Source: NetEase

Marvel Rivals, a PVP co-op shooter based on the Marvel IP, will launch its Season 9.5 update on August 7.

Season 9.5 serves as the second half of the 'Mystery of Thebes' season, introducing The Hood (Parker Robbins) as a new hero. Well-known as a supervillain in Marvel Comics and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Hood joins the battlefield in Marvel Rivals as a Vanguard, filling the tank role. The update also features new special swimsuit costumes, customizable animations for Lady Loki, and storage optimization for PC and console users.

The new Vanguard, The Hood, is a gunslinger who straddles the line between human villain and demon. He supports team combat by laying down constant suppressive fire with his dual pistols and uses his mystical cloak to harness the chaos energy of Oblivion to provide shields for his allies. Upon activating his ultimate skill, he transforms into the full-demon 'Dormammu's emissary' (Gun Demon), piercing through enemies with armor-piercing rounds.

An additional update on August 13 will kick off the second part of the Summer Festival, which has been a highlight throughout the season. Along with new special swimsuit costumes, Lady Loki's costume will receive an upgrade, allowing players to customize animation effects directly in the outfit menu. The popular 'Krakoa Reel' event, where players can earn limited-edition skins through a mini fishing game, will also return for a limited time.

The Season 9.5 update introduces extensive game texture compression technology, significantly improving storage efficiency. By reducing unnecessary storage usage while maintaining graphical quality, the update saves approximately 40GB of space on the PC version and about 15GB on the console version.

Details regarding the Season 9.5 launch, update content, and hero balance patches can be found in the official website's announcements.