Dazzler Champion Guide

Dazzler Summary

Dazzler is a strong attacker focused on speed and getting openings in abnormal places. She also has utility that can be helpful in a number of her target matchups. In addition to this utility, she can also perform in places that are not her target matchups because she has damage as utility. This term describes a certain class of characters that have damage that is so high that they can fight through matchups they should not be good in. Dazzler’s high damage can help her succeed even against Tech defenders like Arcade and Red Skull.

Dazzler also has two mechanics that you need to be aware of to play Dazzler effectively: her dazzling dash and her rhythm game. I’ll go over each in this section because they form the basis of her kit coming together.

Dazzling Dash

For every 10 tempo she gains, Dazzler gets her Dazzling Dash ability. You can gain tempo in the following ways:

Gain 1 tempo for every light and medium attack.
Gain 5 tempo for every light or medium attack that strikes the opponent while they are standing up.
Gain 5 tempo when heavy attacking a non-stunned opponent. Dazzler’s personal stun passive does not count against this, and neither does the striker opening.
Gain 10 tempo for each "perfect" result on the SP1 rhythm game.

Dazzler can use Dazzling Dash to inflict the opponent with a 1.2 second falter, and can only be activated while outside of striking distance. You can use this ability in a number of ways. I will list a few here with examples, but know that there are other creative ways to use it.

To create a super safe opening for an intercept. If you use this while the opponent is close to the wall, you can immediately follow it up with a heavy attack to build more tempo.
To hit the opponent’s block and inflict Dazzler’s passive stun. Regardless of where you are on the stage, you can immediately follow it up with a heavy attack to build more tempo.
To punish normally unpunishable special attacks. If you do this, make sure the opponent doesn’t have an anti-miss mechanic so you don’t get hit. Whether or not you use a heavy attack after this dash is up to you and depends on the animations in question.

A primary characteristic of a high-skill Dazzler player is how well and how often they use Dazzling Dash.

Rhythm Game

Dazzler’s rhythm game happens on each of her special attacks and is slightly different for each. On the SP1 and SP2, you need to tap the screen in time with each of the hits of the special attacks, and for the SP3, you just complete the normal minigame.

Each of the rhythm games are not too complicated, but they take some initial practice. I found that they are generally easier than mechanics like Perfect Release.

For the SP1, there are 4 hits, all equally spaced. For each hit successfully completed, you gain 10 tempo, which is very significant for your ramp. See this video for an example:

For the SP2, there are 5 hits. The first 4 hits are equally spaced, and the 5th and final hit happens after a slightly longer pause. For each hit successfully completed, you gain a precision buff for the duration of the special attack. If you complete all hits, the final hit of the SP2 is a guaranteed critical hit. See this video for an example:

For the SP3, the closer you are to a “perfect” score, the longer your High Tempo passive is. This passive doubles all tempo gain and increases your tempo cap to 150.

Full Champion Abilities

Signature Ability – Sounds of Light and Fury

During her hits, Dazzler takes no Physical Damage and instead reflects 200% of it back at the Opponent as a burst of Energy Damage.
Performing a Dazzling Dash grants a Pursuit Passive for 10 seconds, paused until the end of the Dash.

Abilities

Always Active

Dazzler won't let anything cramp her style. She's Immune to bad vibes, and also Nullify.
If Dazzler's Opponent isn't a Tech Champion, their Critical Damage Rating is set to 0 and cannot be increased.
If Dazzler's Opponent has the Stand Your Ground Mastery active, it is removed.
While Dodging back, Dazzler cannot be struck by attacks. She does not benefit from the Dexterity Mastery, but she builds 1 Tempo when Dodging a Special Attack hit.

Tempo – Max: 100

Dazzler builds up Tempo as excitement mounts for her performance.
Light and Medium Attacks build 1 Tempo, or 5 if the attack strikes the Opponent while they are standing up.
Heavy Attacking a non-Stunned Opponent builds 5 Tempo. Dazzler's personal Stun Passive does not count against this.
As a Defender, each hit in the Attacker's Combo Meter builds 1 Tempo.

