UMVC3/Phoenix

Overview Combos Strategy/Counterstrategy Resources Data

Introduction

Also known as Jean Grey (her real name) or Marvel Girl (her previous codename), Phoenix is a psychic mutant and member of the X-Men. Her telepathic capabilities have led to her being possessed by a cosmic entity known as the Phoenix Force, and used as its avatar.

In UMvC3, Phoenix is a highly mobile projectile-focused character. She zones opponents out using her 236X "TK Shot" projectiles and 214X "TK Trap" specials to control space while maneuvering around the stage with Flight and a fast 8-way airdash. When on the offensive, she can set up dangerous mixups by using her 421X Teleportation to suddenly attack the opponent from any direction. However, she is most well known for her unique "Dark Phoenix Rising" level 5 Hyper, which allows her to resurrect as a much more powerful version of herself on death.

In the UMvC3 community, it is common to refer to Phoenix as "Jean", or even "The bird", in order to better distinguish her from Phoenix Wright, another character with a similar name. On this site, "Phoenix" always refers to Jean, except on Phoenix Wright's character page. On any other page, this site will specify "Phoenix Wright" by his full name when referring specifically to him.

Strengths

Weaknesses

There's a reason people call anchor characters in Marvel "Dark". If Phoenix is allowed to activate her Dark Form, which only requires having 5 bars of meter stocked when she dies, she becomes the most powerful character in the game. The huge boost in strength granted by Dark Phoenix not only stacks with the buffs from X-Factor, it actually enhances the X-Factor buffs, making them even stronger. Phoenix is an extremely powerful Anchor character that warps the game around her presence, forcing the opponent to try and kill her as quickly as possible, or have some specific setup in mind to deal with her immensely powerful Dark Form. Mobility: Strong mobility with a fast 8-way airdash and Flight Mode, giving her an edge in neutral. Mixups: Can set up dangerous solo oncoming mixups using her TK Trap (214X) specials and her 421X Teleport. Great With X-Factor: Easy infinites and kill confirms in X-Factor, even without Dark Phoenix active. Keepaway: Can play a solid keepaway game with her TK Shot and TK Trap specials, while using the projectile-destroying properties of TK Overdrive (623X) to blow through and punish an opponent's projectiles. Reversal Super: Very invincible air-OK Level 1 Hyper in Phoenix Rage (236XX) which Phoenix can use to defend herself when in danger.

FRAGILE, HANDLE WITH CARE: Phoenix doesn't just have the lowest health in the game, her health is catastrophically low. At 375,000 max HP, Phoenix has half as much health as the next-lowest character. Phoenix isn't just easy to kill, or even just easy to kill meterless. She is so fragile she is in immediate danger of dying to basic chip damage, and any stray hit that clips her as an assist call could lead to her dying outright. Very Resource Heavy: One of the most meter-hungry characters in the game. Because Phoenix teams are built around activating her Dark Mode, they not only need to stock five bars for her, but have to be very careful about spending any meter at all, lest Phoenix get brought in and killed before the meter can be rebuilt. Dark Phoenix is Still Vulnerable: Even if you activate Dark Phoenix, she still has a very low health pool, and one mistake will kill her. She is also vulnerable to specific anti-Dark Phoenix setups that reset or grab her out of the activation. Risky Assist: Despite having a decent assist, the danger of her being sniped by an opponent's attack means you can basically never call her in neutral, meaning she sits in the backline contributing very little to your team's neutral game, only aiding in combo extensions.

