Marvel Rivals is slapping Peni Parker with a hefty nerf.
NetEase Games has officially released patch notes for Marvel Rivals Season 9.5, revealing upcoming balance changes for its roster of playable heroes. This mid-season update adds a number of surprising buffs and nerfs for heroes like Devil Dinosaur, Peni Parker, and Venom. A couple of these changes have proven rather controversial among players, in particular those affecting Peni.
Let’s break down Marvel Rivals Season 9.5’s balance changes.
Marvel Rivals Season 9.5 buffs and nerfs
The biggest balance change in Marvel Rivals Season 9.5 affects Peni Parker. Now, her Cyber-Web Snare, which is often used to stun ulting enemies, will no longer apply an immediate immobilising effect. The ability will instead apply a “stack of Web-Tracer” and a 30% Slow effect for one second. If the enemy is hit with Cyber-Web Snare and gets another stack of Web-Tracer, they will be immobilised for 0.7 seconds.
The ability is also charge-based now. This essentially means that players now have to land Cyber-Web Snare twice to apply a stun, if they even have two charges to spare. The change has not gone down particularly well among the community, with players on Twitter/X decrying Peni’s change as unnecessary: “Did not give Peni a good ult, did not fix her web zipline bug that has been in the game since launch, did not improve her survivability, nerfed her bonus health and her stun (literally one of the two good things she had going for her). What are these devs smoking bro.”
Similarly, reactions on Reddit have been fairly negative, to the point that one wonders if this change will stick. The rest of the patch notes offer mostly good news for Vanguards, with heroes like Devil Dinosaur and Doctor Strange being buffed, whereas Venom has his survivability tuned down.
Here are all the buffs and nerfs in Marvel Rivals Season 9.5:
Devil Dinosaur buffs
- Increase Maximum Health Percentage Damage dealt by the first four attacks of Frenzied Feast from 5% to 8%, and the fifth attack from 10% to 12%
- When selecting the Team-Up with Jeff the Land Shark, increase Surf & Turf maximum duration from 4s to 5s, and the healing effect on allies from 40 to 60.
Doctor Strange buffs
- Increase Daggers of Denak single-hit damage from 16 to 18 and projectile charges from 10 to 12.
- When selecting the Team-Up with Hulk, reduce Gamma Maelstrom cooldown from 8s to 6s.
Magneto buffs
- When selecting the Team-Up with Scarlet Witch. Enhanced Effect: The Metallic Chaos projectile hit now adds a minor Launch Up effect to enemies.
Peni Parker nerfs
Peni Parker’s control is getting adjusted down, affecting the stunning effect of her Cyber-Web Snare. Now, she’s going to have a much harder time stunning enemies using the ability.
- Remove the direct Immobilize effect upon hitting enemies with Cyber-Web Snare. New Effect: Now applies a stack of Web-Tracer and a 30% Slow effect for 1s. The Web-Tracer lasts for 5s. If an enemy with a Web-Tracer is hit by the snare again, they will be Immobilized for 0.7s.
- Adjust Cyber-Web Snare to be a charge-based ability, with a maximum of 2 charges.
- Reduce Bonus Health cap provided to Peni by Cyber-Webs from 200 to 150.
Rogue buffs
- Increase the damage reduction multiplier while in Defensive Stance from 55% to 60%.
- Increase Regenerative Shield capacity from 250 to 275.
Venom nerfs
- Reduce the Bonus Health provided by Symbiotic Resilience from 120% of lost health to 110%.
- Increase Venom Swing cooldown from 8s to 10s.
Black Panther nerfs
- When selecting the Team-Up with Storm, reduce the area damage to enemies from 40 to 30, and increase the cooldown from 12s to 15s.
Cyclops buffs
- Increase cooldown reduction provided to Ricochet Force per Optic Blast hit from 0.15s to 0.25s.
- When selecting the Team-Up with Gambit, increase the Concussive Beam Attack Frequency boost from 10% to 15%.
Elsa Bloodstone nerfs
- When selecting the Team-Up with Devil Dinosaur, reduce the health of an activated Smoky Snare trap from 100 to 50, and its Control duration from 1.5s to 1.2s.
Hela nerfs
- When selecting the Team-Up with Namor, reduce Undead Monstro single-hit damage from 15 to 10.
Moon Knight buffs
- Adjust Crescent Dart and Moon Blade bounce damage decay from 30% to 20% per bounce.
- When selecting the Team-Up with Cloak & Dagger, reduce Luminous Moon cooldown from 15s to 12s.
- Base Effect: Increase dash duration from 0.3s to 0.35s and dash distance from 12m to 15m.
- Enhanced Effect: Moon Knight gains a 3s healing effect of 20 Health/s after leaving the Phased state.
Phoenix buffs
- Increase the damage dealt when detonating Sparks from 35 to 40, and increase the area damage from 12 to 15.
- When selecting the Team-Up with Rogue, increase Telekinetic Beatdown damage dealt from 45 to 55.
Wolverine buffs
- Berserker Rage Adjustment: Increase Rage gained per hit taken from 5 to 8. Adjust Rage decay timer from starting after 4s of no Rage gained to after 5s. At maximum Rage, reduce the decay rate from 15/s to 10/s.
Scarlet Witch buffs
When selecting the Team-Up with Doctor Strange:
- Base Effect: The ability has an 8s cooldown and 8s duration. When activated, Chthonian Burst is replaced with Mystic Burst, allowing magic missiles to be fired freely with no energy cost.
- Enhanced Effect: Becomes a toggle-type ability. When toggled on, Mystic Burst replaces Chthonian Burst, allowing magic missiles to be fired freely with no energy cost.
Gambit nerfs
- When selecting the Team-Up with Magneto, adjust the Launch Up Frequency of the spell field from 0.5s to 1s.
Jubilee buffs
- Increase Energy Plasmoids single-hit damage from 10 to 11 and single-hit healing from 14 to 15.
Loki buffs
- Increase Mystical Missile Projectile Speed from 100m/s to 120m/s.
White Fox buffs
- Reduce the energy cost of Kumiho Unleashed (Ultimate Ability) from 4800 to 4300. After casting, automatically apply the Blessed by the Nine effect to all allies within a 10m radius for 3s.
Marvel Rivals Season 9.5 launches on 7 August, 2026.
