Transcription
Hey guys, Brooks here. A lot of you guys have been asking for an advanced Star-Lord guide, so here it is.
This guide is designed to take your Star-Lord gameplay to the next level with advanced tips and tricks that I use in every single one of my games. So let's get started, and don't forget to follow my Twitch where you can watch gameplay that has these tips integrated in the gameplay already and ask me questions live.
Okay, now let's really get started. Now we're going to go over a bunch of things from bee-hopping to near-infinite flight time. But I had made a beginner to advanced guide for Star-Lord a few weeks prior of this video, and if you had not seen that, I suggest you get a baseline understanding of each ability and their use case with that one. For this video, we'll have the advanced Star-Lord tech, and you will integrate your understanding of the abilities to their fullest potential. And this video will also contain the full movement guide everyone's been asking about, so stay tuned.
The first being movement. Mastering fuel management is the key to staying airborne and surviving in tough situations, allowing easier escapes. Staying in the air takes practice, but the secret lies in perfecting Star-Lord's booster cancels and aerial rolls. It will also be helpful for you to realize and understand that rolling forward will always do the same amount of distance as rolling to the side, as rolling backwards, so you don't have to worry about which direction you're rolling when you're trying to maintain momentum and choose a direction. These techniques not only maximize your damage output while shooting the air at the head, but also conserve fuel efficiently, keeping you airborne longer and more effective in combat. This is where Star-Lord's true potential really shines. I've seen so many players struggle with this, and it's holding them back from dominating their matches. With the right techniques, you can stay in the air almost constantly, making you an insane nightmare for the enemy team to deal with.
So why is fuel management so crucial for Star-Lord? With only 250 health, Star-Lord's mobility is the only key to staying alive and being a constant threat. Most Star-Lord players are wasting way more fuel than they need to, but don't worry, I've got some techniques that can help you squeeze every last drop out of your fuel.
First up, let's talk about getting the high ground efficiently. Instead of holding down the boosters like this and going way over the desired spot, you should try this. Now, this will take some practice, but there is a max height that you can get when you boost cancel while holding space during it, and this is it. See how high I went and, uh, how early I canceled the boost? Instead of canceling your boost all the way up here, you can cancel your boost like halfway up, and you'll still get up here and use less fuel. And I use this tech a lot. So if you just do a mid-jump and hold space the whole time while immediately canceling the boost, you can still get up top just from that alone. You see how little I'm using my fuel?
Okay, and for the next piece of advice, we have rolls. Rolls are not just for stop points in the air. You could see how much I can stay in the air after just using a single roll. I use this a lot to, like, traverse the terrain on top, on the high ground, and I also use it to maintain my fuel and recover while I'm in the air. As you can see, my fuel's going up when I'm using my roll, but it has to stop and then delay a moment when I use my actual boosters. So using your roll and then falling, and then using your fuel to go up, it's a really good way to conserve your airtime. And with the new 50% max fuel buff, you're able to do this a lot longer, and it helps out a lot.
So with the better fuel management and more fuel to work with, you're not just going to be more mobile, you're going to be more unpredictable in your games. You can take off angles other heroes can't reach, you can flank from unexpected directions, and engage and disengage at will more often.
And while on the topic of rolls, I want to demonstrate that the i-frames exist toward the later part of the roll and not the start. So if something's about to happen and hit you, and you want to roll it, you're going to have to do it toward the mid to later part of it and not initially as soon as it's about to hit you. There are plenty of videos showing you exactly what part of the roll or what part of the ultimate coming at you that will one-shot you, you should roll at. Definitely check those ones out because those will have the most specific timings on it.
All right, next up is something that people have been asking a lot about over my streams, and it's about bunny hopping. I have to explain this at least once every stream, and I have to do it in painstaking detail because even when I explain it or I have a command for it, people still get confused on what I mean and how I'm actually doing it so consistently. Because people have so much trouble doing it consistently at the start, and I did too.
So bee-hopping or bunny hopping is a technique that lets you maintain the momentum and speed beyond what Star-Lord's jetpack can do on its own. First things first, what you're going to want to do on PC is go into your settings, go into your keyboard. You can do all heroes if you want, or just Star-Lord, but I use this secondary jump keybind for all heroes. So I have it set to all, and you'll scroll down, you'll find jump under movement. You can keep space as the primary, as I do, and I have this set to downward scroll wheel. What this means is when you downward scroll wheel, you will jump like normal. But since there's so many scrolls in a scroll, it's more than one input in one scroll. So what you're trying to do is you're trying to use the speed of momentum from your boost cancel, and when you hit the floor, just before you hit the floor, you want to scroll down. It's a bunch of jumps all at once happening in less than a second, so that the frame that you hit the floor and you jump, you will carry that momentum. That's how it works. It takes a lot of practice because it's not very natural at the start, but you will get it down. It's not a difficult concept and is not very hard to do after you get some practice in.