Unique Mechanics

Phoenix automatically activates her Level 5 Hyper (Dark Phoenix Rising) if she dies with 5 bars of meter currently stocked. It is not possible to activate this hyper any other way. The specific properties of Dark Phoenix are detailed in her movelist, but in brief:

• Dark Phoenix's normal attacks and command normals produce "feathers", additional projectiles that move in a set pattern dependent on the attack used.
• Dark Phoenix gains a global 20% damage boost, stacking with the damage boost from X-Factor. She also gains a 20% boost to meter gain(this compounds with the damage boost, resulting in 44% more meter built per attack).
• Dark Phoenix's health is restored to full, but then starts to drain, at a rate of roughly 15000 life per second. All health drained this way is left as Red Health
• Dark Phoenix's specials are improved. They are typically larger in size, and have additional properties such as wall bounces
• Dark Phoenix's X-Factor bonuses - both damage and speed - are improved, and the Minimum Damage Scaling of her normals, specials and hypers is increased.

Health	375,000
Invulnerable Reversal(s)	236XX, j.236XX, Death with 5 Bars of Meter
Grounded Magic Series	Full
X-Factor Damage Boost (1/2/3)	20% / 35% / 50%
X-Factor Speed Boost (1/2/3)	10% / 20% / 30%
Air Movement Options
Air Actions	Air Jumps?	Air Dash?	Flight?	WallJump?
1	No	8-Way	Yes	No
Minimum Attack Scaling
Normals	Specials		Hypers
10	10		35

Move List

Assists

TK Shot M
Assist A

Damage	Startup	Active	Recovery
23,000 + 35,000 x3 / 26,400(?) x8(Including Dark Phoenix's damage boost)	44	-	127, 97
On Hit	On Block	Guard	Properties
-	-	Mid	Priority: Low, Durability: 5 (shot), 3 (explosion)
THC Hyper: Phoenix Rage. Phoenix fires a single, standard fireball projectile, which quickly travels horizontally across the screen. If the fireball touches an opponent, it explodes, dealing additional damage. The explosion lasts for 15 frames. Neither the fireball nor its explosion have any special or notable properties. When in Dark Phoenix mode, this assist fires two projectiles, stacked vertically on top of each other.

TK Overdrive
Assist B

Damage	Startup	Active	Recovery
30,000 x4 / 36,000 x4	32	14	111, 81
On Hit	On Block	Guard	Properties
-	-	Mid	,
THC Hyper: Phoenix Rage. Recommended assist. Phoenix charges forward across the screen, traveling just over halfscreen distance. Causes a decent amount of hitstun and pops opponents into the air on hit, so it can be used for combo extensions. Overdrive assist destroys Low and Medium Priority projectiles on contact. However, the risk of mistiming or mis-spacing the call, which will likely result in Phoenix taking heavy damage or outright dying, means it should rarely be used this way. In general, avoid calling outside of combos. TK Overdrive gains no extra properties from Dark Phoenix mode, except for the generic damage boost.

TK Trap
Assist Y

Damage	Startup	Active	Recovery
90,000 / 60,000 x3(Including Dark Phoenix's damage boost)	44	30	112, 82
On Hit	On Block	Guard	Properties
-	-	Mid	Priority: Low, Durability: 5, (only in Dark Phoenix mode)
THC Hyper: Phoenix Rage. Phoenix places a flaming emblem floating just above the ground in front of herself. The emblem has projectile durability and can absorb another projectile, but has no active hitbox and will not damage an opponent who touches it. After 30 frames, the trap activates, causing it to turn into an active projectile, which flies up-forward. In Dark Phoenix Mode, the emblem and subsequent projectile are significantly larger. The projectile now hits three times for higher total damage, and causes a Wall Bounce on hit.

Ground Normals

Stand Light
5L

Damage	Startup	Active	Recovery
30,000	5/4	3/4	11
On Hit	On Block	Guard	Properties
0/+4	-1/+1	Mid
Standard fast jab. Although it chains into itself, 5L > 5L does not consistently combo against airborne opponents, so it is not a particularly good anti-air the way many other Rapid Fire 5Ls are. In Dark Phoenix Mode, fires one Feather, directly forward, from the same height as her actual jab.

Stand Medium
5M

Damage	Startup	Active	Recovery
46,000	8	3	16
On Hit	On Block	Guard	Properties
0/-1	-1/-3	Mid	-
Phoenix performs a donkey kick. In Dark Phoenix Mode, fires three Feathers, which fan out. One up-forward, one directly forward, and one down-forward.

