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: 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.
Marvel Rivals Phoenix: Best Team Comps
Since Phoenix will look to hug the backline and fire projectiles at enemy clusters, her ideal team comps include heroes that can heal her from afar or enhance her explosion-based abilities. The best teammates for Phoenix include:
| Characters | Why use these characters |
|---|---|
| Wolverine | An obvious pick considering their team-up ability, Wolverine’s Feral Leap gets an AOE boost while Phoenix receives a slight damage buff. In action, she can use the enhanced damage to soften up enemies from afar before Wolverine dives in and cleans house. Some synergy is required for swift execution, but an excellent team-up nevertheless. |
| Doctor Strange | The Eye of Agamotto and Endsong Inferno can come together for an insane Ult combo. It starts with Doctor Strange immobilizing a group of enemies and boosting the AOE damage, and ends with Phoenix nuking down onto them. The supreme sorcerer can also secure her position throughout the game using his shields. |
| Groot | This one’s pretty straightforward. Groot’s Ultimate pulls nearby enemies together and chains them to a location, allowing Phoenix to trigger chained explosions with the Telekinisis Burst added on top for maximum damage. Groot can also serve as a frontline distraction, giving Phoenix the window to flank the opposition. |
| Cloak and Dagger | The Strategist’s projectile-based healing abilities are an excellent fit for Phoenix’s positioning. Furthermore, the Terror Cape blind makes enemies more vulnerable to damage, which gels nicely with Jean Grey’s AOE attacks. |
| Moon Knight | The Duelist’s Ankhs can be used to pull enemies together, providing Phoenix with opportunities for chained explosions and tons of AOE damage. |
Marvel Rivals Phoenix: Best Counters
The key to stopping Phoenix from dominating is by forcing her to reposition at every turn, countering her setups, and having shield-heavy heroes that can block her projectiles when your team is grouped together. Her Ult, as powerful as it is, can also be canceled with well-timed abilities. Check out the best Phoenix counters below:
| Characters | How do they counter Phoenix? |
|---|---|
| The Punisher | The Duelist’s hitscan damage will be a nuisance for Phoenix to deal with at any range. The constant pressure will force her to reposition in most cases, or commit to an ill-fated match-up that could see her get obliterated. |
| Emma Frost | The White Queen’s Diamond Form makes her immune to burn damage, great for occupying Phoenix’s attention in a bad fight. She can also utilize Mind Aegis to shield against her fiery projectiles. |
| Doctor Strange | Similar to Emma Frost, Doctor Strange is armed with shields that can deny Phoenix Sparks. He also comes with Crowd Control abilities that can put a spanner in her setups. |
| Cloak and Dagger | The Strategist can cancel out Endsong Inferno by teleporting their allies out of trouble. Cloak’s Terror Cape can also blind her to deny Spark stacks, while their Ult can drag your team into the backline and threaten Phoenix directly. |
That wraps up our guide for the Season 3 character, Phoenix, in Marvel Rivals. Let us know your thoughts on this new character in the comments below.
