The Only Thing They Fear Is You

“Why do I hear boss music?”

• Thanos

So, you want to shoot things. I’m glad to say you’ve come to the right place. Come, be the Dante to my Virgil on this chainsaw and metal filled tour of Hell, but be warned, prolonged head banging can drastically increase bloodlust and rate of fire.

It’s Dangerous to Go Alone

Your allies are few in number but big in heart. Bug is a constant nuisance to everyone and anyone, staying alive as long as you want until he needs to be a meat shield. Gamora digs for anything useful, more damage ideally or another resource in a pinch. And we all know why Mockingbird is here, cause crowd is the best kind of control.

Rip and Tear

The core of the strategy is the synergy between Honed Technique and exploding enemy health bars. Venom’s ability to generate resources at will guarantees you’ll always do maximum damage with whatever you happen to draw at the time.

With HT established, No Quarter does a respectable 6 damage, and if you use it paint the walls with an unfortunate minion can also draw you 1-5 cards depending on how good your mills are. Fusillade is your bread and butter attack Event, doing 7 damage once set up at the cost of a single exhausted pistol.

Into the Fray is the closest thing you’ll have to a BFG, as 9 damage can vaporize even the hardiest of minions, and can be used to remove up to 8 threat from any potential hazard. Drop Kick is a bit more situational, but a bit more flexible. It can be either 7 damage if paid for with a resource, or can be used to stun and draw 1 if exclusively paid for with resources.

Savage Attack is really the least impactful attack of the bunch, but 5 for 2 cost is very solid, and overkill is always welcome if activated. Run and Gun is the linchpin, allowing a steady amount of lead to be funneled from your board into the villain. It restands weapons exhausted for Fusillade, picks up Venom for another swing or to flip and heal, and readies the best card in the deck Multi-Gun for another utility boost.

Besides attacking, Venom offers solid utility with [Behind Enemy Lines] (/card/20002) confusing the villain and Grasping Tendrils essentially negating two attacks.

“I Need a Weapon”

• John Halo

A super soldier is nothing without his toys, and Venom has some of the best in the room. Venom's Pistol are a pair of personal hand cannons that boost his basic abilities by 1 a piece for single uses, making him adept at whatever he needs to be at the moment.

Multi-Gun is one of the best single utility cards there is, offering dealer’s choice of single target damage, widespread pinging for minion control or reasonable no-cost threat removal, and is readied via Run and Gun to be used multiple times.

Locked and Loaded rounds out this suite of firepower by making sure you can find the one that got away if you happen to misplace one of your Pew Pews.

Putting the Super in the Soldier

No space marine is complete without enhancements, and Venom has them to spare. Combat Training and Fluid Motion capitalize on Run and Gun’s ability to ready our hero, getting the most, excuse the pun, bang for your buck.

The Booster Boots take the edge off of most direct hits, and Endurance not only aids longevity but also lessens the blow of generating a free resource every round.

C.I.T.T. serves to further squeeze every bit of performance out of our symbiotic colleague by readying him with any random junk left at the end of our turn, and Spider-Sense gives Venom Peter Parker’s hero ability for only 2 resources, a steal of a deal.

Project Rebirth 2.0 is quite possibly the best support card in the game, allowing maximum damage output before flipping to heal, a panic near full heal if used im conjunction with basic recover, and a +1 hand size to Flash Thompson if at adequate health while flipped.

And of course we can’t forget the Praetor Suit, er, the Symbiote Suit. It gives a dramatic boost to just about everything with the cost of a little added risk, but that’s what keeps the game exciting. Although, if that’s living a little too dangerously for some, Helicarrier is an adequate replacement, costing down anything you’d like and making the Venom character cards and Drop Kick’s secondary effects easier to proc.

Til It Is Done

All in all, this list is still a bit experimental but I’m happy with 95% of it. Still a little iffy on Symbiote Suit and Martial Prowess, but other than that Venom as a whole consistently over-performs for me. I hope you give him a try and have as much fun with him as I do, preferably with some metal in the background.