Penelope: The Fierce Ex-Librarian – One Shot, One Kill (Or Suicide)

Overview

Penelope arrived in the Shadow Summon portal early in 2025, bringing with her the controversial and chaotic Insanity mechanic. As a 5-star Nature (Green) hero from the Investigator family, she is designed to be a powerhouse of stats and raw impact, balanced by a debilitating drawback. Her role is a hybrid of a nuclear damage dealer, a healer, and a dodge provider. However, operating at Slow speed with a self-inflicted mental breakdown built into her kit makes her one of the most polarizing heroes in the game. She essentially asks the player: "Do you feel lucky?"

Hero Art & Visuals

Visually, Penelope leans into the "Fierce Ex-Librarian" persona quite literally. She trades the cardigans and reading glasses for a massive greatsword that looks like it weighs more than she does, paired with a casual jacket and jeans combo. It is a grounded, somewhat modern aesthetic that stands out against the high-fantasy armor of classic heroes. Veteran players of Small Giant's other titles might do a double-take, as her character model bears a striking resemblance to a hero from Puzzle Combat, seemingly hopping dimensions to bring her sword to a new fight. It is a practical design—she looks like she is done shushing people in the library and ready to silence them permanently.

General Info

Hero Stats

When looking at Penelope's raw stats on the card, they appear solid but perhaps slightly behind the absolute cutting edge of late 2025 power creep. However, this is deceptive. The Investigator Family Bonus is a core part of her stat identity. Even as a solo Investigator on a team, she receives a massive +20% boost to Attack, Defense, and Health at the start of the battle.

If we factor this in, her effective stats skyrocket. A base health of roughly 2200 becomes over 2600 before troops or limit breaks. With full investment (LB2), she becomes a stat monster, easily eclipsing the 3000 HP mark. In terms of pure survivability and attack power, she competes with the very best, provided you don't dilute the bonus by bringing too many other Investigators (though the bonus scales up to 40% with more family members, usually one or two is the sweet spot for team building).

Special Skill: Cut, Cure and Craze

Penelope’s special skill is a "kitchen sink" ability—it tries to do everything at once, and for the most part, it succeeds, with one major caveat.

1. The Cut (Damage): Dealing 440% damage to all enemies is devastating. Even at Slow speed, this multiplier coming off her boosted attack stat is often enough to cripple an entire enemy team, especially if defense down is already applied.
2. The Cure (Healing): Healing for 35% of damage dealt is a mechanic we've seen on heroes like various vampires or specialized healers. Since she hits everyone for massive damage, the heal is substantial. It can easily top off a wounded team from the brink of death.
3. The Craze (Dodge & Insanity): The 45% dodge chance for 5 turns is a top-tier defensive buff. It keeps your team safe from snipers and ailment casters alike. The twist is the Insanity.
   • On Enemy: When she dodges, the attacker gets 10 Insanity. This is a nice bonus, slowly driving the enemy mad.
   • On Self: The kicker. She inflicts 55 Insanity on herself immediately upon casting.

The Reality of Insanity: Insanity functions like a permanent, stacking chance to cast "Mindless Attack" on your own team. At 55 Insanity, Penelope has a 55% chance that her next special skill cast will target her allies instead of the enemy. This effectively makes her a "One-Shot Wonder." You fire her once to turn the tide of battle. If you manage to charge her a second time, you are flipping a coin where "Heads" means you probably win, and "Tails" means she nukes your own team and heals the enemy.

By the Numbers

• Mana Speed: Slow. She requires 12 tiles to charge. In Rush wars/tournaments, she becomes Very Fast (6.5 tiles), which is terrifying.
• Damage Calculation: With an effective attack (after family bonus and troops) easily reaching 1600-1800+, a 440% hit deals approximately 7000-8000 raw damage distributed across 5 enemies (before defense calculations). This is "wipeout" territory.
• Healing Calculation: If she deals ~3000 total actual damage to an enemy team (a conservative estimate against high defense), she heals her team for ~1000 HP each. That is a massive swing.
• Survivability: The 45% dodge effectively increases her team's survivability by nearly double against special skills for 5 turns.

Family Bonus, Passives, Aether Power & Unique Abilities

The Shadow heroes are defined by their Family Bonus and the absence of traditional passives, leaning entirely on their stat inflation.

Family Bonus

This is the bread and butter of the Investigator family. Unlike other families that give small chances to mana boost or heal, this is a raw, hard stat injection.

• 1 Hero: +20% Attack, Defense, HP.
• 2 Heroes: +25% Attack, Defense, HP.
• 3+ Heroes: +30% to +40%. This bonus makes Penelope incredibly tanky and hard to kill with tile damage alone, ensuring she often survives long enough to fire her slow skill at least once.

Passives

Notably, Penelope does not possess standard passive skills (like "resist mana cut" or "start with mana"). Her power budget is entirely consumed by her active skill and family stat bonus.

Aether Power

Boosted Regen is a decent defensive Aether Power. It helps mitigate chip damage while she charges her slow mana. Since she has such a massive HP pool, regeneration is effective, though arguably "Damage Reduction" or "Revive" might have suited her slow speed better.

Legacy & Modern Relevance

When released, Penelope was immediately identified as a niche powerhouse. She was never a "general use" hero like the top-tier fast heroes of the era (e.g., the Goblins or Astral Elves) simply because Slow speed is a liability in standard raiding.

