Valorant is the first-person shooter recreation from the Creators of League of Legends — Riot. It took the world by storm when it was launched in 2020 and has been one of the vital performed FPS video games. What makes Valorant distinctive is their brokers’ roster with their very own set of abilities. The brokers are divided into 4 varieties: Duelist, Sentinel, Initiator, and Controller.
Mastering the brokers is among the keys to completely mastering and having fun with the sport. It will show troublesome as a result of unlocking brokers in Valorant isn’t straightforward — or low cost. We now have acquired you lined if you wish to study extra about Duelists.
Duelists are brokers which have the best firepower within the recreation. The outline within the recreation reads :
“Duelists are self-sufficient fraggers who their crew expects, by way of talents and abilities, to get excessive frags and search out engagements first.”
That is how Riot describes Duelists. Duelists are the cornerstone of damaging and cleansing the enemies’ ranks within the recreation. It’s honest to say that each one brokers have the identical stage of significance within the recreation, however Duelists are vital in a straight-up gunfight.
They’re the true carriers within the recreation and may have essentially the most kills at any time. That mentioned, the sport has 5 Duelists with distinctive personalities: Raze, Jett, Yoru, Phoenix, and Reyna. They’ve very totally different abilities and, subsequently, their specialty and playstyle.
Let’s take a look at one in all these Duelists and enable you to decide if he’ll fit your playstyle.
Phoenix

Phoenix is an agent from the UK and is one of many first brokers you need to use when taking part in Valorant for the primary time. His abilities are integral for initiating assaults, and he’s a potent initiator within the recreation. He’s cool and wears a really add-to-cart jacket that many followers at the moment are beginning to order on-line.
Ambushing and defending zones change into straightforward along with his abilities, correct planning, and recreation sense. Though Phoenix is an early-access agent, he’s simply one of the vital used brokers in Aggressive video games worldwide.
This assured hunk can play protected and plan accordingly, however he can be performed aggressively. Mastering fire-based abilities can significantly have an effect on your win price, even in a single versus 5 conditions. Phoenix can carry an in any other case outnumbered crew, and his final talent encourages aggressive play.
We’ll get to that in a minute. If you wish to play a flexible agent who can bag frags underneath any circumstance, learn on. In the event you had performed Phoenix a couple of instances earlier than and realized he’s too troublesome to make use of, allow us to enable you to perceive him higher so that you can provide him one other strive in your subsequent match.
Expertise

Blaze – 200 credit
Phoenix makes use of his mastery of flame abilities and sends out a wall of fireplace by urgent E. The wall follows the cursor as you solid it in an effort to curve it relying in your choice. This talent could be very tactical because it conceals the enemies’ line of sight, giving your allies time to place themselves. Blaze lasts 8 seconds, which is sufficient time to arrange for a shock assault or escape from the crossfire.
This firewall repeatedly damages everybody passing by way of it — enemies and allies alike. So, put this into consideration when utilizing the talent. Then again, Blaze heals Phoenix for a max of 69 hit factors. This implies you possibly can put the firewall as much as purchase your crew a while whereas recovering the hp you’ve beforehand misplaced.
Using Blaze in vital moments offers Phoenix a fantastic benefit, particularly in one-on-one conditions. The vary of the firewall is lengthy sufficient to cowl a whole bomb web site space or shut off entrances and passageways. You possibly can isolate an enemy right into a nook and stroll across the fireplace whereas he wonders whether or not or not you’re nonetheless behind the wall.
The sheer look of the firewall is intimidating sufficient to make enemies fall again from their assault. You can even use this talent to be artistic and play thoughts video games together with your enemies, as they do not know what is occurring on the opposite aspect of the firewall.
Phoenix’s blind talent — Curveball — can also be affected by the wall. In the event you throw a Curveball on one aspect of the Blaze wall, the other aspect is not going to be affected by the blind. This may be to your drawback since it could possibly trigger your allies to be blinded and cross the wall whereas your enemies solely see the regular wall of fireplace. You and your allies can’t see past the wall, so having a robust recreation sense will make this talent work correctly for you.


