16 January 2026

Marvel Rivals Season 6 Update Patch Notes Revealed

By newsgame

Marvel Rivals Season 6 is finally here, bringing with it the launch of Deadpool and some adjustments to some heroes. Alongside the Season 6 update, some tweaks to mouse optimization and the game’s installation size were made with the January 16 update, which should make playing Marvel Rivals a smoother experience for players this season.

The Season 6 content update for Marvel Rivals is highlighted by the arrival of Deadpool. Known by nicknames like The Regenerating Degenerate and The Merc With A Mouth, Marvel Rivals‘ version of Deadpool is voiced by Alejandro Saab, who is also known for roles like Rafa in Borderlands 4 and Cyno in Genshin Impact. Deadpool’s also marks a first for Marvel Rivals, as he is the game’s first hero that can be played as a Vanguard, a Duelist, or a Strategist at any point. With his pistols, katanas, and other surprising tools at his disposal, Deadpool’s arsenal will do different things depending on his role. For example, when he plays as a Strategist, Deadpool’s weapons can either deal damage to enemies or heal allies.

Deadpool Is Finally In Marvel Rivals

Along with Deadpool shaking up the metagame by being Marvel Rivals‘ first three-in-one hero, Season 6 saw some changes and adjustments to each hero. Heroes such as Captain America, Emma Frost, and Doctor Strange received some minor buffs, while Gambit, Invisible Woman, and Angela were slightly nerfed in Season 6. Team-Up abilities also received some attention, as Deep Wrath (Hela and Namor) was significantly nerfed, and Ever-Burning Bond (Spider-Man and Human Torch) was removed from the game. Two new Team-Ups were introduced, one of which allows Deadpool to gain buffs if Jeff the Land Shark is on the same team. The other new Team-Up ability features Spider-Man and Peni Parker, as they can lock down their foes with the Parker Power-Up ability.

As for bug fixes, Thor’s Thorforce ability received some changes that should allow it to be used with Awakening Rune correctly. Additional bug fixes were also issued for Magneto, The Punisher, Doctor Strange, and Jeff the Land Shark. Marvel Rivals‘ PC users now have access to an experimental mouse optimization setting that allows users to set the polling rate to 8,000 Hz. This could help users resolve latency issues when turned on. Additionally, Marvel Rivals‘ file size has been decreased by 15% on PC. But, Marvel Rivals Season 6 also has a large download awaiting Steam players, as the update’s file size is 33.2 GB. As large as the Season 6 file size is, Marvel Rivals Season 2.5 had a staggering 56.9 GB update that players had to download at the time. Ergo, fans looking to jump in and try out The Regenerating Degenerate may be at the mercy of their Internet download speeds.

One important change to Marvel Rivals‘ Quick Match mode was made with Season 6’s arrival, as Resource Rumble has been removed from the rotation. Additionally, Season 6 added some new rewards, including Badges and Nameplate Frames, for Competitive mode players to chase. Players who reach Gold tier and above will also earn Deadpool’s Workwear Woes costume. To commemorate Season 6’s launch, Marvel Rivals introduced some new Twitch Drops. Players can earn the Invisible Woman’s Will of Galacta costume if they watch at least four hours of content on a participating channel. Marvel Rivals’ winter holiday events, Gone Nutty For Gifts and Jeff’s Winter Splash Festival, have been extended until January 29, giving players plenty of time to participate.

marvel-rivals-season-6-battle-pass-museum-ticket-banner

A new Battle Pass called the Museum Ticket will grant Marvel Rivals players ten new costumes, including Venom’s Space Corsair and Mantis’ Galactic Gladiator attire. However, Deadpool’s release in Marvel Rivals is just the first part of Season 6, as the monster hunter called Elsa Bloodstone will join the fight later on. All in all, Marvel Rivals‘ first major update has plenty of new content for current and returning players to enjoy.

Marvel Rivals Version 20260116 Patch Notes (January 16, 2026)

HEY NERDS!

Deadpool here, hijacking the patch notes because, let’s face it, nobody reads these unless you need to know if your main got nerfed. Then you whine that there are no balance updates here, and some random internet person tells you what you really want is the Balance Post, not the Patch Notes. I see you, internet people! Well, guess what? Season 6 is almost here! (They took this long to add me!? Who came before, oh Gambit & Rogue… together? #$%& that!) Anyways, I’m here, I’m playable, and I’m ready to make the Collector’s Museum wilder than a taco truck at a biker rally.

BTW, I guess I should tell you that the game will be down for about 2 hours on January 16th, from 9:00 AM (UTC) while the tech wizards in the back room inject me into the mainframe (or whatever it is they do). Anyway, let’s break the fourth wall and get to the goods!

New Stuff

The Best Hero Ever (It’s Me!)

