Valorant Agent Guide: Phoenix

Phoenix valorant — Image credit: Riot Games

Our Valorant Agent Guide will help you catch up to all the beta players who’ve been playing the game since April. We’re going to give you an overview of each agent’s abilities and how to use them. You’ll get easily digestible guides, one agent at a time. Today we present to you the Valorant poster boy – Phoenix.

Valorant was officially released on June 2 and that was almost three months ago. If you didn’t get the chance to play during the closed beta, you’d probably want to make up for the lost time. If you’re the type of player that likes to go headfirst into battle then look no further than Phoenix.

READ MORE: Valorant Agent Guide: Omen

Phoenix isn’t a necessary pick for every team, but his definitely a popular one. The agent’s abilities are mostly oriented towards duels, but he also offers some utility for the whole team. Furthermore, Phoenix is a great pick for beginners, as his skills are straight to the point.

Phoenix Abilities Guide: Blaze

Phoenix’s first basic ability is Blaze (default C). Once equipped you can use it to create a wall of flames which you can also bend at the direction of your crosshair. The wall blocks vision and deals damage to enemies, while healing Phoenix. It inflicts 30 damage per second to enemies passing through while Phoenix gets 6.25 health per second. The total duration of the wall is 8 seconds, meaning it can deal up to 240 damage to an enemy or heal you for 50 health. It has a single-use per round and costs 200 credits.

Usually, the vision blocking is what you’ll be most interested in, as Blaze can be used to obstruct choke points or protect a teammate while they’re planting the spike. The healing is a nice touch as it can allow Phoenix to survive multiple skirmishes (if he makes it out alive that is). It’s not exactly a Sage heal, but it gets the job done.

READ MORE: Valorant Agent Guide: Reyna

Phoenix Abilities Guide: Curveball

Phoenix’s second basic ability is Curveball (default Q). With Curveball, Phoenix equips a flare orb that takes a curving path and detonates shortly after throwing. Enemies caught looking at the blast will be flashed for 1.1 seconds. Use fire to curve the projectile to the left or alternate fire to curve it to the right.

Curveball is a flashbang alright and its range is rather short. It’s perfect to initiate around a corner, but be careful as you can also flash yourself or an ally. It can be used twice per round and costs 200 credits per charge. At the time of writing, there’s currently a bug with the ability but Riot already promised a hotfix.

READ MORE: Valorant Agent Guide: Sage

@RiotMorello Phoenix is ruined now. Like in order to flash through doors effectively, you have to stand 10 feet away and can't hug the wall, or else you'll flash yourself or the whole team. Or even your flash goes behind the enemy on other side. Pls think about reverting.
— Pirkzy (@Pirkzy) August 20, 2020

We're aware of a bug in patch 1.06 with Phoenix's Curveball behaving... differently than intended. We're going to hotfix this as soon as possible.
— VALORANT (@PlayVALORANT) August 20, 2020

Phoenix Abilities Guide: Hot Hands

Phoenix’s signature ability is Hot Hands (default E). With Hot Hands, Phoenix can throw a fireball that explodes after a short delay or when it gets in contact with the ground. It does 60 DPS and lasts for 4 seconds. Phoenix can stand inside the radius of the flames to get healed for 12.5 per second. The total healing is the same as Blaze – 50. After getting two kills, Hot Hands will get refreshed.

The ability certainly offers some more utility when holding a site. Note that teammates can also get damaged by it for 20 DPS, so make sure you warn newcomers.

READ MORE: Valorant Agent Guide: Sova

Phoenix Abilities Guide: Run it Back

Phoenix’s ultimate ability is Run it Back (default X). It’s by far the most simple skill to use and also the most fun. Once activated select a nearby location and place a marker. If the duration runs out or you die, Phoenix will be brought back to the marker with full health and reloaded weapons. The total duration is 10 seconds, so it’s by no means a short one.

The ability can be used to initiate, get info on enemy locations, and potentially pick a few kills before resetting. Another useful option is to commit Run it Back in order to save your gear when a spike is about to explode.

Phoenix Strategy

The poster agent is rather direct in his approach to fights. Use Curveball and Run it Back to initiate a fight and give some info to your teammates. Hot Hands and Blaze can be used to block an entry point or force an enemy into a bad position. Both skills can heal you, each for 50. Make sure you utilize the extra health that you can gain by using them. It’ll often be a choice between healing or utility as walking into plain sight isn’t usually a good idea.

Phoenix doesn’t have the extra mobility like Jett or Raze, but he’s still a really good duelist. He has enough tools to get the edge over his opponents and players shouldn’t underestimate the agent.

Phoenix Tips

Heal yourself whenever you can if there isn’t a Sage around.
Curveball can be thrown into corridors but you can also aim up and flash a window.
Run it Back is exceptionally good when mixed with the teleporters on Bind. Use the ability and walk through the teleporter. If you break through the defenses, just walk in and plant. If you failed, go to the other site.
Blaze has a rather short duration for a wall with only 6 seconds. Be careful not to get caught while repositioning.
While in Run it Back you can use all your other abilities as normal. It’s often a good idea to throw a Curveball before going around a corner even when you technically have a second life.
It takes a few seconds before Phoenix gets brought back to life after using Run it Back. Make sure you place the marker somewhere hidden or you’ll be a sitting duck.
Once returned from Run it Back, you’ll lose all the armor you had.

That's all we had for Phoenix, we hope you set your enemies on fire and have many great resurrections. Tune in next time when we'll take a look at Killjoy.