Stand Heavy
5H

Damage	Startup	Active	Recovery
67,000	11/10	10	10
On Hit	On Block	Guard	Properties
+4/+8	+3/+5	Mid	-
Phoenix creates a burst of flame from her hands. The attack does not reach quite as far as the flame graphic would suggest, but it still has good range for a normal and is heavily disjointed. In Dark Phoenix Mode, fires five feathers, which fan out. Up, Up-Forward, Forward, Down-Forward, and Down.

Crouching Light
2L

Damage	Startup	Active	Recovery
33,000	4/3	3	11
On Hit	On Block	Guard	Properties
0/+4	-1/+1	Low
Very fast, spammable, crouching Low. In Dark Phoenix Mode, fires one feather, which travels horizontally forward along the ground, originating from her foot. The Feather appears 1 frame before the kick becomes active, giving it a 3f startup, the fastest of any normal in the game (tied with Ammy 5L).

Crouching Medium
2M

Damage	Startup	Active	Recovery
50,000	9	8	19
On Hit	On Block	Guard	Properties
-8/-9	-9/-11	Low	-
Phoenix slides along the ground, advancing forward while attacking. 2M significantly lowers Phoenix's crouching profile, allowing her to slide underneath many projectiles or other higher-aimed attacks. In Dark Phoenix Mode, fires three feathers, which fan out. Up, Up-Forward, and Forward.

Crouching Heavy
2H

Damage	Startup	Active	Recovery
60,000	12	4	23
On Hit	On Block	Guard	Properties
-	-4/-11	Low	,
Phoenix sweeps the ground. Lowers her crouching profile in the same way that 2M does, but it is outclassed as a low-profile tool by 2M due to 2H's lack of active frames. In Dark Phoenix Mode, fires five feathers, which fan out, spreading evenly from directly Up to directly Forward.

Launcher/Special
S

Damage	Startup	Active	Recovery
80,000	10	5	21
On Hit	On Block	Guard	Properties
Launch	-3/0	Mid	,
Phoenix kicks upward, launching opponents on hit. This is the only one of Phoenix's normals that does not gain Feathers from Dark Phoenix Mode, and behaves exactly the same except for the global damage boost.

Aerial Normals

Jumping Light
j.5L

Damage	Startup	Active	Recovery
33,000	5	3	18
On Hit	On Block	Guard	Properties
+16	+11/+14	OH	-
Works as an instant overhead naturally against Big Body characters, or on normal-sized characters when set up via Fuzzy Guard. In Dark Phoenix Mode, fires one feather, directly forward.

Jumping Medium
j.5M

Damage	Startup	Active	Recovery
47,000	9/8	3	20
On Hit	On Block	Guard	Properties
+17/+21	+16/+18	OH	-
Phoenix kicks forward. Mainly used as combo filler. In Dark Phoenix Mode, fires three feathers, which fan out, Up-Forward, Forward, and Down-Forward.

Jumping Heavy
j.5H

Damage	Startup	Active	Recovery
70,000	8	11	17
On Hit	On Block	Guard	Properties
+16/+14	+15/+12	OH	-
Phoenix performs a spinning kick, initially attacking in front of herself, then sweeping the hitbox above and behind her. Covers a very large total area, is very fast, and can easily hit cross-up. In Dark Phoenix Mode, fires five feathers, which fan out, Back, Up-Back, Up, Up-Forward, Forward.

Jumping Special
j.5S

Damage	Startup	Active	Recovery
70,000	10	12	24
On Hit	On Block	Guard	Properties
+16	+15	OH
Phoenix breathes fire, aimed forward with a very slight downward angle. j.5S has a very large hitbox that is entirely disjointed. It is an excellent jump-in as well as a general pressure and neutral tool. In Dark Phoenix Mode, fires five feathers, which fan out, spreading evenly from Down to Forward.

