How to play Iron Fist

Iron Fist is the current strongest Melee Duelist in Marvel Rivals, and learning how to play him is the key to punishing your foes with a mighty flurry of martial blows. A powerful team player, Iron Fist greatly benefits by leading the charge alongside Vanguards and other Duelists, and is also a great chaser to take down snipers and other Duelists.

So, this guide will go over all his abilities, the best way to play Iron Fist in all the different game modes, as well as an effective way to counter him. We’ve also gathered intel on the most effective team composition to synergize with Iron Fist and make his abilities shine the most. Prepare to draw from the power of the dragon, and let’s take a look at his skills.

Iron Fist Abilities Overview

• Jeet Kune Do: Iron Fist’s basic combo attack in 5 movements, the initial attacks have shorter intervals but less damage, while the last attack of the chain takes a little bit longer to hit but does more damage. This attack gets empowered after using Dragon’s Defense, and becoming Yat Jee Chung Kuen.
• Yat Jee Chung Kuen: The empowered version of Iron Fist’s basic combo, has a lunge effect, and faster and more powerful attacks that chip down the foe’s HP considerably.
• Living Chi – Ultimate: Iron Fist becomes empowered with the Heart of Shou Lao, gaining speed, damage reduction, empowering his combos, and reducing the cooldown of Dragon’s Defense.
• K’un-Lun Kick: Dashes forward delivering a powerful kick that hits in a horizontal line, pushing back opponents. Has increased damage against foes with lower health (Under 50% threshold) and can throw opponents against walls, and out of the map.
• Harmony Recovery: Hold down to regain health during a brief meditation. If Iron Fist uses this when on Full Health it gains a slowly decaying overheat instead.
• Crane Leap: Iron Fist can perform three consecutive air jumps. He can also combo attacks or use K’un-Lun Kick while airborne.
• Dragon’s Defense: Holding down will grant Iron Fist increased damage reduction and empower his basic attacks, unleashing a powerful lunging barrage of blows.
• Wall Runner: Iron Fist can climb walls, running horizontally through them, and then jump from them to attack.
• Chi Absorption – Passive: Each time Iron Fist performs a takedown or assists an ally in doing so, he regains a small amount of health (50 per takedown/assist).
• Dragon’s Chill – Team-Up Passive: Iron Fist empowers Luna Snow’s abilities, granting her empowered healing abilities, as well as a pushback and slow effect to her basic attacks.

Iron Fists attacks are melee bound, and that makes him both weak and strong at the same time. His greatest combo is using Dragon’s Defense to store energy and unleashing a powerful barrage of fists after that. He can also use K’un-Lun Kick to close the gap on his opponents and execute them when they’re low on health. This becomes especially useful against enemies like Punisher who can constantly harrass the team from a safe distance.

His skills are all about mobility, dodging ranged attacks, and lunging towards the enemy backline to deal with the healers and range Duelists in a fast and furious way. Thanks to his Crane Leap and Wall Runner skills, Iron Fist gains a lot of mobility, and can reposition himself or even chase down sharpshooters like Black Widow and Hawkeye, to protect his team from their sniping.

He can also use Living Chi and Dragon’s Defense to become an off-tank during melee engaging, leading the charge alongside Vanguards and other Melee duelists to create a powerful synergy. Thanks to his self-healing ability, Iron Fist can retreat from battle, heal, and come back, even if he is behind enemy lines, greatly empowering his harass tactics.

Iron Fist can leap in the air, attack, leap again, attack, and leap a third time. Use this to remain airborne as much as needed. When performing this combo empowered by Dragon’s Defense, Iron Fist will become a menace for flying rivals like Iron Man and Storm.

How To Play With Iron Fist In Marvel Rivals

Iron Fist is considered a hard to master with high payoff hero in Marvel Rivals, and learning how to properly combo his abilities is not easy. The most challenging part is stay alive long enough to perform well, since he is quite powerful and a priority target for heroes like Venom, Black Widow, Captain America, Thor, Groot, Squirrel Girl, and Winter Soldier.

The secret to mastering Iron Fist’s K’un-Lun style is to always stay on the move. No matter what happens, if he stays grounded for long enough, he becomes an easy target and its squishy enough to be overwhelmed by enemy focus. Using his high mobility to confuse his Rivals, he can gain the upper hand, and even surprise the backline falling from the sky and delivering a powerful flurry of blows that can end foes in a matter of seconds. Let’s take a look at how to play him in each Marvel Rivals Game Mode:

Convoy Mode

During Defense, remain close to the team, don’t overextend, as Iron Fist performs better playing alongside his team. By securing objectives and kills, and even assisting in doing so, Iron Fist will constantly regain health, having a powerful sustain Duelist like him can make the difference in this game mode. Keep an eye out for snipers, and stay on the move when overwhelmed by long-range attacks. Don’t try to dive in Defense Mode, instead, flank and chase out snipers like Black Widow and Hawkeye, who are a menace to the defending team.

During Offense, Iron Fist performs splendidly as a secondary attacker, following high-mobility Vanguard and Duelists like Spiderman and Venom. Keeping an eye out for what the team is doing can lead to successful assists, and overheal that can turn Iron Fist into a natural tank. Since Chi Absortion doesn’t have a cap (for the moment) he can gain tons of overheal by assisting the team safely. Or, he can trade off that safety for a more aggressive tactic and dive for the kills. Just be careful not to get isolated, as Iron Fist can become overwhelmed with ease. in case he needs it, he can use the payload to take cover and regain health using Harmony Recovery.

