Taking the competitive multiplayer landscape by storm, Riot's Valorant has grown into a household name in what seems overnight. The ever-growing titles only method of being played is through a "drop" from a popular Twitch streamer's broadcast of the game. This combined with its fusion of both Overwatch-style Hero shooter mechanics and similar structure and mechanics of the popular Counter-Strike series adds to its popularity. Valorant's success has driven the early access shooter into notoriety, being a household name in only a few months. It has solidified itself as one of the premier competitive multiplayer titles available now and has dominated on Twitch for an impressive time.
Among Valorant's long-list of strengths, one of the major factors contributing to its popularity is its cast of interesting and unique characters. The roster is filled to the brim with personality, identity, versatility, varying play-styles, and unique and interesting visual designs. With such a vast and appealing roster, one of the hardest choices a new player will make is which character they wish to "main" and master. Of the cast, one of the most powerful and interesting is the fire-casting Phoenix. With a well-rounded arsenal of self-sustaining abilities and team-ing abilities, Phoenix is one of the best characters in Valorant.
Understanding Phoenix's Abilities in Valorant
Phoenix's main design gimmick is his assortment of fire-based abilities. Each flaming ability has some powerful in-game utility and makes Phoenix one of the strongest characters in the roster.
The first of Phoenix's abilities is his powerful Blaze ability. When using Blaze Phoenix casts a far-reaching wall of fire. This wall of fire does damage over time and restricts the enemy and friendly player's vision from either side of the wall. When casting Blaze Phoenix is capable of curving and adjusting the angle to which the wall travels. Allowing Phoenix players to cover some tricky and crucial angles with this ability.
Curveball is Phoenix's second ability in which the Pyromancer fires a flashbang-style fireball. When using Curveball the Phoenix player can curve the trajectory of the attack in either a right or a left angle allowing Phoenix to use the attack to blind players camping behind or around the corner of pesky choke points. This makes Curveball one of the best abilities for a team to use to counterattack a well set-up team and change the tide of battle in their favor.
Phoenix's Hot Hands is another fire-ball style attack in which the character launches an incendiary blast that deals high damage to a surrounding area. This attack, when tossed, will place a lingering flame area that does incredible damage-over-time. This attack allows Phoenix players to "smoke" up a team that is defending a given area or even prevents a rushing team from accessing a particular entrance or exit. Not to mention the abilities potential team-wiping effects if thrown on an unsuspecting group of enemies.
Phoenix's ultimate is one of the most interesting in the game. As it provides the fire-casting character some of the best survivability in the game. Run it Back allows Phoenix to create a clone of himself which is set to a set timer. When this clone is cast Phoenix can travel from his "real" body and attack enemies, see their location, cast his abilities, or do anything he can in his set period. When the time is up he will travel back to where his "real" body is. If the Phoenix clone is defeated before the time is up than the clone will disappear and the Phoenix player will resume from his original location. This ability is one of the best abilities in the game and allows Phoenix players an unprecedented versatility.
How to Use Phoenix's Abilities Effectively in Valorant
To find the most success with Phoenix understanding how to use his abilities effectively is a necessity. Thankfully, Phoenix's kit allows for players of the character to combine his abilities to create a variety of synergies. Alongside the character's potential for some powerful team-related combination, Phoenix players are spoiled for choice when it comes to optimal play.
When using Blaze Phoenix players have options in how they can use the ability. It is a powerful defensive tool while also being an incredibly dangerous offensive weapon in the right hands. Using Blaze to cover a given chokepoint is definitely one of its intended uses, as its visual impairment is arguably the best in the game. However, due to its versatile manipulation, Phoenix players can use the ability to cover the blind spot of a given area and flush out any camping players. And when used in conjunction with his Curveball, Blaze can be used to dish out some insane damage on a blinded enemy team. When using Blaze, Phoenix players simply need to be unpredictable, in order to gain the most mileage from the ability.
Curveball operates in the same manner as the other flashbang style moves in the game. Its utility revolves around a player's ability to communicate with their teammates. Tossing a curveball means that your teammates need to be right behind you as you rush to finish off the blinded enemies. However, curveball has some tricky utility with both Hot Hands and Blaze as you can toss either a fireball or a flame wall to dish out some huge damage on the enemy team. Using Curveball is a perfect way to set up some powerful combos with either your or your teammate's abilities, leading to some potential major team wipes.
Run it Back is a rather limited ultimate, however, that does not speak for its insane utility. Run it Back allows Phoenix players unmatched aggression and recon. Phoenix can potentially rush an enemy team without fear of dying. It also allows players to scout where the enemy team is allowing for some powerful recon application. Run it Back is a simple ultimate but that does not impact its insanely powerful implications throughout a match.
Valorant is available in early access on PC.
