Marvel Rivals Season 5 Patch Notes: Gambit Hero, New Map, Nerfs and Buffs

NetEase has finally released Marvel Rivals Season 5, and by the looks of it, it’s one of the most exciting ones yet. In Season 4.5, the devs introduced multiple experimental features and new game modes, like the Zombies PvE mode during Halloween, which fans cheered for and called for to be kept as a permanent mode.

However, with Season 5’s arrival, the mode is going to stick around for a bit longer than intended as a new hero takes center stage. The new season will bring a new storyline and a fresh Battle Pass stacked with 10 stunning costumes for your favorite heroes.

So, here’s everything you need to know about Marvel Rivals Season 5 in the patch notes, explained below.

Marvel Rivals Season 5 Version 20251114 Full Patch Notes

Gambit Joins the Roster as Strategist

Gambit joins Marvel Rivals Season 5 as a Strategist (healer), and he’s the 44th hero in the roster. He is a master strategist who blends kinetic energy control with his iconic playing cards, agile movement, and expert combat skills to create a unique playstyle.

He can combine his chronovium-enhanced cards to unlock kinetic shifting to heal allies or deal damage by knocking back enemies and applying anti-heal to them. He can also channel energy into his staff and use martial arts to take down enemies. When activating his Ult, Gambit launches charged aces at all nearby teammates, supercharging their jump abilities and adding explosive power to their attacks. He’s already the new healer meta, according to fans.

New 18v18 Conquest Mode and Map

The new Marvel Rivals season also brings a new 18 v 18 Conquest (Annihilation) game mode that players will be able to play on November 27, in the new Grand Garden map that was teased in the Gambit and Rogue Season 5 story trailer.

This 36-player mode will be revealed in the near future, which already promises chaos and unforgettable fun for fans.

New Grand Garden Adventure Battle Pass

The latest Marvel Rivals Battle Pass is called Grand Garden Adventure, and it brings 10 all-new costumes as well as more cosmetic items to the game. Here are all the skins included in the battle pass:

• The Thing: Blue Thing
• Hela: Merciful Queen
• Groot: Big Buddy
• Namor: Monstro King
• The Punisher: Franken-Castle
• Ultron: Infinity Ultron (MCU)
• Black Widow: Midnight Suspense
• Angela: Odin’s Beautiful Daughter (Immortal Weapon)
• Adam Warlock: Magus
• Scarlet Witch: Witch of the Evil Eye

You’ll be able to purchase the Luxury Battle Pass for 990 Lattice in-game, as several items in the pass can also be claimed for free during gameplay progression.

New Stories

• New Gambit Lore – Deal of a Lifetime
• New Serial – Love is a Battlefield

New Systems

• Home background can now be set to randomly rotate.
• Added All-New Interactive Emotes: Now you can join other heroes in performing interactive emotes and engage together on the battlefield! Some existing dance emotes have been upgraded to interactive versions.
• Cross-progression account linking is now fully available.
• Xbox: Added new Discord linking and cross-platform chat.
• XBOX&PC: Added an option to hide unlinked Discord friends in-game.

New In Store

• Gambit – Thieves Guildmaster Bundle
• Magneto – Temporal Tyrant Bundle
• Gambit – Thieves Guildmaster Emoji Bundle
• Gambit – Crimson Heart

Free Units and Skin For First Anniversary Event

Marvel Rivals will celebrate its first anniversary next month, and ahead of that, NetEase has announced a celebration event for all. As part of the event, which begins on the November 27 patch, players will be able to claim 2,500 Units for absolutely free!

But that’s not all – players will also be able to claim a free Business Suit Jeff skin once they log in and complete the required task.

Season Event

Leave your mark in the season event, Elders’ Chessboard. Complete missions to earn a FREE costume: Spider-Man – Iron Spider!

Team-Up Ability Adjustments

Every Marvel Rivals season brings massive changes to the Team-Up abilities, and three new abilities have arrived in Season 5.

The first new ability is Explosive Entanglement. The Team-Up anchor is Gambit, and the sword is back! Magneto uses Gambit’s power to replace his primary fire with a greatsword that explodes on impact and delivers a delayed second hit to damaged enemies.

The second new team-up is Sword of Duality. The Team-Up anchor for this one is Cloak and Dagger. Hawkeye uses Cloak & Dagger’s power to fire a piercing wave with his Crescent Slash. Allies are healed and buffed, while enemies are damaged and afflicted with anti-heal.

The third and final latest team-up is Blade of Khonshu, and the team-up anchor is Moon Knight. Blade uses Moon Knight’s power to dash toward enemies for a flurry of sword strikes. Each slash launches a bouncing moon-blade projectile to punish groups of enemies.

