Psylocke is an S-Tier, Duelist class Hero in Marvel Rivals. Read on to learn how to play Psylocke, as well as a list of abilities, skins, and voice actors!
Table of Contents
Related Article
Hero Tier List (Season 1)Psylocke Hero Overview
| Tier | |
|---|---|
| Role | Duelist |
| Difficulty | ★★★★★ |
| Real Name | Sai |
| VA | EN: Alpha Takahashi JP: Eri Akiyama |
Best Flanker in Marvel Rivals
Psylocke is the best flanker in-game who excels on stealth, speed and quick eliminations. Her ability to dismatle enemy backlines makes her a valuable pick in any competitive match. If you're looking for a hero that rewards calculated play, Psylocke is your best choice!
Hero Tier List (Season 1)Psylocke Pros and Cons
| Pros | - Best flanker in the game |
|---|---|
| Cons | - Limited range |
Great Burst Damage
IMAGEPsylocke’s combos can have some of the highest single target burst damage in Marvel Rivals.
Primary Fire Reduces Cooldowns
Psylocke’s primary weapon can reduce cooldowns to allow her to cycle combos faster.
IMAGELimited Range
Psylocke is a dive hero and while her primary weapon is hitscan, it has a wide spread and its fall-off damage makes it extremely weak when chasing heroes with great escape abilities.
Best Hero Companions
Doctor Strange
While Psylocke’s nature of being a flanker doesn’t require her to have another hero at her side, Doctor Strange’s portal ability can allow her to easily traverse long distances and his ultimate can be paired with her own, avoiding the barrier check nerf this season.
How to Play Psylocke
Act Like a Ninja
Flank enemies by targeting support heroes first to cripple the enemy team’s survivability. Sneak through their ranks by using Psychic Stealth and start picking off the backlines with her 4-shot combo.
Use This 4-Shot Combo
Psylocke's 4-Shot Combo requires her to close in on an enemy target and quickly string together her attacks: start with 2 shots from her Psionic Crossbow (Left Click), followed by 1 shot of Wing Shuriken (Right Click), and finish a target with her Psi-Blade Dash (Shift). To better understand this combo, execute this in sequence using 2 left clicks, 1 right click, and the shift key. Afterward, you can use Psychic Stealth to disengage and find another unsuspecting target.
Don't Use Ultimate Against Shields
Psylocke has a very powerful ultimate ability that can catch multiple enemies off guard, however, the season 1 update imposes a check for barriers. This means that if she activates Dance of the Butterfly while an enemy barrier such as Magneto's Metal Bulwark or The Hulk’s Indestructible Guard is up, Psylocke’s ultimate ability may not hit its intended target.
Psylocke Hero Lore
Sai
A wandering warrior in feudal Japan, the telepathic ninja known as Sai has devoted herself to striking down ancient demons and monsters. With her wolf Logan by her side, Psylocke won't rest until all Yokai have fallen by her psychic blade.
Sai was ripped from her reality by the Timestream Entanglement and put on display by the Collector. Alongside newfound allies, she escaped her cage and learned that other familiar warriors might still be out there. Her new quest is to gather those heroes, end this conflict, and return home.
Hero Story
Acanti Tales| Then. Sai stood at the edge of the ancient forest and watched it burn. She had not wanted to leave so much destruction in her wake, but the stoic warrior knew all too well that, when Demons rise, sometimes there is no other option but to reduce the world to ash. For months, the people in the small village at the base of Mount Shi’aru had been terrorized by a horde of insect-like Demons that skittered through their city at night, stealing away innocent villagers. An elder of the village had heard the tale of Sai’s triumph against Orochi and thought that, if anyone could bring these Demons to justice, it would be her. Sai soon proved that she lived up to the legends, locating the hive of this strange insect brood in a cave at the top of the mountain. She sent in her faithful companion, the wolf named Logan, to lure them out. When the beasts emerged, Sai was waiting, psionic swords drawn and at the ready. At first, she held her own against the creatures, dispatching them with sharp blades and bursts of psychic energy. But it wasn’t long before she found herself overwhelmed by the sheer number of Demons. They clambered up the trees around her, ready to strike from above with their poison-tipped tails. She had only one choice. Reaching in her satchel, she pulled out a handful of fireworks given to her by a friend Juju. From another pouch on her belt, she removed a small piece of flint that she often used to light campfires during her travels. Sai set the fireworks on top of the flint and raised her sword high as the beasts descended upon her. With a powerful strike of her sword, the flint sparked and the fireworks ignited. Sai ducked for cover behind a thick tree trunk as the barrage of explosions erupted, sending blazing broodlings scattering in every direction. As the mountain forest became a raging inferno, Sai entered the cave and found the queen of these strange Demons. It took every ounce of skill and training to avoid becoming the hideous creature’s next victim, but before long, Sai got close enough to plunge her psionic sword into the queen’s black heart. As she did, she could feel the searing pain of every insect connected to the Demons’ hivemind. It overloaded Sai’s senses, leaving her on the brink of collapse as she staggered back out of the cave. Logan came to her aid once again, dragging Sai just beyond the border of the burning forest and licking her wounds until she regained her strength and her senses. It had been a brutal battle, but it was yet