The Punisher Guide: How to Play, Tips and Tricks & Matchups

My Credentials

I am a Celestial player who primarily plays Invisible Woman as a main. I also main Peni Parkee for a Vanguard and Squirrel Girl for a Duelist. I also study top level streamers, tournaments, and data published by first and third party sources to help deliver the most accurate information I can.

Basic Ability Guide (For Beginners)

You can find a bulleted list of the character's abilities in game under their character tab. This portion of the guide will cover the same info, as well as some extra information and tips that the game doesn't clearly outline. If you already have a basic grasp of the character, skip to the next section for more advanced tips.

At the surface level, Punisher is a very simple character. His primary weapon is an assault rifle that behaves like any shooter. His bullets do 18 damage each at close to medium range, but drop down to about 13 damage at 40 meters. His weapon does deal critical hit damage, so getting headshots will maximize your damage output.

He has an alternate fire the weapon can swap to at any time you want, which is his shotgun. This weapon does significantly more damage at close range than the rifle, but significantly less at medium and long range. This is perfect to swap to in close quarters combat, like dealing with an aggressive character like Spider-Man. It has a separate magazine from your rifle and has to be reloaded independently. There is a fairly lengthy animation to swap between weapon modes, so be careful when you choose to change modes.

He has the passive ability "Warrior's Gaze" that allows him to continuously see opponents through walls after they have left your line of sight. It makes the opponents glow red to only Punisher, and the effect lasts for 3 seconds from the time you last saw them. This can help you track down and eliminate a fleeing opponent.

To keep your mobility high, Punisher has a Zip line ability called "Vantage Connection". On activation, you will place a Zip line only you can use. This will remain persistent on the map until you swap characters or place more than 3 zip lines on the map. After firing, you will instantly ride towards the end of the line, and it will launch you upward as you disembark anywhere on the line, allowing you to keep your momentum while airborne. You can jump at any time while riding to also launch you into the air. If your line dips too low to the ground, you will automatically detach and launch upward. You can use these to set up rapid return paths after your death, or to reach vantage points that were previously inaccessible.

Punisher also has a smoke bomb he can deploy as an ability. On impact, it deals 45 damage to any nearby opponent and covers the area in a thick smoke. It will also launch you 10 meters backwards, or upwards if you throw it at your feet. You can use this as a quick escape in a fight, or as a finisher when your ammo is out. Thanks to your passive ability, enemies will glow red through the smoke, but they won't be able to see you.

As a final ability, Punisher has a mountable turret. You can place this anywhere on the map that has space for it to deploy. While mounted, you have 200 bullets you can fire without reloading. Your bullet spread will decrease the longer you fire, letting you hone in on evasive targets. The turret covers your body to block damage, but the turret has 600 hp. After you run out of bullets, take 600 hp of damage, or press the ability again, you will dismount and the turret will vanish. While mounted, your back is still vulnerable, so you can be shot and killed out of it without needing to destroy the turret.

Punisher's ultimate ability gives him 2 mini-guns and a rocket launcher. For the 10 seconds it is active, you gain unlimited ammo on a very fast-firing weapon. While shooting, you have a 40% movement speed penalty, and a 20% penalty when not shooting. This means you really need to be in combat range before you activate it to ensure you don't waste time slowly walking to the fight. Your missle launcher has 8 shots and will automatically fire 2 every couple of seconds. These missiles will seek and destroy nearby opponents without you needing to aim at them. You do have to have see them on screen in order for them to fire.

How to Play

Generally, you want to stick just in front of the back line. You have low base health, so it's very easy to die quick. Sticking in front of your healers lets you stay at full health, while also sticking close to your tanks. You aren't a diver, so you will most often stick with your team.

Your strength is suppressing fire, making it difficult for opponents to stay in one spot. If opponents are forced into any narrow area, drop your turret down and start shooting. If you don't get kills, the pressure you put on them will often make them have to back off a bit.

Besides pressuring opponents, and especially tanks, you can very easily kill low base hp characters. Flying characters are especially vulnerable to you since you can kill them quicker than they can move to cover. Other characters like Moon Knight, Squirrel Girl, or Winter Soldier are also easy targets since they generally fight in a small area.

You are weak to divers and will struggle in a 1v1 vs high health brawlers. It's main reason you have to stick with your team. If you are caught in a tough spot against divers or an aggressive opponent, you can use your grenade to quickly jump backwards and create a quick smokescreen.

There may be times where you can use your zip line to flank or set up a turrets on a vantage point. While this puts you away from your team, it can help in situations where adding pressure from a different angle can help your team push past defenses. Just use caution when flanking since, like I said before, you aren't a diver.

When you get your ultimate, you want to make sure you have some team support before starting it. You have a long wind-up animation, so you don't want to get picked off as you yell out your ultimate voiceline to opponents. Despite dealing huge damage, you are still easy to kill, so sticking around your team should let them support you while you ult.

Tips and Tricks For Gameplay

As soon as you spawn and leave the spawn room, shoot a zip line towards the objective. This will not only let you rapidly get there, but it leaves a reusable fast track any time you die. On subsequent trips, you can add up to 2 additional zip lines that you can chain together to make your returns to point even faster!

If you want to jump up a ledge quickly, jump and throw down a smoke grenade at your feet. This will catapult you upwards and let you quickly reach different areas. Some of these areas will makes for good vantage points to drop a turret down.

If you swap weapons, your holstered weapon mode will automatically reload after 3 seconds have passed. If you are utilizing both modes, make sure at least 3 seconds have passed and you will always have a full clip when you swap back!

Zip lines have quite a bit of range, but you need to make sure you are angled up enough. If you aim too far down, the zip line wont deploy since Punisher won't fit underneath. To ensure you don't waste time, aim your zip line strait with no angle downward. You can angle up with no issues, but accidentally aiming down will cause many zip lines not to fully connect.

Punisher's turret deployment gives him a short window where he can't be targeted. If you see at attack like Jeff's ultimate coming, you can deploy your turret for brief protection!

Your ultimate's missle launcher will decide it's own target in range. If you are too close, the missiles will fly behind the target and deal no damage. If you are too far, it won't fire at all. You don't need to plan around what your missiles do, just be aware of your spacing so they can make the most impact automatically.

You can mount your turret onto the moving objective! This can let you get the benefits of the turrets without the downside of being stationary. The same applies if Rocket throws your team-up ability onto the objective so it can move with you!

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• High damage output
• Great for suppression
• Very easy to learn and use
• Good option for targeting fliers
• Good anti-tank option

Cons:

• Bad against divers
• Slower movement speed and low base health
• Struggles against precision dps like Hela or Hawkeye

Matchups