Marvel Rivals puts the wrong hero under the balance microscope, with some huge changes to Captain America’s combat while only dealing out a painfully small nerf for Gambit

Marvel Rivals brings a ton of new systems and heroes to the table. But what I’m interested in the most are the individual hero balance changes and the tweaks to the competitive placement match system.

Players have been crying out for some serious nerfs and overall balance changes in Marvel Rivals for quite some time now, I’ve been asking for it since the game launched, and while we’re still not where many would like to be, there has been a big change this season.

(Image credit: NetEase)

Captain America has undergone some huge changes to his combat mechanics. “Captain America’s normal attack (Sentinel Strike) chain consists of a six-hit combo,” the patch notes explain. “Hits one and two remain completely unchanged in this update. However, we know the community has been actively discussing the remaining four hits, his ranged shield tosses.”

Previously, Cap players could animation-cancel the rest of the throw if they entered sprint immediately after his shield spawned during the third hit, meaning they could trigger the fourth hit instantaneously. But if you sprint-canceled before the third hit struck the enemy you’d actually end up negating all the damage dealt. It was weird but both had the potential for giving a huge payout for players or completely stuffing up attacks, and usually meant they’d have to hold back on attacking enemy targets.

So NetEase has come up with the idea of allowing Cap to throw his shield while sprinting, meaning you can’t cancel his shield throw now. However, all four sprint throws do now take slightly longer to execute, although the difference is less than 0.3 seconds.

(Image credit: NetEase)

“In the heat of battle, targets are always moving,” the patch notes continue. “The old system forced you to wait for the third strike to physically hit the target before you could sprint-cancel into the next throw; otherwise, the damage would drop (the same for hits five and six). The further away the enemy was, the longer you had to wait, making damage drops incredibly common. Only a fraction of mechanically flawless players could hit the absolute maximum attack frequency, and only against relatively stationary targets.

“With the new system, the moment the shield leaves Cap’s hand in each stage, you can immediately sprint without waiting for the impact. Whether you’re engaging at close quarters or mid-range, your shield strikes will register reliably. You no longer have to worry about accidentally recalling your shield too early and losing damage. Ultimately, this guarantees consistent offensive pressure while maximizing battlefield mobility.”

I’m happy that this has been addressed for the sake of all Cap players, but the only problem is that this balance patch doesn’t actually consider the real threats. Sure, I’m happy to see Gambit has finally been nerfed, but simply reducing his Ragin’ Royal Flush ultimate ability effect duration from 10 seconds to eight really isn’t enough.

Gambit is the first to get banned when it comes to any creator tournament, his strength has helped keep the three strategist meta alive and well ever since he was released. At least properly nerf his ult cooldown, give us something to work with here.

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