Curveball- 250 credit
Phoenix’s blind talent is exclusive as a result of it’s thrown to the left or proper, in contrast to the blind abilities of brokers like Yoru, which could be bounced off surfaces like a ball. This talent is nice for getting into battle zones and rendering enemies blind for 1.1 seconds.
Whenever you press Q in preparation for the blinding fireball, Phoenix snaps his fingers. That is inaudible to enemies however could be heard by your teammates to offer them a heads-up of your meant plan of action. The hurt with Curveball is that it can provide away your place. So watch out when utilizing this talent since enemies can pre-aim from the path of the Curveball and kill you even when they’re blinded.
Moreover, this talent can simply blind allies and your self, giving enemies the higher hand they weren’t precisely hoping for. Use this talent when you’re in a wall going through an entrance — positioned in a method that doesn’t blind you along with the enemies.



Scorching Arms – Free
That is the signature talent of Phoenix. Whenever you press E, he conjures a fireball in his palms that may be thrown and bounced off partitions. The fireball lands on the bottom and turns into a puddle of fireplace that lingers for 4 seconds damaging enemies and allies alike in its period.
Scorching Arms can harm at 60 hitpoints per second or a complete harm of 240 if the enemies (or allies) keep within the space for your complete talent period. If Phoenix stands within the fireball space, he’s healed for 12.5 hit factors per second.
Though Scorching Arms doesn’t final lengthy, it could possibly delay enemies lengthy sufficient so that you can reposition your self for a gunfight. You possibly can throw Scorching Arms over partitions or make it bounce in corners so you possibly can hit enemies hiding behind covers they thought have been protected. In contrast to Cypher’s lure abilities, you cannot hear if an enemy is getting broken by your abilities or not.
This talent doesn’t price credit and is on the market initially of each spherical. To recharge Scorching Arms mid-game, it’s worthwhile to make two kills. You should use 3 Scorching Arms per spherical if you happen to kill 4 out of 5 enemies.



Run It Again – 6 Final Orbs
That is the Final Talent of Phoenix, which provides his identify justice. Whenever you press X, you’ll go away a mark the place you might be positioned, and for the subsequent 10 seconds, Phoenix could be as aggressive as he desires. Use your ult to cost or scout the enemies in a high-risk space.
Getting killed by enemies or having the timer expire will respawn Phoenix to the spot the place you used your ult with full well being (however with no armor). This implies you could have an additional life to spare for 10 seconds. Utilizing this talent offers you an edge in buying and selling lives since killing you received’t rely as a kill.
In the event you can land a kill or two whereas Run It Again is energetic, it will give your crew a giant benefit. You possibly can even use Phoenix’s ult to deliberately expose your self and divert enemies’ consideration out of your flanking or escaping allies. Watch out of the place you intend to make use of your ult, as there will probably be a small flame on the bottom the place you may be respawning.
Guarantee to activate your ult safely, ideally in hard-to-see corners or behind massive covers. If enemies come throughout this, they will keep and wait in your 10 seconds to finish and take you down. There’s a two-second animation while you respawn, the place you might be susceptible to assaults and can’t transfer.


Phoenix Bonus Ideas
- You possibly can heal your self utilizing Blaze or Scorching Arms. Use your credit within the first and early rounds to buy abilities and the Ghost handgun. This offers Phoenix an edge over different brokers who should spend their early credit for armor and go broke early on.
- Utilizing Blaze and Curveball in early rounds offers Phoenix an offensive benefit. Don’t worry about spending credit on them since you possibly can regain these and extra when you could have gotten some early frags within the recreation.
- Your abilities can heal you, however an enemy Phoenix’s flames is not going to. This consists of Brimstone’s Inciendary — foe or ally. Study to differentiate which one is yours and keep away from the enemy’s abilities. You aren’t resistant to ALL flames, in any case.
- Study the behavior of throwing a Curveball overhead of your enemies. Skilled gamers will need to look away from being blinded and infrequently transfer their cursors right down to keep away from overhead blinding. This provides you with a greater likelihood to blind spray them together with your gun and retreat to cowl. Don’t be afraid to make use of Curveball for each offensive and defensive ways.

Do you suppose Phoenix is for you? He’s an assault specialist, and many professional gamers worldwide, together with Reyna, choose him. His abilities should not precisely noob-friendly, so many individuals solely strive him a couple of instances earlier than transferring on to a different agent. You probably have tried him and gave up on the primary strive, you may need to test once more.
Within the palms of a participant with good reflexes and an excellent higher recreation sense, Phoenix could be the distinction between a shedding struggle and a straightforward win. Additionally, Jett has a crush on him, so it is likely to be value giving him one other shot if you happen to just like the lore. Phoenix is likely to be up your alley in any case.