Dazzling Dash Attacks

Building 10 Tempo sets the stage for a Dazzling Dash Attack. Only one Dazzling Dash Attack may be readied at a time.
Once readied, Dashing forwards from outside striking distance or during the Opponent's Special Attack inflicts a Falter Passive for 1.2 seconds, paused until the end of the Dash.
If Blocked, a Dazzling Dash Attack inflicts a Stun Passive for 1.5 seconds. As an Attacker, on hit or on Block it also deals a burst of 71.6 Energy Damage per Tempo.

Special Attacks

Special 1 – Opener

Tapping Block in rhythm with the 4 blasts builds 10 Tempo each.
The final hit inflicts a non-stacking 1500 Energy Vulnerability Passive for 30 seconds.

Special 2 – Show Stopper

If Dazzler is not suffering from Cowardice, after activation she gains 10% Resonance, +358 Fury, and +10% Prowess Buffs until the end of the attack. These potencies increase by +1% flat per Tempo.
If the Opponent is suffering from a personal Energy Vulnerability, after activation Dazzler also gains an Unblockable Buff until the end of the attack.
Tapping Block in rhythm with the first 5 lasers grants Dazzler +562.5 Precision Buffs until the end of the attack. If Dazzler reaches at least 4 of these Precisions, the final laser is a Guaranteed Critical Hit.
At the end of this Special Attack, reset Dazzler's Tempo.

Special 3 – Encore

Dazzler kicks things into High Tempo for 40 seconds, allowing her to build up to 150 Tempo and doubling all Tempo gains.
A Perfect result in the Special 3 Mini Game increases this to 60 seconds, or 50 if the result was semi-Perfect.

My Thoughts on Dazzler

I really enjoy Dazzler’s design because of how well it comes together into a seamless kit that flows really well. Dazzler’s loop is incredibly satisfying to play, and she has ample tools to give her openings and the ability to accomplish the objectives of her loop. I have heard these kinds of abilities be called “get out of my way utility”, which is utility that opens up a champion specifically and exclusively to their target matchups. In Dazzler’s kit, this includes her damage reflect and pursuit, among others.

Design Breadcrumbs

One hallmark of good champion design in this game is rewarding the kind of gameplay you want the player to engage in. Dazzler’s kit does this very well. For example, if you want the player to do stand-up intercepts because that makes Dazzler perform better, you can leave breadcrumbs that indicate this ideal behavior. For Dazzler, this means gaining additional tempo if you do a stand-up intercept. You can also gain a burst of damage if you use your Dazzling Dash more often, gain more tempo if you dex special attacks, and gain quite a bit of tempo if you chain heavies against the opponent in the corner.

Does Dazzler Need to Be Awakened?

TL;DR: It depends on the matchup and can open up more matchups.

Dazzler’s sig allows her to do 2 things: reflect physical damage and counter evade. If you are in a matchup where you need this utility, having Dazzler awakened makes all the difference. However, in matchups where you don’t need this utility, an awakened and unawakened Dazzler will perform exactly the same.

An awakened Dazzler can take these matchups that an unawakened Dazzler would struggle in:

Korg
Attuma
Killmonger
Bullseye
Spider-Woman (and most other champions with evade)

Dazzler’s sig level increases the amount of physical damage reflected (up to 200%) and increases the duration of her pursuit (up to 10 seconds). I find that the difference in pursuit duration between sig 1 and sig 200 is significant enough that I would want a max sig Dazzler if I wanted to take matchups with evade, especially Bullseye.

Best At?

Immune to Nullify

Dazzler is currently the only mutant in the game with nullify immunity. This can make a big difference not only for Mystic matchups, but also for nodes that nullify your buffs, like Buffet. This dramatically increases Dazzler’s relevance in various Battlegrounds metas and Alliance War nodes.