This technique is essential for fuel efficiency and movement unpredictability on top of just map traversing at high speeds. This is something you see people have mastered Star-Lord doing all the time because there's really no reason not to. And I promise it is something everyone can get to do after they just put in the hours or the practice they need to put in because it's really a simple concept, and I know you can do it.
Okay, and unfortunately for console, since I know I have a lot of console Star-Lord players watching these videos, I don't think there's a way to mimic this easiness that the PC will have with the scroll wheel because you guys don't have a multi-inputting bind. You guys might have to act as if you only had a space bar, which is much harder to time, and you'd actually have to be good at that. So if you're walking around bee-hopping in console lobbies, then I would assume you're actually good at it, and props to you.
But yes, this means that you don't actually have to be in the air to be fast. You can actually be fast on the ground too. Star-Lord might be the only hero in the whole game that can bee-hop with benefit.
Now, before we get on to the next tip, I wanted to help you guys realize that there are quick and convenient ways to get help in coaching with the help of today's sponsor, Tap In. Now, no matter how many hours you put in, sometimes you really just need someone better than you to point out what you're missing. Getting a top-tier coach shouldn't take hours of searching or trial and error. Now, Tap In makes it stupidly easy to find high-ranked Marvel Rivals coaches. You literally just choose a game, pick a coach, and boom, you're getting pro-level insights in minutes. If you ever wanted to fine-tune Star-Lord movement tech, or you're struggling with positioning in fights, you can always filter by play style, rank, or just like the hero choices of the specific coach, so you're not wasting time on generic advice. Instead of wasting hours trying to solo learn through bad matchmaking, you can get your one-on-one help from people who have already mastered what you're trying to improve. That's why I'm helping you guys realize that this is possible. And the best part is that you can get started for right now for way less than you'd expect. Using my link in the description or pin comment below, you can start getting 25% off your first two orders, so you could stop guessing and start winning. Thank you so much to Tap In for bringing this video to life. Now let's move on to the next tip.
All right, now let's talk about something that'll make you feel like you're playing 4D chess while your opponents are stuck in checkers. The mid-air dodging with Star-Lord isn't just about looking cool, it's about staying alive and dominating. Still, you might be thinking, Brooks, I already know how to move in the air, what's the big deal? Well, predictable movement in the air is a death sentence, and pro players have figured out that being unpredictable is the key to survival. And here's the thing: most players fall into predictable patterns when they're airborne. They tend to fly in straight lines or make obvious arcs, and that's exactly what the enemy players are expecting. And I've seen countless people just go down simply because they're too easy to track, and they're doing the most obvious form of movement.
But you could do what I usually do, and we can call it the bait and switch technique. Imagine you're playing chess, you move one piece as you're going for a standard attack, but you're actually, it's actually a trap. In the air, you start with a common movement pattern or go toward the closest exit, and then suddenly change direction to something that they would not expect because it doesn't make any sense. The whole point of unpredictable movement is so that the opponent misses. The opponent misses more often when you're doing something they didn't expect because when you're aiming at somebody, you position your crosshair where you think they're going to go, not always just where they're at, but where you think they're going to go.
And take this clip for example. I'm going all the way to the right where there's nothing happening. It looks like I'm lagging, and they're going to be confused, shooting to the left. But then I go sharp to the left out the exit when they least expected it. That's what fully intentional baiting looks like. Basically, just think about the most obvious path and then literally do anything else. Go high when they expect low, circle left when they're waiting for you to go right, things like that. That's exactly what that clip was for and why I helped myself survive so easily there. If you're always going the desired path, the average path, the path that the enemy would take if they were you, which makes them line up their shot easier because I think they know where you're going to go, and you don't do it, then they're going to miss a lot more shots than they typically would. There's a 100% correlation with them missing shots and you staying alive and you winning your games because you're alive.
These are just little concepts in the aspect of movement with Star-Lord that helps you stay alive and helps you fully master him. And there's so many little parts to him like this, parts that if you master all of them, you will actually be unstoppable, and you will look like a freak. People will compliment and notice it. And I've used this in high-level play. It's really, really good. Even low ELO and high ELO share the same mentality of trying to predict where you're going to go, so you going completely against that will make them question every shot.
