Why Peni Parker is Marvel Rivals’ Neatest Tank So Far

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home January 2, 2025 16 Views 7 Min Read
Why Peni Parker is Marvel Rivals’ Neatest Tank So Far



One of the biggest prevailing discussions to always have a perpetual relevance in Marvel Rivals will be class roles. Marvel Rivals divides Marvel characters into Vanguards, Duelists, and Strategists (tanks, DPS, and healers), and so far there’s been some hubbub about iconic characters not necessarily being suitable for the class that defines their kit in gameplay.

In a perfect world, classes in Marvel Rivals would be highly dynamic and allow for multiple strategies beyond what purpose each individual one serves on the battlefield. For instance, tanks aren’t an especially desirable class to play unless there’s at least one healer nearby to support them. It’s a tale as old as time for hero shooters, but in Marvel Rivals’ infancy it’s interesting that Peni Parker, one of five Vanguards currently in the game, has such a unique approach to tank gameplay in her kit.

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Marvel Rivals’ Vanguards All Have Their Strengths and Weaknesses

Duelists far outnumber Vanguards and Strategists in Marvel Rivals and Vanguards desperately need a healer on the team, which is why few tanks are ever seen insta-locked unless somebody adores that character. That said, each tank has a wonderful gimmick with certain circumstances proving more advantageous than others:

  • Beginning a match as Bruce Banner and having to pop an Ultimate to become Hero Hulk is exceptionally creative, especially when there’s also a Monster Hulk form to transform into with subsequent Ultimates, but the Hulk’s move set isn’t tremendously dynamic between Hero and Monster besides an MCU-inspired World Breaker grab.
  • Groot can be terrific in any Marvel Rivals game mode due to his wooden wall constructs and how inventive players have become with their placements; meanwhile, Groot also takes advantage of Team-Ups with Rocket Raccoon and Jeff the Land Shark, who can sustainably heal Groot while mounted on his shoulder.
  • Thor is arguably the beefiest tank who never seems to drop health even when a healer isn’t around, and he’s also superb at dishing out damage while also imbuing Storm and Captain America with Thorforce buffs.
  • Marvel Rivals’ Venom is essentially Spider-Man if he was a tank and lacked ranged projectile options, which results in a character who can get in and out of dicey encounters hastily but thrives in the midst of the action when he has access to his clutch Symbiotic Resilience ability.
  • Besides Doctor Strange’s meme-worthy Pentagram of Farallah portal tech, the Sorcerer Supreme is a fairly basic tank with a huge mystic shield he projects.
  • Magneto and Doctor Strange go hand-in-hand as tanks whose shields do the brunt of their kit work; similar to how Doctor Strange generates Dark Magic from damage dealt to enemies, Magneto generates rings on his back that can then be hurled at enemies.
  • Captain America makes sense as a tank given that he wields a vibranium, energy-absorbing shield, and yet the role takes away from the projectile-ricocheting potential he might’ve had if he was a DPS character instead.

How Marvel Rivals’ Peni Parker Subverts Common Vanguard Tropes

Marvel Rivals’ Peni Parker, on the other hand, denies most tank tropes as her move set chiefly revolves around environmental traps that thwart enemies and suffocate choke points. Peni doesn’t have a traditional shield function like every other Vanguard in Marvel Rivals, and instead she is best employed on the battlefield as a means of sneakily laying down a Bionic Spider-Nest drone, Cyber-Web Snare, and Arachno-Mines to harm or make enemies sluggish and vulnerable.

Therefore, rather than simply staring down a whole enemy team with a shield erected, Peni is more methodical—Peni can even temporarily ensnare enemies in webbing and receive free hits on them, not unlike Mantis’ Spore Slumber ability that knocks enemies into a temporary sleep state, and her Spider-Sweeper Ultimate is a fluid rush of SP//dr’s abilities while covering a wide area and popping enemies up. It’s intriguing, then, that Peni is the only tank that doesn’t have an obvious defensive option aside from staying within her webs and relies solely on securing a point or preventing enemies from entering a choke.

Peni is particularly strong on Yggsgard’s Throne Room map due to its incredibly narrow corners and doorways where SP//dr’s abilities can be deployed effectively and subversively, but Convergence/Convoy maps are Peni’s downfall due to the objective always being on the move and rendering her meticulously placed traps futile.

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