Overpowered Wolverine and Phoenix team-up to get nerfed in Marvel Rivals July 17, 2025, patch

Marvel Rivals Season 3 has only been out for a week, but it has already sparked a lot of discussions. While most of the discussions have been about new heroes and skins, the controversy around the Wolverine and Phoenix team-up ability stood out the most. Many players felt it was overpowered and ruined the balance of matches. After numerous complaints, the developers have finally responded, and the combo will receive a nerf in the next balance update.

Here’s everything you need to know about the upcoming changes.

Wolverine and Phoenix’s team-up ability in Marvel Rivals is getting nerfed soon

The ability at the center of this debate is called Phoenix Warrior. When Phoenix and Wolverine team up and activate this power, Phoenix surrounds Wolverine with flames that give Wolverine extra attack damage and simultneously heal him through Lifesteal. Players have been complaining because this team-up made Wolverine nearly impossible to kill, especially considering how fast he attacks.

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The developers at NetEase Games shared an official statement after all the backlash:

“Our fiery mutant duo’s bond has been a little too hot to handle. So we’re cooling down Wolverine’s healing when teaming up with Phoenix.”

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Now, Wolverine is getting the following changes, which include a nerf in the Phoenix Warrior ability:

Increase Berserk Claw Strike base damage from 6 to 8, but reduce the percentage damage per attack at maximum Rage from 4.5% to 3.5%.
Increase in Regenerative Healing Factor cooldown from 90 seconds to 105 seconds.
Increase in cooldown reduction from 10 seconds to 12 seconds when participating in KOs.
Reduce Lifesteal gained during Phoenix Warrior from 33% to 25%.

An 8% reduction might not seem like a lot, but it could actually make a major difference, especially in competitive matches.

That's everything you need to know about the upcoming nerf in the Phoenix Warrior ability. The update will go live on July 17, 2025, at 5 AM Eastern Time, and will have no downtime.

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About the author

Harshit Singh is a gaming journalist at Sportskeeda, with Fortnite, Counter-Strike 2, and Marvel Rivals being his areas of specialization. A final-year B.Des (Visual Communication) student at Delhi Technological University, he is always eager to pursue creative endeavors. Harshit aims to deliver news and up-to-date content promptly to players around the globe. To that end, he acquires information from reliable forums and social media pages and religiously tracks the latest coverage of Fortnite — a game he has been playing since 2018. He is often found testing the new meta in-game or spectating competitive tournaments.

Harshit holds a deep love for video games, which stemmed from the hours he spent playing GTA Vice City, NFS Most Wanted 2005, FlatOut 2, and Total Overdose in his school days. Currently, he is veering towards story-driven, single-player games, with Red Dead Redemption 2 being one of his favorites.

Harshit is an ardent fan of esports titles like CS, Rocket League, and Valorant, with Fnatic, EDG, G2, and Astralis being a few of his favorite orgs. Counter-Strike pro Xantares and Benjifishy, an esports athlete who has mastered both Fortnite and Valorant, are inspirational figures for him.

Harshit works as a music producer under the alias Hysaze. He is extremely passionate about EDM and has garnered over 40 million streams across all platforms. He is also a regular contributor to Fandom’s EDM Wiki.

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Edited by Angad Sharma