Marvel Rivals Season 7.5 Launches April 17 with Black Cat, New Modes, and Major Balance Overhaul

NetEase is rolling out the Season 7.5 update for Marvel Rivals on April 17, 2026, bringing a new hero, two fresh game modes, a returning seasonal event, and a sweeping round of balance changes that touch nearly every role in the roster.

Black Cat Joins as the 49th Hero

Black Cat arrives as a Duelist built around speed, aggression, and a unique resource economy. Her kit revolves around a Fortune system tied to her grappling hook, allowing her to strip resources from enemies and convert them into personal damage buffs or team-oriented artifacts. Her wall climbing and double jump give her strong vertical mobility, while a gap-closing ability lets her commit to or escape from engagements quickly. Her ultimate chains rapid movement with burst damage against any enemies in her line of sight.

She also anchors the new Lucky Loan team-up ability alongside Captain America and White Fox. Black Cat shares her luck resource with both allies, granting White Fox a new area-denial projectile that tracks across wide spaces and giving Captain America an expanded shield radius with sharper deflection timing.

Blood Hunt and Path to Doomsday Add PvE and Asymmetric Play

The update introduces two new modes on a staggered rollout. Blood Hunt goes live on April 23 as a PvE experience pitting players against a vampire invasion of New York, structured around four distinct boss encounters each with their own mechanics. A new trait system allows for build customization between runs, and performance-based loot rewards replayability.

Path to Doomsday follows on April 30 with an asymmetric format where one player controls Loki while a full Avengers team works to stop him. Goals and available abilities differ entirely depending on which side you are on, and the Times Square map receives dynamic events tied specifically to this mode.

Hellfire Gala Returns with Free Emma Frost Skin

The Hellfire Gala event is back with themed cosmetics for Magik, Moon Knight, Emma Frost, and Gambit. All players receive a free Emma Frost skin with the update, and a community vote will determine which hero gets the next Hellfire Gala outfit.

Chain-CC Protection and Hero Balance Changes

Season 7.5 introduces a systemic crowd control protection mechanic called Chain-CC Protection. If a hero accumulates 5.5 seconds of total CC duration or is hit by six CC effects within a seven-second window, the protection activates, immediately clearing all active CC and granting 30 percent Tenacity for three seconds. Additional CC hits during that window stack further Tenacity and extend the duration, with full CC immunity kicking in once Tenacity reaches 100 percent. Certain animation-driven abilities like Emma Frost’s Carbon Crush bypass the system entirely.

On the individual hero side, Deadpool’s Vanguard form loses some burst damage and bonus health from his gun-form ultimate. Peni Parker trades a small health reduction for broader Cyber-Web coverage and higher bonus health caps. Elsa Bloodstone sees her mobility cooldown extended and her percentage damage against Vanguards trimmed. Winter Soldier loses his Trooper’s Fist grounded effect and gets a longer Bionic Hook cooldown in exchange for slightly higher frontal damage. Human Torch’s Plasma Body becomes a two-charge ability with a short forward dash on activation, trading some unpredictability for stronger burst mobility.

On the support side, Adam Warlock gets a modest healing cooldown reduction buff, Luna Snow gains a small bump to her Light and Dark Ice values, and Ultron’s ultimate shifts from a narrow targeted beam to an area bombardment that doubles its effective radius. Jeff the Land Shark’s backline pressure is trimmed through shorter damage falloff range, while Cloak and Dagger’s ultimate loses two seconds of duration. Emma Frost’s ultimate costs slightly less energy.

What Season 7.5 Signals

The 7.5 update follows a pattern NetEase has been building toward across recent patches — using mid-season drops to deliver meaningful system-level changes alongside new content rather than saving everything for major season boundaries. The Chain-CC Protection mechanic in particular addresses a longstanding frustration with stacked lockdown compositions, and its implementation will be closely watched by competitive players heading into the latter half of Season 7.