🎯 The core idea
Black Cat is a Fortune-driven Duelist: nearly everything she does — her abilities, her relics, even her survivability — is gated behind Fortune generated by landing hits, and once you understand how to spend it, her dive kit becomes one of the most flexible in Marvel Rivals.
- free costs nothing
- cheap small cost
- setup needs preparation
- grind pays off slowly
- skip the thing to stop doing
Understanding Black Cat's Fortune economy
Everything Black Cat does runs on Fortune (the video calls it "money"), a resource you earn by landing hits. According to the Marvel Rivals Wiki, a basic attack grants 50 Fortune, her Turn of Fortune ability grants 300 on a hit, and Phantom Pursuit grants 150 back on top of its own use — matching what the video demonstrates in the practice range. Fortune caps at 1000 and unlocks her relic shop, officially called Gilded Deal, where each relic both costs and refunds Fortune.
The video refers to Fortune as "money" and to the Gilded Deal relic menu simply as "the shop" throughout — both are informal names for the same systems the wiki documents under Fortune and Gilded Deal.
The relic shop, ranked by priority
The video ranks all six relics from most to least valuable: Helm of Hades, Tablet of Destinies, Ring of Zona, Mento-Fish (called "Hypnofish" in the video), Chernobog's Crystal, and Faltine Flame Orb last. The wiki confirms Helm of Hades costs 200 Fortune for a 60% movement speed buff plus 2 seconds of invisibility, and Tablet of Destinies costs 100 Fortune for a random Fortune payout up to 500 — both align closely with the video's numbers. Faltine Flame Orb is ranked lowest because a recent nerf means tracked enemies now know they're being revealed and can break line of sight.
UNCERTAIN / naming correction: the video's audio transcript mishears several relic names — "Ring of Zoroth," "Hypnofish," and "Chthonos'/Turbo's Crystal" are the ASR's approximations of the actual in-game names Ring of Zona, Mento-Fish, and Chernobog's Crystal, confirmed from the settings menu frame and the wiki.
Ultimate: Calling Card
Calling Card marks every enemy on the map and grants two follow-up abilities: Pounce, a dash to any marked target, and Claw Strike, a percentage-damage finisher. The Marvel Rivals Wiki lists Pounce's range as 60 meters with 50% damage reduction while dashing — noticeably longer than the roughly 40 meters the video estimates, so treat the wiki's number as authoritative. Both sources agree that landing a kill lets you dash to another marked target, effectively chaining the ultimate as long as you keep getting picks, and that using it grants bonus Fortune.
The video says the ultimate used to deal percentage health damage on every dash and has since been nerfed so you can only re-dash after a kill — this patch history could not be independently confirmed on the current wiki revision, so treat it as the creator's recollection.
Team-up: Spider-Man's Binding Ties
This in-game tooltip confirms the exact mechanics: teaming with Spider-Man replaces Turn of Fortune with Spider-Web Grapple, a two-charge ability that steals Fortune on hit and applies a Spider-Tracer mark. Hitting a marked enemy with any other ability triggers bonus damage, and against a Spider-Man teammate the grapple can also immobilize a marked target. The video calls this "infinitely superior" to the alternative Black Panther team-up, which only grants a basic knockback shockwave — arguably a poor fit for a dive character who wants to stay close to targets, not push them away.
Movement, keybinds, and animation cancels
Black Cat has a standard double jump, but three of her abilities refresh it: Turn of Fortune, her dash (Cat's Cradle), and Phantom Pursuit. Chaining these lets her stay airborne far longer than most divers, and the video recommends binding scroll wheel to jump so you can triple-jump reliably on keyboard and mouse. For ability binds, the creator's setup swaps Faltine Flame Orb and Mento-Fish onto more accessible keys since the flame orb is rarely used after its nerf, and puts the ultimate on Q for the fastest access.
Bread-and-butter combos
The video's core combo — shown here on a 275-HP practice target — is Double Jump into three melee hits, Turn of Fortune, Claw Whip, then Phantom Pursuit, finishing with a dash if the target survives. Several flashier variants exist that add an extra Helm of Hades cancel or a second Turn of Fortune, and the video credits console player Uno Jah (on TikTok) for a few of the more experimental routes shown. All of them exist to burst down a 275-health target in one commitment.
