The latest DLC character for Marvel Heroes Omega, the free to play superhero MMO for Xbox One, is the Black Cat – a dark-suited female thief and occasional love interest of Spider-Man. Learn her moves and background details in his handy guide.
Meet the Black Cat
In Marvel comics, the Black Cat is the alter ego of Felicia Hardy, daughter of a world-renowned cat burglar. First appearing in Amazing Spider-Man #194 in 1979, the Black Cat is basically Marvel's answer to DC's Catwoman.
After enduring a personal tragedy, Felicia decided to follow her father's footsteps and become a thief known as the Black Cat. As the Black Cat, she soon ran afoul of Spider-Man. The two instantly experienced a romantic connection. Throughout the years, they've dated on and off again. More recently, Felicia has developed a vendetta against Spider-Man and returned to a life of crime.
Felicia initially had no powers other than martial arts and athletic training, but eventually gained the ability to create bad-luck fields for her opponents, as well as upgrading her suit with cybernetic enhancements. Her gloves have retractable claws and grappling hook launchers that she uses to swing from building to building.
Black Cat appears in various cartoons and games. Although the actual Black Cat has yet to appear in a movie, Felicia Hardy played a small role in Sony's disastrous Amazing Spider-Man 2.
Traits and travel power
Felicia has three traits:
- Bad Luck: A critical hit chance boost.
- Cat Suit: Boosts dodge and deflect ratings.
- Nine Lives: Whenever Black Cat's life runs out, she recovers nine percent of her life instead of respawning. She can do this nine times within 90 seconds, making her harder to kill than other heroes.
She also has a useful travel power.
Travel power: Black Cat uses her grappling hooks to swing around above the ground.
Powers
The Black Cat's powers fall into two categories: "Claws and Whips" and "Traps". You'll want to decide how to balance and prioritize these two sets, because you can only equip a total of eight powers on the console versions of the game.
Claws and Whips
Quick Getaway: Movement, Stealth, Dash
Black Cat's initial movement power also bestows two seconds of stealth. This can be useful for other powers and traits that require stealth.
Cat's Claws: Melee, Claw
The basic attack, this consumes no spirit and has no cooldown. You'll probably want to keep it equipped throughout the game.
Deep Cuts: Melee, Claw
A basic slashing move that has no cooldown but consumes spirit. Combining it with the Foe Fillet power doubles its critical hit chance, so consider them pairing up.
Claws Out: Melee, Movement, Bleeding, Claw
Black Cat spins forward, damaging any enemies she passes through. This is a spirit-consuming alternative to Quick Getaway. If you're not playing a stealth-focused build, you might pick Claws Out as your primary movement power.
Master Thief: Stealth, Crowd Control
Drop a smoke bomb and become invisible for five seconds. The bomb stuns enemies for two seconds, and Felicia has a chance to steal valuables (which sell for credits) while she's invisible. A great power even if you're not focusing on stealth.
Foe Fillet: Melee, Claw
Launch a series of five high-damage slashes. You can't move or change your aim after activating this power, so choose your target carefully. Because of the cooldown and limited range, I'd only equip this power if you're also using Deep Cuts.
Land on Your Feet: Melee, Bleeding, Gadget, Leap, Movement
Black Cat jumps in the air and spins her grappling hook in a circle as she comes down. The grappling hook damages enemies and can cause bleeding. Because there's no cooldown, this can be a useful way to briefly avoid danger while performing some crowd control.
Cat Nap: Melee, Claw
Felicia must be stealthed or invisible to use this ability, limiting its usefulness. She delivers two slashes which have a wide radius and deal more damage to foes who have already lost life. If you're rocking a stealth build, you might choose this as your high-damage melee attack.
Cat Scratch Fever: Signature, Melee, Claw
Black Cat's Signature move has her jump and slash all around within a circular radius, delivering a total of twenty hits. This move is great for crowd control, and you can further enhance it with a hero talent upon reaching level 50.
Traps
Explosive Trap: Ranged, Trap, Gadget
Throw a bomb that explodes after a moment, damaging any foes within its radius. Black Cat can carry two of each bomb variety at a time. Having used both bombs, they'll replenish after a four-second cooldown.
Gas Trap: Ranged, Trap, Gadget, Poison
These bombs unleash a green gas cloud that damages and weakens the enemies that touch it. It's an important part of Black Cat's arsenal.
Whip Crack: Melee, gadget
A basic whip attack that consumes spirit but has no cooldown, so you can spam it several times. The whip does extra damage while traps are on cooldown, so definitely pair it with a trap-heavy build.
Grappling Whip: Melee, Gadget
Black Cat swings her whip around in a circle. It can hit multiple enemies, causing bleeding. A fine option if you need an area-of-effect attack.
C'mere Kitty: Melee, Gadget, Crowd Control
Spin the whip in a circle, causing damage, and pull a single enemy towards you for follow-up attacks. Because of the cooldown, this might not be a better option than Grappling Whip.
Sticky Trap: Ranged, Trap, Crowd Control, Gadget
Throw a bomb that causes most regular enemies to become immobilized for one second. It also increases their vulnerability. The immobilization is not effective on bosses and large enemies, but it's still good for the debuff alone.
Put 'em Down: Melee, Bleeding, Gadget
Requires stealth or invisibility, limiting its usefulness. Black Cat swings her whip twice in a circle, inflicting bleeding on anyone in its radius.
Taser Trap: Ranged, Trap, Gadget, Electric
Unlike other traps, you must throw both of the taser traps in your stock before it will work. The two traps will create an electrical field, damaging enemies that pass through it. The taser trap lasts for ten seconds and can provide some serious crowd control.
Is the Black Cat a steal?
Black Cat is currently exclusive to the Black Cat Pack DLC, which costs $19.99. This DLC includes:
- Black Cat character.
- Pop Star costume: In an alternate universe, Felicia Hardy was lead singer for the Black Cats.
- Two XP boosts: A $2 value.
- Two Marvelous Loot Boxes: A $5 value.
Black Cat's pricing is the same as most other single-character DLC packs, such as Spider-Man and Deadpool. The letdown, at least for me, is her alternate costume. I would've preferred a more traditional look, such as her Ultimate universe costume.
Because of the loot boxes and XP boosts, you could think of Black Cat as costing $13 – the same price that most high-value characters sell for in premium currency. Twenty bucks is certainly a lot to drop on just one character, particularly one who doesn't have the recognizability of Spider-Man or Deadpool. But Black Cat has the useful Nine Lives trait, a good travel power, and lots of fun combat skills.
Big fans of the character will certainly enjoy playing as her in Marvel Heroes Omega. If you're not as keen on the kitty, you can always wait for a sale or for her to become purchasable in-game after her DLC exclusivity expires.
