky Sounds: Enhanced the audio cues for enemy Black Panther and Wolverine when they’re sneaking up for a surprise attack. Now, when these clawed kings are on the prowl, you might hear them coming. Predator awareness up!
Console
- Fixed an issue where changing global keybinds could incorrectly affect some hero ability keys.
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