Dexerto / NeteaseIron Fist is a force to be reckoned with in Marvel Rivals, able to dominate his opponents in solo and group engagements when played correctly.
As a Duelist character, Iron Fist’s job is to join defensive Vanguard classes like Hulk and Captain America on the front line, supplementing their defensive capabilities with pure damage.
While he lacks the range of other DPS machines like Hawkeye and Iron Man, Iron Fist’s incredible maneuverability, attack speed, and sustain allow him to pressure and dismantle other opposing teams in the blink of an eye.
The martial artist is the quintessential risk vs. reward hero, however, so familiarizing yourself with his kit and ideal team comps is key to mastering the top-tier character.
Iron Fist stats in Marvel Rivals
- Class: Duelist
- Health: 300
- Movement: 6m per second
While his default movement speed is lower than other Duelists such as Wolverine, Iron Fist’s Crane Leap, Wall Runner, and K’un-Lun Kick abilities all provide huge mobility, making him incredibly tough to pin down.
Likewise, while his health is on the lower side, Iron Fist has the best sustain out of any Duelist, with his Harmony Recovery ability allowing him to heal to full and increase his max health anywhere on the battlefield.
Season 1.5 meta changes
Iron Fist has received some of the biggest changes in the season 1.5 patch. His health has had an increase but his attack damage has been reduced. Alongside his health boost, however, he can convert more Bonus Health from his Dragon’s Defense ability, and recover more from Harmony Recovery.
His full adjustments can be found below:
- The damage of Jeet Kune Do’s 1st, 2nd, and 5th strikes has been reduced from 32 to 30. The 3rd and 4th strikes will deal 15 damage instead of 16. The final strike has been dialed back from 55 to 50. The cooldown reduction for Dragon’s Defense has been extended from 1s to 1.5s. The damage of each hit from Yat Jee Chung Kuen will take a hit, dropping from 19 to 10 flat damage (including during Living Chi). However, each strike from the Yat Jee Chung Kuen now delivers an extra blow, dealing damage equal to 1.7% of the opponent’s maximum health (including during Living Chi).
- The maximum health granted by Harmony Recovery has increased from 50 to 150.
- Maximum Bonus Health converted from damage blocked during Dragon’s Defense has increased from 150 to 200.
- Base health increased from 250 to 300.
Weapons
As his name suggests, Iron Fist is all about using the two hands God gave him to deliver the hurt.
Related
A master of Chinese martial arts learned during his time in K’un-Lun, the hero, real name Lin Lie, can enhance and augment his standard melee attack with various buffs to keep opponents on their toes.
See below for the raw stats on his dukes.
| Weapon Type | Melee |
| Distance | 3m |
| Damage | First four strikes: 32 damage Firth strike: 55 damage |
| Maximum Pull-In Distance | 6m |
| Attack Interval | First four strikes: 0.45s Fifth strike: 0.67s |
Abilities
As touched on previously, Iron Fist’s game plan is all about rushing down his opponents and catching them off guard with burst damage. His kit facilitates this superbly, making the superhero one of the biggest threats in any given match.
| Ability | Details | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Jeet Kune Do | Damage: 30; 55 Max distance: 3m Attack interval: 0.45s; 0.67s Maximum pull-in distance: 6m Dragon’s Defence Cooldown reduction per hit: 1s | Strike the targeted enemy with a series of five strikes, reducing the cooldown of Block and Strike with each hit. |
| Yat Jee Chung Kuen | Duration: 5s Maximum pull-in distance: 11m Dashing speed (without target): 12 m/s Dashing distance (without target): 3m Range: 3m Damage: 19 Attack speed: 7 strikes per second | Perform a forward dash to pursue the target enemy, unleashing a series of attacks. |
| Living Chi | Duration: 12s Yat Jee Chung Kuen bonus range: 100% K’un-Lun Kick bonus range: 100% Damage boost: 30% Movement boost: 20% Yat Jee Chung Kuen cooldown reduction: -80% | Reduces the cooldown of Dragon’s Defense while boosting Iron Fist’s speed, damage, and attack range. |
| K’un-Lun Kick | Dashing speed: 40 m/s Maximum dash distance: 12m First flying kick damage: 30 Second flying kick damage: 35-70 (damage scales with missing enemy health) Cooldown: 12s | Dash forward to deliver a flying kick upon contact with an enemy or when reaching maximum range. Damage increases with lower enemy health. |
| Harmony Recovery | Duration: 3s Healing per second: 100 Excess healing/Max health conversion: 100 Cooldown: 12s | Halt movement and channel Chi to restore or gain bonus health if already full. |
| Crane Leap | Cooldown: 1s per charge (max 3) | Perform up to three additional jumps after the first while airborne. |
| Dragon’s Defense | Block time: 1s Damage reduction: 30% Bonus health/damage blocked conversion: 1.5 Max health/damage blocked conversion: 200 Cooldown: 15s | Gain damage reduction and block incoming attacks. Can follow up with a retaliatory Yat Jee Chung Kuen. |
| Wall Runner (Passive) | Wall-crawling speed: 9 m/s | Iron Fist can run horizontally along walls. |
| Chi Absorption (Passive) | Bonus health: 50 | Iron Fist gains bonus health for assists. |
| Dragon’s Chill (Team-Up Ability) | Team-up: Luna Snow Team-up bonus: 15% damage boost | Interact with Luna Snow to emit a Chi-infused ring inflicting knockback and slow while healing allies. |
How to play Iron Fist in Marvel Rivals
Distilled into its purest form, Iron Fist’s game plan is all about executing an in-and-out strategy. He’s squishy, even by Duelist standards, so engaging in prolonged engagements isn’t advisable unless he’s paired with an attentive Vanguard or Strategist.