another Sai had won. The fewer Demons in the world, the better. She reached beside her and gently scratched the head of her loyal companion. Logan had stayed by her side through so many encounters -- against Yokai and Oni of all shapes and sizes. Without ever opening her mouth, Sai whispered straight into Logan’s mind. “Good boy,” she said. “Now, come. We have a prize to claim…” Sai pulled her round sedge hat up onto her head, covering her purple hair, as she began to walk away from the flaming trees and back toward the village at the base of the Mount Shi’aru. As they got closer to the village, Logan sniffed at the air frantically and began to growl. “What’s the matter, friend?” Sai asked. But mere moments later, she had her answer. A strange doorway opened directly in front of her, as if out of thin air, and a mysterious figure was about to cross through from the other side. Sai went to reach for her sword, but before she could draw the blade, she felt a pain surge through her body unlike any she had ever experienced before. It was as if she had been hit by Hulkmaru himself! “Perhaps the Demons have finally gotten their revenge,” she thought to herself. “It was only a matter of time…” Logan howled as everything faded black. Now. “What’s on your mind?” Mantis asked Sai. Sai knew full well that the strange woman named Mantis had mental abilities similar to her own. She could have easily read Sai’s mind if she had wished. However, Mantis genuinely seemed to want to respect her new friend’s boundaries. Sai appreciated that. “Where I came from,” said Sai, “and where we are going.” Much time had passed since that fateful day on Mount Shi’aru. More time than Sai cared to remember. When she awoke, she had found herself trapped inside of a heavily reinforced enclosure, part of a display in a strange alien menagerie. Its benefactor, an Elder of the Universe known as the Collector, had gathered countless species from across space and time so that his patrons could stare at rare and deadly creatures from the safety of the other side of the glass. Sai wanted nothing more than to be free. To find her way back home to her own world. To Logan. And she would finally have her chance when her fellow captive, Mantis, staged an escape attempt. Along with Mantis and another strange creature -- an unusually cute, quadrupedal shark named Jeff -- Sai fought her way through the Collector’s Theme Park to a vessel that was able to sail through the stars. She had no idea where she was now or how to get back home, but at least she was free of her captor’s clutches… or so she thought… “MRRRRR!” Jeff shouted as he ran into the cockpit of the vessel and nudged Mantis with his blunt nose. “What is it, Jeff?” Mantis asked as Jeff turned and darted toward the back of the ship again. “I think he wants us to follow him,” Sai said, as she started to realize how much Jeff reminded her of Logan. Jeff led Sai and Mantis to the rear of the spacecraft and jumped up on a console so that he could see out of a large viewport. He started motioning frantically with one of his front feet, pointing out of the window. “I don’t see anything,” Sai said as she gazed into the dark void of space. There was nothing behind them but darkness and a bit of debris. “I don’t think it’s what he saw…” Mantis said, her hand placed against her temple and closing her eyes. “It’s what he felt. Someone is following us.” Sai took a moment to focus her mind and she felt it, too. Then she heard it inside of her head: The chatter of alien voices growing ever closer. She did not understand how anything could soar through space, but if she and her companions had managed to do it so easily, perhaps others could do the same without being detected. Just then, a massive ship materialized behind them, ten times larger than the small craft they had stolen. On its hull was the same marking that Sai had seen throughout the theme park that she had just escaped. The crest of the Collector. Mantis raced back to the ship’s cockpit and grabbed hold of the throttle with one hand. With the other, she began frantically pressing buttons. Jeff mewed with excitement. “I learned this trick from Peter Quill,” Mantis said, as their tiny ship lunged forward, reaching its top speed in nanoseconds. “Don’t tell him I stole it.” “I do not even know who that is,” Sai reminded Mantis. “Well, I hope you get to meet him,” Mantis said, “if we manage to survive this.” Mantis pushed their small vessel beyond its limits, but the Collector’s battleship somehow managed to keep up with its pace. Pulling sharply on the ship’s yoke, Mantis diverted the craft into a belt of floating debris, narrowly dodging giant rocks -- and the scrap from other ships that weren’t fortunate enough to have such a deft navigator at their helm. Emerging on the other side of the asteroid field, Sai was caught off guard by what she saw ahead of them. Not the Collector’s battleship, but something nearly as large. And it was alive. “Yokai,” Sai whispered under her breath as she studied the enormous whale-like creature floating in front of them. “No…” Mantis replied. “Acanti.” Mantis touched Sai’s shoulder, and the warrior’s mind was flooded with images of spectacular space whales, traveling in pods and singing rapturous songs that echoed through the cosmos. Mantis had clearly encountered these majestic creatures before during her travels with the Guardians of the Galaxy, and now she was sharing all of her experiences with Sai via telepathy. But this lone Acanti was nothing like the ones in Mantis’s mind. It did not sing in joy, but rather, it wailed in pain. Even Jeff could hardly bear to hear the beast’s mournful cries. Mantis reached out to the Acanti with her powers, letting