Huge Marvel’s Avengers Update Adds News Features

A huge new Marvel’s Avengers update — Update V2.3 —  is live on Google Stadia, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, and Xbox Series X alongside patch notes that reveal and detail everything developer Crystal Dynamics has tweaked with the update. And with this update, in particular, it’s done more than just tweak the game; it’s also added to it with a variety of new features. 

While we know everything that the update does — courtesy of the patch notes below — we don’t know what the file size of the update is. The patch notes are extensive, so it’s possible the file size will be on the larger side, but for now, this is the only insight we can offer. 

Below, you can check out the update’s complete and official patch notes:

WAR TABLE ONBOARDING REWORK

Patch 2.3 is all about the War Table, and our goal was to make the onboarding process simpler for new players. We’ve updated mission chains and the War Table to streamline this process, and Nick Fury returns in game to guide players through these changes. Read up on the update below:

War Table Updates: Mission Chains

To improve the experience for new players, we’ve changed the Power Level (PL) of specific content and created a new mission chain to guide players more easily through the Avengers Initiative’s variety of content. This new mission chain replaces several previous missions.

• A new mission chain led by Nick Fury has been added. Reigning Supreme’s mission chain rewards are now included in this mission chain.
• New mission chains meant to onboard players to various mission and systems have been added
• A new mission chain has been added tracking completion of all Heroic Mission Chains except Spider-Man’s.
• Reigning Supreme mission chain has been removed
• Hive Mind mission chain has been removed
• Cloning Around mission chain has been removed
• Vault Discovery mission chain has been removed
• SHIELD Protocols mission chain has been updated to unlock when any hero is at least Power Level 20. If the mission chain is already unlocked on an account prior to any hero being PL 20, you must get any hero to PL 20 to progress further in the mission chain.
• Inhuman Sanctuary mission chain has been updated to unlock when any hero is at least Power Level 30. If the mission chain is already unlocked on an account prior to any hero being PL 30, you must get any hero to PL 30 to progress further in the mission chain.
• Iconic Avengers mission chain has been updated to unlock when any hero is at least Power Level 10. If the mission chain is already unlocked on an account prior to any hero being PL 10, you must get any hero to PL 10 to progress further in the mission chain.
• Last Avenger Standing mission chain has been updated to unlock when any hero is at least Power Level 130. If the mission chain is already unlocked on an account prior to any hero being PL 130, you must get any hero to PL 130 to progress further in the mission chain.
• Beating the Odds mission chain has been updated to unlock when any hero is at least Power Level 20. If the mission chain is already unlocked on an account prior to any hero being PL 20, you must get any hero to PL 20 to progress further in the mission chain.
• The Rise and Shine mission chain has been updated to completing a mission using Quickmatch.
• Flashback Missions now have a new Icon.

War Table Updates: Missions

• All Dropzones, Hives, and Threat Sectors are now always available on the War Table.
• Faction Missions will now be removed from the War Table upon completion.
• New Wasteland Dropzones and Threat Sectors have been added
• A new Wasteland Vault has been added
• Hero HARM Training rooms are now set to PL 1
• The hopper system has been removed and all hopper-based missions such as Dropzones, Hives, and Threat Sectors are always visible on the War Table
• Flashback Missions that end with a Villain have been replaced with Wasteland and Wakanda missions
• HARM Challenges I-V will be unviewable on completion
• HARM Challenges I-V and Priority HARM Challenges will now rotate once-a-day for users that have completed the HARM Challenges mission chain. This effect is retro-active for those that have already completed the mission chain prior to this patch.
• Villain Sectors are now always visible on the War Table and no longer require grabbing a mission chain to unlock. Normal Villain Sectors require the player to be at least Power Level 25 to be viewable and Elite Villain Sectors require at least Power Level 90 to be viewable.
• Vaults now require being Power Level 20 to view on the War Table
• Flashback Threat Sectors now require being Power Level 80 to view on the War Table
• Iconic Missions now require being Power Level 10 to view on the War Table
• Faction Missions now require being Power Level 10 to view on the War Table
• Tachyon Rifts now require being Power Level 110 to view on the War Table
• Priority Threat Sectors now require being Power Level 140 to view on the War Table
• Mega Hives now require being Power Level 140 to view on the War Table

War Table Updates: Factions

• SHIELD Faction Mission Givers will now provide Vault mission chains instead of Villain Sector mission chains once per day.
• A new weekly Elite Vault mission chain will be given
• Inhuman Alliance Faction Mission Givers are now the only way to start Villain Sector mission chains, once per day.
• A new weekly Elite Villain Sector mission chain will be given

War Table Updates: Matchmaking

• Matchmaking is now only enabled for the following mission types outside of Quickmatch: Vault, Elite Vault, Villain Sector, Elite Villain Sector, Omega-Level Threat, Raid, Mega Hive, HARM Challenge, Priority HARM Challenge, as well as Event Missions: Corrupted Vibranium Threat Sector, Cosmic Threat Sector, Tachyon Rift, Flashback Threat Sector, and Priority Threat Sector.
• Mission types with matchmaking disabled can be played solo or by inviting other players to your session.

