Dark Deception Monsters & Mortals: PenPen Guide (How to Play)

The very first Mortal to be covered on the “How To:” series, as well as the bane of everyone who’s a Mortal on Maze Escape. This lovely lass is the art director of the Glowstick Entertainment team, as well as having the distinction of being the ONLY Speed class Mortal in the game up to this point. Back in the very early days of this game, PenPen was a very overpowered character due to having the ability to stun-lock pretty much everyone and beat them to death with her electric racket. However, that’s all in the past, and she’ll need way more than artistic talent and a zappy fly swatter to succeed. So with all that said, lets dive in!

PenPen is classified as a Speed type Mortal. Normally the Mortals have overall lower stats than Monsters, and this is mostly true with PenPen. However, a unique trait is that PenPen is the same speed as Speed type Monsters Agatha and Fiend. This is her most defining trait, as she can outrun every monster in the game except the aforementioned speed Monsters. However, having the highest speed in the game (especially with Shooting Star active. Details below) comes with a hefty price to pay. That price, is that she has the absolute lowest HP and Damage output in the entire game. This means she is ill-suited for combat, and if one chooses to play her, you MUST play passively except if you’re playing Soul Collection, where your miserable damage output is offset slightly due to the fact all Mortals have lower overall stats.

Upon death, PenPen drops a whopping 50 shards. This is problematic in Soul Collection due to the focus on having a high shard count to survive. However, this is exasperated even further in Maze Escape…y’know…the TEAM game. Repeated PenPen deaths can cost the Mortal team the match, a fact that is extremely exploitable to the Monster players. I’ve seen it happen way too much for my own good, trust me on this. If you’re gonna play PenPen, you MUST know what your doing, lest you be the reason the game went in the Monster player’s favor.

Ever get tired of those Murder Monkey’s and Brute’s running you over with their Ults, or get yourself cornered with little hope for survival? Well, if your Ult Meter charged up in time, you’re in luck! PenPen’s Ult is referred to as Shooting Star. When this is active, PenPen becomes a female version of The Flash and gains a massive speed boost. Anything that gets in your way during your rush gets stunned for two seconds, which can be applied repeatedly during the Ult’s 15 second duration. While this sounds ideal to annoy the hell out of the Monsters by repeatedly stun-locking and attacking them (this was what made her broken at the game’s launch, where she did way more damage than she does now), this rarely turns out for the better. With PenPen only capable of doing 16 damage max at a time, she barely dents the Monster class except for maybe Agatha and Fiend (due to their low hp for Monster standards). The better use for this Ult is to use it as a last ditch attempt to free yourself from certain doom, or just use it to zip around the map even quicker for more shards. It’s honestly a “meh” Ult overall.

Note: The only time the stun-locking trick works is if the Monster in question is already severely crippled enough to the point where doing this will provide the last bit of damage needed to kill him/her/it. Other than that scenario, don’t try it. You’ll regret it.

At first glance, PenPen sounds like a really good character. Collect shards as fast as possible, open portal, zoom in, ez win. As much as beginner players may feel that way, there’s more to the game than just that. There’s taking into account the scenario where you have to fight back against the Monster player to prevent dying (AKA, the combat system), and the amount of shards you lose if you fail to do so. Power types drop 15, Balanced drops 25, Support drops 35. PenPen, the only Speed character on the Mortal side, drops 50 upon dying. Combine that with the fact that she can’t defend herself even if the game depended on it and the fact EVERY Monster can shred her rather easily, means that PenPen is more or less a liability to the Mortal team in most cases. While yes, a good PenPen can put in serious work, an equally good Monster can screw her up a good amount of times, making more work for the team. Also, God forbid there’s multiple PenPen’s on the team, as that means shards will drain FAST if too many deaths occur.

As for her maps, she’s the best on Stranger Sewers since Doom Ducky can’t dream of outrunning her and the traps are easy to dodge and PenPen has no excuse to die to those; if a PenPen dies to either (provided stuns or Fiend’s Mind Pull wasn’t involved), you may as well just forfeit the game. The map also favors speed characters, so caution should be taken if Agatha and/or Fiend happens to get selected as the Monster. Monkey Business and Deadly Decadence are also good maps, as her fast heavy attack disposes of the banana traps easily, and Titan Watcher shouldn’t be an issue if you’re paying attention to his axes. Monstrum Madness and Elementary Evil provide enough chaos to where PenPen could potentially struggle if she isn’t careful. Finally, Silent Sacrifice…hoo boi.