Harmony Recovery can be canceled early if needed. It can also overheal Iron Fist above his health (250) by a total amount of 300 (50 Health Regained/Overheal). Use this to make Iron Fist more tanky before diving, or to recover after a successful gank on the enemy backline.

Domination Mode

In Domination, Iron Fist performs as an on-and-off frontline, dropping upon unsuspecting foes and chasing priority targets like Mantis, Cloak & Dagger, Rocket Raccoon, and Hela. He can also leap to high ground, chasing out snipers and annoying range dealers like Storm, Iron Man, and the worst of them all: Hawkeye. This game mode is all about control, so a smart Iron Fist player will know how to recognize a good opportunity to dive for the kills, and when to retreat. He can also be a great help by rotating between the frontline and the backline, assisting the Strategists when they’re overwhelmed by flankers like Winter Soldier, Hulk, or even another Iron Fist.

Convergence Mode

During Defense, Iron Fist should become a guardian of sorts for the backline, since in this mode having a Duelist helping the squishy Strategists is a must. Since Iron Fist empowers Luna Frost, it makes perfect sense to have someone on the team picking her as Support. But other healers like Adam Warlock, Mantis, and Cloak & Dagger are also great for this composition. Make sure to stay close to them, and rotate when needed, since the enemy will use every chance Iron Fist is not around to gain terrain.

During Offense, dash to the backline and kill as many priority targets as possible. Iron Fist is equipped with a lot of mobility skills, so having him ganking in the backline will be a constant treath for the enemy team. Even when he is not truly lurking around, the sole presence of Iron Fist in the battlefield will keep the enemies wary and distracted, which can be lethal if Black Widow is in the backline sniping them out.

How To Counter Iron Fist In Marvel Rivals

Iron Fist might seem like a powerful and nearly unbeatable foe, but he can be countered and killed if you know how to do it. His kit is basically trading between offense, defense, and mobility. But he cannot perform the three at the same time. That leaves a gap, a window of opportunity in which he becomes most vulnerable.

In that moment, players can attack and overwhelm him in an instant. But since in Marvel Rivals, there are many game modes, let’s take a look at how to counter Iron Fist in every situation:

Convoy Mode

During Defense, Iron Fist will be trying to constantly harass the team, so pick up his two natural counters: Spiderman and Venom. Have them work together rotating between the sides, leaping around the high ground, protecting snipers, and rotating with the rest of the team to defend the payload. There’s a chance for Iron Fist to jump and kill Strategists, but by doing so he will forfeit taking care of long-range Duelists such as Black Widow, and that will give them a chance to take down certain priority targets. Captain America is a good option to counter him as well since he is the other Vanguard/Duelist hybrid that can switch between offense and attack.

During Offense, be careful when assaulting the objective and transporting the payload. Iron Fist will leap behind and attack the most vulnerable team members. When attacking the payload area, he poses a mild threat, but when the team starts to escort the moving objective, he becomes a powerful harasser that will thwart every push effort. Unless, there’s a way to counter him effectively, and that is to use Wolverine, Winter Soldier, or Captain America to remain close to the backline. And if the team glues together instead of spreading thin, then Iron Fist will be no match for the concentrated fire.

Domination Mode

In Domination, when there’s no other way but to constantly assault a singular area and defend it when the team takes it over, Iron Fist becomes quite annoying. So, there’s no better way to counter his rotations than to hinder his movements. Jeff the Land Shark is an expert on doing this, but Squirrel Girl, Black Panther, and Moon Knight are also great at keeping the pace of Iron Fist and harassing him to prevent his repositioning. Keep an eye out for the sky to prevent an aerial assault, and don’t pick Storm or Iron Man if there’s an Iron Fist in the team, because he will target them first and bring them down.

Convergence Mode

During Defense, stick together to prevent Iron Fist from ganking the squishier team members. If there’s a chance to pick the Winter Soldier, Rocket Raccoon, and Punisher combo, they can defend the area in a pretty standalone fashion. So, using Thor, Hulk, or Venom to put pressure on the rest of the team will constrain Iron Fist moves to a single area: the one being defended by this dangerous trio. He will then learn how bad it can be to dive into three trigger-happy fellows with lots of firepower and crowd control. If there’s a chance for any team member to pick Psylocke or Magik, they can do a great job at counter-ganking him.

During Offense, to prevent receiving the bad end of Iron Fist attacks, there’s no better way than to counterpick him. Choosing Thor, Venom, Hulk, and Captain America are great ways to deal with him while other team members attack him from a safe distance. Another great way to thwart his ganks is to pick Loki and remain immobile pretending to be one of his illusions, then he will go straight for another Loki (the actual copy) and be baited into a trap. Also: pick Black Panther and follow his moves, at some point, he needs to land, and when that happens, this hero will shred him to pieces.

Best Team Composition For Iron Fist In Marvel Rivals

The best partners for Iron Fist in Marvel Rivals are Luna Snow, Spiderman, Venom, Magneto, and Hawkeye. This team composition has great coverage for every weakness Iron Fist has, plus Iron Fist empowers Luna Snow’s abilities and turns her into a powerful counter-offensive support.

On the other hand, it cannot hurt to have Scarlet Witch or Squirrel Girl on your side, since they can be great partners for Iron Fist that can accompany him on his quest for ganks. Each time Iron Fist nails an assist or kill, he will recover, so he doesn’t need as much support healing as other team members. Prioritize offering cover fire with Hawkeye, Squirrel Girl, or Black Widow when he overextends and needs to retreat.