Deadpool is joining Marvel Rivals! Katanas, quips, healing factor, now available at a spawn point near you. I’m here to slice, dice, and steal the spotlight. And yes, I talk. A lot.

New Plot Twists & Tales

1. New Serial – Night at the Museum! It’s like that other one, but with more explosions and 90% more Deadpool.

2. New Deadpool Lore – Hero In His Own Mind. Hey, I take offense to that!

Hero Proficiency, Now with Extra Bragging Rights

Lorded everyone? Not anymore! Season 6 brings more levels, more rewards, and more reasons to keep flexing your main. Unlock them all and make your lobbies jealous. (And the best part, all that sweet Proficiency that you’ve been stockpiling will not go to waste. It’s getting automatically converted into shiny, new levels with the update. That means if you’ve been a total sweat and racked up a mountain of Proficiency, you’ll INSTANTLY unlock new rewards. Boom! Achievement unlocked. No extra button-mashing required.)

New Systems

1. Times Square – Epic Photo Mode: New camera toys! Capture your most heroic, hilarious, or humiliating moments. Pick your fav filter and share with others. Insta, eat your heart out.

2. Controller Settings – Share the Genius: Save, share, and swap controller configs. Now you, too, can have Deadpool-level reflexes (results may vary, batteries not included).

New In Store

1. Deadpool – Captain Pool Bundle: It’s me in a hat. Buy it.

2. Venom – Marvel Cosmic Invasion Bundle: Retro Symbiote shenanigans!

3. Spider-Man – Marvel Cosmic Invasion: Spidey’s here to crash the party.

4. Deadpool – Emoji Bundle: Because my face is just that expressive.

5. Invisible Woman Prism Parade Costume Chroma: Vivid Vibe, Radiant Ray, and Ultimate Ability VFX. Now 200% more visible…

Available From: January 16th, 2026, at 09:00:00 (UTC). Buy now, thank me later!

1. Peni Parker – Snow-SP//dr Bundle

2. Star-Lord – Starcracker Bundle

3. Daredevil – Not Daredevil Bundle

Have been extended until January 23rd, 2026, at 02:00:00 (UTC). You’re welcome!

S6 Battle Pass

All-new BP – Museum Ticket! Unlock 10 snazzy new costumes, starring:

Invisible Woman – Prism Parade (so shiny!)
Venom – Space Corsair (so gooey!)
Mantis – Galactic Gladiator (so galactic!)
And more. Gotta catch ’em all. Wait, wrong franchise?

Season Event: Whac-A-Jeff

Capture Jeffy-Boy in the new event and unlock the FREE (that’s right) Jeff the Land Shark – 8-Bit Bash costume.

Gone Nutty For Gifts

Has been extended until January 29th, 2026, at 09:00:00 (UTC). Yay!

Jeff’s Winter Splash Festival

The end date has been moved back to January 29th, 2026, at 09:00:00 (UTC). Now with 100% more Jeffy action!

Competitive

This season drops brand-new Nameplate Frames, Badges, and a treasure trove of rewards.

Gold-tier and up? You snag my costume, Deadpool – Workwear Woes, the one I’m forever whining about.

Mode Adjustments

Resource Rumble Gets Rumbled:

Attention, Quick Match fans (and everyone who ever rage-quit Resource Rumble)! The mode and its map have been yeeted out of Quick Match.

Tournaments

Alright, buckle up, champions (and future champions, and people who just like free stuff)! The Marvel Rivals Championship (MRC) Season 6 is bringing more changes than Spider-Man has costumes. Platinum 3 Entry Requirement: Still the same. No, you can’t bribe me or bribe the devs to sneak in at Bronze. Work for it, buttercup!

Rewards for EVERYONE!

Yup, not just the faction that flexes their way to the top. This season, rewards rain down from the champions all the way to those who valiantly (or hilariously) get knocked out in the open qualifiers. That means: All-new Nameplates, Sprays, Exclusive-Emblems, etc. Bling it up! And, every single placement gets some Units. Even if your team’s best move is a group dance at spawn. Want the nitty-gritty on all rewards? Go check the Marvel Rivals Championship rewards page. Go on, I’ll wait.

IGNITE 2026 IS COMING IN HOT!

With the 2026 Ignite Series heating up, the PC events in each region during MRC Season 6 are your last public shot to grab a starting slot in Ignite. Each region will keep at least 25% of its preset slots for factions from MRC Season 6. That’s math, baby. So even if you’re only a quarter as good as you hoped, you’ve still got a shot!

