Phoenix, aka Jean Grey, blasts her way into Marvel Rivals as part of the Season 3 update, and she looks terrifying. The character wields Cosmic Flames that can torch enemies in rapid succession, as well as movement abilities that let her maneuver the battlefield with ease. Based on her character reveal alone, players are confident that Phoenix is capable of shaking up the DPS meta, so it’s time you caught on. To help you with that, here’s a breakdown of Phoenix’s abilities and how to use the duelist in Marvel Rivals.
Marvel Rivals Phoenix: Release Date
Phoenix will join the roster when Marvel Rivals Season 3 releases on Friday, July 11, 2025. Server downtime for the update will start at 2:00 AM PDT (5:00 AM EST/ 10:00 AM BST), following which the game will remain offline for two to three hours. Once the servers are back up, Jean Grey will be available to play in-game.
Marvel Rivals Phoenix: Abilities
As you might’ve guessed, Phoenix is a duelist in Marvel Rivals with a respectable health pool of 275. Her abilities are based around burst damage and AoE attacks, coupled with mobility skills that let her reposition quickly after dealing a blow to enemy lines. Her flame-based attacks can also be linked together to cause chain reactions that can wipe out health bars in the blink of an eye.
She appears in the game as her human host (Jean Grey), with her psychic entity (Phoenix) trailing right behind. They come together during combat for a variety of attacks, including the stackable Spark effect that causes a mini-explosion. The pair also fuse together when it’s time to reposition, as Phoenix briefly transforms into a set of infernal wings, giving the character a bit of verticality.
Phoenix’s devastating Ultimate gives her a diving element. She can soar into the sky with aplomb before crashing down onto her enemies. It’s early days, but the X-Men member’s kit looks simple, versatile, and effective, meaning you can slot her into just about any team composition. Here’s an overview of her abilities:
Cosmic Flames
Phoenix’s primary attack is a ranged, hitscan projectile that deals moderate damage and applies the Spark effect with each hit. After stacking three Sparks, Phoenix clenches her fist and triggers an explosion, dealing damage to nearby enemies and also providing a self-healing effect. The explosion also applies a Spark effect to enemies caught within its radius.
Dark Ascent
Activated using the E button, Dark Ascent sees Jean Grey merge with her psychic form to gain flight for a brief period. The flight duration is dictated by an on-screen meter, giving the character a few valuable seconds to hover over the battlefield and reposition.
Telepathic Illusion
Triggered using the Shift key, this ability is a quick dash that lets the duelist teleport in the desired direction and leave behind an illusion. The illusion turns into an explosion shortly after, capable of damaging enemies and applying a Spark effect.
Telekinesis Burst
Use the right mouse button to mark a nearby area with psionic energy that hosts a series of fiery explosions. The first blast Stuns enemies, while the subsequent two explosions inflict Slow. The ability also applies Spark to affected enemies.
Endsong Inferno (Ultimate)
Phoenix’s Ultimate is essentially a nuke that begins with the character rising into the sky before plummeting to the ground with great force. The resulting impact causes a devastating amount of damage and creates a shockwave that destroys enemy Summons, Shields, and any Bonus Health effects. The explosion also applies Spark to tattered enemies, if they’re still alive.
Marvel Rivals Phoenix: Team Up Ability
The canonical couple of Wolverine and Phoenix can come together to bolster each other’s abilities in this Marvel Rivals team-up. When they’re on the same team, Phoenix gets a 10% boost in damage output, while Wolverine receives the Phoenix Force that applies AoE fire damage to his Ultimate and adds lifesteal to all of his attacks.
How to Play Phoenix in Marvel Rivals
Being a ranged, DPS character, Phoenix plays similarly to Moon Knight. This means positioning is paramount, and avoiding the frontlines is the best course of action. Use your hitscan primary from afar to stack Spark and look to trigger it with a third hit near a cluster of enemies. The resulting explosion will deal decent AoE damage while also applying a Spark effect.
Her Telekinesis Burst is an excellent tool to punish onrushing enemies. Use it in tandem with your backwards dash to get some extra damage from the explosive illusion. To use the Telekinesis Burst while on the offensive, make sure to get a vantage point using Dark Ascent and aim for choke points to soften up multiple enemies simultaneously. Speaking of which, make sure to combine the dash with the flying ability for a quick speed boost, especially if you’re cornered. You can also use the flying ability to get an automatic reload when needed.
Phoenix’s Ultimate ability is as straightforward as it gets, but you will still need to pick your nuke spots strategically. Keep it in the reserves until it’s time to capture an objective using brute force or devastate enemies stationed at a choke point. You will have 20 seconds to find a targeted area, so remain calm and scan for a tightly-packed spot on the battlefield.
As teased in the character trailer, the Ultimate can pull Hela out of her Goddess of Death ability, so you could consider using it as a direct counter if required.
That wraps up our guide on Phoenix in Marvel Rivals. We will be sure to update this post with additional tips, tricks, and team comp suggestions after the character’s official release. Until then, let us know your thoughts on this new Marvel Rivals character in the comments below.
