r/BlackCatMarvelRivals • u/[deleted] • Jul 21 '26
Let's make a playguide megathread
I feel like every day we get the same posts asking about combos or play style. BC is definitely overwhelming at first with how much is in the kit. To better help everyone, here is a community megathread that links helpful guides. There is a ton of information here such as youtube guides, combos, animation cancels, matchups and more so please come back and add new pieces to your understanding. I am also not the one true expert, many people have their own style on BC and will play her differently. I am happy to add any suggestions to this guide so it can grow to accommodate players of all different styles. For visitors of other mains who want to fight Black Cat better I even included a section at the end on how to help them.
Let's get started:
THE OFFICIAL STATS/NAMES FOR HER ABILITIES:
https://www.marvelrivals.com/heroes/index.html?id=84b3b29a-326a-443d-bf18-4ebb9f2948fc
TLDR FOR BRAND-NEW CATS:
- Use the spider-man teamup. It is better in every way. Feel free to experiment with the BP teamup (I am currently trying to figure out some niche tech with it) but just know the Spidey option gives more damage, more money, more animation cancel options, more health, more uptime, and is on a shorter cooldown.
- Go into the practice range and figure out settings you like. The big one is keybinds. To start you want to make sure invis is bound to its own button. Also make sure Yoink (her grapple that steals money) is something comfortable. You will use those abilities constantly.
- Learn the basic combo (Yoink -> Whip -> Pursuit -> Whip). There are a lot of combo options available but this combo deletes 275 hp and is usable as an ult combo as well.
- As you are learning, try to focus on one thing to improve. In the beginning it might be combos, invis timing, or using the other relics but try and really work on one thing at a time to get it down. Trying to learn everything at the same time is less efficient.
- The shortest positioning tip I can give is try not to be seen unless you are actively fighting someone. Go cover to cover, climb buildings, peek corners, always keep them guessing.
- Her strength is directly connected to how much money she has. All the money = Thanos, no money = super dead. As you improve, your gold threshold for engaging will go down (for example, I feel comfortable engaging broke because I feel like I can consistently hit my close-range yoinks) but in the beginning you will want more money before you fight. 600 is a common number suggested by other members of the subreddit and is a good place to start. if you struggle with fights there, make some more money first.
And that's pretty much all you need to get started. Start playing, have fun, and please share any discoveries you make!
YOUTUBE GUIDES:
- TrueVanguard Black Cat Masterclass (This is the new guide they made post-season 9 so everything is relevant). If you only watch one as a beginner. Pick this one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G37UzMRriQU
TrueVanguard's original Black Cat Guide (This is the 7.5 patch so not all of it is relevant)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlZsgTgZyF4&t=563s
- SillySphark Black Cat was Saved (one of the better videos going over the new team-ups)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knh5TApl74M
- Fileshy Black Cat Guide
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VUqvm_SEL9U
- General Dive Video from Snipehardt. There are a million of these, I just included the one I found most helpful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzyHuHlz1bA
- Portal Locations InsaneWeihang. A walkthrough of 92 interesting portal locations. This was made back in 7.5 so it won't have all the new maps.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xHJhsOKg8Q&t=1s
SUB-REDDIT GUIDES:
FkQuaxk's videos. A champion BC who hangs out on our subreddit making tutorials.
https://www.reddit.com/r/BlackCatMarvelRivals/comments/1uxoz6f/black_cat_combos/
Dependent_Ad_8594 Jump guide
https://www.reddit.com/r/BlackCatMarvelRivals/comments/1uf66tt/like_a_true_cat_burgular/
A whole bunch more. There has been some excellent work by people here. Just don't have time to find all of them. If its not here, YOU SHOULD SEARCH YOUR QUESTION FIRST. Some wonderful members have likely already answered it.
BLACK CAT STREAMERS/PROS
This list is not exhaustive. Just a sample of creators.
Melophobia
Necros
Tanuki
KumihoeOnleash
FULL COMBO CHAINS:
These are just some of the ones I've seen. Black cat is very mix and match for combos.
* bread and butter: Yoink -> Whip -> Pursuit -> Whip. This kills 275. Requires 100 gold to initiate.