After I am ready to put on a show. Oh, nice, nice movement. The movement, chat, the movement. This creates actual ample opportunity for you to come back and like be more offensive and get the kill when you originally wouldn't have. Yeah, you thought I was going to go all the way around, didn't you? People genuinely become frustrated when they can't hit you, and because you're not doing their desired thing. Now you got to remember that mastering this will take time, and the more you practice these techniques, the more natural they'll become. You'll start to anticipate your opponent's expectations and use them against them. And trust me, once you've got this down, you'll wonder how you've ever played any other way, and you'll realize that you've been playing so silly and so predictable. Unpredictability is how you stay alive.
Moving on, I want to go on to the E ability, or this thing. It's really not just a flashy move, it is the key in Star-Lord's kit to becoming an ultimate spamming evasion master. And I'm serious, when you press E on this, you actually get insane ult charge. And it wasn't something I initially realized when I made the beginner to advanced guide because I wasn't even wanting to use it in the first place because everyone who would use it would just die in it. And then I learned that you can fly in it, and you can just go all the way up if you want. So I had an arc of doing that a lot. And in the current date, my go-to technique with this ability is using it for ult charge, obviously. But now when I use it, I will use it for one single use of shift and then cancel it, and then another one, just like that. So it goes up, down, up, and it'll be sort of a floaty effect, which is harder to hit and uses less fuel than just pressing E and going straight up. And if it wasn't obvious, this movement right here for that whole duration is harder to hit than if you were to just go straight up. Also, you hit the enemy every second of the ability when you're going up and down and then up versus just going straight up where you leave their range.
Now, pressing E when you're around enemies is still Star-Lord's most infamous way of dying. So you're kind of still at a standstill, even if you're going up and down, you're still standing still essentially because you're not moving around very fast like you would when you're flying or bee-hopping. You'll need to constantly be assessing the situation, deciding whether you need to use your E for damage, evasion, or ult charge. It really is a balancing act, and mastering it is what will take your Star-Lord game to the next level. And obviously, using it to deal damage inherently gives you charge, but there will be moments you want to specifically use it to gain charge for yourself with how grouped the enemy is. And if you are only focused on the damage of that short event... Wait, I need all... Oh my God, give me the ult.
I have yet to use it in full duration for evasion specifically, but let's say I'm stalling the point and I have no chance of escape or surviving in my current position, being maybe last alive. I've seen myself utilizing my E for hitbox manipulating and evasion to live as long as possible, get as much charge on the point as possible as well. And don't forget practical use cases that aren't explained here. There are practical areas to use it in, say tight spaces where you're fighting in corridors, say the enemy would have an increasingly hard time to track you in point-blank scenarios. I've definitely just said, "F it," and I'd press E and fly around like a madman, knowing that I could hit them as easily, and they certainly cannot hit me in this form, spazzing about.
Now, there is some advanced tech, or at least some knowledge that a lot of Star-Lord mains do not know about yet. A community member named Momo shared an interesting discovery about how Blaster Barrage's damage truly works, and it might surprise you. Now, this is the information that was in one of my latest shorts that got over a million views, but it was simply a teaser for this part of the video. The tech, or information, really just notes that your Blaster Barrage works differently than you may realize.
Now, picture two enemies around Star-Lord with a line drawn from him to each enemy in a radius. So it does the same damage here, right? Where they almost die. The ability does constant damage along these lines. But here's the thing: if an enemy walks in front of another, they can body block the same damage that the one behind would take. So in this case, both of these guys being in the radius have this guy dying. The reason this happens is because he body blocked the damage with the line being drawn to both of them, but he had two lines on him, so he took double the damage, while the enemy behind takes, because there's no piercing bullets effect. Just realize that there's a line drawn from Star-Lord to each enemy in the radius, and that enemies can body block and take the damage for them as well, while they take none. I hope that made sense. This is not information I'd argue is going to be used every chance you get, but definitely something to keep in mind when, say, you're lining up your Blaster Barrage to do damage to a group of like Doctor Strange-ed enemies, Greed enemies, and now you have that knowledge to optimize your play.