Command Normals

Feathers
(In Dark Phoenix Mode) X

Dark Phoenix's 5M firing 3 feathers

Dark Phoenix's j.S firing 5 feathers

Damage	Startup	Active	Recovery
24,000 per feather	-	45	-
On Hit	On Block	Guard	Properties
-	-	Mid	Priority: Low, Durability: 5
While in Dark Phoenix Mode, all of Phoenix's normals (except for grounded 5S), and command normals fire feather projectiles, in addition to the normal properties of the regular attack. The number of angle of the feathers is dependent on the specific move, but every individual feather behaves the same way. They slowly advance forward on their specified angle of travel, remaining active for 45 frames before disappearing.

Prominence Heel
6M

Damage	Startup	Active	Recovery
50,000	22	3	21
On Hit	On Block	Guard	Properties
0/-6	-1/-8	OH	-
Phoenix raises her leg and then kicks downwards, acting as a standing overhead. Can be chained into from and of Phoenix's L or M normals, although this will not combo on hit. Can itself chain into 5H, 2H or 5S, so it is very easy to combo off of. In Dark Phoenix Mode, fires three feathers, which fan out, with one going directly Forward, one Down-Forward at a shallow angle, and one Down-Forward at a deeper angle.

Flare Sword
6H

Damage	Startup	Active	Recovery
73,000	15/14	5	24
On Hit	On Block	Guard	Properties
-5/-1	-6/-1	Mid
Phoenix charges forward while attacking with a flaming armbar. Causes a very large amount of hitstun, making it useful for combos. In Dark Phoenix Mode, fires five feathers, which fan out, Up, Up-Forward, Forward, Down-Forward, and Down.

Air Flare Sword
j.6H

Damage	Startup	Active	Recovery
73,000	15/14	5	9
On Hit	On Block	Guard	Properties
+10	+9	Mid
Air version of Flare Sword. Works basically the same way, and shares the high hitstun value. It recovers much faster, allowing Phoenix to link air normals afterwards. In Dark Phoenix Mode, fires five feathers, with the same spread as the grounded version.

Burn Out Beak
j.2H

Damage	Startup	Active	Recovery
70,000	15	Until grounded	7
On Hit	On Block	Guard	Properties
+10	+9	Mid	(vs airborne)
Phoenix halts any aerial momentum she had and plummets straight downward, attacking below herself. Can hit crossup, but the spacing is fairly narrow. Has a minimum activation height, similar to the minimum height required for airdashing. If j.2H hits an airborne opponent, it causes a Ground Bounce. j.2H if easy to combo in to from Phoenix's standard air chains, so it gives her access to an easy solo relaunch at any screen position. In Dark Phoenix Mode, fires five feathers, which fan out below her. These feathers will actually knock an opponent out of the regular j.2H hit, preventing it from Ground Bouncing properly.

