Despite being one of the more niche picks in Marvel Rivals, there’s no denying that Peni Parker is an absolutely monstrous anchor Vanguard in certain maps and modes. Unlike other heroes in her role, she thrives as a tactician, firmly stationing herself at key positions and placing traps nearby that catch enemies off guard.
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Marvel Rivals: Peni Parker Hero Guide
Swing into the fight with Peni Parker and her Sp//dr bot in Marvel Rivals.
Peni has three main traps that make her unstoppable at locking down objectives — mines, web snares, and, of course, her Spider-Nest. If you’re unfortunate enough to get caught by any of these, you’ll either be helpless and immobilized in a challenging position or notice half your HP vanish from her explosives. As such, you’ll want to find the right counterplays for when Peni’s almost an immovable object.
How To Counter Peni Parker
While she doesn’t have a shield nor ways to randomly generate bonus health like other Vanguards, Peni Parker can shoot and stand on web strands that constantly regenerate HP. She can also use these web strands to pull herself to a targeted point, using it as her main escape tool.
Her most powerful ability, by far, though, is the Cyber-Web Snare, the most anxiety-inducing ability for any dive character in Marvel Rivals. This projectile attack snares an enemy for just under one second, which is usually enough time to finish any Duelist or Strategist if they’re low on HP or don’t have a backup.
Furthermore, if you get snared inside the Bionic Spider-Nest, it’s almost definitely a kill because of the hidden mines and Spider-Drones waiting to devour your HP. Peni’s Spider-Nest is like her central hub; when inside, she gains a movement boost, regenerates HP, and her mines are completely invisible until detonation.
Given her kit, your way to effectively counter Peni Parker boils to finding and destroying her Spider-Nest. The nest is what makes her seemingly unstoppable, and thus, is her primary weakness. Once it’s destroyed, there’s a dragging 15-second cooldown before Peni can deploy it again, and without it, she’s nothing more than a slow brick you can easily take down.
You can also use range and mobility to your advantage; Peni’s primary fire, despite having limitless ammo with a solid range and fire rate, isn’t anything special because of its abysmal damage output. As such, her ranged firepower will barely tickle you, and if you can dodge her snare with some strafing, you won’t have to worry about offensive abilities.
During Peni Parker’s Ultimate Ability, you can mostly avoid her attacks by staying out of her extended web strands. Additionally, if you notice Peni doesn’t have any support during her ult, you should try knocking her out, since doing so immediately removes all the strands made in the ult.
How To Counter Peni Parker As A Vanguard
If you’re a Vanguard main who wants to neutralize Peni Parker, look no further than Doctor Strange and Magneto. On top of being the most popular tanks in the game, they both share a common ability — a high-radius shield that can neglect all of Peni’s long-range attacks, including her primary fire and the Cyber-Web Snare.
For close-range Vanguards like Hulk, Thor, or Groot, it may be tougher to directly counter Peni, but there are still a couple of strategies you can apply. Like Magneto, Hulk’s barrier-granting Indestructible Guard ability gives him immunity to the Nest and mines, so you can get a few hits in and head back until the barrier recharges. On the other hand, Thor can use his Storm Surge ability to push Peni outside her Nest’s range, leaving her vulnerable to follow-up melee attacks.
The more isolated you make her, the harder it is for her to escape, and once she’s isolated, she doesn’t have the offensive or defensive capabilities to keep up with most Vanguards. As a whole, though, you generally want to keep your distance against Peni Parker or use your defense mechanisms (like bonus health, shields, and barriers) to absorb her traps.
How To Counter Peni Parker As A Strategist
Peni Parker’s kit, aside from her Cyber-Web Snare, isn’t really a threat to Strategists, primarily because she neither has the mobility nor the damage output to track down healers and take them out. The most she can do is temporarily stun you from afar with the snare, which you can dodge with minimal strafing.
Because of her tremendous size and slow movement speed, Peni’s highly susceptible to immobilizing, so Luna Snow’s Absolute Zero and Mantis’ Slumbering Spore abilities are great against her. Cloak and Dagger’s Terror Cape can also be an impactful move, since its Blinding effect can definitely hinder Peni from snaring and hitting targets remotely.
Never go near Peni Parker’s Spider-Nest as the lingering drones will likely kill you in a few seconds.
How To Counter Peni Parker As A Duelist
Despite Peni Parker’s sheer prowess against melee, dive, and assassin heroes like Spider-Man and Iron Fist, there are more than a handful of Duelist archetypes that can deal with her. For starters, Wolverine is the perfect counter-pick for her; he’s the strongest anti-Vanguard hero in the game, and once he cuts her off from the Nest, it’s basically a death sentence.
Beyond Wolverine, Peni’s incredibly weak against aerial Duelists like Iron Man and Storm. The fact her long-range attacks are all projectiles means they’re slower the more they travel, so as long as you maintain space, there’s a high chance none of her firepower is going to touch you.
You can also be a nightmare for this Vanguard if you have solid and high single-shot damage output, so this would include Duelists like Hela, Hawkeye, Namor, Winter Soldier, and Black Widow. It’s surprisingly easy to connect your headshots against Peni, and when you consider that she doesn’t have any last-resort mechanics like bonus health or a shield, you can quickly eliminate her before she escapes or recovers.
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