So really quickly, I want to go over the reload animation cancel. The part where you have to wait till the 75% mark before it's fully reloaded. You don't actually have to wait the entire duration of this circle. If you use your ammo, reload, and then use your boosters at the 75% percentage mark, you're going to still have ammo after using your boosters or using a roll or using your E at the 75% mark because that's when it's fully reloaded and you can interact without delay. This is just optimizing every single little bit about Star-Lord, and his specific reload animation cancel is at the 75% mark, so utilize that. I wouldn't use the animation cancel into roll because reloading all the way just to roll, which reloads your gun instantly anyway, is kind of a waste unless you genuinely need it to get out of the way of something. But typically, I would use it to E or I would use it to use my boosters at that 75% mark.
Also, I want to note that my Star-Lord settings might be different than you think. I always get asked if I use toggle or if I use hold for my shift usage, and I want to say I have it on the default since the game released. I have it on toggle, which means I don't hold to activate, and I have the targeting sensitivity of ult around 75%. This is so that when it's at 100, it's shooting very easily onto targets, but if there's two people next to each other and I want to shoot the further away one, it's much easier to target that further away one at a lower sensitivity, but not so low that you actually have to, like, aim in your aim bot. You know what I'm saying? The attack range hint, I have on. I believe this just highlights the red, say, when they're in your E radius or your Blaster Barrage radius. It makes it easier to tell, and I just have allied HP bars at default right now, but I will also have my reticle and my sensitivity, which are both also very much so asked of me, in the description below. My sensitivity is 94 in-game, and my DPI is 1,200. So your, my eDPI, which is sensitivity times DPI, is 112,800. You guys can multiply your DPI times your in-game sensitivity to figure out what your eDPI is compared to mine. I typically say from 1 to 2,000 is good for precision, but you could go a little over or a little under depending on your preference. It is personal preference, as long as it is not too crazy of an outlier, is my rule of thumb.
All right, now let's talk about a technique that'll make you feel like you've got Star-Lord's jet boots on steroids. This is something I feel like I created because I don't ever see anyone else using it, but it's usually when you see me very locked in and I'm looking away, and then I flick to where I'm going to land. This is what it looks like. See how I'm perfectly landing and I'm picking this exact spot on the edge? I've used this to evade instead of just landing plenty of times in my games, but I usually use it to land properly and exactly where I want to go because it is so precise. And the reason it's precise is because when you go and do this movement, there's a set amount of space that you're going to cover when you start going and canceling your boost. And essentially, the look-away flick. You look anywhere but you want to go, and then you flick while pressing the movement key toward the destination. That's why you see me holding A after, and I get to make that kind of a move. You look away and you go as far as you need to go till you're going to make the movement and cover the exact space that you know it's going to cover. That's why it's so precise. You can go as far away as you want and just land perfectly. And you can incorporate this with your space holding because the longer you hold space, the higher you go up like that. The shorter you hold space, the less height you'll get. So that's why I didn't hit that.
Now, after some more digging and realizing what's actually going on with that movement, the flicking is more so a way to prioritize where exactly you want to land. But holding the space bar and the amount of time you want to do that is how high or low you want to initially hit the ground. The flicking and holding the movement key on the left or right is simply a way as to, like, take a sharper turn toward it. So they both work together as two separate functions. Holding space bar and flicking while pressing key. Those two together create this movement. I think we should call it the look-away flick. I use this constantly in my games, and it makes me look crazy because the movement is so fast and hard to hit, which is like, obviously a bonus. And really quickly again, this technique only works because it uses the basic distance you cover when canceling your boost by looking away anywhere but you want to go and then flicking back. You're ensuring that pinpoint accuracy in the last second of the movement because it's only all about that final adjustment.
And now let's try and get you to understand how to actually do it. So you want to start with one, approaching with your regular flight. Two, you want to look away from your intended landing spot while still flying. And three, just before landing, flick toward the desired spot and press the movement key at the same time, like you've seen me do. So to help you guys out, I have the overlay of my keyboard on screen, so it will help you figure out what I'm actually pressing in the moment of what Star-Lord is actually doing. So it's a combination of turning my mouse right, pressing the D key, shift canceling, and pressing space at the end. Here it is again in slow motion. You can see I jump up to get some air time, and then I use my boosters. I press D while looking right, and then I shift cancel while pressing space a little at the end, but holding D to maintain the movement. Try that in game and keep rewatching this to really understand what you need to press.
Now you can use like any high ground. I'm just using this area 'cause they keep shooting, it's very annoying, but you can like mess it up if you want, limit test it, go over, go under what you're supposed to go. And when you start getting it down, you can get it perfect like this. So you perfectly land. That's the whole point. No, no air time over the the ledge. You don't want to like be floating over the edge, just like with the fuel management, where you don't want to like use your fuel all the way up here and have so much time where you're not grounded yet and like ready to move on your next move. You'll notice in my streams that I do this flick when I'm just evading something mid-air or I want to make a quick movement for my model rather than a slow, predictable moving my model mid-air. So get out there and start practicing because before you know it, you'll be zipping around the map with the precision of a seasoned pro, and you'll always be in the right place at the right time, with the help of that buff, especially. That is how you become recognized.
