Marvel Rivals Season 7.5 introduced chain-CC protection, aiming to make the game more fluid. In theory, this was the right move with a lot of potential. Unfortunately, the reality is different, as the global change massively nerfed several heroes.
The new Marvel Rivals system activates after heavy crowd control, purging existing effects and granting temporary CC immunity. This sounds fair, as it prevents characters from getting locked down endlessly and improves overall game flow. However, this system also punishes heroes who rely on CC, especially Vanguards and CC-focused characters, who are losing their major upside.
Marvel Rivals will need to adjust the Tenacity system in Season 7.5
The Tenacity system looks fine on paper, but it’s awful in practice. For tanks, crowd control isn’t just a utility, it’s one of their main methods of creating space, which is their main purpose. With the release of Season 7.5, many heroes can easily break free from these effects, drastically reducing the impact of tanks.
In addition to Vanguards, characters like Mister Fantastic have also been nerfed. The effectiveness of this character is based on sustained disruption and crowd control effects. With Tenacity stacking and giving characters CC immunity, Reed Richards is borderline useless in the current Marvel Rivals meta. This hero alone has a kit with several crowd control abilities, and when involved in coordinated fights with his teammates, the CC threshold is quickly met.
To make things worse, NetEase also implemented Scaling Tenacity with the latest Marvel Rivals balance changes. Simply put, the more players try to control someone, the harder it becomes.
Some Marvel Rivals heroes, like Iron-Man and Namor, are not affected by these changes, as they have no CC effects in their kits. At the same time, they get a massive benefit from the CC immunity, as it’s harder to pin them down for an easy elimination.
On the other hand, heroes like Hulk, Rogue, and The Thing have become significantly weaker in the new Marvel Rivals season. These characters rely on crowd-control effects, and with the new system, their win rates will likely plunge.
The new season has only been out for a day, so it’s too early to panic. The idea behind chain-CC protection is great, but NetEase just needs to tune it properly. Right now, it’s not just preventing frustration, but it’s shifting power away from several heroes while making all the others much stronger, at least defensively.
The latest Marvel Rivals update also nerfed Winter Soldier and his own crowd control effects. While these issues will likely be addressed, new balance changes may not arrive anytime soon. In our recent interview, the developers outlined their approach to balance, meaning changes will likely require more data.
