Season 5.5’s balance update is less “everyone gets a prize” and more a targeted tune-up. Vanguards get small but meaningful tweaks, several Duelists gain damage or utility, and Strategists — especially Luna Snow and Ultron — pick up the biggest structural changes. Team-Up anchors are also being rethought, with health bonuses stripped away or moved into new combos.
Vanguard changes in Season 5.5
The tank lineup isn’t being rebuilt from scratch, but the patch nudges durability and control in a few focused places.
| Hero | Change type | Key details |
|---|---|---|
| Emma Frost | Mixed | Base Health 550 → 600, removes Team-Up Anchor +100 Health |
| Peni Parker | Nerf | Base Health 750 → 700 |
| The Thing | Buff | Stone Haymaker % max HP damage 8% → 10%, anti-mobility field 3s → 5s |
| Thor | Buff | Storm Surge dash can now be steered in any direction during the move |
Emma Frost loses the flat +100 health she previously gained as a Team-Up Anchor, but her base health rises from 550 to 600. In practice, she is slightly less tanky when the old anchor bonus was active, and slightly tougher without it. Combined with her new place in Chilling Assault alongside Luna Snow, she shifts from “anchor tank” into a more flexible Vanguard who no longer depends on a specific partner for survivability.
Peni Parker goes the opposite way. Her base health drops from 750 to 700, shaving off some forgiveness in low and mid ranks where SP//dr has been notoriously hard to kill. Nothing else in her kit changes in this patch, so her play pattern is intact but less forgiving when caught without Nest or cooldowns.
The Thing leans harder into anti-tank and anti-dive duty. Stone Haymaker now scales at 10% of the target’s maximum health per hit instead of 8%, making his punches bite significantly more into big bodies. The lingering anti-mobility field after Yancy Street Charge extends from three seconds to five, so divers and mobile heroes stay grounded for longer if they choose bad engages.
Thor finally gets steering on Storm Surge. Instead of being locked into a straight line once the dash starts, he can now curve or fully redirect the dash mid-flight. That makes it far easier to adjust after a miss, drag an enemy around a corner, or surf through cover to peel for the backline.
Duelist changes: more damage, slightly pricier ults
Duelists see a spread of small number changes, with a few meaningful quality-of-life updates that will show up strongly in real matches.
| Hero | Change type | Key details |
|---|---|---|
| Blade | Buff | Ancestral Sword 24 → 26, Whirlwind Slash 15 → 16, Bloodline Awakening healing penalty 35% → 25% |
| Daredevil | Small nerf | Removes Team-Up Anchor +25 Health |
| Human Torch | Buff | Fire Cluster damage 5 → 5.5, less spread, falloff tightened to 20m; Blazing Blast charge 3s → 2.5s, damage 40 → 45 |
| Phoenix | Buff | Phoenix summon during Endsong Inferno 400 → 500 Health |
| Psylocke | Ult nerf | Dance of the Butterfly energy cost 2800 → 3400 |
| Scarlet Witch | Buff | Chthonian Burst charge rate per Chaos Control hit 0.08 → 0.1, Dark Seal projectile 40 → 60 m/s and no spawn delay, Reality Erasure pull 2.4 → 3 m/s |
| The Punisher | Buff | Adjudication damage per hit 19 → 20 |
| Wolverine | QoL buff | Last Stand can now target walls for its landing point |
Blade gets tangible help. Both of his primary sword hits hit harder — Ancestral Sword climbs from 24 to 26 damage per hit and Whirlwind Slash from 15 to 16. Those numbers look small, but they lower the number of swings needed to finish squishier targets and tighten combo windows. More importantly, Bloodline Awakening’s self-healing penalty drops from 35% reduced healing to 25%, so committing his awakening no longer punishes sustain as heavily.
Daredevil is touched very lightly. He loses the Team-Up Anchor’s +25 health bonus, shaving a sliver of survivability off the top. His damage, overshield generation, and deflect mechanics remain intact, so this is more a nudge than a rework of his dominance.
Human Torch is pushed further into close-range brawler territory. Fire Cluster gets a tighter spread and its pellet damage goes from 5 to 5.5, while maximum damage falloff now kicks in at 20 meters instead of 30. Up close, that makes him significantly scarier; at longer ranges, the trade-off is steeper. Blazing Blast charges faster (3 seconds down to 2.5) and its impact damage moves from 40 to 45, restoring some of the pressure that earlier nerfs had trimmed away.
Phoenix sees her ultimate’s summon become harder to delete. The Phoenix that appears during Endsong Inferno now has 500 health instead of 400. In casual matches this will help it survive random chip, while organized teams will need to commit more shots if they want to remove it on reaction.
Psylocke pays more for her nuke. Dance of the Butterfly’s energy requirement jumps from 2800 to 3400, a substantial increase that reduces how often she can carpet-bomb entire teams. Nothing compensatory is added to the rest of her kit here, so she leans even harder on playing clean neutral to justify that ult charge.
Scarlet Witch remains a niche pick, but the kit becomes more responsive. Chthonian Burst (her charged right-click burst fed by Chaos Control) stocks up charge faster with each tick, rising from 0.08 to 0.1 per hit. Dark Seal’s projectile speed jumps from 40 m/s to 60 m/s and it no longer waits before spawning its Spell Field, which makes stuns more reactive instead of purely pre-placed zoning tools. During Reality Erasure, the enemy pull speed during the cast accelerates from 2.4 m/s to 3 m/s, so caught targets are dragged into the blast radius more decisively.
