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Emma Frost is the new character introduced in Marvel Rivals Season 2: Hellfire Gala, to be released on April 11, 2025. She is not an ordinary Vanguard—she excels more in crowd control rather than pure tanking. Playing as Emma Frost requires strategic positioning, precise movements, and well-timed combos. In this guide, I will break down everything you need to know about Emma Frost, including her abilities and how to play her effectively.
Emma Frost Overview
Emma Frost is a Vanguard with the abilities to control minds and is able to change her body into a diamond, greatly enhancing her strength. She can project a psychic barrier from afar and seize control of an enemy's sentience to damage them.
 | |
| Health | 650 HP |
| Role | Vanguard |
| Difficulty | 3/5 |
Emma Frost Abilities
Emma Frost's has an ability kit for her two Human and Diamond Form.
| Ability Name | Input | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Telepathic Pulse | LMB | Fire a psionic beam to deal damage; the longer the beam hits, the higher the damage. |
| Psychic Spear | E | Seize control of an enemy's sentience-damage dealt to the sentience cascades to the physical form and can be pierced by Telepathic Pulse. When the sentience shatters, it unleashes extra damage on its owner. |
| Mind's Aegis | RMB | Create a levitating barrier at the designated location. |
| Diamond Form | SHIFT | Activate Diamond Form to transform your attack style while gaining Damage Reduction and becoming Unstoppable. |
| Faceted Fury | LMB (in Diamond Form) | In Diamond Form, deliver a crushing double-fisted strike to enemies. |
| Carbon Crush | E (in Diamond Form) | In Diamond Form, lunge forward to grab an enemy. then execute a back slam to inflict damage. |
| Crystal Kick | RMB (in Diamond Form) | In Diamond Form, unleash a flying kick forward and knock back enemies; extra damage is dealt if they're propelled into a wall. |
| Psionic Seduction | Ultimate | Project a forward psychic assault that stuns foes and prevents them from unleashing their Ultimate Abilities; if the effect lingers, it gradually commandeers their mind, forcing them to move toward Emma Frost. |
How to Play Emma Frost
Emma Frost can change from Human Form into Diamond Form, each having unique abilities that requires good understanding and even greater positioning.
Human Form
Human Form is Emma's main and default form. In this form, Emma is a mid-ranged Vanguard who focuses on shielding and dealing burst damage.
The best way to play Human Form Emma is to stick with your teammates, focus on objectives, and don't dive too deep. Keep firing her basic ray attack, and try to hit them as much as you can, because the more you hit the enemy with the ray, the more damage it deals.
Mind's Aegis is her shielding ability. While not as large as Magneto's or Doctor Strange's, Emma can deploy hers at a great distance. Hold your right-click until you find the distance you want, then simply deploy the barrier there. You can use this mechanic to block a choke point or a specific angle that your team is taking damage from.
Just remember not to dive too deep if you don't have Diamond Form skill ready.
Diamond Form
Diamond Form is the bread and butter of Emma Frost's gameplay. By pressing Shift, Emma will turn into a diamond-covered Vanguard that deals huge melee damage, has great crowd control ability, and gains higher defense.
Use Diamond Form only when you are trying to single out an enemy or when you are holding a point with your teammates. While Diamond Form is a great skill for Emma, if you use it at the wrong time, you might put your team in danger instead.
If you are pushing a payload and you see an enemy who is overextended or alone, you can quickly turn into Diamond Form, grab them, and kick them toward your team’s side. This can really punish overextended enemies. Overall, Diamond Form is perfect if you are trying to focus on and single out one enemy to kill.
If your team has another Vanguard—preferably a shielding Vanguard—then you can use Diamond Form more freely and often, especially in Capture Point maps. In Payload maps, you can be more aggressive, using your Diamond Form to dive into the enemy line and try to kick one of the enemies to your team’s side.
Emma Frost's Ultimate
Emma Frost's ultimate is perfect to initiate a team combo. If you position yourself correctly and time it perfectly, you can control the whole team thanks to the huge AoE and long-range effect.
Do note that her ultimate is only good to use when your other teammates also have ultimates to follow up. If there’s no follow-up combo, Emma’s ultimate is not deadly at all. Unlike Groot’s ultimate, which can deal huge damage even while he's alone, Emma’s ultimate really depends on others.
Unless you are positioning yourself beside a ledge and can make your enemies fall to their deaths as they helplessly walk toward you, that’s a different story.
Best Team Composition for Emma Frost
- Magneto and Psylocke are must-have characters in a team with Emma Frost thanks to their new Team-up Ability, Mental Projection.
- Peni Parker can hold the point with her Arachno Mines while Emma Frost kicks enemies into her bomb-filled web.
- Magik is a high-mobility and high-burst damage brawler who can accompany Emma Frost while diving into the backline. Magik can clean up what’s left from Emma’s attacks.
- Namor will likely have minions beside him on the mid or backline. If Emma Frost can kick someone into his range, they will be easy prey for Namor and his minions.
- Winter Soldier’s ultimate can synergize well with Emma Frost’s ultimate, opening up possibilities for multiple kills or even a team wipe.
- Wolverine and Emma Frost can both dive into the backline and each kidnap an enemy.
- Invisible Woman and Mantis are the best long-range Strategists to help Emma, either with crowd control or with buffs.
How to Counter Emma Frost
The best way to counter Emma Frost is to use tankbuster heroes or those who can relentlessly brawl against her:
- Thor can relentlessly brawl against Emma Frost, whether she’s in Human Form or Diamond Form.
- The Thing is immune to knockback, meaning Emma Frost can’t kick him away. The next thing to do is chase Emma relentlessly until she dies. Not only that, Thing can also quickly help his backliners who are getting harassed by Emma.
- Iron Fist, Scarlet Witch, and Wolverine are all tankbusters, dealing damage based on enemy HP percentage. Emma has a high HP value, so these tankbusters are all you need to shut down Emma Frost.
- Luna Snow’s ultimate is the only ultimate that can counter Emma Frost’s Psionic Seduction. Luna Snow’s ultimate can’t be canceled by Emma, meaning she can keep healing anyone who is being mind-controlled.