All right, now let's talk about the game changer that can turn the tide of any match: Star-Lord's ultimate. Now, I know what you're thinking, Brooks, we already know how to use the ultimate, but here's the thing: Season 1.5 changed everything, and most Star-Lord players have not caught up yet. So what's different? As you guys know, the support ults that used to shut us down got hit with some serious nerfs. They're delayed now, and that delay is literally our chance to shine. We've got that window of opportunity that did not exist until now. It's changing how we use Star-Lord's ultimate versus the prior season one's infamous triple support ultimate situation. So let me break it down for you. It's not only about raw damage, it's about disrupting the enemy team's positioning and forcing them to scatter, or simply creating a strategic play for a better time in the near future. When used right, it creates chaos, giving your team the perfect opportunity to clean up. And now with the support ultimate nerfs, we can get in, we can do our massive damage, and we could potentially wipe the enemy team before they even have a chance to respond. I've gotten multiple 5Ks in literally the same game with ultimates on the enemy team that would save them, but they just couldn't because the nerfs were too strong. Here's an example of Star-Lord ult just literally scattering the whole team and not even killing all that many until that happened. These are against Celestial level play too. Sor. And here are clips of Star-Lord genuinely getting 5Ks again. In his ultimate, with the nerf of supports, he shouldn't be able to get healed in time now.
I'm not saying you should always save your ultimate for these big plays. Sometimes using it to bait out enemy ultimates can be just as valuable. Like I mentioned, if you can force the enemy team to waste their ults trying to counter yours, that's a win in itself. Any invincible will always be better than a random high damage ult. But now, season 1.5 is making changes to just how strong one is over the other. And one thing I've learned at playing from high levels is the importance of tracking enemy cooldowns, ultimates specifically. You need to have a sense of when the enemy team's ultimates are available too. This is where communication with your team becomes crucial. If you know the enemy support just used their ult, that's your cue to go in and unleash hell.
But here's the secret that separates good Star-Lord players from the great ones: it's not just about when you use your ultimate, but it's about where you use it from. The position is always everything. The best Star-Lord players aren't just timing their ults well, they're setting themselves up in positions where the enemy team can't easily escape or counter, where Star-Lord doesn't just get instantly squatted out of the sky without important sight. Remember, your ultimate is not invincible. There are counters to it, but knowing how to use it properly will win you games in higher ELO lobbies. On that alone, it's all about finding that perfect balance between the raw damage output and the tactical positioning. And with this recent change, it's got a whole lot easier for the Star-Lord players to make those game-winning plays. So get out there, practice timing, work on your positioning, and start racking up those multi-kills. It's not just about pressing that ultimate button, but it's about knowing the right moment, the right position, and the enemy ult tracking that plays into your success. Trust me, your teammates will definitely thank you for that.
All right, now let's talk about something with Star-Lord that has to do with positioning. A lot of people have asked me about my positioning on Star-Lord, how I do it, what I think, where to go in certain scenarios, and this is the part of the video where I'll tell you all about that. So it's all about where you stand, and I'm about to show you why positioning is the secret sauce to taking your Star-Lord gameplay to the next level. I'll tell you the three components I use in my head when I'm thinking about where to be in a specific scenario. So think of it like this: there are three types of positioning you can take as Star-Lord, and the first is front-line positioning. This is when you're right up there with your tanks, face to face with the enemy. And it might seem counterintuitive for a squishy hero like Star-Lord, but hear me out. Front-lining can be great for building up that ult charge quickly because you're in the thick of things, constantly dealing damage and taking damage. But here's the catch: you got to be extra careful. Just because you're around your strategist for healing does not mean one-shot ultimates are going to go away. In this position, use this position when you've got a solid tank and support backing you up, or when you absolutely need to help contest an objective.
Now, off-angling is where things start to get spicy because this is not where you're quite with your team, but you're not fully flanking either. You're at a slight distance, creating pressure from unexpected angles. This is my go-to position for most situations, and why? Because it keeps the enemy guessing. They can't focus solely on your front line, but you're not so far out from your team that they can't help if things go south. Typically, when you're in these positions, you're still able to go toward the nearest health pack and get that if need be. It gives you room to maneuver and use Star-Lord's mobility to its fullest because you won't be much looked at compared to being on the front line where you're in full view.
