Black Cat

* Portrait
* Featured

## Availability

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No

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Yes

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Yes

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Yes

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Yes

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Yes

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No

## Template

**Black Cat** is a Skill champion. Being a Skill champion, she has a class advantage against Science champions but a disadvantage against Mutant champions.

## Bio

A master thief and a world-class gymnast, Felicia Hardy has long held the mantle of the notorious Black Cat. With her trusty grappling hook, athletic prowess, and quick wit, she easily keeps pace with her long time friend, sometimes enemy, ofttimes paramour, Spider-Man, both in thwippage and quippage. Despite her charming demeanor, much of her past has been shaped by trauma, leaving her somewhat vindictive and prone to holding grudges. Do not let the Black Cat cross your path!

## Mechanics

The Heist is on! A master thief, and somewhat of an adrenaline seeker, Black cat’s style of gameplay is all about risk. She lets her opponents know she’s coming by sending a Calling Card ahead of time, and then toys with them by stealing it and planting it straight out of and into their pockets. Every time her Card changes hands, Black Cat gains Combo and Cruelties equal to the number of times it has changed hands during the fight, meaning as the Heist goes on, the returns she gets from stealing grow higher and higher! The Heist can’t last forever though, and Black Cat needs to choose when to cash out for maximum returns.

When the Heist timer reaches 0, Cat’s Calling Card will transform into a Vicious Passive if it’s on herself, or a Sabotage Debuff if it’s on her Opponent, allowing her to tailor her abilities to the fight. Meanwhile, her famous bad luck powers scale with her Combo to lower her Opponent’s Defensive Ability Accuracy. Finally, when the time is right, Black Cat unsheathes her claws to deal a series of devastating Critical Bleeds to finish off her Opponent.

## Abilities

**Always Active**

* Black Cat’s Critical Hits inflict Bleed Debuffs dealing *X* Direct Damage over 7 second(s).

*Dev Notes: This ability doesn’t deal too much damage, but is great for proccing a high number of Bleeds against Champions like Thing.*

**Calling Card**

* To goad her target, Black Cat sends a Calling Card in advance to let them know she’s coming. The Opponent begins the fight with this Calling Card.
* Black Cat will steal the Calling Card from the Opponent whenever she Intercepts them or strikes them while they are standing up or recovering from a Heavy or Special Attack.
* Black Cat will plant the Calling Card back on the Opponent with each of her Heavy attack hits.
* Each time the Calling Card changes hands, Black Cat adds 1 Combo to her Combo Meter and gains a Cruelty Passive increasing her Critical Damage Rating by *X* for 13 second(s). These bonuses are multiplied for each time the Card has changed hands this fight.

* Black Cat’s expertise in thievery means that Ability Accuracy reduction cannot cause her to fail to steal or plant the Calling Card.

*Dev Notes: Try to steal and plant the Card as many times as you can before the Heist is over. Always be looking for the next opportunity to steal the card! Countering the Opponent’s Heavy with your own Heavy is a great way to trigger the Card two times in quick succession and works very well against Stun Immune opponents.*

**The Heist**

* At the start of a fight, the Heist is on! The Heist lasts for 45 second(s) and when it ends, one of the following two effects occur:
* If the Calling Card is on Black Cat, it converts into a Vicious Passive, increasing the potency of her Bleed Debuffs by 50% for 15 second(s).
* If the Calling Card is on the Opponent, it converts into a Sabotage Debuff, reducing the Opponent’s Defensive Ability Accuracy by 40% for 15 second(s) and dealing *X* Direct Damage whenever their Defensive Abilities fail to trigger.

* When either of these effects expire, the Heist restarts, and a new Calling Card is added to the Opponent with half the bonus multiplier of the previous one, rounded down.

*Dev Notes: Against the average non-Bleed Immune Opponent, go for the Vicious Passive for extra Bleed damage. Against an Opponent with consistent or dangerous Defensive Abilities, go for the Sabotage to completely shut them down! Also, remember that the Card will start with half the number of hand changes as the previous one, so the next Heist will have even more value!*

**Bad Luck Aura** - Always Active

* For each Hit in Black Cat’s Combo Meter, the Opponent’s Defensive Ability Accuracy is passively reduced by 2%, or twice that against Science Opponents, up to a maximum of 60%.
* Whenever an Opponent’s ability fails to trigger due to Ability Accuracy reduction, Black Cat pauses each of her personal Passives and Debuffs for 1.8 second(s).

*Dev Notes: The Defensive Ability Accuracy reduction is always capped at 60%, but against Science Champs, you’ll get there twice as fast. Note that this ability pauses all Passives and Debuffs, so this can be an amazing way to hold onto your Cruelties and keep the Bleeds active much longer than normal.*

## Signature Ability

**Nine Lives** - Passive

* Black Cat starts the quest with 9 Combo Shield Passives which prevent her from losing Combo when struck. These persist across fights.
* These Combo Shields fall off one at a time, and last for 3 second(s) after Black Cat is Struck. These Combo Shields also begin to expire after she Evades using this ability.
* When Black Cat would be struck while dashing, for each Combo Shield effect on her, she has a *X*% chance to gain an Evade Passive for 1 second.

*Dev Notes: At Max Sig level, this ability essentially gives a one-time, 100% chance to Evade any attack, just by dashing into it. So if you’re feeling spicy you could use that to dodge a particularly tricky Special Attack. But be careful: This ability becomes much less reliable as you use it throughout the quest.*

## Special Attacks

**Special 1 - High Felocity Impact**

*Black Cat fires her grappling hook straight at her enemy, but only grazes them. The Opponent has mere seconds to appreciate this fact before Black Cat slams them with a grapple-powered dropkick.*

* On Activation, if Black Cat does not have the Calling Card, she Purifies up to 3 Debuffs. If no Debuffs were Purified this way, she grants herself a Cleanse Passive for 13 second(s). The Cleanse will consume itself to instantly Purify the next Debuff applied to Black Cat.
* If Black Cat does have the Calling Card, landing this attack plants it back onto the Opponent and extends The Heist by 9 second(s).

