Marvel Rivals Completely Reworks Team-Ups In Biggest Update Yet

Marvel Rivals has unveiled its plans for Season 9, and whilst eyes would normally be on the new characters—of which there still are, don’t worry—your attention should be towards the entirely reworked Team-Up system, as it’s been rebuilt from the ground up.

The old system of pairing specific heroes together has been scrapped. Instead, every character will now have access to two Team-Ups, each offering unique abilities that become even stronger when the matching hero is on your team.

New Marvel Rivals Team-Up System, Explained

Season 9 is shaping up to be one of Marvel Rivals’ biggest updates yet. Alongside new heroes, maps, and story content, every playable character is receiving access to a redesigned Team-Up system that adds new abilities and passive bonuses to their kit.

The changes were revealed during the Marvel Rivals Season 9 livestream, where lead combat designer Zhiyong explained that the original Team-Up mechanic had become stale. Rather than feeling like an exciting gameplay feature, it had evolved into a predictable checklist whenever new heroes were added.

To solve that problem, NetEase has rebuilt the system from the ground up.

Every hero now has two different Team-Ups to choose from before a match begins. Instead of requiring another specific character to unlock an ability, selecting a Team-Up immediately grants its associated skill or passive, regardless of your teammates.

If the corresponding hero also happens to be on your team, however, that ability receives an enhanced version, giving coordinated team compositions an additional reward without making them mandatory.

Hulk was used to demonstrate the new system. He can choose between a Team-Up with Captain America or Wolverine before loading into a match. Selecting Captain America grants Hulk a new ground slam ability, while choosing Wolverine provides crowd control immunity. Those bonuses are available whether or not Captain America or Wolverine are actually on the team.

If either partner is present, though, the chosen Team-Up is upgraded into a more powerful version, preserving the incentive to build synergistic lineups. Players can only equip one Team-Up per match, meaning they’ll need to decide which ability best suits the game ahead.

The Team-Up overhaul isn’t the only gameplay change arriving in Season 9. NetEase is also introducing a new Rechargeable Shield mechanic for certain high-mobility heroes. This regenerating pool of green health begins recovering after five seconds out of combat, giving more fragile flankers additional survivability while reducing their reliance on dedicated healers.

Taken together, these changes have the potential to reshape Marvel Rivals’ entire meta. With every hero gaining new abilities and hundreds of fresh Team-Up combinations becoming viable, players will likely spend the opening weeks of Season 9 experimenting to discover the strongest strategies.

If you’re a bit confused, don’t worry, it’s a lot to take in. Check out the video below to hear from the devs themselves.

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