But let's talk about the high-risk, high-reward position: flanking. This is when you're way off on your own, looking to catch the enemy team with their pants down. A good flank can absolutely demolish the enemy backline before they even know what hit them. But here's the thing: it's also the riskiest play. You're far away from your team, support, and if you get caught out, you're probably dead. This is when you have to plan ahead, be sticking around cover much nicer, and having a plan in place for who you want to target and why. You also have to be very close to health packs if you need to get those and get out, and just be around areas that you're comfortable with and want to use his mobility to its fullest on you. Use this position when you're confident in your aim and your movement, and when you know the enemy team is distracted. And the whole point of being in a flank position or being in an off-angle position is trying to engage the team when the aggro on you is lowest because you are a squishy hero and you have the lowest health pool in the game. This needs to be reminded to you as it's a big reason why Star-Lords die so often and get so many deaths over other people when he's one of the most mobile heroes and can get out of sticky situations really easily, so he should have one of the lowest stats in the lobby when you know how to play him properly. So if you have aggro on you and people are looking at you, you will die way quicker. That's why patience in engagement timing with your team's pressure is what you should be aiming for. You have to truly read the room.
All right, and another piece to positioning. The best Star-Lord players are not just sticking to one position. They're always maneuvering through these three different positions. They're always reading the battlefield, switching it up, and it's like a dance. You're moving from the front line to off-angle to flank and back again, always keeping the enemy guessing. The dead Strange up top. Strange up top, right now. This dynamic positioning is what separates the good Star-Lords from the great ones because you have to be unpredictable. That should be your middle name.
So let me give you a quick example. Let's say you're starting off flanking and you manage to take out their main support, which is like, obviously amazing. But now the enemy team knows where you are and they're coming for you. So like, in your mind, this is where you have to use Star-Lord's mobility to quickly reposition. Maybe you boost back to the team's front line for some quick heals and then immediately transition to an off-angle to keep up the pressure. Or in another scenario, imagine you still killed the main support on the flank, but instead of going to your team's front line, you boost to a nearby health pack and on the way to the enemy spawn to spawn camp the healer you just killed. If your team could use without you for that period, it's all about being unpredictable. You're going to have different scenarios in your head that you have to judge in real time if it would be more valuable or not.
But here's the real sauce: your positioning directly affects how quickly you build your ult charge, and Star-Lord's ultimate definitely changes the game. Front-lining gets you ult charge fast, but it's risky if you get too cocky. Flanking can get you big plays, but if you're not landing your shots, you're not building that kind of charge, and it's definitely not a position you want to get too much aggro from. The key is to find that sweet spot where you're constantly dealing the damage without taking too much yourself. Well-timed high team pressure, low aggro engagements are what keep this wishy hero alive and remaining a high-value asset for your team.
So just how do you master this dynamic positioning? It should all come down to practice and awareness. You need to be constantly scanning the battlefield, looking for opportunities. This comes with some time, but also an understanding with the information in this guide. Watch your favorite Star-Lord players who are good at the game and just constantly review your own footage if you'd like to. You need to think to yourself when you're watching footage of yourself back, maybe I should have gone this route instead, and maybe things would have gone different. What would happen if I took a flank at this exact moment instead of stayed with my team? Would there have been more opportunity this way? You need to be asking yourself these kinds of questions like, what are the enemy players focusing? Where are your teammates? Is there a high ground you can take advantage of? What might happen if I push in a little here, right here, right now, onto this Luna? Will I die if everyone turned on me two seconds into this engagement on this Mensus? These are the type of questions you should be asking yourself every second of the game in real time.
And here's the final tip on positioning. A lot of heroes cannot fly or reach Star-Lord's positioning on high ground. So just remember this simple thing and use it to position smarter. As the main goal truly is to do as much as you can, taking the least amount of damage, remaining the high-value asset Star-Lord can be.
All right, let's say you've mastered the movement, you've nailed those ultimates, but there's still one thing that can turn your Star-Lord from hero to zero in seconds. I'm talking about the counter picks. Now, you might be thinking, Brooks, come on, every hero's got counters, and you're right. But Star-Lord's play style is unique. Some heroes can really shut down your game and not let you do a single thing. Let's break down these Kryptonite matchups and how to deal with them.