Special Moves

TK Shot
236X

L +	Damage	Startup	Active	Recovery
	20,000 + 67,000 / 21,600 + 55,200 + 21,600 + 55,200(Including Dark Phoenix's damage boost)	10	-	35 (in air: Until Grounded+1)
	On Hit	On Block	Guard	Properties
	-11/-7	-13/-9	Mid	, (air only), Priority: Low, Durability: 5 (shot), 3 (explosion)
M +	Damage	Startup	Active	Recovery
	23,000 + 35,000 x3 / 26,400(?) x8(Including Dark Phoenix's damage boost)	20	-	35 (in air: Until Grounded+1)
	On Hit	On Block	Guard	Properties
	-7/-3	-8/-4	Mid	, (air only), Priority: Low, Durability: 5 (shot), 3 (explosion)
H +	Damage	Startup	Active	Recovery
	20,000 + 28,000 x6 / 25,200(?) x12(Including Dark Phoenix's damage boost)	30	-	35 (in air: Until Grounded+1)
	On Hit	On Block	Guard	Properties
	-3/+1	-4/0	Mid	, (air only), Priority: Low, Durability: 5 (shot), 3 (explosion)
Phoenix's fireball special. Fires a standard projectile that travels directly forward. On contact with an opponent, the projectile explodes, dealing additional damage. L version has a slower travel speed, while M version moves more quickly. H version has the slowest travel speed of the three, but has homing properties, tracking the opponent's point character across the screen. If Phoenix is hit by any attack, TK Shot will disappear. When done in the air, Phoenix floats in place while charging up, then fires the projectile at a down-forward angle instead of directly forward. The "recoil" of the shot pushes Phoenix up-back slightly, and then she falls down, being vulnerable until she reaches the ground. Air TK Shot also gains the OTG property, and is Phoenix's only OTG-capable attack. Phoenix can perform a Tiger Knee TK Shot (2369X) to get an OTG fireball just off the ground, which is important for combos. Additionally, if Air TK Shot is performed in Flight Mode, Phoenix recovers with her normal recovery instead of needing to fall to the ground, and can even fire multiple TK Shots in succession. In Dark Phoenix Mode, TK Shot fires two projectiles instead of one. The individual projectiles are very slightly weaker, but they do more total damage and cover a larger portion of the screen.

TK Overdrive
Psycho Crusher
623X

L (and H) version

M Version

L +	Damage	Startup	Active	Recovery
	30,000 x4	8	14	19
	On Hit	On Block	Guard	Properties
	-	-1/+2	Mid	,
M +	Damage	Startup	Active	Recovery
	30,000 x4	8	14	14
	On Hit	On Block	Guard	Properties
	+17	+4/+7	Mid	,
H +	Damage	Startup	Active	Recovery
	33,000 x5	12	20	34
	On Hit	On Block	Guard	Properties
	-	-21/-18	Mid	,
Phoenix sets herself on fire and charges, attacking as a physical hitbox. The active frames of this attack destroy Low and Medium Priority projectiles on hit, allowing Phoenix to blow through them and hit an opponent on the other side. L and H versions travel horizontally forward, with L covering about halfscreen and H reaching fullscreen. The M version is aimed up-forward, into the air. If M Overdrive is used to go airborne from the grounded, Phoenix gets two airdashes, instead of her regular one per jump. TK Overdrive gains no special benefits from Dark Phoenix Mode, except for the global damage boost.

TK Trap
214X

L Trap

M Trap

M Trap is activated

H Trap

H Trap is activated

Damage	Startup	Active	Recovery
90,000 / 60,000 x3(Including Dark Phoenix's damage boost)	20	-	20
On Hit	On Block	Guard	Properties
-	-	Mid	Priority: Low, Durability: 5, (in Dark Phoenix Mode)
Phoenix places a burning emblem on the stage, with its location and behavior dependent on button strength. The emblems themselves do not have active hitboxes and can not damage opponents. L version creates a burning trap on the ground in front of Phoenix, with a "detection" hitbox that extends vertically above it upwards indefinitely into the air. If an opponent enters that detection zone, a projectile is fired straight up. L TK Trap can be useful in combos, since she can link normals after the hit. The trap will disappear without activating after 300 frames (5 seconds), if Phoenix is hit, or if another L Trap is created. M version creates a burning trap in the air above and in front of Phoenix. The trap has a "detection" hitbox that extends horizontally outward from the emblem in both directions. The detection is rigged so that it will never trigger against a grounded opponent, even Big Body characters who look like they should be in range. If an opponent enters the detection zone, a projectile is fired directly forward. Note that the trap can be triggered from the opposite side, but it will still fire in the "forward" direction, missing the opponent. M TK Trap is a powerful mixup tool, especially on incoming. The trap will disappear without activating after 300 frames (5 seconds), if Phoenix is hit, or if another M Trap is created. H version creates a burning trap directly in front of Phoenix. Unlike the other versions, H TK Trap has no detection trigger. It automatically activates 30 frames after being created, firing a projectile at an up-forward angle. The trap will disappear without activating if Phoenix is hit, or if another H Trap is created. Phoenix can not have multiple of the same trap active on screen at once, but she can have all three different types of trap active simultaneously. In Dark Phoenix Mode, the emblems, their detection hitboxes, and the resulting projectiles are all significantly larger. Additionally, the projectiles have enhanced durability, being upgraded to Beam Durability with 5 points per frame for 3 frames. If an M or H Dark Phoenix Trap hits an opponent, it causes a Wall Bounce, making follow-up combos very easy. Dark Phoenix's version of all 3 traps hit three times, with slightly less damage per hit, but higher overall damage. TK Traps in Dark Phoenix Mode are extremely powerful as mixup tools and allow her to quickly snowball to destroy an entire enemy team. During the oncoming time after killing a previous character, Dark Phoenix can quickly set up all three traps, so they activate just as the next character enters, then perform any of her Teleport specials. This can make any from 0 to 3 of the triggered projectiles hit as a cross-up, creating a multi-layered mixup which is almost impossible to block correctly, and leads into another easy kill combo thanks to the enhanced Wall Bounce.

