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Valorant’s Agent 9, Phoenix, is a Duelist and has been in the game since its closed beta. Originating from the U.K., he brings some fun to the game with a flamboyant demeanor and cocky voice lines. His short flashes and self-healing abilities make him an excellent option as a first contact Dueslist. Despite his fiery abilities, Phoenix lacks a bit of pace and is used in specific team compositions on a very small map pool.
Valorant currently has six Duelists. While Jett and Raze take all the spotlight in the pro scene, beginners might find this agent interesting and fun to play. Let us look into his abilities.
All abilities of Phoenix in Valorant
Heating Up (Passive)
Phoenix heals himself when standing in his own flames. This applies to both Hot Hands and Blaze. He can heal up to fifty hit points from each ability.
Hot Hands (E) – Free Signature Ability
Hot Hands can equip a fireball and launch it with the primary fire button or lob it with alternate fire. It creates an area of fire on the ground upon contact and damages enemies standing in it. Phoenix can also heal himself with this ability.
Blaze (C) – 150 credits
Blaze raises a wall of fire, which can be deployed in a straight line or curved by holding down the primary fire button.
Curveball (Q) – 250 credits each
Phoenix’s Curveball is a unique kind of flash in Valorant. It can be curved towards the left or right and pops very close to him. It is quite useful while flashing around corners.
Run It Back (X) – six ultimate points
Arguably, one of the best ultimates in the game, Run It Back gives Phoenix an extra life. On activation, you place a marker at your location and gain an extra life for ten seconds. If you are killed in this form, or your timer runs out, you are returned to the marker with the same hit points as before.
How to master Phoenix in Valorant
Phoenix is excellent in taking short to mid-range combat and can grant your team a man advantage in a round of Valorant.
Curveball Mastery
His curveball is unique, as it flashes around corners to catch enemies off guard and earn free kills in a round. With the recent buffs, it is near impossible to dodge Curveball and quite annoying to face.
The infamous “Reverse Flash” technique with Curveball is using your flash in the opposite direction of contact so that you can peek with the flash popping behind you. This can be very useful when fighting in open areas with Phoenix, sometimes even turning corners.
Blaze Mastery
Phoenix’s Blaze can provide an excellent cover for you and your team from multiple angles. Enemies will be reluctant to cross this wall as it damages them on contact.
Your wall stays up for eight seconds and can provide cover for the entirety of the spike defuse timer in Valorant.
Blaze and Curveball combo for easy entries
You can use Blaze and Curveball in combination with each other for excellent site entries. Set up your Blaze and Curveball your way through your wall to blind enemies on the other side. This will help you gain more map control and increase your team's chances of winning the round.
Your squad will rely on you to draw first blood. Do not hesitate to use Curveball early on and take initial engagements. Even if you take damage, you can easily heal yourself and be ready to go again.
Hot Hands Mastery
Hot Hands functions similarly to a Molotov. You can use it to clear corners and flush out enemies or sometimes even stop enemies from planting or defusing the spike. However, Hot Hands is almost always used to heal yourself along with Blaze, if required, due to Phoenix’s passive ability.
Hot Hands has a feature where it always travels a specific distance and drops. You can learn different lineups for it to clear corners from afar.
Run It Back Mastery
Phoenix’s Run It Back costs only six ultimate points. It is, therefore, quite easy to charge up multiple times in a half. When your ultimate is active, use it to enter bomb sites during site executions and retakes. Remember that even if you don’t get to kill opponents while in your ultimate, it is useful in revealing exact enemy locations for your team to capitalize.
Phoenix can dominate with proper use of his abilities and team play
Since Run It Back functions exactly like the agent, you can use the rest of your abilities in your ultimate form. You should always try to combine your abilities to obtain the best outcome.
Combine your ultimate with Curveball while entering bomb sites. You can also run in front of your teammates to tank bullets with Run It Back.
An important note to remember is that Phoenix is extremely vulnerable when he returns back to his Ultimate marker. You should communicate with your teammates to keep your marker covered while you Run It Back.
Be fearless while using your ultimate because you are guaranteed a second chance. Coordinate your entries with your team and take over bomb sites with ease.
Where to use Phoenix in Valorant?
The best maps for Phoenix are Haven and Pearl. You can use your Blaze and Curveball to maximum effect due to the multiple tight corners and small bomb sites in these maps.
In Haven, the best place to defend would be garage or A site. Curveball is extremely effective in these locations in delaying pushes and getting early kills. Moreover, the garage entry point is narrow, and Hot Hands perfectly stops enemies. While attacking, again garage and A short entries are pretty easy to acquire with Curveball and Hot Hands. Blaze is very useful in cutting off garage and defender spawn.
In Pearl, Phoenix can flash through mid-doors or art for early engagements. Blaze can be used to enter the B site easily.
Phoenix is not very versatile at the moment in Valorant. However, teams are constantly coming up with new strategies, and he might just get more attention in the near future.
