With the Hellfire Gala season featuring Vanguard and Specialist heroes, it was a sure thing that this season of Marvel Rivals, developed and published by NetEase Games, would open with a Duelist (DPS). Phoenix brings a strong presence to the battlefield while deploying powerful skills that help her command engagements. While she doesn’t put out the raw damage of some characters, she can make up for it with unique tricks that set her apart.
Phoenix’s primary fire attack, Comic Flames, is one of the more interesting basic attacks. Boasting a 12-round clip and steady rate of fire, Phoenix can keep pressure on for a reasonable amount of time. This allows the attack to be solid on the face of it, but it’s the new spark mechanic that makes it interesting.
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When Phoenix hits an enemy with an attack, she applies a point of spark to an enemy. Two points are used with a critical hit. When a target gets its third spark point, a small explosion occurs around the enemy. Nearby enemies will receive a spark, and Phoenix will receive some healing.
Phoenix’s kit stands out in Marvel Rivals.
The spark mechanic rewards skillful aim, with crits getting double sparks, as well as disciplined fire. Focusing on a target to keep spark generation going not only burns down enemies but also helps sustain Phoenix. Phoenix’s movement abilities serve different functions separately, but can also be combined for some impressive evasion and traversal. The first ability is Telepathic Illusion. This ability is a short teleport.
Telepathic Illusion is excellent for getting out of tight spots, like avoiding death at the hands of a lovable landshark‘s ultimate. While it primarily functions as a horizontal escape, it does carry momentum through it. This means that if the character is moving up or down when the teleport is initiated, that direction will affect the teleport’s trajectory. This can come in handy when paired with Phoenix’s other movement ability, Dark Ascent. Lastly, an illusion is left at the starting point, which detonates, hitting nearby enemies and applying one spark.
Dark Ascent gives Phoenix a few seconds of flight. While the ability allows her to cover a solid distance, its speed isn’t enough to get her out of most situations. Being able to juke in three dimensions can have its advantages; this ability, on its own, feels best used for setup and then escape. Phoenix can get to high ground easily before a fight, letting her set up a good kill box to pummel foes from.
When you combine Dark Ascent and Telepathic Illusion, you get a great escape tool.
Being able to add the third dimension to Illusion’s short teleport makes it so that Phoenix is not only able to escape many hazards but also makes it orders of magnitude harder to predict where she went. This can greatly increase her survival rate in sticky situations.
Phoenix’s first offensive ability is Telekinesis Burst. A target location is selected and surrounded by a burst of fire. Enemies hit are stopped and get a spark applied to them. Two more bursts occur sequentially, moving in a direct line from Phoenix. Enemies hit with these secondary eruptions are slowed.
This ability is particularly useful in bottleneck areas, such as doorways and other narrow spaces. Delaying the enemy team’s ability to reach more open ground allows for more friendly attacks to land while the group is still clustered together. Giving her another means of generating sparks helps maintain her health, leading to more explosions, increased damage to characters, and enhanced effectiveness of her kit.
Phoenix’s ultimate ability is Endsong Inferno. Rising high into the air, Phoenix takes the iconic form of the legendary firebird she’s named for. The player selects an area and then plunges to the ground, consuming a wide swath of territory in flames. Along with dealing damage, this ability also consumes temporary hit points, destroys summons and constructs, and applies one spark to all hit foes.
These abilities allow Phoenix to have greater survivability.
One aspect that makes this ability shockingly effective is its maneuverability. Despite selecting a destination before descent, Phoenix can be steered right up to the moment of impact. This allows her to ensure she gets the maximum payoff for her abilities. Another important note is that after the impact, she returns to the spot where the ability was initiated, rather than remaining at the point of impact.
While this AOE attack doesn’t deal as much raw damage as others in the game, its potency isn’t to be underestimated. Being able to destroy so many elements of an enemy team’s strategy could easily swing a team fight as much as raw damage.
Phoenix brings a new style of DPS to Marvel Rivals. Her versatile abilities bring less raw damage output than others, but allow her to set herself apart thanks to interesting crowd control, maneuver abilities, and an ult that is unlike anything else in the game.
Phoenix is live now as part of season three of Marvel Rivals.