Teleportation
421X

L Teleport

M Teleport

H Teleport

Damage	Startup	Active	Recovery
-	10	-	20
On Hit	On Block	Guard	Properties
-	-	-
Phoenix teleports, disappearing from her current location and reappearing at a position based on the opponent's location and button strength. L version places Phoenix on the ground directly in front of the opponent. M version places Phoenix on the ground directly behind the opponent. It can not cross-up a cornered opponent, and will instead place Phoenix in front of them, like the L version. H version places Phoenix in the air directly above the opponent. She is considered to still be on her original side for the purposes of cross-ups. Because all versions of Teleport place Phoenix fairly close to the opponent, it is not particularly useful for her keepaway game. However, the L and M versions can be useful for escaping to the ground if Phoenix is airborne and an opponent pursues her up there. Conversely, Teleport greatly enhances Phoenix's offensive mixup game, since she can Teleport after throwing out a TK Shot or TK Trap to ambiguously cross-up as it connects.

Flight
214S

Damage	Startup	Active	Recovery
-	19	102	0
On Hit	On Block	Guard	Properties
-	-	-	, 102-frame Flight Mode
Phoenix enters a standard Flight Mode. While flying, Phoenix floats in place, and can steer herself in any direction by holding the stick. Phoenix gains unlimited use of her airdash while flying, and can chain airdashes of different directions into each other. Additionally, Phoenix can Plink Dash in the air to repeatedly airdash in the same direction, if desired. Phoenix can also perform air specials an unlimited number of times while flying, although her only air-OK specials are TK Shot and Teleport. Performing TK Shot while in Flight is particularly notable because it causes Air TK Shot to have normal recovery, instead of Until Grounded recovery, making it much less risky to perform high up. Phoenix's flight startup is fast enough that she can combo into it by Flight-canceling j.5H or j.6H. However, Phoenix's air normals are not airdash-cancelable, and so she does not gain much benefit from doing this, unlike other characters who have extended Flight combos like Magneto. While in Flight, Phoenix can cancel at any point by inputting 214S again, which is called "Unfly". Phoenix's Unfly is 0 frames, allowing her to cancel Flight normals instantly.

Hyper Combos

Phoenix Rage
Phoenix Inferno
236XX (1 bar)

Damage	Startup	Active	Recovery
40,000 x10	8+1	-	81
On Hit	On Block	Guard	Properties
-	-38/-35	Mid	, invuln until frame 14, , Priority: High, Beam Durability: 5 per frame per 10 frames.
Phoenix surrounds herself with a massive flaming bird, which charges forward from her position as a projectile. Phoenix Rage has a large amount of invincibility and enough Durability to blow through most other attacks, including other hypers. It is extremely unsafe if blocked, and costs the precious meter that regular Phoenix needs to save for Dark Mode activation, but can be used defensively to save Phoenix from an attack that may otherwise kill her. It is also a standard combo ender with good damage, if you decide to use it for that purpose. Phoenix Rage causes a Forced Wall Bounce on hit. If the hyper connects midscreen at superjump height, the Wall Bounce lasts long enough for Phoenix to follow-up afterwards, catching the opponent with an airdash down-forward into a j.5S. Outside of this spacing, Phoenix can not meaningfully capitalize on the Wall Bounce without activating X-Factor, but some DHC setups can make use of it.

