Marvel Rivals Season 3 live: our coverage of the new season's launch now that downtime has kicked in and the game is offline

Marvel Rivals Season 3 launches later today (July 11), adding Phoenix as a brand new Duelist. So far, we've gotten an in-depth look at the new Hero's moveset, a deep dive into the changes to Team Ups and Daily Missions, and an extended peek at Klyntar: Celestial Husk, the game's new Domination map.

Now that we're in the downtime of Marvel Rivals' next season, I'll be providing you with up-to-date information on what's set to change, what you'll want to be focusing on before the end of Season 2.5, and some impressions from my time playing the new season as part of my early access preview opportunity, provided by NetEase.

NetEase has now unveiled the next season of Marvel Rivals, revealing Phoenix's kit and a deep dive into the latest patch notes and balance changes. There's a new Domination map to look at, too: the dark and mysterious lair of the villainous Knull. If my early impressions are correct, Season 3 seriously shakes up the meta, especially with its new Team Ups for Heroes like Spider-Man and Wolverine.

Having covered Season 2.5's launch and the subsequent balancing changes to the Hero roster, I'm excited to see what this new era of Marvel Rivals has in store. I'm especially interested to see how the new release schedule - NetEase is planning a new Season, and two new Heroes every two months - will change the pace of the meta.

I've now spent hundreds of hours playing Marvel Rivals Competitive Mode since launch, mostly focusing on Vanguard Heroes like Venom and Magneto, but I'm really liking how Phoenix is shaping up pre-release. Here's the launch of Marvel Rivals Season 3 as it happens. I'll be covering today's launch live, focusing on the current downtime, and the early hours of Season 3.

Marvel Rivals Season 3 - cut to the chase

Looking for a quick overview? Here are the most important parts of Season 3 to know about:

  • Start time: July 11 at 7AM EDT / 4AM PDT / 12PM BST (after estimated downtime)
  • New Hero: Phoenix
  • New map: Klyntar - Celestial Husk (Domination)
  • Season event: Milano Repair Logs
  • Hero balancing
  • New Rank Rewards: Phoenix - Emerald Flames

Marvel Rivals Season 3 release date and estimated release time

Marvel Rivals Season 3 infographic

(Image credit: NetEase)

Marvel Rivals Season 3 will launch on July 11, 2025. Downtime is set for 5AM EDT / 2AM PDT / 10AM BST, and based on previous season launches, I expect it to last for two hours. Given this estimate, here's when I'd expect Season 3 to launch in your timezone:

  • 4am PDT
  • 7am EDT
  • 12pm BST
  • 1pm CEST
  • 8pm JST
  • 9pm AEST

Marvel Rivals Season 3 downtime is estimated to be 1-2 hours, though this is subject to change. I'll be keeping this part of our live coverage updated during downtime, and will bring you the news when servers go back online. You can also look out for intel over on the Marvel Rivals Twitter account.

Marvel Rivals Season 3 downtime

Marvel Rivals Season 3

(Image credit: NetEase)

Marvel Rivals Season 3 is now in downtime. It went offline at the times below:

  • 2am PDT
  • 5am EDT
  • 10am BST
  • 11am CEST
  • 6pm JST
  • 7pm AEST

Downtime has typically lasted two hours for major seasonal updates to Marvel Rivals. I expect it to be the same this time around. NetEase has also added an in-game message showing the duration of downtime at an estimated two hours.

Login Error screen showing estimated downtime

(Image credit: NetEase)

Marvel Rivals Phoenix

Marvel Rivals

(Image credit: NetEase Games)

Phoenix is the new Hero being added to Marvel Rivals Season 3. I've spent some time trying her out, and she's primarily a ranged Duelist who works best at off-angles. She plays very similarly to Hela, though she has a passive that stacks damage on enemies with each hit. Every third hit triggers an explosion, dealing extra damage, hitting any nearby enemies, and tagging them with a Phoenix mark. As such, Phoenix is extremely powerful when teams are grouped together.

As a Duelist, Phoenix is mostly about dealing huge amounts of damage, though she's also great at removing enemy support passives, like Loki clones and Peni Parker mines. Her Ultimate is a dive bomb attack that deals massive area of effect damage, before returning Phoenix back to where she triggered the ability. She has a new Team Up called Primal Flame, which buffs Wolverine with flame damage with his Primal Leap. She also applies life steal to Wolverine's attacks once the Team Up is triggered.

Marvel Rivals Season 3 patch notes

Marvel Rivals Patch Notes 20250711

(Image credit: NetEase)

NetEase has now released the full patch notes for Marvel Rivals Season 3. It outlines loads of bug fixes for Heroes like The Thing, as well as some adjustments to in-game audio. There's a new Accessory system too, allowing players to add small trinkets onto Heroes for an extra bit of visual flair. You can read the full patch notes here.