Combo timings assume no armor, shields, or healing on the target — against a healed target you will need an extra Claw Whip or Turn of Fortune to close the gap.
Soft diving, hard diving, and reading supports
The video's core dive philosophy applies to any diver, not just Black Cat. Soft diving means jumping on a support to bait a key defensive cooldown — a Cloak & Dagger bubble, a Luna Snow freeze, a White Fox teleport — without committing to the kill. Hard diving is going in in with intent to kill once you've confirmed that cooldown is gone. The creator stresses tracking enemy cooldowns out loud, even calling them to teammates, since that awareness is what turns a 50/50 dive into a near-guaranteed pick.
Crosshair, extra tips, and flanking basics
The video briefly addresses crosshair choice: since Black Cat is a melee-focused Duelist, a crosshair gives no real competitive advantage, and the creator only uses one out of habit from viewer requests, sharing it in the video description rather than as a serious optimization tip. The more advanced tips that matter for actually climbing with her are less about settings and more about habits — flanking wide instead of walking down the same lane as your team, listening for her own loud ability sound cues (which give away her position just as easily to her as to opponents), and treating every relic purchase as a small resource-management decision rather than an autopilot spend.
If you're looking for an advanced guide beyond kit basics, the dive-philosophy section above (soft dive, hard dive, flanking for unused space) is the part of this video aimed at intermediate-to-advanced players rather than total beginners.
How this guide was fact-checked
Ability costs, ranges, and relic names were cross-checked against the Marvel Rivals Fandom Wiki's Black Cat page. The wiki confirmed Fortune generation values (50 for a basic hit, 300 for Turn of Fortune, 150 for Phantom Pursuit), relic costs (Tablet of Destinies 100, Helm of Hades and Chernobog's Crystal 200 each), and the correct names Ring of Zona, Mento-Fish, and Chernobog's Crystal where the video's auto-generated captions mangled them. One clear discrepancy: the wiki lists the Calling Card ultimate's Pounce range at 60 meters, while the video estimates roughly 40 meters — the wiki's figure is used as authoritative above. The wiki's current revision reflects Season 8, while the video refers to "Season 9.5"; since both describe the same core kit and relic costs without conflict, this is noted as a version-naming difference rather than a balance discrepancy, and in-game frame captures (settings menu, team-up tooltip) were used to confirm exact ability names directly from the client.
What this guide doesn't answer
The source video does not cover Black Cat's specific counters or which heroes shut her down hardest, nor does it give exact numeric win-rate data for her current patch. For matchup-specific counter-picking, a dedicated counters guide or the wiki's hero comparison pages are a better source.
Frequently asked
How does Black Cat's Fortune system work?
Fortune is earned by landing hits: 50 for a basic attack, 300 for Turn of Fortune, and 150 for Phantom Pursuit, per the Marvel Rivals Wiki. It caps at 1000 and fuels her Gilded Deal relic shop, where each relic costs Fortune and some refund a portion back.
Which Black Cat relic should I prioritize?
Helm of Hades (200 Fortune, movement speed plus 2 seconds of invisibility) and Tablet of Destinies (100 Fortune, a random payout up to 500) are ranked as the two most valuable relics in the video, since they generate value and Fortune with minimal setup.
What is Black Cat's ultimate, Calling Card?
Calling Card marks every enemy on the map and grants Pounce, a dash to any marked target (60 meters per the wiki, with 50% damage reduction while dashing), plus Claw Strike, a percentage-damage finisher. Killing a marked target lets you dash again, chaining picks.
Is the Spider-Man or Black Panther team-up better for Black Cat?
Spider-Man's Binding Ties is considered clearly superior. It replaces Turn of Fortune with a two-charge Spider-Web Grapple that steals Fortune and applies a Spider-Tracer mark for bonus damage, while the Black Panther team-up only grants a basic knockback shockwave.
What is the difference between soft diving and hard diving?
Soft diving means jumping on a support to bait out a key defensive cooldown without committing to a kill. Hard diving is going in with the intent to kill once you've confirmed that cooldown is already used. Tracking enemy cooldowns is core to both.
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