How Marvel Rivals Season 3.5 will impact the esports scene

Marvel Rivals Season 3.5 details have been revealed through NetEase Games’ latest Dev Vision, Volume 08, detailing everything about the mid-season update coming August 8th, 2025.

From the new hero Blade, Team-Up rotations, competitive changes and more, here is everything fans need to know about Season 3.5 and how it may impact the esports scene.

The new duellist Blade has finally arrived after his initial reveal in the Season 3: The Abyss Awakens trailer. Blade introduces new mechanics to shake up the meta, with abilities revealed through his dedicated character trailer.

Specific details have yet to be revealed; however, on observation, Blade boasts a very aggressive playstyle. He’s able to switch between his shotgun and sword for primary fire, altering his abilities based on what’s equipped.

He’s capable of reducing incoming damage temporarily for survivability. With the sword, he can dash forward, slash foes and slow them. With the shotgun, he can fire a bullet that applies healing reduction to an enemy. Activating his E ability allows him to enter a vampiric state that grows stronger when dealing damage. He cannot be healed, but he gains life steal by dealing damage.

He will also share the Lunar Force Team-Up with Cloak & Dagger, making him briefly invisible within a healing dome. Finally, his ultimate allows him to dash forward on the ground or in mid-air, dealing high-impact area-of-effect slashes that damage all enemies in the vicinity.

The Dev Vision also reveals new Team-Ups being added with Marvel Rivals Season 3.5, in addition to the retiring of old ones.

Here are all the Team-Ups being removed or changed:

Here are all the new Team-Ups being added to the game. Specific details where not shared, but the abilities were showcased in the Dev Vision:

A new mode will be added to the game called Resource Rumble, launching alongside the new map, Throne of Knull. It will initially be tested in Quickplay to gather feedback before eventually making its way to competitive.

Specific gameplay details were not shared, but the new map and mode will be released on August 22nd, 2025. A deep dive is expected to be shared before Marvel Rivals Season 3.5 releases.

Developers also shared more details about changes to the in-game environment that were added back in July 24th. The in-game voice chat will now be automatically screened for human review in order to clamp down on toxicity in the game.

In terms of gameplay, there are now harsher penalties for player who quit before a competitive match ends. This includes longer bans from competitive play, and greater point reductions. On the other hand, remaining players will receive point compensation. Surrender votes will now require one less than the number of remaining players in a team

Fans will see how Season 3.5 may impact the esports scene as early as the Marvel Rivals Ignite Mid-Season Finals in Ganzhou, China, running from August 6th to 10th, 2025.

The biggest highlight is the potential addition of Blade midway through the tournament. Only time will tell how effective he could be, but his ability to reduce incoming healing on top of life steal may prove troublesome, and may showcase similar strengths to characters such as Wolverine.

Guardian Revival’s removal may also impact some of the winning comps that were used during Ignite Stage 1. The Vibrant Vitality Team-Up, alongside the new Rocket Raccoon and Star Lord ability, may further empower what are already very popular picks in the highest level of play.

Though it will not appear during the Mid-Season Finals, the new mode has attracted a lot of intrigue in how it will function in comparison to other modes. Fans may potentially see Resource Rumble in future esports events, whether that be Seasonal Championships, Ignite Stage 2, Rivals Fight Nights and more.