it know that she was a friend of its kind… and that she was in danger. She begged the creature for its help, and promised to return the favor in any way she could. The Acanti seemed to understand, opening its massive maw and allowing the tiny ship to fly inside. As they took safe harbor inside the mouth of the Acanti, Sai felt something strangely familiar. A skittering sensation in the back of her mind. Something she hadn’t felt since her time on Mount Shi’aru. “I know what is ailing this creature,” Sai said. “Really?” Mantis asked. “What could possibly bring an Acanti so much sorrow?” “Demons,” Sai replied. This time it was Sai who opened her mind’s eye for Mantis to peer into. Mantis caught glimpses of Sai’s epic battle against the insect-like monsters in her home reality, their teeth gnashing as they clawed and slashed at the seasoned warrior. “Those aren’t Demons,” Mantis said, recognizing the images in her friend’s mind. “They’re aliens. A nasty race of parasites that call themselves the Brood.” “Well, they picked one hell of a cave to make their home,” Sai mused as she looked out of the craft at the interior of the Acanti’s cavernous gullet. Mantis grabbed a breathing mask from off the wall of the ship and placed it over her face. She handed others to both Sai and Jeff. “The Brood are a particularly vicious race,” Mantis said as she walked toward the ship’s airlock. “How did you defeat them in your world?” “With fire,” Sai said. “But that’s not an option here.” “Agreed,” Mantis said. “Even if we did have oxygen to burn, I highly doubt the Acanti would be thrilled if we set its insides ablaze.” “MRRRR…?” Jeff gurgled hopefully as he followed his two humanoid companions off the ship and into the Acanti’s craw. “No, Jeff,” Mantis said, “I’m sorry to say it, but I don’t think we can just ‘talk it out’ with the Brood.” “Perhaps we can,” Sai said. “The last time I encountered these creatures, I was able to momentarily connect with their hivemind.” “I see where you’re going with this,” Mantis said. “But we’d need to find the Brood Queen if we want this to work.” “MRRRR!” Jeff said, racing down the Acanti’s tongue and off into the distance. Mantis and Sai looked at each other and shrugged before turning to chase after their finned friend. As they traveled further into the dark depths of the Acanti’s throat, the three heroes found themselves facing off against an ever-increasing number of Brood hatchlings. Sai swung her swords with keen precision. Jeff gnashed his teeth and swung his tail. And Mantis fought barehanded with a fury that her companions had not yet witnessed. One after another, the alien parasites fell, but more always seemed to take their place. “No wonder the Acanti was in so much distress,” Mantis thought, loud enough for her companions to hear. Finally, they reached the Acanti’s stomach, where they found the Brood Queen waiting. While Mantis and Jeff fended off more hatchlings, Sai dodged and weaved through the aggressive alien army as she made her way toward their mighty mistress. When she arrived, she readied a blade of pure psionic energy. Instead of piercing the Brood Queen’s heart, like she had done on Mount Shi’aru, she plunged the psychic sword straight into her mind. There was something Sai wanted the Queen to see. No. To feel. With her free hand, Sai touched the inner wall of the Acanti’s stomach. Acting as a conduit between the creatures, she transferred the Acanti’s pain and sorrow into the Brood Queen’s insect brain, sending waves of raw emotion rippling across the alien hivemind. It was too much for the malignant monarch and her minions to handle. The remaining Brood spread their wings and took flight, following their Queen back up the Acanti’s throat. The Acanti opened its jaws just wide enough for the Brood to make their escape into the void outside. The massive beast let out a triumphant cry that echoed through its insides as its unwanted guests finally disappeared into deep space. After the battle, Mantis communed with the Acanti, asking it to provide them a safe ride back to the Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda. The colossal creature gladly obliged, as a way of showing thanks for ridding it of its parasite problem. Along the way, Jeff even gave the Acanti a nice, thorough dental cleaning as a sign of mutual respect. Before they could reach Wakandan space, however, Mantis intercepted a distress call from her fellow Guardians of the Galaxy -- Star-Lord, Rocket, and Groot. Their ship had crashed on an alien world called Klyntar, home to a species almost as parasitic as the Brood. Mantis knew where she had to go next, and it wasn’t Wakanda. Sai and Jeff were prepared to join Mantis on the next leg of her journey when Sai suddenly heard a new cry echoing in her head. A powerful voice unlike any she had ever heard before. Strange… but so familiar… It uttered four simple words: “To me, my X-Men.” Though she did not know what the words meant, she knew that she would have no choice but to answer the call. As images of a living island on the other side of the universe filled her mind, Sai could feel in her soul that this mysterious place was home to others just like her… and it might finally be the key to getting her back home again. Jeff nuzzled up against Sai’s leg and let out a gentle purr. She had not expected to grow fond of this strange little creature, but battle did have a way of making strange allies. She reached down and gently rubbed her hand along the rubbery skin on top of Jeff’s head. “Good boy,” she said, whispering directly into his mind. “Now, come with me. It’s time we finally find the freedom we deserve…” |
| Coming Soon, Stay Tuned! |
| Coming Soon, Stay Tuned! |