• Power Creep: Her stats, buoyed by the family bonus, hold up remarkably well even against late 2025 heroes. She is physically stronger than almost anyone else on the field.
• Modern Viability: She remains a Rush War Queen. In Very Fast modes, the downside of her Slow speed is negated, and her impact is immediate. Outside of Rush, she is difficult to use. The introduction of more heroes with "Insanity" mechanics hasn't helped her much, as she maxes out her own insanity too quickly to synergize well with others. She is a specialized tool, not a Swiss Army knife.

Emblem Path Analysis

Penelope is a Fighter, giving her a chance to Revive. This is excellent for a Slow hero, giving her one last chance to fire if she gets sniped.

The Survivor (Recommended)

• Path: Defense > Health > Attack
• Pros: Maximizes the benefit of her massive family bonus HP/Def. Ensures she lives to fire.
• Cons: Slightly lower damage on her nuke and smaller heal.

The Nuclear Option

• Path: Attack > Defense > Health
• Pros: Makes her 440% hit absolutely devastating. Increases the healing received by allies.
• Cons: Riskier; if she dies before firing, she does nothing.

Final Recommendation

For most players, the Survivor (Defense/Health) path is recommended. Her base damage is already high enough to be impactful. The priority is ensuring she actually casts her skill.

Strengths

• Massive Stat Block: The Investigator bonus makes her incredibly durable.
• Game-Ending Special: A hit-all nuke + team heal + dodge can reverse a losing board instantly.
• Dodge: 45% dodge is one of the best defensive buffs in the game.
• Fighter Class: Revive chance adds to her annoyance factor on defense.

Weaknesses

• Slow Speed: Difficult to charge in standard raids before the battle is decided.
• Suicidal Tendencies (Insanity): The 55% self-insanity makes her unreliable after the first cast. You cannot count on her for a prolonged fight.
• Vulnerable to Dispel/Block: If blocked or silenced before she fires, she is just a meat shield.
• Counter-Synergy: She doesn't play well with other Insanity heroes who might increase her insanity further, pushing her to 100% too fast.

Best Game Modes

• Rush Attack Wars/Tournaments: This is her home. She is S-Tier here.
• Tower Events: Her high stats and survivability can be useful, but the insanity persists, making her risky for climbing.
• War Equalizer: Actually decent here; the Equalizer removes the Dodge buff (bad) but also removes her Insanity (good), allowing her to fire safely a second time if she recharges.

Advanced Strategy & Team Compositions

The goal with Penelope is to ensure she fires once. Anything after that is a bonus (or a disaster).

Sample Team Ideas

• The Rush Defense:
  • Tank: Penelope
  • Flanked by instant healers or revivers (e.g., Mother North, Alberich). In Rush, she fires, deals massive damage, heals everyone, and puts up dodge. If she goes insane afterwards, she has likely already done enough to win the match.
• The Equalizer Offense:
  • Support: Support Healer, Penelope, Sniper, Sniper, Healer.
  • Time her fire right before the Equalizer cleanse triggers. She nukes and heals, and the cleanse wipes her Insanity (and the Dodge, unfortunately), resetting her for a safe second cast.

Counters & Anti-Synergies

• Counters:
  • Mana Controllers: Hel, Proteus, or Silence heroes stop her from ever firing.
  • Buff Blockers: Prevent the Dodge, severely reducing her utility.
  • Taunt: Forces her to hit only one target, reducing her healing significantly.
• Anti-Synergies:
  • Other High-Insanity Heroes: Do not pair her with heroes that indiscriminately add insanity to allies, or she will become a liability immediately.

Advice for New Players

If you pull Penelope early, she is a blessing. Her raw stats will carry you through map stages where speed matters less. Just be careful using her in raids; don't rely on her to save you twice in one battle.

Advice for Veterans

She is a luxury tool for your Rush War roster. Do not strip emblems from a versatile meta hero for her, but if you have spare Fighter emblems, she can hold a defensive spot in Rush wars. Do not waste Alpha Aethers on her unless you are extremely competitive in Rush formats; her drawback is too significant for general play.

Community Corner: Hot Takes & History

The community reaction to Penelope was... mixed.

• The "Puzzle Combat" conspiracy: Many players immediately noted her model was reused from SG's other game, leading to jokes about "budget cuts" and "multiverse crossovers."
• The Insanity Debate: The 55% self-insanity was a major sticking point. As one player put it, "She went from very good to slightly average with the insanity... the reward isn't worth the risk of 55 self insanity."
• The Beta Nerf: Rumors circulated that her dodge initially inflicted more Insanity on enemies, but it was reduced to 10 on release, which many felt made her "worse on release" than expected.
• The One-Pump Chump: The consensus quickly settled that she is a "fire and forget" hero. You fire her, and then you forget about her because she's likely going to attack your own team next.

Final Thoughts

Penelope is the definition of a "high risk, high reward" hero, but perhaps tilted slightly too far towards risk for everyday use. She is a monster in Rush Attack modes and a stat-stick tank that demands an answer, but her mental fragility prevents her from being a true staple of the meta. She is great to have in your arsenal for those specific moments when you need a nuclear option, but don't expect her to be the reliable backbone of your team.

Verdict: A terrifying force of nature in Rush Wars, but a confused liability everywhere else. Keep her for the chaos, but bring a backup plan.