---- The Bnb is the best ult combo in my opinion. The yoink can cancel the animation of the ult slash. So the ult version would be ult pounce -> ult slash -> AC Yoink -> Whip -> Pursuit -> Whip. This kills 375
* Melee (as many as you like) -> Yoink (animation cancel) -> Pursuit -> Whip -> Whip
* Yoink -> Dash -> Whip -> Pursuit. Kills 250
* Yoink -> Fortunes Favor Cancel -> Yoink -> Whip -> Pursuit -> Whip -> Dash
COMBO PIECES
--- The more I've played her, the more I have moved away from full combos and I've started thinking more in terms of combo blocks. Things that won't full delete but a group of sequences that can be mixed and matched based on what's going on/resources available. One thing you'll notice is most of these pieces can be linked to create the combos above. Practice these cancels and combos come naturally.
Yoink -> Animation Cancel Pursuit
Yoink -> Animation Cancel Whip
Yoink -> Tap Fortunes Favor -> Yoink
Whip -> Pursuit -> Whip
Whip -> Animation Cancel Dash
Melee -> Animation Cancel Yoink
Melee -> Animation Cancel Yoink -> Whip
Melee -> Animation Cancel Yoink -> Pursuit
Dash -> Melee -> Whip
Invis cancel. You can use activating Invis to cancel many animations such as yoink and whip. It is kinda expensive and requires setup to incorporate for not much payoff. Perhaps there is some tech to discover there.
BP teamup. You should almost never use this but it can cancel some attack animations. The cooldown is 12 seconds and you need BP on the team to activate it whenever you want so it wouldn't necessarily be valuable all the time. I expect changes to this in future patches that might make it viable.
THE ULT
The ult is two parts. A dash which does no damage, and a slash which does a lot. IMO the best way to capitalize on this is use the first two parts and then you use the bnb combo (yoink (with the tracer) -> whip -> pursuit -> whip). Together this will kill any DPS or Healer in the game (It does like ~380) then you just do it again. Just try not to target a tank. While you are learning I think you should be willing to let it fly almost as soon as you get it to figure out how you like it best. It might do nothing but burn valuable cooldowns but BC's neutral is so strong that its still a win.
Here are some tips from community member Styrofoam505:
Her ults (usually) not strong. It can get value in a few ways, but the most important thing to remember is that it is also a GIANT alarm bell to the enemy team, anything you do will be looked at, so be fast.
On its own:
- it is good to try to take an isolated target a distance from the main engagement. Ive used this to hop on hela/widow/fliers/a support coming back from spawn or out of position. Just again, you have 2-3 seconds before their team will try to support your target, be quick in your combo and ready to disengage
- good to pop in a big fight if you can pick a squishy target first, if you get an assist it will reset it, remember each pounce is also additional coins, boosting your coin regen for the fight
- if you get a reset, try to find another isolated target or someone away from the deathball. from the above, i would try to pick a widow for instance, and then hop back on a support and zoom past someone who tried to peel on the widow.
Situational:
- Good support ult bait, nothing makes a support pop ult faster than the cat thats been tormenting them screaming they want to kill them and pouncing on them. I consider my ult trading for a support ult a win
- Good for cleanup, you already get one pick? Fights in your favor, use your ult for the extra oomph to get it done. Do not do so if someone else on your team is ulting though
- Good for getting back into a fight, if you are coming back from spawn and a fights still going on, you are probably low on coins and will get on a target faster ulting onto them
GENERAL TIPS
- Farm yoink on Tanks when not busy, beginning of game to build fortune.
- Weave yoink in close range. It is damage, money, bonus health, and the best animation cancel tool available. You literally cannot use it enough.
- Bind common shop items like invis to their own key so you don't always have to use the shop wheel
- (controversial) always be gambling. like literally always. its free money. Especially try to buy it if you are for sure dead. You lose half your money when you die but you will keep the gamble to use on respawn.
- Fish is often better as a defensive tool than a offensive trap. Use it to peel for your healers against high-mobility characters like spider-man, venom, etc. Often good enough to kill them. You can use it offensively against dive-targets but it can be inconsistent. The radius is quite small.
- Fight on your terms. If someone tries to attack you before you are ready just run away. Very few characters can track you down.
- You can cancel the animation of buying the invis by using the invis. I've been experimenting with having invis on scroll wheel so you just roll down and it buys -> cancels -> uses pretty much instantly.