NEW FEATURES

Checkpoint Rewards for the Discordant Sound Raid

• We have changed the setup of rewards to drop from major encounters in the Raid, rather than all at the end. There are now four instances in the Raid that will award Gear.   
  • Normal Raid 
    • Sonic Wall – Discordant Gear (Defense/Heroic Slot) *Power level Increase
    • Forge/Control Room (which is completed first) – Discordant Minor Artifact *Power level Increase
    • First Klaw Fight – Discordant Minor Artifact
    • Final Klaw Fight – Discordant Gear (Melee/Ranged Slot) *Power level Increase
  • Elite Raid 
    • Sonic Wall – Discordant Minor Artifact *Power level Increase
    • Forge/Control Room (whichever is completed first) – Elite Discordant Gear (Defense/Heroic Slot) *Power level Increase
    • First Klaw Fight – Discordant Minor Artifact *Power level Increase
    • Final Klaw Fight – Elite Discordant Gear (Melee/Ranged Slot) *Power level Increase
• We have added Units as a reward to both the Mission Chain and the Mission itself. This means you will earn 1,000 Units when you complete it the first time per week, and 500 Units for each subsequent completion.
• The mission Exotic remains the same.
• The normal Raid will drop an additional Klaw Minor Artifact (though it will not improve your Power Level). We are still looking at improving the subsequent rewards and will update you when we have that plan finalized.
• The new Mission Chain panel lists the order and what encounter gives you Gear.

Vault/Villain Sector Rewards

• Vaults no longer need coordinates and can be picked up from the SHIELD Faction mission giver. One weekly Elite Vault and Villain Sector will also be a part of the weekly updates.
• Vault and Villain Missions will always stay on the War Table, and their rewards now have a chance to drop the Exotic variants of their sets. Completing the daily and weekly Mission Chains gives a higher chance at the Exotic.
• The weekly Elite Mission Chains will award two pieces of Gear: one will be either Melee or Ranged, and the other will be either Defense or Heroic.
• Polychoron amounts have also been increased to 20 from normal and 30 from elite Vaults and Villain Sections.

Hero-Bound Mega Hives

• The Mega Hives will work a little differently from other Hero-Bound Missions because of the elimination mechanic. If your Hero is above Power Level 140, even if you are knocked out during the Mega Hive, you will be able to claim weekly rewards after completing the Hive. Once those rewards are claimed, the Mission Chain will restart.
• The first weekly completion per Hero will grant rewards. If you’d like to claim more rewards on the same Hero again, you will have to wait until the weekly reset.

Matchmaking Changes

• Quickmatch – The Quickmatch option is now visible at both the regional and world view on the War Table. Quickmatchers will now match directly with each other. A random map from the Quickmatch pool is now selected upon mission launch. Groups can now queue for Quickmatch.
• Join to Quinjet – On joining a Strike Team, players will now load directly into the Quinjet, skipping the load to the main menu. We’re introducing a voting system so that players can decide together on their preferred choice for important decisions. There are now new options including kicking a player, cancelling a selected map, and cancelling launch countdown.

Voting for Matchmaking

• Select Mission. The strike team votes to select a mission from the War Table.
• Interact/Story Vote. The strike team votes to begin a conversation/cutscene/etc. that will involve the entire Strike Team.
• Fail On Expire Votes are a new voting option, which requires a unanimous yes vote to succeed. Players who abstain from voting will have their vote counted as a no. The following decisions are Fail On Expire.
• Cancel Selected Mission. The selected mission is cancelled.
• Cancel Mission Launch Countdown. Mission launch is aborted.
• Matchmaking Toggle. Matchmaking is toggled to enabled or disabled for the Strike Team.
• Kick Player. The chosen player is removed from the Strike Team. The player to be kicked is not informed of the vote, shown in the list of voting players, or tallied in the vote results.
• Pass On Expire Votes are the former “Vetoes”, which only require one player to vote against the decision. Players who abstain from voting will have their vote counted as a yes. The following decisions are Pass On Expire.
• Return to Quinjet. The strike team votes to return to the Quinjet if they’re in an active Warzone.
• Reload Checkpoint. The strike team votes to reload checkpoint. This option is available in outposts and missions.