Pick your battles wisely – any opponent out of position and isolated from their team is ripe for the picking – though, and Iron Fist can easily engage with K’un-Lun Kick, following up with Living Chi to massively boost his speed, damage and attack range for potent burst damage.
Fortunately, if you’re the victim of a gank or caught unawares, K’un Lun Kick can serve as a disengage. Likewise, Crane Leap and Wall Runner are both fantastic escape tools, allowing you to distance yourself from the enemy team.
Even more than all of these abilities, however, Harmony Leap is arguably Iron Fist’s most busted ability. Rather than rely on a Strategist for healing or locating a health pick-up, the brawler can use this to heal up and temporarily increase his maximum health, almost entirely eliminating downtime.
Best team comp
Due to his close-quarters nature, Iron Fist benefits most from being paired with teammates able to pressure opponents from afar, discouraging them from ganging up on him.
- Luna Snow
- Magneto
- Doctor Strange
- Iron Man
- Hawkeye
- Spider-Man
Luna Snow
Luna Snow is a fantastic pick due to being Iron Fist’s team-up partner. When both characters are on the same team, the former will emit Chi-infused rings of energy that inflict knockback and slow while also healing allies.
Should the two engage together, the area denial of Luna’s rings will discourage any latecomers to the brawl from risking an engagement, giving you all of the advantage.
Check out our Lunar Snow guide for more details on the character.
Magneto
NetEase GamesMagneto is one of the best Vanguard classes to pair with Iron Fist thanks to Metal Bulwark. The Master of Metal’s ability allows him to place a metal shield around any ally, massively reducing damage taken.
The additional survivability allows Iron Fist to make riskier plays than usual and set up engage opportunities that, if timed correctly, can translate to a team wipe.
Check out our Magneto guide for more details on the character.
Doctor Strange
While Iron Fist has no trouble closing ground to get close and personal with the enemy, seasoned teams are going to see him coming from a mile away.
Able to open portals for allies to travel through, Doctor Strange’s Pentagram of Farallah ability allows Iron Fist to mix up his strategy by instantaneously teleporting behind the enemy team for a surprise attack. Just beware that if the plan goes awry and you need to escape, opponents can pursue you back through Strange’s portals.
Check out our Doctor Strange guide for more details on the character.
Iron Man
Marvel / NetEase GamesA fellow Duelist, Iron Man synergizes with Iron Fist not as a direct support, but as a fellow damage dealer able to divide the enemy team’s focus. With all of his abilities being ranged, the enemy team will be forced to split or retreat if he and Iron Fist engage at the same time.
Check out our Iron Man guide for more details on the character.
Hawkeye
Hawkeye is Iron Fist’s best friend for much the same reason as Iron Man, although the marksman has something Tony Stark’s alter ego doesn’t, Hypersonic Arrow.
In addition to giving Iron Fist a free engage due to the slow it inflicts, Hawkeye’s ability also knocks down flying heroes, giving Lin Lie a window to attack otherwise hard-to-reach opponents.
Check out our Hawkeye guide for more details on the character.
Venom
NetEase GamesHe’s not quite as good as Magneto or Doctor Strange when paired with Iron Fist, but Venom is still a Vanguard class worth considering. Cellular Corrosion allows Spider-Man’s iconic enemy to inflict mass Slow against opponents, hindering escape and, again, giving Iron Fist a free window to engage and punish anyone caught in the attack.
Check out our Venom guide for more details on the character.
Best counters
Squaring off against a good Iron Fist player can be an intimidating prospect, but he can be neutralized quite easily by some heroes, including:
- Mantis
- Iron Man
- Magneto
Mantis
Mantis is indispensable as a counter to Iron Fist thanks to Spore Slumber. When making contact with an enemy, the projectile spore will sedate the target for 3.5s.
As Iron Fist will often engage against the odds to try and overwhelm the opposing team before escaping, Spore Slumber will neutralize him entirely, giving the team ample time to take him out.
Check out our Mantis guide for more details on the character.
Iron Man
While he makes for a great companion, Iron Man is also an absolute nightmare for Iron Fist to deal with if the two are on opposing sides. The former’s excellent poke and damage essentially prevent the latter from jumping in for engages.
Iron Man is also practically immune from being jumped by Iron Fist unless Hawkeye or another hero with knockdown abilities is present, due to his ability to fly.
Magneto
Magneto is better equipped than most to shut down Iron Fist’s aggressive game plan. In 1v1 scenarios, the mutant can use Iron Bulwark to nullify the fist fighter’s melee combos entirely, turning them back on him with Mag-Cannon.
That’s everything you need to know about Iron Fist in Marvel Rivals. For more content on the team shooter, check out our tier list ranking every character and find the best crosshairs for your favorite hero in our guide.