How to Play Moon Knight in Marvel Rivals

Moon Knight is the only Duelist whose damage scales with how the enemy team stands. Crescent Darts ricochet between up to four enemies, Ancient Ankhs stick to walls as extra bounce points, and every Moon Blade hit builds bonus health. He is not a duelist in the traditional sense — he is a crowd-control damage dealer who wins by firing into groups from high ground.

Role and difficulty

Duelist. Moon Knight has 275 health. Difficulty Hard (3/5). He fights from elevated positions and chokepoints, placing ankhs on walls above enemy routes, and uses the grapple and glider to hold angles others cannot reach.

Abilities and what they actually do

• Crescent Dart (Normal Attack): Key numbers: DAMAGE — 25 per round; AMMO — 30; PROJECTILE SPEED — 150m/s.
• Hand of Khonshu (Abilities): Open a portal that allows Khonshu to bombard enemies with his talons.
• Moon Blade (Abilities): Key numbers: DAMAGE — 70; PROJECTILE SPEED — 120m/s.
• Night Glider (Abilities): Key numbers: MOVEMENT SPEED — 8.7m/s (horizontal speed) - 1.5m/s (descent speed).
• Ancient Ankh (Abilities): Key numbers: COOLDOWN — 12s; PROJECTILE SPEED — 60m/s.
• Moonlight Hook (Abilities): Launch a frontal grappling hook that pulls Moon Knight towards it. Key numbers: COOLDOWN — 12s; RANGE — 25m; PROJECTILE SPEED — 120m/s; CAST TIME — 0.15s.
• Triple Eclipse (Abilities): Key numbers: RANGE — 3m.
• Rising Leap (Abilities): Key numbers: COOLDOWN — 6s.

Ankhs, bounces, and the -20% rule

Crescent Dart throws three blades that ricochet between up to four enemies — and each bounce deals 20% less damage, so the value is in hitting many targets, not chaining one. Ancient Ankh places up to two sticky discs on any surface that serve as ricochet points and pull enemies toward the impact; the core combo is landing an ankh and immediately casting Moon Blade for an instant 85 damage. Moon Blade is the heavy version — 80 damage per hit with 25 bonus health per enemy hit, on two charges. Moonlight Hook is a 25-meter grapple on a 15-second cooldown; aimed at your own feet it launches you upward for a secondary jump. Night Glider converts height into forward distance. Hand of Khonshu opens a portal that bombards the area with claws dealing 100 damage each at roughly five per second — it is an area denial tool, and without crowd control holding enemies inside, they simply walk out.

How to play Moon Knight

1. Fire Crescent Darts into grouped enemies from high ground; the ricochets chip the whole team.
2. Place Ancient Ankhs above entrances and chokepoints, out of reach of enemies who would destroy them.
3. Cast Moon Blade immediately after an ankh lands for the instant 85-damage combo.
4. Weave Moon Blade charges between Crescent Dart volleys to build 25 bonus health per hit.
5. Use the ankh pull to waste a flanker’s dash cooldown during their start-up.
6. Cast Hand of Khonshu onto enemies held by your team’s crowd control, not into open ground.

Matchups

Moon Knight shreds grouped teams and dominates chokepoints from elevation, and his ankh pull punishes divers who commit on predictable routes. Spread teams and large maps where enemies never clump waste his entire kit, and his single-target damage without ankh is poor. He is one of the few Duelists who can contest his own airspace with the grapple and glider.

Strengths (per the wiki):

• A long-ranged, area-of-effect specialist with high mobility who excels at dealing conditional damage to multiple enemies grouped together.
• Has access to a double jump.
• Can glide upon reaching a certain height.
• Has access to a grappling hook, which pulls Moon Knight towards the location.
• • If the player aims it directly downwards while on the ground, Moon Knight will be launched upwards instead.
• His primary fire, Crescent Dart, is the core of his gameplay, being unique as it can bounce between enemies close to each other, up to three times.
• • Crescent Dart will also bounce between the doppelganger illusions spawned by Loki.
• • It can also bounce between his Ancient Ankh.
• His secondary fire, Moon Blade, launches a projectile in a straight line that deals higher damage than his Crescent Dart, but is limited by a cooldown.
• • Much like Crescent Dart, it can also ricochet between enemies and Ancient Ankhs.
• • Moon Blade can be fired immediately after using primary fire. It can be used to cancel primary fire’s recovery frames.
• Ancient Ankh is a tool that further enables Moon Knight’s kit and makes his projectile ricocheting even stronger. Both his Crescent Dart and Moon Blade will ricochet from it to any enemy within the Ankh’s spell field range. This gives his ricochets an exceptional area-of-effect and allows the player to strategically deal quick burst damage to isolated enemies.
• • When thrown, the Ankh briefly pulls enemies towards it while dealing a small amount of damage.
• • The Ankh can be attached to any surface, and will remain there indefinitely until destroyed.
• ** Ankhs persist even if the surfaces they are placed on are destroyed.
• ** A maximum of two Ankhs may be active at any time.
• His melee attack, Triple Eclipse, is a three-hit combo with his truncheons. The third strike briefly knocks enemies up. It may be used to provide space between an attacker when Moon Knight is attacked in close range.
• His Ultimate, Hand of Khonshu, creates a large radial portal in the location, creating a spell field that deals high multi-hit damage.
• • It is most effective when used in choke points and areas where enemies are grouped together.
• Relies heavily on grouped enemy positioning to achieve the most damage.
• Relatively poor single target damage compared to other Duelists unless an Ankh is used.
• His Crescent Dart and Moon Blade have a damage falloff of -20% per bounce.
• Not as useful in larger maps where the enemy team is less likely to stay close to each other.
• His effectiveness falls significantly when Ancient Ankh is on cooldown.
• Hand of Khonshu is relatively easy to avoid unless the enemies are under some crowd control effect.

Weaknesses (per the wiki):

• Relies heavily on grouped enemy positioning to achieve the most damage.
• Relatively poor single target damage compared to other Duelists unless an Ankh is used.
• His Crescent Dart and Moon Blade have a damage falloff of -20% per bounce.
• Not as useful in larger maps where the enemy team is less likely to stay close to each other.
• His effectiveness falls significantly when Ancient Ankh is on cooldown.
• Hand of Khonshu is relatively easy to avoid unless the enemies are under some crowd control effect.

Team-ups

• Luminous Moon (with Cloak & Dagger, Season 9.0: The Mystery of Thebes): Enter Phased state and dash forward while emitting a Light Energy Healing Wave that heals Moon Knight and nearby allies. Enhanced: When teaming up with Cloak & Dagger, the Phased state duration is extended and the dash distance increases. Upon ending, Moon Knight gains Continuous Healing, while the radius of the Light Energy Healing Wave is expanded and its healing output increased.
• Blood Moon (with Elsa Bloodstone, Season 9.0: The Mystery of Thebes): Deploy an Ankh Trap. Upon triggering, an Ankh materializes at the location, while summoning a single Talon of Khonshu to Launch enemies toward the trap’s center. Enhanced: When teaming up with Elsa Bloodstone, triggering the trap summons multiple Talons of Khonshu to bombard the area.

Related guides

• Heroes Database
• Abilities Database
• Flank Routes Guide
• How To Play Cloak & Dagger
• How To Play Elsa Bloodstone

Common mistakes

• Firing at spread-out enemies, where the ricochets never chain
• Placing ankhs low, where the enemy team deletes them before they pay off
• Expecting Hand of Khonshu to secure kills without crowd control holding targets inside
• Chasing single targets — his damage is built for groups, not duels
• Wasting Moonlight Hook on offense and having no answer to the next dive