Marvel Rivals Season 7 arrives on March 20, 2026, at 9 AM UTC, bringing a new Strategist hero, a Convergence map, two fresh Team-Up abilities, a global ultimate energy nerf, and individual balance changes touching more than 20 heroes. It is the first time every character in the roster receives a universal adjustment in the same patch.
Quick answer: Season 7 goes live on March 20 at 9 AM UTC. White Fox joins as a Strategist, ultimate charge rates drop 20 percent across the board, and heroes like Hulk, Blade, and Elsa Bloodstone see significant kit changes.
Release time: March 20, 2026 at 9:00 AM UTC
White Fox — New Strategist Hero
White Fox is a martial-arts-focused Strategist who heals allies and damages enemies with Yeowoo Guseul (Fox Marbles). She passively accumulates Kumiho energy throughout a match, which can be unleashed to buff teammates and charm opponents. A partial transformation lets her shift into a fox for rapid repositioning, while her Ultimate reveals a full nine-tailed form that tears through enemies with claw attacks, heals nearby allies, and grants them Lifesteal bonuses.
Her toolkit covers healing, crowd control, mobility, buffs, debuffs, and damage — making her one of the most versatile Strategists on the roster at launch.
Global Ultimate Energy Nerf
The single largest systemic change in Season 7 is a blanket 20 percent reduction to ultimate charge rates for every hero. The tuning differs slightly by role:
| Role | Damage-to-Energy Conversion | Passive Energy Regen |
|---|---|---|
| Vanguards & Duelists | 90% → 70% | 12/s → 11/s |
| Strategists | 90% → 75% (damage & healing) | 12/s → 8/s |
Vanguards and Duelists lose more from damage conversion but keep most of their passive regen, while Strategists take a heavier hit to passive generation. The practical effect is fewer ultimates per match and more emphasis on neutral play. Strategists who sit safely in the backline can no longer coast to their ult on passive energy alone, and poke-heavy Duelists lose some of the charge advantage they held over dive heroes.
Vanguard Balance Changes
| Hero | Key Changes |
|---|---|
| Angela | Seraphic Soar charge conversion reduced (45% → 35%); Assassin's Charge cooldown doubled (3s → 6s); Shielded Stance charge conversion buffed (25% → 35%); Axes of Ichors bonus health increased; Ultimate spear throw damage raised from 10 to 40, spear health reduced from 800 to 650 |
| Captain America | Toggle-mode Leading Dash no longer interrupts the last four ranged Sentinel Strike shield throws; Freedom Charge ult energy effect for allies reduced from 30% to 20% |
| Deadpool (Vanguard) | Upgraded damage reduction lowered from 40% to 30%; Ultimate cooldown increased from 45s to 60s |
| Doctor Strange | Shield of the Seraphim value reduced from 800 to 700 |
| Emma Frost | Diamond Form damage reduction cut from 25% to 20%; Ultimate damage falloff at 30m improved from 50% to 70%; gains 20% damage reduction during Psionic Seduction |
| Hulk | Indestructible Guard absorbed-damage-to-ult conversion raised from 100% to 130%; Gamma Burst now has two charges (6s cooldown each, 2s between uses), single-hit damage reduced from 75 to 65 |
| Magneto | Meteor M projectile speed increased from 30 m/s to 45 m/s; Metal Bulwark cooldown raised from 12s to 15s; Iron Bulwark cooldown reduced from 12s to 10s |
Angela's rework shifts her identity away from being a flying terror and toward ground-based combat. The Assassin's Charge cooldown doubling is the headline nerf, but increased axe bonus health and a quadrupled ultimate spear throw damage partially compensate. Hulk's double Gamma Burst charges are the standout buff among Vanguards — the ability to clap twice with only a two-second gap between uses dramatically improves his disruption and combo potential, even though each individual hit deals less damage.
