The buzz is back around Marvel's Avengers and it's mostly down to one man. Black Panther is finally arriving in the game in his very own expansion that brings a bunch of new content to the game.
Besides a new character and a new location to play through with associated bad guys and missions to take on, Crystal Dynamics has also built some UI improvements to make playing the game a little less frustrating and give you more time to play and less time to spend in menus.
Here's what to expect from Black Panther - War for Wakanda.
Marvel's Avengers Black Panther - War for Wakanda release date
The update for the War for Wakanda content will be live on Tuesday, August 17 on all platforms. There is no exclusivity and it will be available simultaneously on Xbox, PlayStation, PC, and Google Stadia.
Marvel's Avengers Black Panther - War for Wakanda launch time
War for Wakanda is coming as an update to the current game and will be released on all platforms at 8 a.m Pacific Time. Here's a quick breakdown of what that means where you are:
- 8 a.m. (Los Angeles)
- 11 a.m. (New York)
- 12 p.m. (Sao Paulo)
- 4 p.m. (London)
- 5 p.m. (Paris, Berlin, Rome)
- 8.30 p.m. (New Delhi)
- 11 p.m. (Hong Kong)
- 1 a.m. August 18 (Sydney)
The actual time you can get the update may vary depending on the platform, but the developer has confirmed at their end an 8 a.m. Pacific release.
How much is Black Panther - War for Wakanda?
It's absolutely free! The DLC is being offered as a free update to all players of the game on all platforms. New players will be able to jump straight in, too, there's no requirement to have completed the base campaign or the two previous Hawkeye expansions before starting.
The addition of the War for Wakanda expansion brings the total single-player content to 25 hours plus the Avengers Initiative endgame mode with its replayable, multiplayer missions.
What will cost is the Black Panther character card, a battle pass-like system of rewards and that will cost 1,000 in-game credits as with the previous launch of Kate Bishop and Hawkeye.
Marvel's Avengers Black Panther - War for Wakanda plot, enemies, and location
Naturally, being a Black Panther expansion, the main location is Wakanda. This will join the existing biomes and we've already seen both jungle and city environments. Wakanda also becomes a new outpost, with the Royal Palace becoming a base of operations for the Avengers.
This expansion also introduces two new villains to the game, Klaw, and Crossbones, who are in Wakanda for, you guessed it, Vibranium. King T'Challa/Black Panther will be joined by Shuri, Okoye, and Zawavari. The expansion has been crafted with assistance from Marvel comic book writer, Evan Narcisse, as well as Beth McGuire, a dialect coach from the Black Panther movie, to help create the most authentic experience possible.
We'll be seeing a new faction and new enemies, including some pretty fearsome-looking mechanical spiders, and the first in-game event to focus on Wakanda will begin on August 19. There will be weekly drop zone and threat sector missions in Wakanda, too, in addition to the existing areas of the game.
As with all existing characters, Black Panther will have a 50 level skill cap and a 150 level power cap, with a comprehensive skill tree and move set designed specifically for the character.
Updated UI
Along with all the new Wakanda-based content, Avengers is also going to get a fairly hefty UI overhaul along with the expansion. Quality of life is the name of the game, with a new unified character screen the center of it all.
Other features promised include easier loadout management, mass deconstruction of items and the ability to lock gear for safety to prevent any accidental dismantling.
Free next-gen upgrade
If you're yet to purchase Marvel's Avengers, the good news is that there's a next-gen update for it and that, too, is free. On Xbox, it supports Smart Delivery for a seamless upgrade, while on PS5 it requires manually transferring saves to be able to continue on the new console.
The next-gen upgrade adds a 4K mode on Xbox Series X and 1440p on Xbox Series S, with an optional 60 FPS performance mode, too.
Now is the best time to give this game a chance
With next-gen upgrades and a ton of content to play, including the arrival of Black Panther and Wakanda soon, there has never been a better time to get into Marvel's Avengers.