Furthermore, starting with the launch of Season 5, Lunar Force (Cloak & Dagger / Blade / Moon Knight) and Operation: Microchip (The Punisher / Black Widow) are being retired. At the same time, Magneto is being removed from Mental Projection (Emma Frost / Psylocke), and Hawkeye is being removed from Chilling Assault (Luna Snow / Iron Fist).

Another team-up update is that Black Widow is now added to the Primal Flame Team-Up, where the team-up anchor is Phoenix. Widow can now use the power of the Phoenix Force to freely swap her primary fire to exploding AoE rounds that heal allies, but are unable to deal critical damage to enemies.

Hero Nerfs and Buffs

Marvel Rivals Season 5 will bring multiple buffs across the hero roster, with Vanguards like Captain America, The Thing, Hulk, and Peni Parker receiving significant balance adjustments. Multiple characters are seeing major changes as part of the scheduled balance adjustments, which will be revealed later this week. Captain America’s ultimate will see an accelerating ally ult charge, and Peni Parker’s webs will now heal allies.

With Duelists, Wolverine and Spider-Man will get buffs this season, and in Strategists, Loki and Cloak & Dagger will get buffs in Season 5.

Times Square Non-Combat Map

NetEase has also revealed that a non-combat social lobby for up to 100 players will be launched in the form of a new Marvel Rivals Times Square map. Players will be able to host games, hang out, dance, watch videos, read books, and emote together.

New Accessories and College Perks

New Marvel Rivals accessories have been announced for Thor (Throg), Loki (Alligator Loki), Moon Knight (Khonshu), Star-Lord (V-Pet), Mantis (Drax), Gambit (Rogue), Human Torch (Bag-Man), Magik (Kitty Pryde), Wolverine (X-23), and Phoenix (Cyclops).

Additionally, the selection of free costume trials available as part of the College Student Perks is rotating at the start of Season 5, with 10 new costumes and MVPs coming. Students will need to verify their e-mails again to qualify for the same.

Competitive Changes

To ease competitive pressure, we’ve adjusted ranked rewards:

1. Gold-tier rewards remain the same: one costume per half-season. Season 5.0 Gold-tier costume reward is Gambit – Sacrificial Pawn.
2. Crests of Honor (inc. Top 500) and Nameplate Frame rewards are now granted once per season at the season’s end.

Competitive Team Limit Adjustments:

1. Bronze to Grandmaster: Team up with any party size except five-stack.
2. Celestial/Eternity/One Above All: Only solo or duo queue allowed.

Placement Matches

From Season 5 onward, your first 10 ranked matches are Placement Matches. Your performance determines your starting tier.

Placement Rules

1.1 Predicted vs. Actual Rank

• During placement matches, you will receive a predicted rank reflecting your estimated skill level. This predicted rank is used for matchmaking and team formation during placement matches.
• Predicted rank is not your final rank. After completing all 10 placement matches, you will be assigned your actual rank, which may differ from your predicted rank.
• If you don’t finish all placement matches this season, you will not receive any season rewards.
• If you complete placement matches in the first half of the season, you’ll keep that rank in the second half. If you don’t finish placements in the first half, you must complete them in the second half to be eligible for ranked rewards.

Reward Rules:

• To earn the Gold tier costume reward for a half-season, you must complete 10 ranked matches in that season’s half and finish at Gold rank or higher at the end of the half-season.
• To receive season-end rewards, you must complete placement matches and meet the required rank at season’s end.

Example: If you finish 9 placement matches in the first half of the season with an estimated rank of Platinum III, but don’t complete the 10th match, you won’t get the Gold costume reward. If you complete your 10th placement match in the second half of the season, you’ll be eligible for season-end rewards but not both halves’ Gold costumes.

If you play 10 ranked matches in both halves of the season, you’ll be eligible for both Gold costumes and the season-end rewards. Additionally, if you don’t finish 10 placement matches in Season 5, your Season 6 initial estimated rank for placement matches will be Platinum III.

1.2 First-Time Placement

When doing placements for the first time (regardless of season), your initial estimated rank is determined by two criteria:

• Initial Estimated Rank A: If you played 10 or more ranked matches in Season 4, your Season 5 placement matches estimated starting rank is your Season 4 final rank minus 3 divisions. Please note that players ranked in the Celestial II, Celestial I, Eternity, and One Above All in Season 4 will be uniformly reset to Grandmaster II as their initial estimated rank for the new season. Players in Bronze III, Bronze II, Bronze I, and Silver III will start at Bronze III as their initial estimated rank.
• Initial Estimated Rank B: We’ll also check your highest historical rank from any previous season with 10+ matches, subtract some sub-tiers, and set this as your historical initial rank for placement matches (capped at Platinum II).

Your higher result from A or B becomes your initial predicted rank. Example: If A gives Gold I and B gives Platinum III, you start placement matches at Platinum III.

If you do not complete 10 placement matches in Season 5, the same rules will apply the next time you do placements.