Marvel Rivals Season 3 new map

Klyntar Celestial Husk map

(Image credit: NetEase)

Klyntar: Celestial Husk is a brand new Domination map set to be added in Marvel Rivals Season 3. It's the setting for Knull's seasonal debut, and it's appropriately menacing. Having spent some time with the new map, I can say it's one of the best released so far. There are tight corridors, perfect for the new Hero Phoenix to unleash AoE attacks in. There are a lot of possibilities for flanking and off-angle play, too. You can check out a deep dive on the new map in the video below:

Marvel Rivals Ranked changes

Knull sits with his head down, shrouded in darkness

(Image credit: NetEase)

In addition to the new map, there's going to be a rank reset for Competitive Mode players. If you've reached the higher tiers in Marvel Rivals, expect to be demoted by seven tiers upon the launch of Season 3. This means that if you hit Diamond I in Season 2.5, you'll go down to Gold II. There's a Phoenix skin to earn by reaching Gold by the end of this season, and several nameplates and banners corresponding to Grandmaster, Celestial, and Eternity ranks.

Marvel Rivals Season 3 live coverage

Welcome to my live coverage of Marvel Rivals Season 3

Rocket Raccoon

(Image credit: NetEase)

Welcome to my live coverage of Marvel Rivals Season 3, which is set to launch after some downtime. There's just fifteen minutes until the game goes offline, so let's get started.

Downtime triggers in ten minutes

Marvel Rivals will go offline in just 10 minutes, as downtime kicks in. This should last for around two hours, but I’ll keep you updated on exactly when the game is back online.

Costume Coins can be exchanged for skins

Marvel Rivals Costume Coin skins in the store

(Image credit: NetEase)

You can earn a Costume Coin from the Venom’s Bubble Pop event, which ends once Season 3 downtime kicks in (you can make it a permanent event by purchasing the Premium version). This can be exchanged for a number of skins in the Store. I went with the Master of Magnetism skin for Magneto.

Spider-Man gets his flame on

Spider-Man backflips away from a practice enemy

(Image credit: NetEase)

Ever-Flaming Bond is a brand new Team Up between Human Torch and Spider-Man. It adds a Burn-Tracer to Spidey’s kit, tagging enemies and sending Spider-Man flipping backwards. This opens up new combo abilities, and in my testing, it’s really powerful.

Season 3.5 will launch August 8

Marvel Rivals Season 3 roadmap

(Image credit: NetEase)

Thanks to the Season 3 roadmap provided by NetEase yesterday (July 10), we know that Season 3.5 will launch on August 8. This should be when we get Blade as a new Hero, and he's rumored to be a Duelist.

Marvel Rivals will go offline any minute

Venom, Galacta, and Moon Knight pose side by side

(Image credit: NetEase)

Marvel Rivals downtime is scheduled to end in a few minutes. You should still be able to finish off your match, but expect to be kicked from servers too.

Downtime has started

Marvel Rivals server connection failed error

(Image credit: NetEase)

Marvel Rivals is now offline. I’ll still be covering the launch of the new season live, so let’s continue with some of the key changes coming once things go back online.

Marvel Rivals Server connection failed error message

When trying to load up Marvel Rivals, you'll now be greeted with the 'Server connection failed' error message. Don't worry, this us ask normal for downtime.

Phoenix could be a real contender

Phoenix poses against a red and white background

(Image credit: NetEase)

Phoenix will be added as a new Hero in Season 3, and she’s already feeling very powerful indeed. Her primary damage output is especially high, and thanks to a dash ability, she can escape dive characters quite easily.

Namor upgrades his arsenal

Namor poses against a red planet backdrop littered with black, sticky rocks and mountains

(Image credit: NetEase)

Namor is getting buffed in Season 3. He’ll have smoother aim, and increased primary fire damage. You can check out the exact changes in the list below:

  • Increase Trident of Neptune Projectile Damage from 70 to 75 and Projectile Speed from 120m/s to 150m/s.
  • Increase Wrath of the Seven Seas Projectile Speed from 120m/s to 150m/s.

Estimated downtime is two hours according to NetEase

Login Error screen showing estimated downtime

(Image credit: NetEase)

There's a new login error message when you try to sign into Marvel Rivals. It displays an estimate for when downtime should end, meaning it will have lasted two hours in total. We'll have to wait and see if this all holds true.



from Latest from TechRadar US in Gaming News https://ift.tt/nNA6pQC
via TECHNICAL SAFEER

0 Comments: