On the surface, Phoenix Magnion might not stick out as a particularly suitable candidate to attempt the challenge of a single Shield-throw victory. Anyone even remotely familiar with the battle will know that Phoenix is RNG incarnate, so using trial and error to slowly piece together a consistent route isn’t possible. Dealing with a teleporting target whose attacks cover swaths of terrain isn’t made any more palatable when adding the single-throw stipulation; a combination of luck and a highly specific strategy is necessary to achieve victory.
There are numerous ways for players to manipulate the Shield Boomerang’s trajectory and have it orbit around Zero. For this fight, my strategy exploits Phoenix’s mobility and teleportation patterns. I open with an aerial throw to have the Shield travel downward before quickly dashing forward to establish an orbit. Standing slightly off from the center of the arena and above the pink floor tile serves a dual purpose: First, I’ll be in position to avoid the lava pillars when they inevitably erupt from the magma pool below. Second, Phoenix always returns to the center of the arena after an attack, so having the Shield persistently deny that area means that he’ll always launch into his next attack as soon as possible, thus hastening the battle and achieving a rhythm where Phoenix is constantly attacking Zero and getting interrupted by the Shield.
Before I delve into dealing with each of Phoenix’s attacks from this position, there’s a glaring issue to address in the form of a very ugly luck factor that’s guaranteed to stop the majority of your attempts right off the bat. If Phoenix uses any attack that isn’t Fire Arrow at the onset, a few points of failure arise. Most likely is the possibility of immediately taking damage from a charge or dive as you throw the Shield and move forward to the requisite position. In the event that you avoid either attack, you may pick up the Shield while dodging, or, if you manage to keep it in play, the Shield’s orbit will likely be desynchronized with the rest of Phoenix’s movements, rendering it unable to intercept his subsequent attacks. Admittedly, I didn’t spend hours testing this since I got a few successful attempts fairly quickly, but as far as I can tell, Phoenix must use Fire Arrow as his first attack for the strategy I use here to take shape. When he does so, it seems to line up the timing of the Shield's orbit perfectly, allowing you to weave between his moves without retrieving it.
Assuming that Phoenix graces you with a blessed opening, reacting to the rest of his arsenal isn’t too taxing. He’ll only ever charge at Zero from the left, so quickly dashing to the right and doubling back will have him take an electric frisbee to the face while Zero remains spotless and the orbit undisturbed. Phoenix can try to dive at Zero from the right, left or directly above; dodging the former two is self-explanatory, but the assault from above is a bit tricky. When aligned with the pink floor tile, Zero will be closer to the right side of the Shield’s elliptic orbit. Slightly shuffling to the left during Phoenix’s downward dive will place Zero snugly between Phoenix and the left side of the Shield’s orbit. It can be helpful to visualize an oval of space in which Zero can perform movements on the ground.
Phoenix always appears in the top center of the arena for Fire Arrow; any time this attack is selected, it’s a free hit. That leaves his mirages as the last point of contention; so long as you don’t move while the mirages manifest, Zero will be placed perfectly between them, meaning that you can jump in place to avoid Phoenix’s tails as they converge upon Zero. If you were lucky enough to get the proper pattern at the start of the fight, you should be able to make this jump without collecting the shield.
With these aspects in mind, the fight boils down to making a good throw at the start to initiate the Shield orbit, hoping that Phoenix is kind enough to allow you to proceed and making minute adjustments with brisk dashes and jumps whenever you are granted passage beyond the first 5 seconds of the battle. There are multiple sequences of attacks that can lead to victory, the one I showcase here was both quick and exciting from a movement perspective, so I kept this take from the few that I had.
Some of you may have noticed that I didn’t bring up the elephant in the room: Phoenix’s EX Skill. So, how exactly do you circumvent a gigantic invincible hitbox barreling toward you up to 5 times-potentially in tandem with lava pillars-while maintaining the Shield’s orbit?
You don’t. Reset and try again. Lovely.
It’s far from a practical strategy, but I do recommend giving this a try if only for the satisfaction of handling one of Z2’s premier threats in an unconventional yet stylish way. Thanks for watching, any questions and comments you may have are welcome as always.