Marvel Rivals players have been anticipating Marvel’s Daywalker since the release of the game, and that hype has only grown stronger as the hero shooter has continually teased his arrival. Well, Blade is coming to Marvel Rivals on Aug. 8 — and based on his early gameplay footage, perhaps the wait was worth it.
Surprising absolutely no one, Blade’s set to be a Duelist who excels at close to mid range. He’s packed with his trusty sword and a shotgun, and he can block incoming damage for a short period of time. He’s fast, too, and can be seen tearing through the battlefield within seconds with an ability that launches him forward. He’s like a mix of Punisher and Psylocke, basically. His ultimate draws upon the power of Dracula to slice and dice in a broad space in front of him, allowing Blade to cut up multiple enemies at once — even if they’re in the air. In this brief clip, Blade joins Iron Man and Storm in the sky only to promptly destroy them. He lands facing away from the carnage, because cool guys never look back.
Needless to say, people are pumped to see Blade in action and are already declaring him to be their next main. Sure, this happens any time a new hero is introduced, but they don’t all get revealed with this much style.
“They absolutely cooked with the soundtrack, makes reveal 100x better,” reads one comment on YouTube. “From sleeping in Wakanda to aura farming,” another reads.
Blade will hit Marvel Rivals alongside a number of other additions and changes, like a new map and mode. A handful of heroes will be leaving existing team-ups, but new characters will be taking their place. Blade’s being added to the Lunar Force team-up, where Cloak and Dagger help other heroes temporarily become invisible. Here’s the list of adjustments straight from NetEase:
We’re removing Guardian Revival (Adam Warlock – Mantis/Star-Lord) and Atlas Bond (Iron Fist – Luna Snow) from play. Loki is leaving the Ragnarok Rebirth (Hela – Thor/Loki) team-up. Two brand new team-ups are being added: Duality Dance (Adam Warlock – Luna Snow) and Vibrant Vitality (Mantis – Groot/Loki). Also, some team-ups are welcoming new members: Iron Fist joins Chilling Assault (Luna Snow – Hawkeye), Star-Lord connects to the Rocket Network (Rocket Raccoon – Peni Parker), and Blade launches into Lunar Force (Cloak & Dagger – Moon Knight).
The multiplayer experience will also see some improvements, NetEase says. All in-game voice chat will be screened by the system and possibly flagged for human review. Jerks who leave matches early will now also suffer greater penalties, including longer bans and bigger point deductions. The angels who stay, meanwhile, will get some points at the end rather than being unceremoniously unplugged from the match.
“If someone leaves due to unavoidable system issues, we’ll review it and handle penalties fairly, and we’re speeding up the appeals process for mistaken bans,” NetEase says.
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