REASSEMBLE CAMPAIGN & AVENGERS INITIATIVE

• Fixed a rare issue where players were unable to move in The Sound and the Fury after Crossbones leaves Klaw. 
• Fixed an issue in The Sound and the Fury where players might become trapped in Klaw’s bubbles indefinitely.

MULTIPLAYER & MATCHMAKING

• Fixed an issue where black orbs no longer spawn in the Discordant Sound Raid. 
• Players no longer get stuck in a running animation if shot by the Command Crawler’s web attack in the Discordant Sound Raid. 
• Fixed an issue where the Command Crawler’s web effect no longer stays visible after a player is affected by it in the Discordant Sound Raid. 
• Fixed an issue when players collect anti-metal in the Discordant Sound Raid – the icon now properly appears on their screen rather than flickering. 
• In the Discordant Sound Raid, a small Crawler is no longer stuck in the jungle area. 

ART & ANIMATION

• When Black Widow is an NPC and wearing the Avenging Archer Outfit, she no longer wears glasses. 
• Mjolnir now appears in Thor’s Endgame Outfit when he performs God Blast.

USER INTERFACE

• In Japan, the Shipments button no longer appears as a black box when High Contrast Mode is selected. 
• Various text and localization fixes.

COMBAT

• The sound effect of being hit while a JARVIS barrier is active is no longer louder than other sound effects. 