Overlooked Interactions

Corrosion and Rupture Damage Reflection

Dazzler can reflect all physical damage she takes while striking the opponent. While this is most useful for select Skill defenders, it can also reflect the damage you take from Corrosion and Rupture effects. Don’t expect to take Hazard Shift with this though, as you aren’t always able to be striking the opponent.

Dodge Mechanic

Dazzler does not use the dexterity mastery. Rather, she uses an alternate dodge mechanic, which lets her avoid getting the precision buff from dexterity. This ability comes up most often in the Photon and Nico Minoru matchups, because Dazzler can dodge Pure Light Form special attacks and doesn’t get poisoned from Nico’s buff immunity.

Caps Opponent’s Critical Damage Rating

For all non-Tech champions, Dazzler caps their critical damage rating at zero, meaning their crits will not deal increased damage. This is mostly relevant on defense.

Matchup Summary

This is a list of matchups I wanted to highlight because they are good, bad, or tricky and force you to modify your normal loop.

Attuma

Dazzler needs to be awakened for this matchup to work, but she can reflect all of Attuma’s thorns damage back at him. Just make sure you try to finish the fight before his Hydration gets too high and he starts going unstoppable. (This is pretty easy to do in Battlegrounds.)

Korg

Similar to Attuma, Dazzler needs to be awakened for this match to work, but she can reflect all of Korg’s thorns damage back on him. Just make sure you don’t plan on your parry stuns sticking when he has his rock stacks up.

Killmonger

Like Attuma and Korg, an awakened Dazzler can reflect Killmonger’s thorns damage. Just keep in mind that Killmonger has very high critical resistance, so less hits of your SP2 may crit than you expect. If you play the rhythm game right, your final hit will crit no matter what.

Bullseye

This is a very tricky matchup for Dazzler. If you play it perfectly, Dazzler can take down Bullseye faster than anyone else. If you don’t play it perfectly (and it's easy to mess up), it can be incredibly punishing. Dazzler needs to be at max sig to attempt this fight.

Ideally, you push Bullseye to his SP2, which is easier to dodge. Because Dazzler doesn’t use the dexterity mastery, she also doesn’t get instant bleeds when dodging Bullseye’s special attacks. However, you need Dazzler’s pursuit up to do so, which requires getting 10 tempo. At the start of a fight, it is not possible to get 10 hits in, so you will need to dodge the SP1 or take it on the block at least once. From there, make sure to keep an eye on your pursuit and push Bullseye to his SP2.

Also keep in mind that Bullseye can’t miss, meaning that the falter on your Dazzling Dash can’t save you from being hit on a failed intercept.

This is a full fight against Bullseye in Battlegrounds. I don't dex the SP1 properly, but it was in a meta where Attacker Health didn't matter.

Here is a video of the proper SP1 dex.

Spider-Woman

Dazzler is a perfect counter to Spider-Woman. Dazzler’s pursuit allows her to counter Spider-Woman’s evade and her dodge mechanic lets Dazzler dex attacks even when she has the fumble debuff.

Pavitr Prabhakar

Dazzler is not a very good counter to Pavitr. Dazzler needs her buffs on her SP2 to deal damage, and Pavitr inflicts a neutralize during special attacks, which will stop Dazzler’s buffs.

Wow, Dazzler Can Take...?

Mr. Sinister

Dazzler is great for Mr. Sinister despite his ability to regenerate from crits. Part of Dazzler’s ability to take this matchup is the reverb buff on her SP2, which adds red damage Mr. Sinister can’t regenerate from. As always with Mr. Sinister, you should avoid baiting 2 SP1s in a row and be mindful that his SP2 concussion can fail some of Dazzler’s abilities. Do not use a SP2 while you have that concussion.

Maestro

Dazzler works great for Maestro with a few caveats. First, Dazzler can still gain tempo even when glance is up, but she will not inflict her passive stun on block. Maestro’s glancing also only applies to basic attacks, so her special attacks will deal plenty of damage as usual.

Just ignore me getting hit in the face in the middle of this fight.

