Overview
Season 5: Love is a Battlefield is the sixth Season of Marvel Rivals, taking place from November 14, 2025 to January 16, 2026. Season 5.0 ran from November 14 to December 12, 2025 and Season 5.5 will run from December 12, 2025 to January 16, 2026. This season coincides with the Grand Garden Adventure BattlePass.
This season centers on Mr. and Mrs. X, Gambit and Rogue, after the Timestream Entanglement interrupted their dream wedding. To make up for the disruption, Gambit has planned a honeymoon full of surprises for Rogue. But when their journey leads to a world built by the Elders of the Universe, can their love survive the ultimate cosmic test?
Creative Director Guangguang, Marvel Rivals: Dev Vision Vol. 11
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New Heroes
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New Maps
Season 5.0
Season 5.5
Game Modes
- Marvel Zombies
- Limited-time game mode extended to 1/16/25
Season 5.0
- Times Square
- A non-combat mode for players to hang out and socialize outside of battle
- Can host up to 100 players
- 18 vs. 18 Annihilation & 18 vs. 18 Annihilation (Inc. AI) [Added on 11/27/25]
- 2 teams of 18 players (or 6 players and 12 AIs) compete
- Defeat enemies to earn points, the first to reach the target score wins
- On the new map, Grand Garden
Season 5.5
- Jeff's Winter Splash Festival (2025) [12/18/25 - 1/29/25]
- 3 teams of players compete to "decorate" more of the arena with their team's color with 3 unique Jeff builds
- In the new event map, Jeffland
Active Team-Ups
New Costumes and Cosmetics
BattlePass
The Grand Garden Adventure BattlePass coincides with Season 5, being 12 pages long. The Luxury Upgrade costs 990 Lattice
, which is required to obtain any cosmetics with a
LUXURY tag.
Events
Season 5.0
Season 5.5
Competitive
Season 5.0
- Team Queue Optimizations
- Before completion of placement matches: Team size capped at 3
- Bronze
to Grandmaster
: Team up with any party size except five-stack - Celestial
to One Above All
: Only solo or duo queue allowed. - If multiple restrictions apply, the strictest rule will take effect
- Rewards
- Gold III
Ranked Recolors unchanged; one costume per half-season - Crests of Honor (inc. Top 500) and Nameplate Frame rewards are now granted once per season at the season's end
- Gold III
- Placement Matches
- From Season 5 onward, your first 10 ranked matches are Placement Matches. Your performance determines your starting tier.
- Placement Rules
- 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.
- 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.
- When doing placements for the first time (regardless of season), your initial estimated rank is determined by two criteria:
- 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.
- 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.
- Predicted vs. Actual Rank
- 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.
- 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:
- Placement Matchmaking
- 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.
- 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.
- Team Restrictions
- Penalty Rules
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- If a player in placement matches experiences a disconnect, reconnect timeout, inactivity, or similar violation, penalties depend on timing:
Rewards
Lore
New Hero Lore
Season 5.0
- Gambit Hero Story #1 - Deal of a Lifetime
Season 5.5
- Rogue Hero Story #1 - Forever Alone
For more information on the season story, see Season 5: Love is a Battlefield/Lore
Balance Updates
Season 5.0
Vanguards
- Angela
- Captain America
- Groot
- Hulk
- Magneto
- Peni Parker
- The Thing
Embattled Leap: Remove Damage Reduction from single leap target, now grants 20% Damage Reduction to all allies within 5m of his landing point. Reduce Damage Reduction to self from 25% to 20%.
Battle Blitz: Remove Damage Reduction from self. Now applies 20% Vulnerability to all enemies within 5m of his landing point.
Reduce Stone Haymaker base Damage from 90 to 55 and remove 50 Bonus Health gained during ability activation. New Effects: Deal bonus Damage equal to 8% of enemies' max Health per hit. Gain Bonus Health equal to damage dealt (up to 100).
Duelists
Strategists
- Adam Warlock
- Cloak & Dagger
- Invisible Woman
Increase Orb Projection hit damage from 25 to 30; projectile maximum range from 30m to 35m, and projectile speed from 120m/s to 150m/s.
Increase Force Physics length from 30m to 35m.
Guardian Shield New Effect: If no Guardian Shield is present, pressing the recall key now deploys a shield in front of Invisible Woman.
- Loki
- Rocket Raccoon
Season 5.5
Vanguards
Duelists
Strategists
- Gambit
- Invisible Woman
- Loki
- Luna Snow
Reduce Absolute Zero start-up time and increase Projectile Speed from 60m/s to 80m/s.
- New Ability: Luna can apply Number One Idol to herself (separate from Share the Stage). When Number One Idol is active, 10% of Healing to allies is converted into healing for Luna herself, and she gains a 10% Healing Boost and a 10% Damage Boost.
- Rocket Raccoon
- Ultron
Imperative: Patch can now deploy up to 2 drones, allowing support for two allies at once.
Imperative: Firewall now requires a target with Imperative: Patch to use. After use, Ultron gains 65 Bonus Health, the target and nearby allies get 50 Bonus Health, plus the selected ally gains a 20% Movement Speed and 10% Damage boost.
Increase the energy cost of Rage of Ultron (Ultimate Ability) from 3700 to 4000.
Team-Ups
For all of the changes to team-ups, see Team-Ups
Removed
Balance Changes
Other New Content
Season 5.0
- New Systems
- Cross-Progression: Account linking fully available
- Discord Linking:
- Xbox: Added new Discord linking and cross-platform chat
- Xbox & PC: Added option to hide unlinked Discord friends in-game
For bug fixes and full Patch Notes, see:
Season 5.5
- New Systems
- Spectator System Improvements:
- Added toggles for always displaying both teams' banned heroes.
- Added option to disable first-person spectator UI.
- Spectator System Improvements:
- Tournaments
- PlayStation Cup gets a major upgrade! From January to March 2026, Marvel Rivals' PlayStation Cup will feature all-new real-time opponent matching, offering a fairer and more forgiving tournament experience. Participants will play until 3 wins or 2 losses, with final rewards based on victories. There are still no rank restrictions; assemble your PlayStation pals and join the action! Note: PlayStation Cup Factions must be formed separately and do not share roster with Marvel Rivals Championship Factions. (Version 20251225)
- The Marvel Rivals Championship (MRC) and tournament history pages now feature historical leaderboard displays. (Version 20251225)
For bug fixes and full Patch Notes, see:
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