Phoenix is the perfect agent for CS:GO veterans. He’s got a molly, two flashes, and a vision obscuring ability. He also has some unique traits that make him stand out.

Hot hands: If anyone else stands in this circle of flame, they’re standing in a molly. If Phoenix stands in this circle of flame, he’s practically snorting molly. (That’s a drug joke for all you innocent Catholic kids.) Hot hands can be used to damage enemies, but it can also be used to heal Phoenix and give him a better chance of surviving his next encounter. After some intense plays, you can fall back to a nice corner, plop down your hot hands, wait for your health to replenish, and tune out the sound of your disgruntled teammates complaining that you set them on fire.

Curveball: One of the easiest-to-use flashes in the game, it only pisses your teammates off more when you miscalculate the basic 90 degree trajectory of your flash. Simple, reliable, the only downside is that you have to be right around the corner to use it effectively. There’s not much to say other than that. This flash is pretty much the mascot for Valorant flashes.

Blaze: “Wait, you can curve it?!” Every Valorant player thought this at one point. When we first tried Phoenix, we all thought this ability was a short, straight wall of flame. But thanks to advanced scientific technology (reading the ability info), we discovered the power of holding left-click and moving your mouse. Blaze is basically a looong smoke. You can use it for cover, or for healing like hot hands. Phoenix’s most complicated ability (which isn’t saying much) is also his most flexible one, so be smart with it.

Run it back: “JoKe SoVa, YoU’rE dEaD!” I don’t know why Phoenix is mean to Sova in particular when using his ult, but whatever. When using run it back, Phoenix rests at a bonfire. Then he runs around and either gets killed or loads his save file and returns to the bonfire with full health. When you use this ult, you basically scream “YOLO!!!” and charge recklessly into battle when you actually get to live more than once. However, being able to play recklessly doesn’t mean you should play stupidly. If you don’t check your corners, someone could end your ult early at best and sneak past you to kill you at your respawn point at worst.