Photon

Dazzler has an advantage in this matchup because she can dodge Photon’s special attacks while she is in Pure Light Form. This can significantly reduce the block damage you take against her. Keep in mind in this matchup that Photon has energy resistance, so Dazzler will likely deal less damage than you anticipate on her SP2. Dazzler also has no ability to bypass Photon’s untouchable, and Photon has anti-miss abilities that can allow you to be hit during your Dazzling Dash. Despite all of these challenges, I still find Dazzler to be one of my go-to options for Photon.

These fights aren't perfect but are a good example of why Dazzler is good for Photon.

Nico Minoru

Dazzler is good for this match because she does not gain the dexterity buff and can avoid most of Nico’s poison damage from dexing her special attacks. However, she can still get poisoned if Nico charges a heavy attack or if Dazzler uses an SP2 while inflicted with buff immunity. The best way to take this fight is to play slowly to allow the buff immunity to fall off before going in for more damage. You can also use Dazzling Dash to punish the SP1 if Nico’s invisibility is on cooldown. If Nico does activate her invisibility, you can still punish the SP1, and Dazzler’s falter will shield you from being punished as you put invisibility on cooldown. A short video demonstrating this is below. Avoid letting Nico throw her SP2 at all costs, as you will need to wait for the buff immunity to fall off again before using your SP2.

Here is what it looks like to use Dazzling Dash to punish the SP1:

Here is a full fight against Nico. This is just a duel with a 4 star, but this rotation will close out any Battlegrounds fight against Nico Minoru.

And just for fun, here is what it looks like when you use the SP2 without noticing you have buff immunity on you:

Red Skull

The only reason this fight works well is because Dazzler can deal massive damage. You can take this fight by countering his SP1 with a heavy attack to build tempo and avoiding Red Skull’s SP2. Just make sure to avoid hitting Red Skull’s block, and keep in mind that you may deal less damage than usual because of Red Skull’s armor rating and your class disadvantage.

Here is an Alliance War fight against Red Skull. He is on Node 25, which has physical thorns.

Arcade

This fight also only works because of Dazzler’s damage output. Dazzler can also work here if you play well, as her Dazzling Dash can give her more openings to knock Arcade down to remove his tokens. Keep in mind that you may deal less damage than usual because of Arcade’s armor rating and your class disadvantage.

Defender Summary

Dazzler doesn’t have much going on defensively as long as you are aware of her few defensive threats. First, your critical damage rating will be set to zero, so don’t expect to do much damage via big yellow numbers. Second, you need to be aware of Dazzling Dash, which will falter you and stun you if it hits your block. Be very cautious intercepting Dazzler. Third, if you are dealing damage via rupture or corrosion, Dazzler will reflect that damage back at you while she is attacking you, even if she is hitting your block.

Gamemode Summary

In this section, I’ll cover the general rotation first, then highlight the gamemodes where you may need to adjust your approach or pay attention to additional details to perform effectively.

General Rotation Summary

When playing Dazzler, you can choose any of these 3 rotations for damage. In my experience, they each deal about the same amount of damage per bar of power spent, so the main deciding factor is whether the SP2 will end the fight. If it doesn’t, you can be looking at spending much more time in a fight than you might like.

SP1 - SP2

I consider this to be Dazzler’s standard rotation, and is usually enough to finish most fights in Battlegrounds where you and the defender are equal ranks.

SP1 - SP1 - SP2

I only occasionally use this rotation in Battlegrounds and usually reserve it for Mr. Sinister or other champions with high health (such as Maestro or Sasquatch).

SP3 - SP1 - SP2

I would never use this rotation in Battlegrounds, but it can be fun to do in places where the health pools are massive, like the Ordeal, Epoch of Pain, or Coliseum. Even then, it can be just as effective to do SP1 - SP2 over and over again. It is awesome to see the big yellow numbers, though. I don't have footage of this because there isn't an opponent without a damage cap and a health pool high enough to survive this rotation.