Marvel Rivals Season 7.5 in Retrospective: Black Cat, Chain-CC and Balance

What Season 7.5 Changed and What Is Left of It

Season 7.5 went live on April 17, 2026 and ended on May 15, when Season 8 began. Today, October 16, 2026, the game is on Season 10, and the 10.5 update landed on October 9. This is a look back at a past season, with data current as of October 16, 2026. Many of its events are closed, but some of its changes carried on.

Three things from 7.5 stood out: the hero Black Cat, the Lucky Loan Team-Up and the Chain-CC Protection system. The numbers below are 7.5 values, and later patches may have changed them. The rest is useful if you're comparing old guides to the current state of the game or wondering where today's combat rules came from.

If you're coming back after a break, you can level up quickly with Account Leveling. If you're aiming for the highest ranks, take a look at the One Above All service.

Season 7.5 at a Glance

Launch timing: maintenance began on April 17 at 09:00 UTC and was expected to take about two hours, so the game reopened around 11:00 UTC (7:00 AM ET). The client version was 20260417, and the console patch was 1.46/1.000.083.

Announcements differ by one day on the dates of Blood Hunt, Hellfire Gala and Path to Doomsday, so the table lists both options.

Black Cat and the Lucky Loan Team-Up

Black Cat joined as a Duelist. According to player reports, she climbs walls, has a double jump and steals the enemy team's Fortune to power herself up, while her Ultimate is a dash that deals lethal damage. There is no official ability breakdown from the developers yet.

The rank reward is verified. Reach Gold and you get a free Black Cat costume, Beguiling Blue. The season also had Urban Predator and Gilded Shadow bundles. If ranked is still locked for you, start with Competitive Unlock, and a Rank Boost can help you reach Gold.

Alongside her came the Lucky Loan Team-Up, built around Black Cat, White Fox and Captain America. Black Cat is the anchor and gets +5% damage. White Fox unlocks Nine-Tailed Aura, and Captain America gets Vibranium Bastion.

Guardian of the Deep was nerfed in the same patch. Excess healing now converts to Bonus Health at 50 instead of 100, and healing efficiency dropped from 70 to 60 per second.

Chain-CC Protection: How the Crowd Control Cap Works

This season added a cap on chained crowd control.

It triggers when a hero takes 5.5 seconds of total CC or six CC effects within seven seconds. All active CC is cleared and the hero gets 30% Tenacity for 3 seconds.

A few details matter after that:

• each new CC while the buff is active adds another 10% Tenacity and extends it by 0.5 seconds;

• at 100% Tenacity, the hero is immune to CC until the buff expires;

• Emma Frost's Carbon Crush and Monster Hulk's World Breaker bypass the protection;

• once the last Tenacity effect ends, a 5 second cooldown begins.

Hero Balance Changes in Season 7.5

Emma Frost, Adam Warlock, Luna Snow and Ultron were buffed. Deadpool, Elsa, Cloak & Dagger and Jeff the Land Shark were nerfed. Peni Parker and Winter Soldier got mixed changes, and Human Torch was reworked. Here are the numbers for each hero.

• Emma Frost: the energy needed for her Ultimate and Psionic Seduction went from 3400 to 3100.

• Adam Warlock: Life Stream cooldown reduction went from 0.05 to 0.08 seconds.

• Luna Snow: the Light & Dark Ice value went from 22 to 24.

• Ultron: Encephalo-Rays from 8 to 18, the drone from 8 to 12, ally healing from 25 to 40, and the drone radius from 3 to 6 meters.

• Peni Parker: health went from 700 to 650, max Cyber-Webs from 3 to 4, the bonus health cap from 150 to 200, and projectile speed from 120 to 150 m/s.

• Deadpool: Ban Hammer damage went from 45 to 35, bonus health per hit from 80 to 60 (70 when upgraded), and the attack speed bonus from 60% to 40%.

• Elsa: Helix Advance cooldown went from 8 to 10 seconds, and the Monster-Piercer pellet value from 1.2% to 0.8%.

• Winter Soldier: Trooper's Fist went from 12 to 10 seconds and no longer applies Grounded, Bionic Hook from 12 to 15, Roterstern from 75 to 80, the Kraken Impact cull threshold from 15% to 20%, and its damage from 80 to 70.

• Cloak & Dagger: Eternal Bond changed from 13 to 11 seconds.

• Jeff the Land Shark: Joyful Splash damage falloff now starts at 15 meters instead of 20 and sits at 60% at 30 meters, and the miss recovery on It's Jeff! dropped from 1 to 0.4 seconds.

• Human Torch: Plasma Body was reworked into a 10 meter dash lasting 4 seconds, with 2 charges and a 10 second recharge.

To get to grips with the new balance faster, you can take Coaching from an experienced player.

Blood Hunt and Path to Doomsday

Blood Hunt began on April 23 UTC (some roadmaps list April 24) as a PvE mode against computer opponents: a vampire story, four bosses, hero progression through traits, and loot.

The mode turned out to be temporary. It was first set to close on July 30, then extended to October 9, 2026 at 09:00 UTC, with Double XP running until October 5. That update also raised the Nightmare floor cap from 160 to 300, added the Dew of Insight drop and Gear Enhancement, and gives up to 100 Units for clearing Floor 260. No extension past October 9 has been announced, so don't count on the mode being available.

Path to Doomsday: The Avengers launched as a PvP mode with weekly updates, on May 1 per the roadmap, though some sources say April 30. It continued in Season 10.5 (October 9, 2026), which added Phases 3 and 4 based on Infinity War and Endgame, plus the Infinity Finale event. If you want to clear the new phases faster without random teammates, you can bring a partner through Rent a Booster.

Hellfire Gala 2026 and ESU Open Day

Hellfire Gala 2026 brought costumes for Magik, Gambit, Moon Knight, Emma Frost and Phoenix. Reports say Magik and Gambit were sold in the store, while Phoenix and Moon Knight needed the premium Deep Analysis pass. Phase 2 (April 30, 09:00 UTC) added the Moon Knight Sauve Spector skin and the Emma Frost Gala Glam costume. For a collection, current cosmetics are available through Skins Unlock.

The free Emma Frost costume is called Gala Glam and arrived in Phase 2. Emma earned it by winning the 2025 Gala Star Vote community poll. You could earn it without the premium pass: matches gave XP that converted into Compute Power, which you spent to analyze tiles and uncover two matching ones. The event was time-limited and ended long ago, so it likely can't be earned anymore.

ESU Open Day ran from April 17 to June 12, 2026 at 09:00 UTC. It offered ESU costumes for Psylocke, Squirrel Girl and Mantis, and a free Mantis Black & Gold costume for completing missions. Rewards from closed events can't be earned back, but for current achievements there is the Achievements service.

In Clobberin' Club, Random mode also got new duel options, role selection and mirror match rules.