Marvel Rivals patch makes Hulk less hulky, Hawkeye less shooty and the Goddess of Death deader, just in time for Season 1

rockpapershotgun.com:

Marvel Rivals Season 1 is about to begin, adding the Fantastic Four to the free-to-play hero shooter’s roster so that they can beat up Dracula, who has swamped the Earth in eternal night. It launches January 10th at 1 am PT / 4 am ET / 9 am GMT, and developers NetEase are paving the way in the traditional manner by rebalancing the character line-up so as to simultaneously win the adoration of certain player groups, while plunging others into apoplectic fury.

Do you like running rampage as Hela, goddess of death? Was that you who shot me full of crows on Klyntar last night? Well, how does 25 points off your base health suit you? Yeah, that’s what I thought. Screw you too.

Hela is one of many who’ve succumbed to the nerf. NetEase’s Thanos-style fingersnap has also made the Incredible Hulk less incredible: according to the full patch notes, it drops the Indestructible Guard gamma shield value for Hero Hulk from 250 to 200. Somewhat counter-intuitively, HawkEye has undergone a rework to make him less effective with a bow - “decreasing the medium-long range damage capability, reducing the threatening combat radius, and slightly improving the close combat resistance for the avenging archer”.

Black Panther’s survivability has also been cut: the patch reduces “the additional health provided to self after refreshing Vibranium Marks with Spirit Rend from 40 to 30, and the upper limit of additional health provided from 120 to 75.”

For every loser there is at least one winner, naturally. Black Widow “was very much in need of optimization when evaluating the release experience of her abilities as well as a slightly increase to the threat of her ultimate ability.” Her Edge Dancer, Fleet Foot and Electro-Plasma Explosion abilities have all been juiced up.

In other news, Sea king Namor is better at throwing eggs, and Squirrel Girl’s Squirrel Tsunami has undergone a sinister evolution. The tsunami’s component squirrels will now “rush towards the nearest enemy after bouncing instead