The Punisher gets a quiet but real time-to-kill buff. Adjudication’s bullets now deal 20 damage instead of 19. On paper that’s a single point; in practice it shifts breakpoints against specific HP pools, especially once headshots and damage buffs enter the equation.
Wolverine doesn’t gain raw power, but his Last Stand ultimate finally stops losing fights to map geometry. The landing reticle can now be locked onto walls as well as floor, which makes it much easier to secure a landing point in cluttered environments and reduces those awkward moments where a juggle leads to a harmless fall.
Strategist changes: Luna Snow and Ultron headline the patch
The support and hybrid Strategists are where Season 5.5 has the greatest impact. Energy costs are adjusted on high-impact ultimates, while Luna Snow and Ultron gain new tools that change how they anchor comps.
| Hero | Change type | Key details |
|---|---|---|
| Gambit | Ult nerf | Ragin’ Royal Flush energy cost 4300 → 4500 |
| Invisible Woman | Ult nerf | Invisible Boundary energy cost 4300 → 4500 |
| Loki | Buff | Doppelgänger damage and healing ratio 80% → 90% |
| Luna Snow | Buff | Absolute Zero faster startup and 60 → 80 m/s speed, new self Idol Aura / Number One Idol with 10% self-heal conversion, +10% Healing, +10% Damage |
| Rocket Raccoon | Ult nerf | C.Y.A. energy cost 4000 → 4300 |
| Ultron | Major buff | Imperative: Patch can deploy 2 drones; Imperative: Firewall now requires a patched target, grants Ultron +65 Health, allies +50 Health, chosen ally +20% Move Speed and +10% Damage; Rage of Ultron energy cost 3700 → 4000 |
Gambit, Invisible Woman, and Rocket Raccoon all pay slightly more for their ultimates. Ragin’ Royal Flush and Invisible Boundary both rise from 4300 to 4500 energy, while C.Y.A. goes from 4000 to 4300. Their base kits and utility remain unchanged, so they will still shape fights in similar ways, just with a longer ramp to each game-changing ultimate.
Loki gets closer to his early-season impact. Doppelgängers now output 90% of Loki’s damage and healing instead of 80%. With both clones out, that’s a significant bump to sustained chip, burst windows, and area healing, rewarding good clone placement and timing more than before.
Luna Snow is rebuilt as less of a pure backline healer and more of a self-sufficient playmaker. Absolute Zero, her freeze projectile, starts up faster and travels at 80 m/s instead of 60, which makes it easier to tag both divers and mid-range targets before they can dodge. On top of that, she gains a new self-applied buff tied to Idol Aura / Number One Idol. When this self aura is active, 10% of the healing she sends to allies is mirrored back to her, and she gains a 10% healing boost and a 10% damage boost while it is running. That combination makes her less fragile when playing aggressively and rewards proactive aura usage rather than passive backline positioning.
Ultron receives the largest functional rework in the patch, firmly pushing him into “real main healer” territory with added utility.
- Imperative: Patch can now maintain two drones at once instead of one, allowing him to support two different allies simultaneously.
- Imperative: Firewall now requires a target who already has Imperative: Patch. When used, Ultron gains 65 bonus health, the targeted ally and nearby teammates receive 50 bonus health, and the selected ally also picks up a 20% movement speed bonus plus 10% increased damage.
- Rage of Ultron’s energy cost increases from 3700 to 4000, trading slightly more charge time for the new baseline throughput from his drones and Firewall.
These changes shift Ultron from being mostly an off-healer with poke damage into a dedicated enabler. Two drones let him keep both a frontline and a mobile damage dealer stabilized, while Firewall’s new buff package gives him a real “go” button for engages and counter-engages.
Team-Up adjustments and removed anchors
Season 5.5 also rearranges several Team-Up abilities and removes some of the flat health padding they previously granted.
- Chilling Assault (Luna Snow – Iron Fist / Emma Frost) now folds Emma into Luna’s ice duo. Through this Team-Up, Emma unlocks Iced Out Diamond, giving her an additional ice-themed ability when paired with Luna.
- Explosive Entanglement (Gambit – Magneto / Rogue) is extended to Rogue. When Rogue partners with Gambit, she gains Hearts As One, a new ability layered onto their combo.
- Mental Projection (Emma Frost – Psylocke) is gone. The psychic Team-Up is removed, and Emma loses the +100 health she used to gain as the Team-Up Anchor. Psylocke shifts to a different Team-Up slot instead of leaning on this link.
- Sword of Duality (Cloak & Dagger – Hawkeye / Psylocke) now gives Psylocke Light & Dark Darts when she’s teamed with Cloak & Dagger, swapping her previous synergy with Emma for a new tool.
On top of the Team-Up section, there is a specific callout for Bestial Hunt, the Daredevil–The Punisher Team-Up. The change here matches Daredevil’s individual notes: he loses the +25 health bonus from being the Team-Up Anchor. That trims a bit of survivability from a composition that was already overloaded with damage and self-sustain.
Overall, the 20251212 balance update dials back some of Season 5’s most extreme moments without walking away from the higher-power environment. Supports and Strategists gain more levers to pull, several underperforming Duelists get a slight edge, and Team-Ups are shuffled to open new pairing possibilities while removing a few passive health crutches. Expect early weeks of Season 5.5 to be defined by experiments around Luna Snow–Emma Frost duos, resurgent Ultron comps, and a new look at Thor, Human Torch, and Blade in ranked play.