GEAR, CHALLENGES, & REWARDS

• Any generic Perk listing “power attacks” that does not specifically say Ranged or Melee, now affects both. In addition to this, many of these Perks had their low limits lowered (by 1-4%), and their high limits raised (by 1-5%) increasing the spread of bonus. Rarity of gear will dictate how close or one end or another the player will see their bonus.
• All Targeted Perks will now work while Captain America’s Brooklyn Brawler is active.
• Fixed an issue requiring Ms. Marvel to use Team Spirit twice to see the Perk effects adding bonuses to it.
• Spider-Drone’s Cunning will now work with Discordant Gear.
• Heroic regeneration while invisible Perks should now be working.
• Perks adding effects or bonuses to Hulkbuster should now be working with the displayed value.
• Black Panthers’ Vibranium Heavy Power attack status Perks will now affect each attack while pounced instead of just the last hit.
• Rampage Perks will now activate the buff listed instead of only the invulnerability buff.
• Ms. Marvel’s Perks applying Vibranium to her Heavy Power attacks will now have a chance to drop on gear from Wakanda.
• Faultless Buff found on Klaw and Sonic gear text changed to specify that only melee critical hits will activate the buff. It’s special on Klaw gear as it is found in slots not commonly used for melee activated Perks.
• Fixed Perk Breaker only increasing stun damage from Perks by 20% instead of the 200%.
• Reverberation Breaker now fixed to increase Vibranium fill rate as listed on the Perk. Name changed to Vibranium Amplifier.
• Scream Breaker now increases damage to attacks infused with sonic and not fill rate.
• Perks affecting statuses with now apply that bonus to payloads of that type. Example – Reverberation Drive will work with any Vibranium Payload. Granting and Receiving Magnifier will now work with Vibranium, Cosmic, and Pym Payloads.
• Potentiator Perks have been buffed/modified. They will increase meter build up and damage with attacks infused with its status effect. The damage increase does not stack with duplicate Potentiator or Breaker Perks of the same status type.This is detailed in the perk text. They also affect Payloads and status buildup of Leaks of their status type
• Captain America’s Aegis of the Nomad and Armor of the Nomad had wrong Perk strings saying it extended Brooklyn Brawler’s duration.The text was incorrect as it was extending the duration of Commander’s Call, not Brooklyn Brawler.The text is now fixed. Connected to that, Commander’s Call was the attack used to activate the buff, not the buff itself. The buff that’s shown in the feed is now, correctly, labeled as Captain’s Defense. All Perks calling the buff Commander’s Call, has been changed to refer to Captain’s Defense.
• Hero Set gear, Vibranium Gear, Sonic Gear and JARVIS gear that drops in the heroic slot can now drop with Might as an attribute.
• Classic and Technical Hero Set Gear Melee and Ranged slots can now drop with Vibranium as a possible status effect
• Apex Hero Set Gear melee and ranged slots can now drop with any of the basic 6 status effects (Shock, Gamma, Plasma, Cryo, Pym, And Cosmic)
• Ms. Marvel can now see Signature Attacks as a status attack type in Perks.
• Kate Bishop can now see Signature Attacks as a status attack type in Perks.
• Hawkeye’s Recovery Amplification and Recovery Extension are now stacked together.
• Iron Man’s Arc Reactor Efficiency Perk edited to identify its passive energy regeneration increase.
• Captain America will get a new perk to his Elite Discordant Raid perk pool.Lethal Charge Conduit can drop in the ranged slot and states “Defeating an enemy while Captains charge is active activates the SONIC CONDUIT buff. Captain America is considered the sender.No other sonic conduit perks are needed for this to work.” This was a perk that we got working later that did not make launch and ties into the loop of Captains Charge.It also gives Captain America the unique ability to become the Sender without sonic damage.
• Norn Stone of the Fearless and Vanguard can now roll with Faultless Vibranium Payload in slot 2 from the Discordant Raid.
• Sweeping changes to Perk names and descriptions to standardize how Perks are labeled. Some flavor might have been reduced, the language across the board should be easier to understand.
• Tundra TS rewards. One of the new War Zones players will see on the War Table is a Threat Sector in the Snowy Tundra. This Threat Sector will not give random scaling gear, but Cryo gear. The Universal Set gear reward remains unchanged.
• Black Widow. Infiltrator’s Belt. Replaced generic Heroic Support regen with Assault Empowerment, which has a high chance to activate a boost of Intrinsic Energy when using Widow’s Bite. Red Room Arsenal. Replaced generic status build meter increase with Shadow Ops Breaker, which increases damage based on the amount of Shadow Ops energy you currently have. Red Room Corset / Red Room Uniform. Replaced Leeching Strike with Lethal Invisibility, which has a chance on defeating an enemy to grant Black Widow invisibility. Natalia’s Cloak. Replaced Shadow Ops Amplifier with Smoke Grenade Reactive Trigger, which has a chance to cast vanish in smoke when taking damage. The Cryo Potentiator Perk now affects the hazard area left over by Hazard Grenade with Flash Freeze Grenades equipped. TRM-353814
• Thor. Belt of the All-Father. Replaced generic Heroic energy regen with Rampant Supercharge, which increases Willpower and Heroic regeneration while overcharged. Armguards of the Thunderer. Replaced increased status buildup using Odinforce attacks with Warrior’s Fury Destruction, which increases stun, status, and overall damage while Warrior’s Fury is active. Chestplate of the Thunderer. Replaced Asgard’s Fury with Odinforce Safeguard, which provides armor based on the amount of intrinsic energy you have. Girdle of the Thunderer. Replaced Shock Potentiator with Assault Empowerment, which has a high chance to activate an intrinsic burst on using God Blast. Replaced Odin’s Flight with Warrior’s Fury Extension, which increases the duration of Warrior’s Fury. Cincture of Asgard’s Scion / Girdle of Asgard’s Scion. Replaced generic heroic regen Perk with Rampant Lethal Extension, which extends Warrior’s Fury duration for each enemy defeated. Armor of Asgard’s Scion / Chestplate of Asgard’s Scion. Replaced Suppression Immunity with Lethal Unarmed Cryo Leak, which spreads the Cryo status effect for each enemy defeated with your bare hands. When using Thor in the Corrupted Vibranium Event, Beam of Star Fire now counts towards the Vibranium: Asgardian mission chain.