Healing Field
214XX (1 bar)

Damage	Startup	Active	Recovery
-	4+3	600	18
On Hit	On Block	Guard	Properties
-	-	-	-
Phoenix surrounds herself with an orange, circular field. If any opponent is within that field, Phoenix will very quickly regenerate red health. The regeneration is extremely quick and occurs even if Phoenix is in hitstun or blockstun, unlike the regen granted by X-Factor (they also stack if both are active at once). Healing Field deals no damage and has no hitbox or attack element of any kind, its only purpose is healing, and it can only heal Red Life, not permanent damage. Its primary purpose is to negate the continual passive red health damage incurred by Dark Phoenix, if she does not have X-Factor available to perform the same function.

Dark Phoenix Rising
(With 5 bars of meter) Die.

"I can't control it!"

Damage	Startup	Active	Recovery
0	30+0	4	0
On Hit	On Block	Guard	Properties
-	+21	Mid	, Invuln until frame 34,
Oh no. If regular Phoenix is killed while having a full five bars of meter stocked, this hyper will automatically activate, consuming all of them. Note that if the attack that would kill Phoenix also gives her enough meter to bring her to 5 bars, the hyper will still activate. Phoenix can not activate this hyper if she dies while not the Point character, like when being sniped as an assist call, even if five bars of meter are available. The hyper places Phoenix in an airborne state if she was not already, and makes her fully invincible for the entire duration. There are 30 frames of pre-flash startup to prepare any anti-Dark Phoenix tech the opponent may have planned. After the super flash, Phoenix enters Dark Phoenix Mode, granting several benefits. When the super flash ends, this hyper also sends out a shockwave, originating from Phoenix and growing outwards to protect the area around herself. This shockwave has zero frames of post-flash startup, and so it is not possible to buffer an input during the flash which will respond to it. For example, if the opponent is not already inputting block when the super freeze begins, they will not be able to block the shockwave. Similarly, invincible hypers can not be buffered during the freeze; they need to be input before the freeze-frame happens in order to come out in time. Afterwards, Phoenix returns with full health as Dark Phoenix, who is different from her regular form in the following ways: Dark Phoenix's normal attacks and command normals produce "feathers", additional projectiles that move in a set pattern dependent on the attack used. Dark Phoenix gains a global 20% damage boost, stacking with the damage boost from X-Factor. She also gains a 20% boost to meter gain(this compounds with the damage boost, resulting in 44% more meter built per attack). Dark Phoenix's health drains, at a rate of roughly 15000 life per second. All health drained this way is left as Red Health. Dark Phoenix's specials are improved. They are typically larger in size, and have additional properties such as wall bounces Dark Phoenix's X-Factor bonuses - both damage and speed - are improved, and the Minimum Damage Scaling of her normals, specials and hypers is increased. Dark Phoenix is the most powerful character in the game and, especially in higher levels of X-Factor, is more than capable of wiping out an entire team of three characters by herself. The shockwave which originates from Dark Phoenix Rising to protect her transformation is not infallible. It is possible to pass through it with invincible or long-range moves and attack Phoenix. The transformation has zero frames of recovery, and so Dark Phoenix will always be able to block attacks as her transformation completes, but she may not be able to escape a well-timed airthrow. Many teams have strong anti-Dark Phoenix setups, which either force her to recover into an anti-air command grab (which she cannot escape from), or force her to recover blocking a meaty projectile, so that the attacker can perform a mixup.