Champion Points: The Gift That Keeps On Giving

Starting with Marvel Rivals Championship Season 7, you’ll rack up Champion Points just by showing up and competing. Stack ’em high to fight for your chance at promotion, or dodge relegation, during both the mid-season finals and end-of-season pro league shuffle! Seasons 7 through 11: You can earn up “Champion Points 26.” When Season 8 wraps, top factions from that season AND the cumulative “Champion Points 26” leaderboard (that’s the “I never miss a season” crowd) can qualify for the Ignite Mid-Season Qualifiers, battling it out for a spot in the Ignite Series’ second stage for 2026. Now go make your mom proud!

Accessories

New bling for: Rogue, Deadpool (that’s me again!), Doctor Strange, Squirrel Girl, Iron Man, Cap, Daredevil, Black Panther, Storm, and Blade.

Twitch Drops

A new season, a new round of Twitch Drops! Be sure to watch lots of me!

Watch enough to grab the Invisible Woman – Will of Galacta costume and bundle stuff.

Drops Period: January 16th, 2026, at 12:00:00 (UTC) to February 13th, 2026, at 09:00:00 (UTC)

College Perks

You, kids, get all the fun! New rotation of College Perk costumes:

Thor – Majestic Raiment
Scarlet Witch – Immortal Sovereign
Jeff the Land – Shark Sunshine Land Shark
Wolverine – Weapon X
Mister Fantastic – The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Invisible Woman – The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Human Torch – The Fantastic Four: First Steps
The Thing – The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Spider-Man – Future Foundation
Squirrel Girl – Sunshine Squirrel

Fixes and Optimizations

All Platforms

1. Scoreboard Limbo: After spectating in a Custom Game – Tournament Room, players could get stuck on the results screen. Not anymore. You’re welcome!

1. Mouse Optimization: High polling rate mouse experimental optimization setting (Settings – Keyboard) for all you hardware snobs (8K polling rate mice). Activating it can resolve related lag issues. Now your moves are as fast as my comebacks.

2. Slimmer Files: PC install shrank by 15%. More room for cat memes!

Heroes

1. Thunderstruck and Wonder-Not-So-Full: Thor’s Thorforce, due to network delays, could sometimes look like it was charged up, then vanished faster than Loki at a family reunion. Using that vanishing Thorforce to activate Awakening Rune would cause it to fizzle out prematurely. Talk about awkward…

*Most cases of this have resolved; a few are still under investigation. Give them time, people.

2. Magneto’s Magnetic Misstep: If Winter Soldier’s Tainted Voltage lands the exact second Magneto pops his Ultimate, Magneto could get launched like a bad elevator ride. Now he stays grounded; unless he’s being dramatic, which is always.

3. Punisher’s Patchy Ping: Bad network vibes? The Punisher’s Vantage Connection could send him to unexpected places under poor network conditions. It’s fixed now, so you won’t look like you’re internet-exploring the upside-down anymore. No more “where am I?” F.Y.I. – you’re welcome.

4. Piercing Projectiles’ Pinball Physics: Some piercing projectiles, on extremely rare occasions, decided to deal extra damage, just because. This has been fixed, so now you’ll only get wrecked by skill, not by RNGesus.

5. Strange’s Grounded Gateway: Flying heroes couldn’t use Doctor Strange portals cast directly on the ground. Ground-level sorcery: approved. The floor is not lava, it’s destiny.

6. Jeff the Land Shark Button Brouhaha!: Listen up, Jeff and Groot groupies! Jeff’s Team-up Ability default keybind is now EMPTY. So, before you go trying to hitch a ride on Groot’s bark-side, take a second to manually set your keybind. Your thumb (and Jeff) will thank you.

HERO BALANCE UPDATES

VANGUARD

Angela

We’re making it slightly easier to knock Angela out of the fray.

Reduce Shielded Stance Shield Value from 350 to 300.

Captain America

It’s time for a little more star-spangled offense!

Reduce Vibranium Energy Saw cooldown from 8s to 6s.

Doctor Strange

The Sorcerer Supreme is more agile and dangerous than ever!

Increase the Maelstrom of Madness conversion ratio of Dark Magic to damage from 1.2 to 1.3.
Cloak of Levitation New Effect: Re-casting during use now interrupts the ability, preserves current movement speed, and allows for new movement input to change trajectory.

Emma Frost

The White Queen’s energy gain gets a little more dazzling.

Increase Energy gained:
Hero hits from 10/s to 12/s
Sentience hits from 15/s to 18/s
Shield hits from 5/s to 6/s

Hulk

Stronger than ever! Hulk’s survivability and threat level get a gamma boost!

Reduce Hero Hulk Incredible Leap minimum charge time from 0.5s to 04s; maximum charge time from 2s to 1.7s.
In Hero Hulk form, reduce Gamma Burst cooldown from 8s to 6s and increase projectile Damage from 70 to 75.
In Monster Hulk form, Hulk is now immune to launch and knockback effects.

DUELIST

Black Panther

Wakanda forever! Panther’s offense and defense are slightly up!