So number one, let's talk about Bucky. The threat is his hook can snag you out of the air, negating your mobility advantage. But the counter strategy would be to bait out the hook and dodge at the last second. Use your roll's i-frames to avoid it entirely. You can just outrange him a little bit and go in at the same time to deal with Bucky. Bucky gets overwhelmed pretty quickly. The optimal strategy is obviously not to one-v-one these counters because you're at a disadvantage from the start.
Spider-Man is second. The threat is that he can chase you down and contest your high ground positions and use his auto-aim grab-on ability with the uppercut to deal pretty decent damage. The counter strategies is to mix up your altitude game and break line of sight and roll his close-range attacks. He's only got big damage on the grab-on ability that's a bot after he sticks you, and then the uppercut that follows it. You just have to roll one of them or just roll to avoid the damage and then avoid all the damage from range specifically as well. Just time your i-frames really well, and he should not be as big a threat as you feel.
Now for number three, another Star-Lord. Another Star-Lord can definitely be a big counter to your Star-Lord gameplay, even if you are better than them. The threat is that he knows your tricks and can predict your movements. But the counter strategy is to get creative. You got to avoid the common flank routes and positions and play with your team instead of flanking when a Star-Lord is marking you constantly. When you're trying to flank, he's removing all the value that you would provide initially and just transferring it to him. It's like they have a team of six and you have a team of five when you're constantly getting marked and disallowed from doing what you need to do.
Number four, let's start with the hitscan long-range heroes like Black Widow. Black Widow's threat is precision shots can punish your mistakes in your movement and they do insane damage. The counter strategy is to use cover and close the distance. You got to move between cover points in short bursts, and you should also go on Black Widow at the same time as someone else. Black Widow is another hero that can quickly get overwhelmed by just two people on her, and more often than not, Black Widows are simply just aiming down sight. So if you're on the flank and you're quiet enough, you're able to just sneak up on her at the same time as your team's engagement, you can probably one-clip her into a Blaster Barrage and easily take her out when everyone is distracted.
Continuing on the same line of long-range, high-damage, hitscan heroes like Hela. Hela's threat is long-range shots can turn your flank routes and even playing with your team into death traps. The counter strategy will be staying on the move, using cover, and engaging with your team to for support. It's pretty much very similar stuff among all of them, more so for Black Widow and Hela and Bucky because you really want to just overwhelm them because they rely on their precision shots, but they can't really get out as easily. They're pretty good for the one-on-one scenarios, but being overwhelmed is their greatest weakness.
Now for the fifth counter for Star-Lord, let's talk about Neomore. Neomore's threat is that the squids will always mark you and he can cover a lot of angles. The counter strategy for Neomore is to shoot the squids as often as possible and engage with your team at the same time. Neomore's advantage is that he has so many squids and it will mark you endlessly until you take care of them. When you take care of them, he's pretty much like any other duelist on the roster and will not be as big a threat.
Now, the key to handling these counters is adapting your play style. You got to understand what I'm going to say in this video, and every counter has a counter of its own. That's what separates the good Star-Lords from the great ones. As you know, let's dive deeper into these matchups.
Against Bucky, it's all about mind games. You want to make him think that he's got an easy target and then use your superior mobility to dodge at the last second. You got to show him a predictable pattern and then break it when he least expected. Remember, a well-timed roll can save you from his hook and pretty much save you from anything in the game. You also want to overwhelm Bucky with multiple people on your team coming at him at the same time.
For Spider-Man, you need to change up your altitude game. Don't always go for the highest ground. You're going to mix it up with some low-flying maneuvers and use obstacles to break line of sight. He needs line of sight after he's stuck you to get his auto-aim grab-on ability and into the uppercut. Those two abilities are where most of his damage comes from. Spidey needs to see you to web you. A well-timed roll can also save you from his webbed aim-bot grab or the uppercut typically following that, and those are his main damage healing abilities he relies on.
Now, when you're up against another Star-Lord, it is definitely time to get creative. You got to use your knowledge of the hero against them. If you know the common flank routes and positions, avoid them. Go for the unexpected plays when you see that he's already covering them. Sometimes the best way to outplay a Star-Lord is to do what they least expect, like playing with your team instead of flanking. Keep in mind that Star-Lords typically get their value out of marking you if you're trying to intrude on their backline without support nearby for you. The flanker who is always marked is the one who won't win the value-providing battle for that game. Obviously, you should test out if you're able to flank against Star-Lord to see if he's playing with his team and won't be able to really like you, or maybe the Star-Lord just doesn't even care about you and he's not marking at all, so you're able to rain hell on their backline and do the value-providing actions that would win you that game.
