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On top of being the most charismatic Guardians of the Galaxy member, Star-Lord isan extremely popular DuelistinMarvel Rivals. His kit makes him a solo, agile hunter, and as long as a Star-Lord player lands their headshots, they’re virtually unstoppable with their barrage-like attacks. What makes this hero special is his versatility — you can use him as a frontliner or an assassin, and there are a ton of strategies you can execute for each playstyle.
From invincible dodges to near-untouchable frenzied attacks, Star-Lord is truly a self-serving juggernaut who can engage, eliminate, and escape more efficiently than anyone. However, like any Duelist, he isn’t immune to smart counterplay, and if you exploit his weaknesses, you can significantly water down his lethality.
How To Counter Star-Lord
Star-Lord’sbread and butter revolves around mobility. His primary fire has incredible range, and his Rocket Propulsion coupled with Stellar Shiftenables extensive vertical and horizontal maneuverability. His typical routine involves tracking down weak or isolated targets like Strategists, going for a quick kill with his impressive damage-per-second (or DPS) output, and escaping to recover health and abilities.
Star-Lord is completely invincible during his Stellar Shift animation, letting him neglect damage from all sources.
The main thing you’ll need to watch out for is his Blaster Barrage — not only does Star-Lord use it as an evading tool, but the attack has such a high radius and surprisingly consistent damage that itserves as an excellent combo ender. Despite its multifaceted usage, it has a low cooldown, meaninghe’ll regularly spam it at any chance he gets.
With the cards on the table, the most effective way to counter Star-Lord is tostrafe, dodge, and use snaring tools to immobilize him.Like other ranged Duelists like HelaandHawkeye,he heavily relies on sharpshooter skillsto garner damage on the field, and by constantly moving around, you’ll make it much harder for him to aim.
Strafing is especially helpful when you realize Star-Lord’s primary fire is hitscan, so unless he’s always keeping you in his crosshairs, there’s a good chance he’ll whiff most of his attacks. Furthermore,maximizing stun abilities is another great approach, since, like all Duelists, he’s a glass cannon. Once you pin him down, he can’t use any of the escape mechanics, and his 250 HPsimply won’t be enough to absorb a lot of hits.
Star-Lord’s low base HP (with no last-second backup like bonus health) is also why inflicting chip damage with traps and area control tools is so useful.
How To Counter Star-Lord As A Vanguard
Considering that all of Star-Lord’s attacks are non-melee,it’s no surprise that MagnetoandDoctor Strange are the best counterpicks against himamong Vanguards. Strange’s Shield of the Seraphim and Magneto’s Metallic Shieldcompletely nullify all his incoming damage, including that of his Ultimate Ability.
Mageto’s ult, in particular, can also be extremely powerful at the right time, since its projectile-absorbing property lets him absorb Star-Lord’s bullets, even the ones in his ult.
If you notice an enemy Star-Lord only targeting the backline heroes like your Strategists,Peni Parker is a great situational choiceto back him off. She candeploy her Spider-Nest and lay down trapsaround nearby teammates, trying to bait Star-Lord in. Once he gets close, Peni’s Cyber-Web Snare can ground and leave him helpless toall the firepower and traps coming his way.
On the other hand, melee Vanguards are good atstalling and withstanding most of Star-Lord’s bullets, but attacking him is a different story.While heroes like GrootandHulkcan cut off his line of fire to a solid extent, they might not ever catch him because of his sprightliness. Still, you can use that immense defense to your advantage andensure Star-Lord doesn’t get easy kills.
How To Counter Star-Lord As A Strategist
Star-Lord’s core focus lies onbreaking the enemy support line, which, in other words, means going after the Strategists. As such, what you can do is eitheractively try to outrun him, oruse your Vanguards as body shields to protect yourself. When it comes to outpacing or dodging him,Jeff The Land Shark does it better than anyone, withLuna Snow,Loki, andMantis being a close second.
For an aggressive approach,you may also switch to Cloak and Dagger.Going for the offense isn’t somethingyou should be doing, but if you see Star-Lord at low HP, there’s a good chanceCloak’s primary fire or Terror Force can seal the deal.
You can use Luna Snow, Invisible Woman, Cloak and Dagger, or Mantis' Ultimate Abilities to hard counter Star-Lord’s ult as they’ll usually outheal his damage output.
How To Counter Star-Lord As A Duelist
The Duelist category is where things get tricky; on paper, Star-Lord should dominate melee matchups while holding his own against ranged Duelists. In practice, however,the best approach is to stick to melee and ambush himwhen he drifts too close, unleashing a relentless flurryso he doesn’t get a chance to escape.
Heroes like Wolverine,Spider-Man, andMister Fantastic have a great track recordagainst Star-Lord. They canlatch onto him with their abilities, including Wolverine’s Feral Leap and Spider-Man’s Get Over Here, which is often a death sentence. However,this strategy begs patience and anticipation, so learn how the enemy Star-Lord is playing so you may devise the right strike plan.
From long-range Duelists,NamorandThe Punisher are another set of ideal counters. Namor’s octopi are known for targeting fragile characters, so if you place them in an area Star-Lord’s likely to visit,they can chip away a decent chunk of his HP. The Punisher, on the other hand, candeploy his turret to neutralize the playing field, but, again, you must predict where the airborne Guardian is going to appear before doing so.