Increase Spear Toss Damage from 45 to 50.
Gain 50% Damage Reduction during Bast’s Descent (Ultimate Ability) startup animation.

Blade

Daywalker’s threat level rises. Choose your weapon wisely!

When wielding Hunter’s Shotgun, Daywalker Dash New Effect: Slow enemies by 40% for 1.5s. Increase second hit damage from 20 to 50.
When wielding Ancestral Sword, Daywalker Dash New Effect:Remove Slow effect from enemies and apply 8% Healing Reduction per strike (32% total if all hit), for 3s. Reduce Damage from 15 to 8 per hit.
Reduce pellets fired per round of Hunter’s Shotgun from 12 to 11. Damage falloff now starts at 15m (was 20m); at 30m, damage drops to 50% of base (was 40%).

Daredevil

The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen gets a little less punishing.

Reduce Devil’s Chain high damage range Damage from 80 to 75.
Reduce Devil’s Throw single Projectile Damage from 32.5 to 30 (total from 65 to 60 on a single target).
Reduce Fury gained from Devil’s Latch when grappling a surface from 2 to 1.

Iron Fist

Lin Lie’s strikes are slightly faster and harder!

Increase damage of Jeet Kune Do’s first four strikes from 30 to 35.
Increase Dragon’s Defense maximum duration from 1s to 1.2s.

Namor

More power in his base form, but his Team-Up is toned down.

Reduce Aquatic Dominion time for a single charge from 12s to 10s.
Increase default Monstro Spawn Health from 100 to 125 and Damage from 17 to 18.
Increase Enhanced Monstro Spawn Damage from 11 to 12.

STRATEGIST

Cloak & Dagger

Ty and Tandy’s support is getting a shakeup, healing and flexibility updated!

Reduce Dagger Storm Healing from 55/s to 45/s. New Effect: When a Spell Field is created, allies in range get a One-Time Healing of 60.
Veil of Lightforce & Terror Cape Adjustments: These 2 abilities now share charges, capped out at 2 with each taking 10s to recharge. After using either, both abilities enter a 2s cooldown.

Gambit

The King of Cards takes a hit to his healing and ultimate.

Reduce Big Easy Impact Healing Amount per explosion from 25 to 15 (total from 75 to 45).
Reduce Ragin’ Royal Flush’s Healing from 75/s to 55/s.
Bridge Boost bounces on a single target are now set to a maximum of 2.

Invisible Woman

Sue Storm is a little less unbreakable and her protection a little less potent.

Reduce Guardian Shield value from 250 to 200.
Reduce shield restoration rate after reclaiming from 42/s to 34/s (total time unchanged).
Reduce Guardian Shield healing to Invisible Woman from 50/s to 25/s.

Rocket Raccoon

Rocket’s on a bit of a slow-down!

Reduce Movement Speed during Wild Crawl from 10m/s to 8m/s.

TEAM-UP ABILITIES

BALANCE CHANGES

Deep Wrath (Hela – Namor)

No more tidal waves of pain. Namor’s team-up gets nerfed!

Increase Tidal Dirge cooldown from 20s to 30s.
Reduce Undead Monstro Damage from 12 to 10.
Reduce Berserk state Undead Monstro Damage from 7 to 6.

Vibrant Vitality (Mantis – Groot/Loki)

Loki’s blessing is less overwhelming.

Reduce Deific Blessing ally Damage Boost effect from 25% to 15%.

ADJUSTED OR REMOVED

Ever-Burning Bond (Human Torch – Spider-Man)

This fiery partnership has been extinguished! Team-up removed!

Rocket Network (Rocket Raccoon – Peni Parker/Star-Lord)

Peni Parker loses the Armored Spider-Nest ability she previously gained through her Team-Up with Rocket Raccoon.

NEW

Mr. Pool’s Interdimensional Toy Box (Deadpool – Jeff the Land Shark)

It’s a pocket universe of shenanigans!

Jeff gains the Jeff’s Cuddle Buddy ability through his Team-Up with Deadpool.
As the Team-Up Anchor, Deadpool gains:
- Vanguard: +50 Health
- Duelist: +5% Damage
- Strategist: +5% Healing

Parker Power-Up (Peni Parker – Spider-Man)

Spiders stick together!

Spider-Man unlocks the new Sticky Spider-Bomb ability through his team-up with Peni Parker.
As the Team-Up Anchor, Peni Parker gains a Health increase of 50.

More madness, memes, and mayhem coming soon. Keep your eyes on the official Marvel Rivals channels or just follow me. I’m the most interesting part anyway. Patch note rating: 11/10. Would fourth wall break again. Deadpool out! See you in Season 6!

Released: December 6, 2024
ESRB: T For Teen // Violence
Developer(s): NetEase Games
Publisher(s): NetEase Games