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Marvel Rivalsis known for introducing exciting characters from the Marvel universe and adapting them into this exciting hero shooter. The new additions inseason 2certainly live up to that promise, and add new strategies to any player’s playstyle.
Despite there beingfewer characters being added in Season 2compared to Season 1, the ones we are getting are sure to surprise new players with what they can do. This season takes us to the mutant island of Krakoa, where the first character of Season 2 is none other thanthe White Queen herself, Emma Frost. Here are the details about her kit and the best ways to use it.
Emma Frost’s Full Ability List
Emma Frost is the first of two new characters to release inMarvel RivalsSeason 2, and is in theVanguardrole. Her psychic abilities and dominating Diamond Form allow her to dominate anyone that may stand in her way. While some of her abilities may seem simple, the way each ability is used in the heat of battle and specifically when they are used can dictate the flow of a match.
Telepathic Pulse
Emma’s primary fire,Telepathic Pulse, fires a steady beam of psychic energy that does have a short range, butdoes more damage the longer it hits any target. This includes shields that have a health bar, likeDoctor Strange’sshield andInvisible Woman’s, but notMagneto’smagnetic curtain shield, for example.
Psychic Sphere
This pulls a crystal out of an opponent when they are hit with it.The target is then tethered to that crystal and will take a burst of damage once it is destroyed. It is rather easy to destroy, and Emma’s Telepathic Pulse ability can shoot the crystal and the target hostat the same timeif they are lined up together. This allows Emma Frost to continuously deal damage to the target on top of the burst damage. As the crystal forms, a field also forms around it and the target.If the target leaves this field, the crystal will despawn and deal no damage.
Mind’s Aegis
Mind’s Aegisis Emma Frost’s main defensive ability. It allows her to spawn a defensive shield to protect her and her allies. After hitting the button to activate it, you canhold the button to make the shield spawn further away. As you hold the button, you will see a projected image of where the shield will spawn once you let go of the button. The shield has 500 hit points and can be recalled if you wish to replace it. Once it is destroyed, it will go on cooldown for 3 seconds.
Diamond Form
Diamond Formadds an entire new dynamic to Emma Frost’s character and changes her move set. This form lasts 7 seconds and turns her into a brawler-like tank. She takes reduced damage in this form and gains CC invulnerability. This means she cannot be moved by abilities likeWinter Soldier’sgrapple orSpider-Man’sweb grab. While in Diamond Form, her primary fire is swapped out for a melee combo calledFaceted Fury, which deals substantially more damage when compared to other melee-based characters. Psychic Sphere and Mind’s Aegis get swapped forCarbon CrushandCrystal Kick.
Carbon Crushis a grapple move. Emma Frost enters an animation where she grabs an enemy by the throat, turns them behind her, and slams them into the ground, doing damage. It can alsocancel other character’s abilities, including ultimates. However, it will not stop abilities that activate immediately, likeMoon Knight’sultimate.Crystal Kickis a large, sweeping kick that can knock opponents back away from her. If a target is knocked into a wall or structure, they will take additional damage on top of the initial hit. Once Diamond Form ends, Emma’s moves and abilities revert to normal.
Ultimate: Psionic Seduction
Emma Frost’s ultimate ability creates a large field of pulsing phychic energy. Any enemy in this field willtake damage over time and can become hypnotizedif they stay in it for too long. When a target is hypnotized, they will stop whatever action they are doing and begin to move towards Emma Frost for a short amount of time.
Team-Up Ability
Emma Frost grants ateam-up abilitywhen paired withMagnetoand Psylocke. She grants them the ability to make psychic projections of themselves that can copy all of their moves as they do them, except their ultimate abilities. While this is active, Emma Frost also gets an additional 100 health.
How To Play Emma Frost: Tips & Tricks
Using Main Abilities
Emma Frost’s neutral game is centered around her non-Diamond Form abilities, which can help create space and defend teammates. Shethrives on the front lines,where she can maximize the damage done by her primary fire and pick off tanks that are getting their health chipped away by her Duelist teammates. She can also punish weaker opponents, like enemy Strategists that may push up too far. Psychic Sphere makes her more lethal, as the burst damage is high once the crystal breaks. If her primary fire is at 100% max damage, she can wipe the crystals out easily. Building up the damage to her primary fire is easier when she is either attacking Vanguards or chipping away at shields. Consistently doing damage and disrupting the enemy team’s front line is crucial to her success.
Psychic Spherecan be good not just for increasing damage, but also for forcing opponents to move out of the way of danger. A main theme around a lot of Emma Frost’s abilities is creating risky situations for her opponents. Higher level players will know to back away from the crystal so they do not take the damage. This can force them off of the point or payload, stopping the enemy team’s capture progress, or they end up taking the damage once the crystal breaks.
Mind’s Aegiscan be handy when trying to shut down opponents while being useful as a generic defense tool. She can put it in front of a Scarlet Witch that is about to unleash her ultimate or a Punisher while he sits on his turret, for example. Since she can control where she places it, she can spread her defensive capabilities wide and disrupt the enemy team’s strategies.
Using Diamond Form
Emma Frost’sDiamond Form should be used sparingly,as it has a 12-second cooldown. If you find yourself in an isolated one-on-one fight with a Duelist or Strategist, using all the abilities in a sequence in Diamond Form can easily wipe them out, especially if you canhit them into a wall with the Crystal Kick.A typical Diamond Form ability rotation looks something like this:
This can be a guaranteed combo when in an isolated situation. However, this will not be the most common scenario. While Emma Frost can pick off lone targets easily with these abilities, she cannot dive in the backlines very well. The nature of her regular abilities means she should stay on the frontlines when she can. Since the Diamond Form is such a lethal aspect of her kit, it is best to use it when you know you can confirm the kill or need help surviving an attack. Popping Diamond Form without thinking about the context of your engagements can remove one of your most effective tools when you may need it most.
Using Emma Frost’s Ultimate
Much like the Carbon Crush ability,Emma’s ultimate can take opponents out of their own ultimate abilities. Using it as a counter to something like Star Lord’s ultimate, or pulling Cloak and Dagger away from their ultimate so they can be picked off more easily, can completely change the tempo of a match. Using it as a way to physically remove opponents from an objective, or even make them walk off the map if the map allows for that, gives Emma Frost a level of control that is unique to her playstyle.
