Black Panther is one of the most frequently-banned characters in Marvel Rivals, for his punishing ability to dive against support characters. Here’s everything you need to know about how to play against Black Panther.
Of the various dive characters that exist in Marvel Rivals, perhaps none have had a longer or more imposing reign of terror than Black Panther. Since the start of Season 2.5 in late May – a stretch spanning almost five months now – Black Panther has been one of the most banned characters in the game. Despite some nerfs, including a decrease to his survivability as recently as Season 4, he remains one of the most challenging dives to play against and certainly the one that the majority of players prefer to bypass.
The reason for this is that Black Panther is perhaps the most elusive dive in the game, with a kit that allows for movement faster than most players (particularly those on console) can track across their screens. Playing against a good Black Panther can often be a miserable, even insurmountable experience for players who aren’t prepared to play against him.
Of course, by now, many players have figured out ways to mitigate his dive – and yes, there are ways to do this successfully! They range from individual best practices for support players to a collective responsibility that the team shares, as well as an understanding of which characters in the game have (and just as crucially, don’t have) the tools to deal with a Black Panther effectively.
Black Panther is certainly a scary dive, but by no means an impossible character to beat. Here’s what you need to know the next time you encounter a Black Panther terrorizing your backline.
Let’s start with this: Like against any dive, positioning and awareness are key! Support players can’t just mindlessly pump heals into their team, no matter how many flashing red low-health indicators are blaring across your screen. You have to consciously scout your surroundings, especially when you know the other team has a dive character lying in wait.
As a Strategist, you’re going to want to stay close to your fellow support; pattycaking, or healing each other simultaneously through dive, is perhaps the simplest but also most impactful way to stay alive through dive. Certain combos that may work against an isolated 275HP character, for example, will not against 275HP + healing – patty-caking changes the usual breakpoints required to eliminate a character. If you can burn out the enemy’s cooldowns, then things become infinitely more manageable as well.
Likewise, you’ll want to stay close enough to the rest of your team so that they can turn around and peel without having to back too far off the point – the worst thing that I consistently see support players do is back up when they get dove, creating even more distance between themselves and their teammates.
Black Panther can strike faster out of nowhere than just about any other dive in the game, with the possible exception of Spider-Man. (Spider-Man, in earlier seasons, was perhaps an even scarier dive than BP, though many of his combos have now been nerfed into the ground.) If you get taken by surprise once, hey, no big deal – it happens.
But once you know there’s a Black Panther on the other team, then you have to be more proactive about keeping an eye out and staying ready for the dive at any moment. Yes, this can be a considerable strain on your reaction time, but that is part and parcel to playing support and learning to counter dive.
Though support players’ decisions are obviously the most consequential in their own survival, it’s never their responsibility alone. (A world in which supports could counter dive all on their own sounds... quite toxic.) There will always be a need for the rest of the team to peel, especially if you’re up against a dive that can be as devastating as Black Panther.
So, while support players must consider their own positioning and remain aware of the enemy dive, so too must their teammates. You can have the best anti-dive counters in the game, and they’ll be no use if they aren’t close to their supports and ready to peel when the enemy dive strikes. This is even more true if the enemy team is running multiple dives, such as Black Panther with a Magik or even a Captain America; things can easily escalate into a five-alarm fire for supports left to navigate the situation alone.
On a similar note, tanks and DPS characters have to be conscious of their own timing when trying to move forward so that they don’t overpush when their backline is being dove; you can’t be healed when your healers are patty-caking each other, or worse, dead. As a general practice, it’s better to neutralize the dive(s) first and then move forward together, with full numbers. This is going to sound straightforward, but pings and communication really do go a long way.
As an emergency option, you’ll often see teams switch to triple support against Black Panther. This comes with its own disadvantages – you may lose damage capability without a second DPS, or create a greater burden on a solo tank to anchor your team. If things are truly dire, however, it certainly makes it easier for the supports to patty-cake each other with a third in the mix, and if nothing else, it gives you more margin for error to lose a healer and still have two alive. (Plus, if you really want to get toxic, being able to spam three healing field/‘invincibility’ ults over and over again can paper over many problems.)
The absolute worst thing you can do against a dive diff is to make no adjustments whatsoever. Let’s talk about some of Black Panther’s specific counters, and the various abilities that can be used to suppress him.
Since the task of countering Black Panther puts the most strain on your supports, let’s start there. Different supports have different self-peel or self-sustain tools in their kits, but they aren’t all made the same. Some characters will have an easier time than others, so sometimes switching from one support to another can be all it takes.
Roughly ranked from best to worst against Black Panther, here are the anti-dive tools available to each support:
It’s important to note that some of these supports don’t offer team-wide healing as well as others; switching from Luna Snow to an Ultron, Adam Warlock or Loki (heavily nerfed in Season 4) may work in order to counter Black Panther but will have other ripple effects across the rest of the team.
Of characters from the other roles, the best Black Panther counters generally have the ability to neutralize his movement. Panther’s most dangerous trait is his ability to refresh his dash continuously, so breaking the chain or otherwise just stunning him in place can leave him vulnerable with ease.
The Thing is generally regarded as one of the best Black Panther counters in the game due to his Earthbound ability cancelling out movement. Mister Fantastic’s grab has a similar effect, as do the various anti-movement tools in Winter Soldier’s kit if you can land them. Hulk and Magneto can place bubble shields on their supports that disrupt Black Panther’s ability to reset his dashes.
Peni Parker is another popular pick because of her nests and mines that punish melee characters such as Panther. Scarlet Witch and Namor, like Cloak, have auto-aim capabilities that can make it easier to damage Black Panther through his movement.
There’s no way around it: Countering a good Black Panther requires a fairly high skill floor. If you just want to ban him, then that’s fair – his ban rate throughout the past few seasons indicates that you’re certainly not alone in that.
Although I believe that Black Panther can be successfully countered, I also believe that the high degree of difficulty that many players express in doing so – self included, by the way – means there’s going to be a significant nerf in his future sooner rather than later.
In the meantime, however, you will have continue learning how to navigate games against Black Panther. The best thing that you can do is gain familiarity for the situation, continue to try different things and see what works best. You won’t be able to beat him every time, but the same could be said of any character. I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors!
