Though Marvel Rivals classifies her as a three-star difficulty character, Emma Frost’s two forms and multiple abilities make her one of the game’s most versatile and complex heroes. Learning Emma Frost can be overwhelming, but thankfully, each form’s abilities complement their intended playstyle.
Normal form prioritizes poking before dishing out big damage
Emma Frost’s normal form focuses on poking enemies at a distance before going in for eliminations. Telepathic Pulse is the longer of her two primary attacks, with a range of 15 meters. While its initial damage (70 per second) is rather weak, continuous hits will increase the damage up to 120 per second (higher than the average damage of her Diamond Form).
Psychic Spear increases Emma Frost’s damage potential as hitting an enemy with the ability creates a stationary crystal that corresponds to 25% of the affected target’s current total health. Damage done to the crystal carries to the enemy, and Telepathic Pulse pierces through it as well. Psychic Spear is best used to build Telepathic Pulse’s damage and to simultaneously hit the crystal and enemies. A cheeky tactic is to hit an enemy with Psychic Spear just as they run for cover – exposing the crystal and allowing you to deal damage. The only downside to Psychic Spear is that the crystal disappears if the distance between it and the affected enemy is more than 15 meters. Keep enemies within this range and you’ll have an easy target to hit while in either of Emma Frost’s forms.
Use Mind’s Aegis in conjunction with abilities and cover
Speaking of abilities that can be active in both forms, Mind’s Aegis allows Emma Frost to place a levitating barrier on the field. It has 500 HP and recovers 70 health per second when recalled. Should Mind’s Aegis break, it has a four-second cooldown before it can be redeployed with a small amount of health, requiring strategic placement to make full use of the ability. Remember that Mind’s Aegis remains active during Diamond Form, so be sure to place it before transforming to give yourself some extra cover.
Considering an enemy team can make quick work of your 500 HP shield if they focus it down, you want to regularly place and recall Mind’s Aegis while in Emma Frost’s default form. Use it to help your team reposition between pieces of cover or protect them during a skirmish. Since Mind’s Aegis allows allied projectiles to pass through while preventing enemy projectiles, you can provide yourself and your team temporary cover and increased damage (compared to the enemy team) for a limited time.
Mind’s Aegis can also isolate specific enemies. Since most healing in Marvel Rivals is line-of-sight-based, placing the shield between an enemy and their Strategists prevents any healing from going to the former. Use the shield’s ability to pass through enemies to place it behind them and tell your team to focus on the isolated foes. They usually won’t realize they aren’t getting support until it’s too late.
Diamond Form lets you cut loose with stuns and melee strikes
Emma Frost’s Diamond Form is what you want to switch to most of the time in close quarters as it increases her damage reduction, makes her Unstoppable, and gives her an entirely new moveset. Her Faceted Fury primary combo does 50 damage each with the first and second hits, 70 damage on the third hit, and 80 damage on the fourth hit. Provided all the attacks land, that’s 250 damage – enough to take down most squishy Marvel Rivals characters. Faceted Fury’s paltry four-meter range means you won’t be starting things off with the combo but rather opening up with a Carbon Crush instead.
Carbon Crush is by far Emma Frost’s strongest and most useful ability. With it, you can grab an enemy up to seven meters away, stunning them and negating their abilities (including some ultimates). Emma Frost then executes a back slam, dealing a total of 30 damage and repositioning them. When used in conjunction with Faceted Fury strikes and Crystal Kick, Emma Frost can easily isolate a single enemy and push them toward the rest of her team.
Crystal Kick is the last of Emma Frost’s Diamond Form abilities, and while its ability to knock foes up to ten meters away isn’t great for starting or continuing melee combos, the extra 50 damage it does when slamming enemies into walls makes it a great finisher. Aside from using it to reposition an enemy after using Carbon Crush, Crystal Kick’s short two-second cooldown allows you to routinely kick foes into walls during Diamond Form’s eight-second duration.
Diamond Form’s main purpose is disruption. After getting in close with Mind’s Aegis, switch over to Diamond Form and attempt to grab an enemy using Carbon Crush. Since the enemy team’s frontline usually consists of Vanguards, you’ll want to isolate one of the tankier heroes and Crystal Kick them towards your team. If a grabbed enemy Vanguard or Strategist gets eliminated, take it as your cue to push in with the rest of your team.
Enemies will see your grab attempt coming a mile away, however, so be sure to mix things up with Emma Frost’s two forms while in close quarters. The best time to switch to Diamond Form is during a hectic skirmish, so keep an eye out for displaced or ultimate-ready enemies and be ready to deny their game plans.
Psionic Seduction can be a fight-winner if you time it right
Psionic Seduction’s true power doesn’t come from its damage, but rather its ability to deny enemy movements and ultimate abilities. Getting the most out of Psionic Seduction requires you to keep tabs on the enemy team’s ultimates and strongest abilities. Once you’re confident that something like an enemy Luna Snow’s Fate of Both Worlds is about to answer your team’s offense, activate Psionic Seduction to deny their defense instead. The same goes for countering a strong enemy offensive ability, such as Storm and the Human Torch’s Omega Fire.
While Psionic Seduction can be activated in either form, the ultimate ability forces Emma Frost back to her normal form, and you cannot defend yourself with other abilities for the ability’s six-second duration. Psionic Seduction also has a rather lengthy startup time, requiring careful planning before activation. Consider hiding behind cover or making use of an ally’s defensive abilities (Magneto’s Metal Bulwark, for example) when executing Emma Frost’s ultimate ability.
Knowing the best times to switch between normal form and Diamond Form will come with experience. While normal form is best used at a distance, there are times when using it is preferable to switching to Diamond Form during close-range encounters. Likewise, there will be times when you want to save your other abilities for specific scenarios. Mind’s Aegis can soak up a lot of individual hits, but it can also protect your team against a single strong attack like Iron Man’s Invincible Pulse Cannon ultimate. You might want to save your Psionic Seduction and use Carbon Crush to counter a single enemy’s ultimate (such as The Thing’s Clobberin’ Time) instead. Emma Frost’s is a well-rounded Vanguard with a useful set of abilities, making her great in almost any situation.
Marvel Rivals is available for PS5, PC, and Xbox Series X|S.