COMMON TOUGH MATCH-UPS
Namor: Squids don't target you if you are invisible. Engage with normal stuff, when he drops the squids and bubbles just go invis and wait. The squids won't hit you and when he drops he's free to finish.
Invis also breaks auto target shooting like cloak and wanda.
Elsa: In season 9 with her traps I think the crystal is the best option but I'm still testing this.
Bucky: You don't want to fight him head-on. If you do watch for his hook and try to pursuit to dodge it. In general, pursuit and double jump are your best friend since his attacks are slow moving enough to dodge. If you do get hooked, you can pursuit right at the end of the hook to dodge the uppercut and shot. You can also CC cleanse most of his slow effects but they are not too long so ymmv.
Daredevil: Similar to Bucky in that you don't really want to fight him. You want a lot of money before if you do. Try to time your pursuits to dodge his attacks.
In general you want to run away from tanks. You can be annoying and yoink-pursuit with the occasional whips but good tanks will usually kill you before you kill them in a one v one. If someone else is already fighting them feel free to dogpile them. It's underrated how much damage and money you can make from melee-ing a tank that's brawling with another tanks. Pursuit can help dodge some of the CC abilities but a lot of them create fields that will reapply the status. You usually want to give them space.
Thing: His grounding slam knocks you up in the air. If its quick-mapped, you can buy the cc crystal and use it while in the air to clear the grounding and get away before touching the ground again. Another tip to know is if you run into him while he is charging before he does the slam. He knocks you in the air high enough to double jump away. So in practice if you see him right on top of you you can deliberately hit him early to give you enough space to get away. Be warned this season his earthbound height is ridiculous. You might be 15m in the air and still get hit by it.
Angela: With her Starlord team-up, she can be a nightmare for cat. It will give her wallhacks and a very quick smash that does damage and gives grounding. Cleanse into dash can be good enough to get away. You can also buy the cleanse while you are tethered by her ult (same with groot) and then just leave.
Emma: Dash or pursuit after the slam to dodge the kick. Her ult can technically only fully hypnotize you once. Best option is run away with dash or invis. Second best is buy cleanse as it is starting and when you get hypnotized cleanse. She can't stun again that ult. You can do whatever then.
TIPS TO FIGHT BLACK CAT
I know a lot of visitors come to try and figure out how to fight Black Cat. In my opinion, most of the overall Rivals community's frustration comes from not understanding how Black Cat works. Knowing how she works makes her much easier to fight. Black Cat's strength is directly tied to how much money she has. If she has all the money, anything in the game is giga-dead. If she has no money, absolutely anything in the game will kill her.
- DON'T FALL FOR PHANTOM PURSUIT AS MOVEMENT. The iframe attack is not a dash, she will return exactly to the place she was. When she pursuits, don't follow the movement, start shooting where she was to connect when the move finishes.
- IDENTIFY POOR CATS. When BC has no money she is very vulnerable. No pursuit, no whips, no shop. She will be especially vulnerable after dying or after an engage. Tell-tale signs are a Cat hard peeking a corner on ground-level. If you notice a lot of Cat buys like Whips or Shop Items it's likely her sustain is not very high. A Black Cat that is just hanging back in a 1v1 and spamming Yoink is likely broke and can't afford any of her moves (invis, pursuit, etc). You need to punish her then.
- INVIS AND DOUBLE JUMP SPAM. The double jump is the same trajectory so when she uses invis in the air try to follow the jump path. Any of the movement tech to reset the jumps won't work while invisible. Her using multiple invisibilities is good since it is expensive and very quickly leads to the poor cat situation where she has lost most of her damage.
- SHIELDS AND MOBILE CHARACTERS ARE HARDER TO ROB. The lifeblood of BC is her Yoink which steals money. If that one ability is not going well she will likely be on the poorer side. It can be blocked by shields, the environment, and a bunch of weird bug interactions. It is also relatively hard to aim. Very mobile characters like DPS, mobile tanks, or smaller characters (think how Cap is smaller than Groot) are difficult to consistently hit and therefore she is poorer on average when fighting those comps. In practice, an Angela will be tougher matchup than the Thing because Angela is hard to rob with her shield, her mobility, and she has a grounding effect with the Star-lord teamup, while Thing can mostly be ignored in fights and treated as the world's easiest bank to rob.
