Marvel Rivals Venom guide: Abilities and how to use them effectively
With his ability to swing around maps and his potential to gain an absurd amount of health, Venom is one of the most fun heroes to play in Marvel Rivals. But if you want to win more games, you’ll have to do more than just dive on an enemy team. Here are five ways to become a better Venom player.
1. Know the Venom combat cycle
Venom’s core combat loop consists of: diving into the enemy team with his Frenzied Arrival drop attack, using his Cellular Corrosion ability to slow down and possibly damage those caught in the initial drop, picking off foes with his Dark Predation Primary attack, and getting out before he takes too much damage.
Learning the right timing to use Venom’s abilities takes time and practice, but eventually, his combat loop will become second nature. As Venom, you want to prioritize lower-health opponents like Strategists and Duelists. Taking out a single healing Strategist like Jeff is more than enough to give your team an advantage, so try to survey the battlefield before you drop in with Frenzied Arrival to get the most value out of your attacks.
2. Use different ways to jump into a fight
Though Venom Swing is the easiest way to take height and follow up with Frenzied Arrival, there are two less resource-intensive ways to set up a drop attack.
Firstly, Venom can use his Alien Biology passive to climb, run, and stick to walls. This works especially great when Venom is on defense, as enemies are forced to go down certain pathways. Once a group of foes enters your line of sight and is distracted by your teammates, drop down and give them a surprise beatdown.
The second, sneakier way for Venom to do drop attacks is from slightly elevated areas like stairs and crates. You don’t need a lot of air time to activate Frenzied Arrival, as anything more than a regular jump will allow you to use the ability. Keep this in mind when you’re in the middle of combat, as your opponents won’t expect you to drop down on them from so short a height.
Climbing up walls or jumping from slightly elevated areas will allow you to keep your Venom Swing. This gives you a way out of a battle in case things get too too much to handle, a mobility tool for chasing down fleeing enemies, or a fun way to pass the time in case the enemy team has already been defeated.
3. Remember: you are tankier than most Vanguard heroes
Venom’s Symbiotic Resilience ability and Feast of the Abyss ultimate make him one of the most resilient Vanguards in the game. Symbiotic Resilience is best used when Venom is at low health, as the amount of bonus health he receives becomes greater.
Feast of the Abyss works similarly to Symbiotic Resilience as its main purpose is to keep Venom alive rather than get eliminations. The damage and healing dealt by Feast of the Abyss is tied to the health of enemies caught in the ultimate, so you will rarely be pulling off game-winning plays with it. Instead, think of the ultimate as a Get Out of Jail Free card, with one drawback. Enemies can still damage you when you’re using Feast of the Abyss, so make sure that your health isn’t too low before activating it.
Both Symbiotic Resilience and Feast of the Abyss can be used to buy you and your team some time. Popping Symbiotic Resilience while waiting for Venom Swing to be available can potentially keep you alive long enough to get out of a sticky situations. Likewise, Feast of the Abyss can buy your team some time to get to an objective while you hold it down. Proper timing of these health-giving abilities will make you a more proficient Venom.
4. Venom is the ultimate decoy hero
Venom’s large health pool and big hitbox make him a prime target for his enemies. It is because of this that you should endeavor to draw their attention away from the rest of your team.
Getting a kill or two is nice, but you should also find ways to draw out enemy abilities and awareness. Forcing a Luna Snow to use her Fate of Both Worlds ultimate to survive your onslaught of attacks is already a big win as the enemy team will be down one defensive countermeasure. On a smaller scale, drawing the attention of the Duelists and Strategists will prevent them from dealing damage and healing others respectively. Venom’s strength lies in his ability to be a solo mobile threat, so be sure to harass enemies from anywhere but the main fight as much as possible.
5. Learn when to switch off Venom
Sadly, Venom isn’t the be-all and end-all hero of the Vanguard class. He can easily be shut down by crowd-control abilities like Peni Parker’s Cyber-Web Snare and Mantis’s Spore Sumbler. When used in succession, these abilities allow enemies to eliminate a stationary Venom quickly.
Venom also doesn’t work well on enclosed maps like Warrior Falls in Birnin T’Challa, where everywhere but the main objective is a cramped space. As Venom gets a lot of his momentum from being able to swing around and dive in, it might be better to switch to another Vanguard hero like Bruce Banner/ The Hulk or Magneto.
All in all, Venom has a low-skill floor with a potential high-skill ceiling. Those starting with the hero will love his ability to almost never die while veterans can still find creative ways to use his Venom Swing and Alien Biology abilities. His role as an off-tank hero is second to none and if you just want to have fun swinging around the maps without being as squishy as Spider-Man, Venom is the way to go.