• Captain America. Chestplate of the First Avenger. Replaced Rally Cry Breaker with Block Surplus, which increases the amount of intrinsic energy. Replaced Reactive Overdrive with Lethal Nimble Overdrive, which activates Captain’s Defense from defeating enemies from block attacks or perfectly evading enemy attacks. Safeguard of the First Avenger. Replaced generic Heroic regen with Commander’s Call Safeguard, which increases defense while Captain’s Defense is active. Harbingers of the Nomad. Replaced Block Breaker with Captain’s Defense Reactive Trigger, which has a chance to automatically activate Captain’s Defense when taking damage, and completely negating the attack. Conduit of the Nomad (now with the proper name 😊). Replaced increased critical chance Perk with Captain’s Target, which states that quickly landing 3 headshots in a row using Shield Throw will activate the Captain’s Charge buff. Aegis of the Nomad. Replaced increased status build up Perk with Rally Cry Supercharge, which increases health and heroic energy regeneration while Rally Cry is active. Rampart of the Nomad / Helm of the Nomad. Replaced Impact Break with Shield Block Safeguard that gives armor based on the amount of shield block energy Cap has. Iron Gloves of the Super Soldier. Replaced Brooklyn Brawler Amplifier with Brooklyn Brawler Overdrive, which Increases intrinsic regeneration while Brooklyn Brawler is active. Battle Plate of the Super Soldier. Perk name changed from Brawler’s Vigor to Brooklyn Brawler Extension, which increases the duration from 3 to 8.5 seconds. Previous versions were unintentionally limited to 5 seconds, only the new version will see the increased time.
• Iron Man. Modular Mark VII EMF Generator. Replaced Hyper Flux Laser (moved to other sets and slots) with Hulkbuster Impulse which increases Hulkbuster stun damage. Modular Mark VII Power Cell. Replaced generic heroic regen Perk with Hulkbuster Breaker increasing Hulkbuster damage. Replaced Rampant Regeneration with Armory Spike increasing all critical damage from weapons. Superior Mark XV Doom Fists. Replaced Heavy Modifier with Lethal Lightweight Supercharge, which gives Supercharge Intrinsic energy, heroic energy, and Willpower when defeating enemies with light melee attacks. Superior Mark XV R.T. Node. Replaced Bunker Buster Missiles (moved to another set and slot) with Supercharge Safeguard, which gives armor based on the amount of intrinsic energy Iron Man has. Superior Mark XV Quantum Reactor. Replaced Overdrive with Supercharge Extension, which increases the duration Supercharge is active. Superior Mark XV Quantum Reactor / Superior Mark XIII Arc Accelerator. Replaced Takedown Overdrive with Supercharge Safeguard, which gives armor while supercharge is active. Centurion’s Mark XV Bastion / Centurion’s Mark VIII Armaments. Replaced Jarvis barrier Perk with Skyguard Disrupter, which increases energy gained from intrinsic orbs. Centurion’s Mark XV Bastion. Replaced evade distance increase with Lethal Nimble Overdrive, which gains Supercharge for a brief duration after defeating enemies with Light Attacks or when Perfectly Evading an incoming attack. Centurion’s Mark XV Quantum Reactor. Replaced Rampant Assistance (moving to Modular set) with Arc Overload Assistance, which grants a second Arc Overload charge. Centurion’s Mark XIII Arc Accelerator / Centurion’s Mark XV Quantum Reactor. Replaced Hulkbuster Breaker (moved to Modular set) with Electron Shunt, which grants extra intrinsic energy when parrying enemy attacks. Replaced generic heroic regen Perk with Rampant Spike, which increases critical damage while overcharged. The Rampant Safeguard Perk now functions correctly.
• Ms. Marvel. Marvelous Adornments. Replaced Overdrive which increases Polymorph energy regeneration rate with Healing Spirit Extension, which increases the duration of the Healing Spirit buff on Ms. Marvel. Marvelous Body Armor. Replaced Healing Spirit Rush with Polymorph Melee Rush, which allows melee attacks to slowly regenerate Willpower while Polymorph is active. Stormranger’s Nega Bands. Replaced Status damage while Polymorphed with Embiggen Destruction, which increases Stun, Status, and overall damage while Embiggen is active. Stormranger’s Coat of Arms. Replaced generic health regen Perk with Embiggen Overdrive, which increases intrinsic regeneration while Embiggen is active.
• Hulk. Worldbreaker’s Myofibril. Replaced Status meter build up Perk with Rage Breaker, which increases damage based on the amount of Rage energy Hulk has. Worldbreaker’s Alloy. Replaced health regen Perk with Lethal Nimble Overdrive, which can activate a short duration Boneshaker after defeating enemies with Rage Attacks or when Perfectly Evading an incoming attack. Worldbreaker’s Neuronics. Replaced Monster’s Barrage (moving to the Monstrous set) with Boneshaker Supercharge, which increases health and heroic regeneration while Boneshaker is active. Planet Cracker Amalgam. Replaced Reflexive Taunt with Boneshaker Rush where melee Attacks slowly regenerate Willpower while Boneshaker is active. Planet Cracker Dendrites. Replaced generic heroic regen with Boneshaker Overdrive, which increases intrinsic regeneration while Boneshaker is active
• Hawkeye. Eagle’s Kit / Hawk’s Bow. Replaced Nightstorm Multiplier (becoming exclusive to Classic Power Set) with Rampant Boon, which increases critical chance while overcharged (Locked on). Potentiator Perks now apply the damage buff to the Pulsar Arrow during Hawkeye’s Bag of Tricks.
• Spider-Man (PS4/PS5). The Auto-Defense buff no longer blocks the Spider-Drone.

Marvel’s Avengers is available via Google Stadia, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, and Xbox Series X. For more coverage on the game, click here.