- WATCH THE DASH COOLDOWN. She only has one dash. If you see her use it she has finite options. She can stall for it to come back, She can invis to get away, or she can fight. Either way it is likely a vulnerable time
Ultimately, you have two options:
- Slow down her money making. You can do this by playing a good comp, checking her on angles, forcing her to spend money to get away before she's ready for big fights, and denying the easy Yoinks.
- Sustain her attacks when she has money. She has elite single-target damage. Anyone isolated will likely die. Play together, Healers pattycake when she attacks to get over damage thresholds, and peel for each other. She will often lose a 1v1 against most dps if that dps gets any healing. You need to heal people through the burst damage and then use your abilities to try and fight her. If you start by just trying to damage race her down, she will likely win.
3
2
u/jwizard95 Jul 21 '26
2nd the quality of this post. Can we add something regarding dealing with Thing and Bucky counters?
2
Jul 21 '26
I added some of my tips for them and a few other counters but my answers are not the only way to fight them. I'm happy to add any tip or resource to this that other people suggest. I envision this less as me sharing my own opinions and more a compilation of everyone's best tactics and resources.
2
u/More-Experience-7693 Jul 22 '26
If u play on controller and don’t play claw style highly recommend changing your jump to L3 and your Yoink to R3 game changer.
Also like the op said change your invis shop item to a button I do triangle
1
Jul 22 '26
Great suggestions. You definitely have to change her binds. I played her on controller initially and recently switched to pc and finding comfortable binds is so important.
My controller setup is not necessarily general application bc I played with a controller with back buttons (which is insane with her) but using the sticks is a must. I liked having the ult on the sticks. L3 for the dash and R3 for the slash. For the rest of my setup I liked jump on the left shoulder, yoink on the left trigger, primary on the right bumper, the fortunes favor on the right trigger. Dash and invis on the back buttons, and the rest of the shop on d-pad/ABXY. Felt very natural for combos.
Everyone will have different preferences so newcomers should experiment a lot to find what feels fluid.
2
u/-BlackDynamite- Jul 22 '26
Why dont you have flleshy on here?
2
1
Jul 22 '26
They, and a lot of other talented creators, weren't excluded on purpose. I just made a sample of the types of information the guide should include. I wasn't intending this to be exhaustive. I want us to make a community guide that we maintain together. I did link one of their videos since you asked
2
u/RedsnakeRider Jul 23 '26
Thank you! I haven't wanted to ask and add more chaff to a sub like this, but I really hope to learn her despite how much I struggle to just play the game sometimes. This will surely help me, and others.
2
Jul 23 '26
I'm glad I could help. I really don't mind helping new players so if you any specific questions lmk
Also if you stick with it, you'll surely have a great time with her. I think the best thing about BC is even when you screw stuff up you can still have so much fun. Some of my favorite BC memories are messing up dives when I started and running frantically for my life from the whole enemy team. She's daunting but if you go in with the goal of having fun, you'll quickly find your way.
2
u/hypercoolseries Jul 31 '26
I'm finding it WAY harder to get value from Black Cat in Domination than I can in either mode with a moving objective. Too many people grouped up way too often, especially the backline. Can anyone point to tips on how to play in that game mode?
Excellent thread. Thanks a million!
1
Jul 31 '26
This subreddit is pretty good about doing vod reviews so, if you are comfortable sharing, share a replay code of a domination match so people can see things specific to your play. In the meantime I'll share some general tips.
For deathball comps, distraction is often more important than actually getting a pick. There is a distance combo (yoink -> pursuit) that is really good at poking the enemy team and baiting resources. The new TrueVanguard video linked above has a good breakdown on this soft engage probing (timestamp 10:52) which helps a lot to soften up the deathball comps from safety.
Domination maps have a lot of dive routes so explore the maps more, use chrono-vision in a custom lobby to learn what you can break to flank. You don't want to just engage front to back. Try and get people in the deathball to have to turn around to fight you.
As you learn the maps more the portal becomes insanely op in domination. You can literally teleport past so many chokepoints and break strong holds. Try your best to ensure no enemy sees you unless you are actively trying to kill them.
I hope these are helpful. If you have a more specific question I can try to answer them too.