Now for the long-range threats like Black Widow and Hela, it's all about using cover and closing the distance. Use your jetpack in short bursts to move between cover points. Don't give them a clear shot, and when you do engage, you got to make it count. Getting close when your damage output shines, and engage with a fellow diver or just your team as a whole. One-on-one fights against these heroes are typically not in your favor, especially when they're landing their shots every time.
And last but not least, when you're fighting a Neomore, you need to realize his A-game is his squids. So shooting the squids as quickly as possible limits all his capabilities. They're what Star-Lord players typically struggle against, and they will realize when there's a Neomore on the team, suddenly after you've been playing Star-Lord, they typically think, "Wow, they're trying to counter my Star-Lord." But he's not the only counter, and you can easily deal with them if you have this information in mind. They're what Star-Lord typically struggles against, and it'll always help to have someone with you. Don't just hard flank when Neomore is effortlessly watching the backline and peeling supports with a single ability.
And here's another pro tip: communication is key in these tough matchups. Let your team know when you're going to want help against a specific counter in coming fights. Maybe you can call for supports to keep an eye out on you for extra healing, or your tank can create more space for you to work, or you can coordinate a dive on one of the less mobile counters.
And as for honorable mentions, I'd like to say Iron Fist. Iron Fist is pretty annoying to deal with, especially in a 1v1, but truly, you just have to shoot him when he's not blocking and stay near your team so that you guys can gang up on him. Because during a 1v1 when you're on the flank, it does not seem very likely that you'd be able to deal with Iron Fist on your own. Remember, Marvel Rivals is a team game, and you don't have to face these counters alone. Simply going into your ult and targeting the person that will one-shot you and having healers focus healing you during your ultimate by calling it will literally save you from dying at all and losing that fight, and therefore losing the game and losing your rank, all down to that one thing that can help things. Purple. Going to use that as many things as you can possible to help you win.
The most important thing to remember is that no matchup is unwinnable. Yes, these heroes can make your life difficult, but they also force you to elevate your game. Every time you face a tough counter, you're learning, you're adapting, and you're becoming a better Star-Lord player. There will always be times where, like, switching would be the more beneficial thing to do, but if you do want to remain on Star-Lord, there is definitely ways to go about these counters and to stay on Star-Lord and provide the value you've been providing all along. It will be harder, but when you master your understanding of how to deal with these counters, they might not realize that you're ready for them, and you'll actually be better than they think you would, and therefore win the game. So next time you see one of these counters on the enemy team, you should not panic. Take a deep breath and remember these strategies and get ready to show them what a real Star-Lord can do. With practice and smart plays, you'll be turning these nightmare matchups into your own personal highlight reels. Keep at it, and you'll be the Star-Lord that other players fear facing, no matter who they're playing.
And lastly, remember the key to overcoming these counters lies in unpredictability and adaptation. Whether you're baiting Bucky's hook, juking Spider-Man's web shots, outmaneuvering another Star-Lord, playing cat and mouse with a Black Widow and Hela, or evading squids from Neomore, your ability to think on your feet and change your tactics mid-game will be your greatest asset. Practice these strategies, stay flexible, start calling more, and soon that you'll find that even your toughest counters can't keep you down.
All right guys, we covered a lot of ground in this guide, and I hope you're feeling pumped to take your Star-Lord gameplay to the next level. The Season 1.5 changes have really turned things around for our favorite guardian, and soon he might not be seen as an underdog, but as a potential instant banning comp, where a widely regarded S-duelist among the community. That's when everyone will start trying to play Star-Lord based off the meta alone, and you guys are going to need to master these tricks in this video before the community gets their hands on him. So here's the deal: practice makes permanent. Take everything we've talked about, the movement tricks, the positioning strategies, the ult timing, and start applying them in your matches. Trust me, you will see the difference after enough practice and understanding of these. And remember, Star-Lord isn't just viable now, he's a force to be reckoned with. You can definitely hard carry your lobbies with him. Now, you could before as well, but he's much easier to do the hard carrying on now. Keep at it, you'll be dominating the meta in no time. Now get out there and show them what you've got.
Thank you for watching. Make sure to like, comment, and subscribe, and tell me what you thought or if you have any questions in the comments down below. I will be responding to as many as I can. Also, be sure to catch my streams out on twitch.tv/brooks with two s's. I will be streaming this gameplay and playing Star-Lord the majority of my matches, and you can ask me questions there live. Much love, have a good rest of your day or night. Appreciate you for watching, and peace.