1

After countless battles against phoenix and against dark phoenix, I may have some advice to those who get extremely frustrated against this “broken” character.

Always keep in mind that her health is below half (Both Phoenix and Dark Phoenix) of the average character so simply one combo can kill her or bring her near death. A frantic DARK PHOENIX will attempt to spam her attacks as small little flames would add to the pressure. True this is a pain and to add insult to injury, she has a teleport that will put herself right next to you. X-Factor will allow her to deal an enourmous amount of damage and heal herself as well in the process. In addition to the X-Factor, she has the healing shield.

Now as I weigh in on this, fighting Phoenix rather than Dark Phoenix is a better option.

A large portion of Dark Phoenix users will usually build 5 meters and keep Phoenix as their anchor. The biggest flaw in Dark Phoenix is that Phoenix has to DIE to become Dark Phoenix. I oppose to NOT killing Phoenix if she has 5 bars and is the last character. An X-Factored Dark Phoenix is a HUGE Problem. Easiest way to defeat Dark Phoenix? Let Phoenix live and wait out the time.

Phoenix does not have nearly the amount of rush down pressure as compared to her counter part. Once the time rounds low, Pheonix has no other option but to start using her bars thus allowing you to finish off the game with ease.

This is how i’ve been dealing with Dark Phoenix. If Phoenix happens to be in the fight early, kill her off as soon as possible. If she has 5 bars, snap her out of the fight. Always be aware of how much damage you can do to her with your point character. On average, a lot of hyper attacks can kill her off as an assist. As regular Phoenix, she has a lot of holes in her rushdown and shouldnt be hard to push block her away. Especially if all she is doing is shooting projectiles.

Her Light TK Shot does not go full screen, Medium TK goes full screen at fast pace, Hard TK shot tracks but goes away after a short period. Hard TK shot will not go full screen.

Simply saying, easiest way to defeat Phoenix, let her live and let the clock run out.

Questions? Comments? And yes I do know you can set to infinite time but thats no fun. Who plays like that anyway?

2

Not killing her and waiting out the time is fine and all, but it’s not like the Phoenix player is just gonna stand there and do nothing. I’ve had people try this on me and it never works because I just start spamming the M and H TK Shots and chip away, popping that level 3 XFactor in the last few seconds if need be.

3

I believe that killing Phoenix and not allowing DPh to hit the field is truly the best way to defeat her.

Problem is, “running away” is the last thing you want to do vs Jean. Jean’s offensive skillset is made to beat the crap out of people that try to runaway.

What a lot of people don’t seem to know or pay attention to is that Jean isn’t exactly a defensive fortress. Same thing with DPh. Her traps are beastly but she doesn’t really have a “get off me” move other than Overdrive. Force the traps to trigger and keep blocking and try to get in. Put pressure on the Phoenix player. For a lot of people, as soon as DPh hits the screen, they panic and run like hell and try to be too careful. Let me alleviate your suspicions/fears… “Laming out” vs Dark Phoenix is pretty much impossible. Even without X-factor.

Take to the the air. Jean’s/DPh’s combo possibilities dimish substantially. If you’re in the air, you know she can only teleport above you.

And go for random supers from long range if you can. Especially beams/full screen supers.

This has been THE INVINCIBLE SWORDSMAN saying:

You can’t run away. A decent Phoenix/DPh will nail you down and you won’t escape without taking significant damage. Don’t be scared. Take your shots at her.

4

I think After a little while people will discover how to deal with Phoneix gimmicks, like tk shot teleport behind etc. the only thing am not looking forward to is phoenix and dark phoenix mirrors

5

No need to teleport when you can just spam the homing H TK Shot on someone trying to run away in the air, which is what I usually do. It doesn’t go full screen of course, but someone jumping or super jumping around like an idiot is easy to box into the corner.

6

I like Phoenix as a character and play her in BOTH forms. But she is Horridly easy to kill in both forms. If I happen to have the Hulk on my team Im not even worried about her. I never pick hulk as an “Anti Phoenix” character unless someone is spamming her and I cant get around it with my main team. (Thor, Dorm, She Hulk) I can usually deal with her on dorm but on the rare occasion that she proves to be an ass I will pick the Hulk and then she is a complete JOKE. Dont run from her just do one simple combo and kill both characters. Jump or Super Jump in while shes at full health H > land L > Crouching M > S and go into Gamma Smash It will finish off Phoenix in its invincible frames so you will not get pushed back and the meteor will hit DPH on the way up and Kill her on the way down… too easy and too funny. Im sure other characters have ways of dealing with it but for me its easiest with the HULK.

7

Your last statement was really all you needed to say.
Phoenix can fly, and can be very effective while doing so if you know what you’re doing. Phoenix has only one flaw which is her HP to a certain extent.

I’ll start off by saying Phoenix & Dormammu are the only OMEGA LEVEL MUTANTS in MVC3 (Galactus, possibly Storm but no)

What would you do if someone did an air combo x2 (OTG) to you, 2 successful down cross overs, wasted very little time off the clock and now have Phoenix chasing you down with 5 meters stacked?

What would you do if that same user with 5 meters decides to go XF and use healing field as normal Phoenix. With one of her assist and some pressure she can get that meter back in a few seconds. Blocking don’t work on grabs so she can force you to fight back.

How to beat Phoenix
Beating Phoenix is easiest with a good keep away game and having a good assist with some instant or invulnerable start up like, The Hulk or Haggar assist. As for the keep away, Dormammu or Dr. Doom. (if you need a reason just ask). Rush down is the quickest way of winning. Run away is the quickest way of losing. Keep away is the easiest way of winning.

Strategize

  1. Keep Away: Playing keep away drains the clock while punishing the first two teammates. Slow pace.
  2. Always hold your XF so you can’t take chip damage when you really need it.
  3. Have at least 1 high HP teammate (1,000,000 minimum)
  4. Armored, Instant, Defensive or Invulnerable assist
  5. Snap Back: Phoenix is one of the few characters you should look to use a snap back on to kill her.

Phoenix Weaknesses
(1) Teleporters
(2) Bigs (Hulk, Sentinel, Thor, Wesker, Dormammu, Spencer, Tron, Haggar, She-Hulk)
(3) Invulnerable H.C. at start up (Hulk, Amaterasu, Sentinel, Zero, Dante, Wolverine, MODOK, Morrigan, Ryu, Trish, Viewtiful Joe, Wesker, Captain America, Spider-Man, Felicia, Chun Li, X-23*, Dormammu*, Magneto*, Iron Man*, Deadpool*, Spencer*, Akuma*)
(4) ARTHUR: Goddess Bracelet loop (XF 3 & Golden Armor bottle)
(5) Armored Normals: Hulk & Sentinel

My Teams
(a)Thor, (b)She-Hulk, (a)Hulk
(b)Zero, (y)Morrigan, (a)Hulk
(y)Dormammu, (a)Storm, (b)Hulk
(a)Thor, (y)Phoenix, (a)Hulk

If you’re a Phoenix user, how about trying TK Trap and when you go Dark Phoenix tag her out to use her really big, really fast, really damn strong assist while building meter to bring her back to use her XF (back up off of me) healing field instantly.

Best Tool: Teleport multiple times over someones head (builds health and pisses the other person off) and use Rage when they try to hit you, this causes a wall bounce.

My favorite is to walk a person down & put TK Traps in front of them on the ground. (chip chip away, chip chip away)

I’m not great but I know how to make a plan in battle.