1.3 Subsequent Placements

If you’ve completed 10 placements and received a true rank in a previous season, future initial estimated ranks are based on your last season’s final rank minus 3 sub-tiers.

Again, players ranked in the Celestial II, Celestial I, Eternity, and One Above All will be uniformly reset to Grandmaster II as their initial estimated rank for the new season. Players in Bronze III, Bronze II, Bronze I, and Silver III will start at Bronze III as their initial estimated rank.

In such circumstances, the highest rank achieved previously will no longer be taken into account.

1.4 New Players

If you have never played 10 ranked matches in a season, you are considered a new player and will start at Silver III estimated rank.

2 Match Results

Your final placement after completing placement matches is closely tied to wins and losses across the ten matches. Each victory or defeat moves your current estimated rank and shows roughly where you stand. After all placement matches:

• You can be placed up to 1–2 divisions above your previous season’s final rank, but you will not be placed higher than Celestial I.
• Your lowest possible placement varies by tier but will not be lower than Bronze III.
• If you go 5 wins and 5 losses, your final placement will be close to your initial estimated rank.

3 Placement Matchmaking

3.1 Team Restrictions

While any player is in placement matches, they may only queue in teams of up to three players. For teams that include at least one player in placement matches, the difference between the highest-ranked and lowest-ranked player in the party must be less than 3 divisions. If stricter party limits apply (for example, if the party contains players at Celestial/Eternity/One Above All tiers), those stricter limits will take precedence.

3.2 Matchmaking Rules

If a team contains any player in placement matches, the matchmaking will use the highest-ranked player in the team as the search anchor when finding teammates and opponents.

4 Penalty Rules

1. If a player in placement matches experiences a disconnect, reconnect timeout, inactivity, or similar violation, penalties depend on timing:
   • If the match ends within 90 seconds of their disconnect:
     Normal settlement based on match result and stats; no penalty.
   • If the match ends more than 90 seconds after their disconnect, that player will be marked as a loss for the placement match, will receive a ranked suspension, and an offense count will be recorded, regardless of match outcome.
   • If the player is judged to have deliberately AFK: if the team wins, no penalty is applied; if the team loses, the placement match result is result is calculated, they receive a ranked suspension, and an offense count is recorded.
2. If squad members (members of your stack) of a player in placement matches experience a disconnect, reconnect timeout, or similar violation, penalties depend on timing:
   • If the match ends within 90 seconds of their disconnect:
     Normal settlement based on match result and stats; no penalty to the squad member.
   • If the match ends more than 90 seconds after the squad member disconnects: Victory: normal settlement; no penalty. Defeat: A loss will be recorded for the placement match player, but no ranked suspension.
3. If teammates (other players you get matched with) of a player in placement matches experience a disconnect, reconnect timeout, or similar violation, penalties depend on timing:
   • If the match ends within 90 seconds of the teammate’s disconnect:
     Normal settlement based on match result and stats.
   • If the match ends more than 90 seconds after the teammate disconnects: Victory: normal settlement; no penalty. Defeat: The match shall be deemed invalid, meaning the data from this match shall not be counted towards the rank calculation for the placement match player.

Twitch Drops

As Season 5.0 kicks off, get ready for a new round of Twitch Drops. Simply accumulate the required viewing time to claim your rewards. This round’s drops include the Phoenix – Will of Galacta costume along with related bundle content.

Drops Period: November 14, 2025, at 12 PM UTC to December 12, 2025, at 9 AM UTC.

Fixes and Optimizations

All Platforms

• Significant CPU logic and rendering performance improvements.

PC

• Intel® XeSS Frame Generation now supports non-Intel GPUs (requires Shader Model 6.4).
• Performance testing tool reworked for more accurate in-game CPU performance.
• CPU RHI thread consumption is now displayed for pinpointing CPU bottlenecks.

Console

• Major reduction in game client file size.

Heroes

• Peni Parker’s Venom Vision: We’ve fixed a bug where Peni Parker, while using the VEN#m costume, could spot Arachno-Mine outlines through walls. With great power comes great responsibility, and now, no more wall hacks! Her spider-sense is back to being street legal.
• Queen of the Dead’s Shield Shenanigans: In Marvel Zombies Nightmare IV difficulty, The Queen of The Dead’s overlapping shields were so tough that Magik’s Eldritch Whirl couldn’t scratch the surface. We’ve dispelled this dark sorcery; now Magik’s blade can cut through the chaos!
• Ultron’s Ulti-Undercut: When Ultron summoned his drone minions with his Ultimate Ability, allies and enemies alike couldn’t see their dazzling projectile effects or hear their menacing sounds. We’ve upgraded his programming. Now, Ultron’s army brings both the noise and the spectacle. Resistance is futile!

Are you excited for Marvel Rivals Season 5? Let us know in the comments below!