1. Air Screamers are annoying and suck precious life from a character who doesn’t get med-kits often
2. Pyramid Head’s lunge is able to keep up with her despite her speed
3. Speed Favoring map, which is a double-edged sword; she likes those maps, but also runs a high chance of Agatha or Fiend showing up

PvP Matchups:

Performs Well Against: ???
Performs Decently Against: ???
Performs Poorly Against: Murder Monkey, Agatha, Gold Watcher, Dread Ducky, Clown Gremlin, Malak, The Brute, The Fiend, Nurse, Robbie

As stated in the Background Info section, fighting as PenPen isn’t viable. All Monsters are capable of destroying her easily if she chooses to engage. If you’re going to fight anyone, make sure Shooting Star’s available and they’re nearly dead, otherwise leave them to teammates. PLEASE, I BEG OF YOU!

Teammate Viability

Works Well With: Heather, Cybil, Borisov, Bierce, Dawko, Detective Evans.
Works Decently With: Nikson, Vince, 8-BitRyan
Works Poorly With: Doug, SuperHorrorBro, PenPen (herself)

Heather works wonders with PenPen since her Seal of Mettatron can give her a much appreciated defense boost to help fix her fragility. If Heather’s not in the match, Dawko works too since immunity to basic attacks is also a very good thing for PenPen, however Ults can still nail her. Borisov can slow and fight the Monster trying to target her. Evans can stun, allowing her and Evans to work together to beat up the Monster while they’re vulnerable. Bierce can provide healing; while 25% isn’t a lot, you’ll need every bit of HP you can get since med-kit drop rates are low for Speed types. Cybil’s good because gun, end of story.

Where in Maze Escape, she’s easily one of the worst Mortals in the entire game due to her fragility, inability to fight, and 50 shard loss on death, this is an entirely different case in Soul Collection. In this mode, PenPen is easily one of the best characters due to the emphasis on shard collecting and the lower power level of her enemies. This is also not a team game, meaning if she dies, that’s your own fault and you’ll be screwing yourself over instead of an entire group. While she cannot fight many Mortals too well, she is able to fight in a pinch and actually leave a mark if wielded skillfully. On top of this, her distinction as the only Speed type is of great use, as she’s the fastest character in the game here, allowing her to hog many shards to herself if she plays keep away. Finally, Shooting Star’s stun-locking ability is highly abusive against Mortals, as their lower health allows her to be of great annoyance to the poor souls unfortunate enough to run into her while the Ult’s active. All this combined means while PenPen isn’t exactly meant to fight, she’s able to if it’s against someone reasonable, and her blazing fast speed means she’s the best at collecting shards, even if a Nikson’s in the match.

Maps are largely the same, although since there’s no monsters to worry about until someone dies to Phantom Malak, all her bad match-up maps are more manageable until then.

Performs Well Against: Nikson, Doug, PenPen (herself)
Performs Decently Against: Dawko, Bierce, SuperHorrorBro
Performs Poorly Against: Heather, Cybil, Detective Evans, 8-BitRyan, Borisov, Vince

The match-up spread is meh at best, but don’t let that fool you. While most Mortals can handle her since her fragility issue hasn’t left her, she shouldn’t be fighting anyway, as her main strength is shard collecting and outrunning everyone. That alone makes her very good in Soul Collection. Meaning, as long as you can maintain a higher shard count than your opponents, you’ll win.

PenPen is a character of extremes; fast and good at increasing shard counts, but also severely punishing if she dies. Killing her is also quite easy if you’re skilled enough, as cutting her off multiple times does the trick most of the time. This is why pretty much every Monster has a good match-up on her and most Mortal players groan upon seeing her on their team: she’s a giant, shining target that frequently abusing can ruin games for the Mortal team. However, she can pull her weight if the player using her is attentive and observant, always on the move, and above all else, NOT PLANNING TO FIGHT.

I would recommend playing PenPen if you’re very good at the game and prefer playing passively, as that’s what makes her worthwhile on most occasions. If you’re not, I would probably play Doug or something as an alternative.