*Dev Notes: Watch out for this attack! It can be tricky to dodge. Keep your eyes peeled for when she fires her grappling hook, and make sure to dodge both that, and the drop kick that comes after. Also be sure to remember that, as a Defender, after this attack, Black Cat will likely have a Cleanse Passive, meaning she will Purify the next time you try to Parry her.*

**Special 2 - Claw de Grâce**

*In an impressive feat of athleticism, Black Cat launches herself into the air using her grappling hook, then uses it as a whip to slash her Opponent in a momentum-enhanced strike.*

* During this attack, Black Cat’s Critical Rating is increased by *X* for each hit in both Champions’ Combo Meters.

* Instead of her regular Bleeds, this attack inflicts Critical Bleeds dealing *X* Direct Damage multiplied by Black Cat’s Critical Damage Multiplier.

* Landing this attack steals or plants the Calling Card, then ends The Heist.

*Dev Notes: The very easily missable aspect to this attack is that it will transfer the Card before ending the Heist, so make sure to position the Card to the opposite position from where you want the Card to end up.*

**Special 3 - Infuriating Agility**

*Black Cat makes a show of easily avoiding her Opponent's attacks before knocking them on their haunches, enraging them and causing them to act recklessly.*

* Inflicts the Opponent with a non-stacking Infuriate Debuff for 13 second(s), causing them to become more aggressive and reducing their Offensive Ability Accuracy by 60%.
* If it’s currently active, refresh The Heist timer.

*Dev Notes: Remember that this Debuff will also be paused by Bad Luck Aura, so the Duration is longer than it looks.*

## Strengths and Weaknesses

### Strengths

* **Critical Bleeds**
	+ By properly timing Black Cat’s stealing/planting of her Calling Card, she can gain a bunch of Cruelties and Combo right before the Heist ends. Use that, plus her Vicious Passive to dish out some absolutely massive Critical Bleeds.

* **Defensive Ability Accuracy Reduction**
	+ By combining her Bad Luck Aura with her Sabotage Debuff, Black Cat can reduce her Opponent’s Defensive Ability Accuracy by up to 100%! With the damage her Sabotage Debuff deals on every Ability failure, this makes her an absolute monster against Champions with a consistent Defensive Ability.

* **Intercept Master**
	+ Black Cat steals her Calling Card off of the Opponent whenever she Intercepts them, so some of her abilities make Intercepting easier or safer. The Infuriate she inflicts on her Special 3 makes her Opponent much more likely to dash at her, making them ripe for Intercepting. In addition, her Signature Ability gives her a stacking chance to Evade while she herself is dashing, meaning she can more safely dash at the Opponent in the hopes of catching them in an Intercept.

### Weaknesses

* **Combo Reliance**
	+ Many of Black Cat’s abilities, including her Bad Luck Aura, and her Critical Rating during Special 2, scale with Combo. Having those kept low considerably limits her.

* **Bleed Immunity**
	+ Black Cat deals the majority of her damage through her Critical Bleeds. Against Bleed Immune opponents, her damage potential declines severely. Although she can make up some of the damage with her Sabotage if the Opponent has a consistent Defensive Ability.

## Recommended Masteries

* **Deep Wounds**
	+ Bleed Debuffs your Champions inflict last 2.5 second(s) longer. If they have more Health Points than their target, their Bleed instantly strikes down an additional 1.0% max Health from enemies.

*Dev Notes: Deep Wounds pretty massively increases Black Cat’s DPS by extending the duration of her Critical Bleeds. Pro players know that extending the duration of a Damage Over Time effect like Bleed doesn’t just spread the damage out, it actually increases the overall damage of the effect! Combine this mastery with her Cat Scratch Fervor synergy to create some truly insane Bleeds!*

* **Despair**
	+ Debuffs applied to enemies reduce their healing and Regeneration effects by 15% each.

*Dev Notes: Black Cat can stack and maintain a pretty hefty number of Bleeds on an average Opponent and with this mastery, each of them decreases the Opponent’s Regen rate by 15%. That makes it fairly easy to completely shut off Regen Champs with enough aggression, if they don’t have Bleed Immunity.*

## External links

 Champion Spotlight Black Cat. Kabam Forums. April 2, 2022.

## Navigation

**Playable:** Ægon ● Agent Venom ● Attuma ● Baron Zemo ● **Black Cat** ● Black Panther ● Black Panther (Civil War) ● Black Widow ● Black Widow (Deadly Origin) ● Blade ● Bullseye ● Chee'ilth ● Crossbones ● Daredevil (Classic) ● Daredevil (Hell's Kitchen) ● Elektra ● Elsa Bloodstone ● Falcon ● Gwenpool ● Hawkeye ● Hit-Monkey ● Jabari Panther ● Karnak ● Kate Bishop ● Killmonger ● Kingpin ● Korg ● Kraven ● Mantis ● Masacre ● Misty Knight ● Mole Man ● Moon Knight ● Moondragon ● Nick Fury ● Night Thrasher ● Punisher ● Ronin ● Shang-Chi ● Spider-Man (Stealth Suit) ● Squirrel Girl ● Taskmaster ● Thor (Ragnarok) ● Valkyrie ● Winter Soldier
**Not playable:** Adaptoid ● Black Widow (Scytalis) ● Deadpooloid ● Doombot ● Frank Strange ● Iron Skull ● Punishing Angel ● Sentineloid ● Symbioid ● Ultron Drone
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