Duelist Balance Changes
| Hero | Key Changes |
|---|---|
| Black Panther | Cooldown removed on the second jump of Subtle Step |
| Blade | Shotgun projectile speed up (150 → 180 m/s); Ancestral Sword range up (4.5m → 5m); excess lifesteal now grants bonus health (max 75, 50% conversion); lifesteal ratio up (65% → 70%); Ultimate lifesteal works without switching to Bloodline Awakening and converts to bonus health; healing reduction to enemies doubled (20% → 40%) |
| Daredevil | Devil's Chain end damage reduced (35 → 25); bonus max health reduced (125 → 100); Sonic Pursuit damage reduction halved (20% → 10%) |
| Deadpool (Duelist) | Base health increased from 250 to 275; Ultimate cooldown raised from 45s to 60s |
| Elsa Bloodstone | Instinct stacks lost on defeat increased from 1 to 2; Ruthless Pursuit and Helix Advance bonus health reduced from 40 to 30 |
| Hawkeye | Base health reduced from 275 to 250 |
| Human Torch | Fire Cluster ammo fully recovers after 1s of not using Blaze Cluster |
| Iron Man | Armor Overdrive extends by 2s per KO while active; startup reduced from 1.8s to 1.3s |
| Magik | Umbral Incursion hitbox radius more than doubled (0.45m → 1m) in both forms; Magik Slash max charged damage reduced (90 → 81); Darkchild startup reduced from 1s to 0.8s |
| Psylocke | Psionic Crossbow cooldown reduction on hit increased (0.25s → 0.3s); Wing Shurikens damage up (8 → 9) |
| Scarlet Witch | Chaos Control gains damage falloff starting at 10m (90% at max range); base damage increased from 80/s to 85/s; Chthonian Burst charge per hit increased (0.1 → 0.15) |
| Winter Soldier | Roterstern Spell Field damage reduced from 65 to 55 |
Blade receives the most comprehensive buff of any hero in the patch. The new bonus-health-from-lifesteal mechanic addresses his core survivability problem, and the ultimate's 40 percent healing reduction gives him a genuine anti-sustain niche. Daredevil, by contrast, takes another round of nerfs after already being adjusted in Season 6.5 — his damage breakpoints and tankiness are both meaningfully lower. Elsa Bloodstone's changes are relatively modest: she loses two Instinct stacks per death instead of one and gains slightly less bonus health from dashes, but her core damage output and ultimate remain untouched.
Strategist Balance Changes
| Hero | Key Changes |
|---|---|
| Deadpool (Strategist) | Ultimate cooldown increased from 45s to 60s |
| Gambit | Ragin' Royal Flush charge acceleration to allies reduced (30% → 20%); movement boost reduced (50% → 40%); single-target explosive damage ratio increased (20% → 25%) |
| Invisible Woman | Guardian Shield healing cut from 25/s to 15/s; Covert Advance healing over time increased from 20/s to 30/s |
| Luna Snow | Idol Aura now reduces Ice Arts cooldown by 2s whenever a hero with the aura participates in a KO |
Gambit's ultimate adjustments are contentious. While two of the three components are nerfed, the damage boost — widely considered the most impactful part — actually goes up. Combined with the global ult charge reduction applying equally to everyone, some players argue the net result is closer to a lateral move than a true nerf. Invisible Woman takes the hardest individual hit in the patch: Guardian Shield's healing rate drops by 40 percent, though she gains more self-healing while invisible.
New Team-Up Abilities and Removals
Two new Team-Ups debut in Season 7:
- Blessing of the Kumiho (Luna Snow + White Fox): Luna launches a spirit fox in a straight line that heals allies, damages enemies, and charms them into briefly walking toward her. Luna gains a movement speed boost afterward.
- Cosmic Cyclone (Adam Warlock + Storm): After activating Soaring Surge, Adam Warlock leaves a trail of charged energy that heals and speeds up allies who pass through it. His own flight speed also increases.
Two existing Team-Ups are retired: Jeff-Nado (Jeff the Land Shark + Storm) and Duality Dance (Adam Warlock + Luna Snow).
Lower Manhattan Map and Map Pool Updates
Lower Manhattan is a new Convergence map set in a section of New York locked down after an incursion by 2099's Alchemax Corporation. The map will not be available at launch — it arrives with the April 2 update. Separately, the Shin-Shibuya map returns to the Competitive map pool starting in Season 7.
Ranked Mode Adjustments
Competitive mode receives three notable changes. Hero bans per team increase from two to three, with each ban phase shortened to keep draft times manageable. Placement Matches now factor in personal performance: after completing all 10 matches, the system evaluates individual play and adjusts the starting rank up or down by a maximum of one division.
New Costumes and Accessories
Three new costumes arrive during Season 7:
- "Odinforce" Ultron
- "Marauder Marksman" The Punisher
- "Yoon Ji-Woo" White Fox — this skin introduces customization options, letting you swap accessories and choose between different appearances for White Fox's Kumiho Form.
New accessories are also coming for White Fox, Iron Fist, Hawkeye, Mister Fantastic, Ultron, Adam Warlock, Peni Parker, Venom, Hulk, and Elsa Bloodstone.
Times Square Hub Updates and Free Emote
The Times Square social hub gains an Albums feature for permanently storing and sharing Photo Mode captures. Other players can like and interact with your shared Albums. An "April Pool's Day" celebration runs from April 1 through April 3 — logging in during that window earns the Jeff's Rodeo emote for free.
Crowd Control Changes Deferred to Season 7.5
NetEase confirmed that nerfs to subsequent crowd control effects are planned but will not ship with the Season 7 launch. Those adjustments are scheduled for the mid-season 7.5 update, alongside additional hero tweaks for characters like Human Torch and Iron Man.
Season 7 is defined less by any single hero addition and more by the global ultimate economy overhaul. Whether the 20 percent charge reduction is aggressive enough to shift the meta away from ultimate-centric play remains to be seen once the patch goes live on March 20. The increase to three competitive bans per team also gives players more tools to deal with persistently dominant picks like Gambit and Elsa Bloodstone, even if their individual nerfs land lighter than many hoped.