Universal Mechanics

Ground Throw
6H, 4H

Damage	Startup	Active	Recovery
80,000	1	1	-
On Hit	On Block	Guard	Properties
-	-	Throw
Phoenix telepathically lifts the opponent up and tosses them away. The distance thrown makes picking up with an OTG Air TK Shot very difficult.

Air Throw
j.6H, j.4H

Damage	Startup	Active	Recovery
80,000	1	1	-
On Hit	On Block	Guard	Properties
-	-	Airthrow
Same as Phoenix's ground throw, but airborne. Tosses the opponent even further away.

Snap Back
+/

Damage	Startup	Active	Recovery
50,000	2	8	12
On Hit	On Block	Guard	Properties
-	+6	Mid	Snapback
Animation and hitbox based on 5H. Note that Dark Phoenix will not produce any Feathers from her snapback, unlike the actual 5H.

Hard Tag
Hold 14f /

Damage	Startup	Active	Recovery
30,000	-	20	34
On Hit	On Block	Guard	Properties
-	-17	OH
-

Team Position

Phoenix is exclusively used as an Anchor character. Although she has many of the strong neutral options available to typical point characters, such as flight mode, an 8-way airdash, and several strong projectiles, Phoenix is extremely fragile. Dark Phoenix is pretty universally considered to be the strongest anchor character in the game, so placing her in the 3rd position maximizes her chance to have five bars before she appears (and is killed).

Notable Synergies

Teams using Phoenix are typically built to support her Dark Phoenix transformation. They want to build up 5 bars of meter as quickly as possible, often by not using any at all, and then stay there, only activating other hypers if they are very confident that it can be built back in time. All characters would like to use meter, but some characters are better about working around this restriction.

Magneto: Out of all the standard point characters, Magneto is the most popular choice to support Phoenix. His extremely high mobility and strong projectile game allow him to be successful in neutral even with limited assist calls or meter usage. When he scores a hit, Magneto has several tools to set up dangerous resets, which can turn a 2-bar touch-of-death combo into a two-touch kill for zero bar. In general, he is a very meter-efficient character.

Players to Watch: GoldenBoyNeo (Magneto/Doom/Phoenix), Prodigy (Magneto/Doom/Phoenix)

Doctor Doom/Dormammu: While not a direct Phoenix synergy, Phoenix teams often have to deal with the problem that she is occupying their third slot, but players will want to call her assist as rarely as possible, to avoid the risk of her being sniped by an aware opponent. Doom and Dorm both have excellent, spammable assists, which can pick up the slack of only having one assist character available in neutral. Additionally, both of these characters have consistent TAC Infinites, and so a point character can secure a kill by TACing to either of these characters in the 2nd position, which will cost 0 meter and most likely build 5 meter as well.

Players to Watch: FChamp (Dorm/Doom/Phoenix), GoldenBoyNeo (Magneto/Doom/Phoenix), Prodigy (Magneto/Doom/Phoenix), Viscant (Zero/Doom/Phoenix), PZPoy (Zero/Doom/Phoenix), Noel Brown (Wolverine/Doom/Phoenix, Dorm/Doom/Phoenix)

Morrigan: This may seem like an anti-synergy, as Morrigan is most well-known for repeated use of her Level 1 Astral Vision hyper to enhance her projectile game, which is a serious drain on the team's meter. However, Morrigan can instead be used as a meter-building engine by making use of her Dark Harmonizer assist. Putting Morrigan behind a sufficiently mobile character can allow you to build a huge amount of nearly risk-free meter by running away and constantly calling Morrigan assist.

Players to Watch: RyanLV (Chun/Morrigan/Phoenix), Acentric (Chun/Morrigan/Phoenix), Rusty Shackleford (Morrigan/Ammy/Phoenix), snaketitz ( Joe/ morrigan / Phoniex), Prodigy (Magneto/Morrigan/Phoenix)

Other Players to Watch: RoachKing (Wesker/Haggar/Phoenix)

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