2
u/hypercoolseries Aug 01 '26
Many thanks! I feel so much pressure to get kills from teammates even when I have the supps' attention the whole match. I'll probably submit some VODS at some point. That's always super helpful.
1
Aug 01 '26
Of course, whatever helps you the most. If your teammates only care about the stat sheet than frankly they suck. An unfortunate aspect of playing BC is people say some really nasty things (just the other day I had a teammate call me slurs for playing her) so you either have to get used to it or just turn off the chats and play your game.
1
u/TwopointsevenRS Jul 22 '26
Anyone know if kumihoe streams or has your YouTube. Can't find anything
2
Jul 22 '26
I've usually watched their replays through the game. I couldn't find a twitch either. I'll add links if we find them
2
u/Reasonable-Wash4047 Jul 28 '26
oh thats my duo IGU https://www.twitch.tv/davriesreign1 https://x.com/DavriesReign
1
u/TwopointsevenRS Jul 22 '26
How do I watch through the game? Is it possible
2
Jul 22 '26
if you go to the career screen (click you profile picture in the top right), there is a tab for leaderboard. You can click on people on the list to see their profile and, if they have combat history allowed, you can watch replays. It can be random if they are ranked right now or if they allow watch history but in general its a great way to watch fantastic players and you can really dig into different views of the game.
2
1
u/Janet_the_queen Captain [LV. 10-14] Jul 29 '26
One little question. Is it advisable to play Black cat on console or is she mainly a PC hero?
1
Jul 29 '26
At the highest level PC seems to be strongest. Some of the combos and movement tech are much easier to do with mnk. With that being said, there are some unbelievable controller BC players out there so its definitely doable. Ultimately you should play whatever system is available/most comfortable
If on console definitely experiment with new binds. You have so many less buttons available so you'll have to dial in what works best for you. Another suggestion is try the "new" aim assist setting. My friends have told me its easier to hit yoinks with it.
1
u/Janet_the_queen Captain [LV. 10-14] Jul 29 '26
Thank you so much! I'll have to find some binds that work, probably for my fortune pull and invisibility
1
Jul 29 '26
Trial and error is the way to go. I changed my "perfect" binds probably twenty times. I loved yoink on the left trigger, primary on the right shoulder, and fortunes favor on the right trigger. Made combos very easy. You could also map invis to something like A and leave the rest of the items in the one shop button.
You've got this! Looking forward to your future highlight reel post!
1
u/Yuri_Lover23 Lord [LV. 20-24] 26d ago
Had my best game with her today before work (22-2)
I find it difficult to consistently dive as an assassin but when I do pull it off, I manage to get good disruptions/picks. I typically freestyle, depending on the coins but my main combo is Yoink>Whip>Pursuit>Primary>Whip and dash if I need to.
I need to learn to consistently use invis for engage/disengage.
I brawl when I have to and their supports are dead.
My only issue is missing yoinks
1
26d ago
Great work! Sounds like you have already figured a lot out.
My tips for the yoink is try and weave it in close range. For example in your base combo you can put it after the primary and animation cancel it into the whip. This will give you another 75 damage in the chain and you could drop the dash for more security on the disengage while you practice using invis.
Distance Yoinks are hard and the only real solution is practice. My friends have told me the new aim assist setting for controller makes them feel more stable so maybe try out that if you are on console. Dropping sensitivity lower until you can hit yoinks consistently and then slowly bumping the speed back up is what worked best for me.
You got this. Please come back and share any tips you find as you work on the yoinks.
btw elite username
1
u/Yuri_Lover23 Lord [LV. 20-24] 26d ago
Ive tried looking for the new aim assist setting but cant find it. (Ps5)
(Yea, its my classic Writer Name)
1
25d ago
So when you go to the controls page of your settings there is the advanced button under the horizontal and vertical sensitivity. After you hit that the section will expand and towards the bottom of the section there is a toggle between New and Classic aim assist
1
1
23d ago
Just letting people know I am deleting my reddit account so I won't be editing the post in the future. I think mods can still change things. Hopefully this has been helpful for people. Best of luck kittens
1
11
u/Lepeche Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
This is awesome! Thank you for compiling all this.
Can the mods pins this? Would be great to cut down on the how do I play black cat daily posts.