Chains up to four dashes on the beat for near-unkillable mobility.
Joy is a jungle assassin who dashes with Meow, Rhythm of Joy! and re-casts it up to four times by hitting an enemy or her own Leonin Crystal, using the crystal as a springboard through walls. Landing every dash on the beat maximizes her damage and, during her ultimate, grants 40% Spell Vamp — turning precise timing into both her burst and her sustain.
Landing every recast of Meow, Rhythm of Joy! on the musical beat for full damage and the perfect-rhythm bonus takes extensive practice against a moving target.
Max Meow, Rhythm of Joy! first for damage and mobility uptime, then Look, Leonin Crystal! for the springboard and slow; take Ha, Electrifying Beats! at 4, 8 and 12.
Joy becomes Angry! each time her skill hits a non-Minion enemy, dealing 100 (+80% Total Magic Power) Magic Damage. Magic Damage and increasing her Movement Speed by 60% that decays over 4s (hitting the Leonin Crystal will also grant the Movement Speed effect). This effect has a cooldown of 4s for each target. Joy's Basic Attack will deal 65 (+65% Total Physical Attack) (+65% Total Magic Power) Magic Damage.
Always active — no cooldown
Joy summons a Leonin Crystal at the target location, dealing 200 (+40% Total Magic Power) Magic Damage to nearby enemies and slowing them by 30% for 1s. The Leonin Crystal lasts 2 seconds and can be used as a springboard for her second skill, Meow, Rhythm of Joy!.
Joy dashes in the target direction, dealing 120 (+40% Total Magic Power) Magic Damage to enemies in her path. Hitting an enemy or the Leonin Crystal allows Joy to cast this skill again within 0.8 seconds and gain 1 Beat Energy. Casting this skill on the beat increases the skill damage by 100% and grants a 80 (+60% Total Magic Power) Magic Damage shield that lasts 3s. This skill can be cast up to 4 times in succession.
Joy increases her Physical & Magic Defense by 15 (+10% Total Magic Power) and gains 30% Movement Speed. Over the next 4s, she pulses 8 times, dealing 120 (+40% Total Magic Power) Magic Damage each time to nearby enemies. Each Meow, Rhythm of Joy! cast on the beat increases this skill's damage by 40%. If perfect rhythm is achieved by hitting every beat with Meow, Rhythm of Joy!, Joy also gains 40% Spell Vamp while this skill is active.
Our source cuts this description off mid-sentence — the rest is not shown.
Signature combo
Core items in buy order, with the emblem, talents and battle spell that go with them.
8,120g total
Default pick when Joy takes the jungle role and needs early objective control.
Battle spell
Retribution35s CDA well-timed Retribution on a low-HP objective — a 'smite steal' — can snatch Turtle or Lord away from a team that appeared to be securing it, often the single biggest swing play of the early-to-mid game.
Swap in when needed
Ice Queen Wand — Against dash-heavy assassins diving her before she can chain dashes away.
Winter Crown — Against burst assassins or mages threatening to kill her in one combo.
Divine Glaive — Against a stacked magic-defense frontline blunting her damage.
7,870g total
When drafted as a mobile mid-lane burst mage instead of jungle.
Battle spell
Flicker120s CDThe 'Flicker combo' — blinking in right as a hook or stun lands, or blinking out the instant an enemy ultimate is cast — is the single most common high-elo outplay moment in the game.
Swap in when needed
Clock of Destiny — For a longer game where scaling magic power outweighs early burst.
Winter Crown — Against a burst assassin or mage rotating mid to kill her.
Ice Queen Wand — Against a marksman she needs to slow down to actually catch.
The heroes that make this matchup hard, and the mechanic that does it.
CyclopsMageHardStar Power Lockdown's sphere chases Joy down wherever her dash chain goes and immobilizes her for up to two seconds, locking her out of the rhythm before she can chain to safety.
EudoraMageHardEudora's stunning burst combo threatens to one-shot Joy's low HP pool from range, and the stun cancels her rhythm chain before she can dash away.
HarleyAssassin · MageHardHarley's blink-teleport combo matches Joy's mobility hit for hit, and his burst damage kills her faster than she can chain dashes to safety.
KajaSupport · FighterHardKaja's ultimate suppresses Joy completely — an effect that ignores resilience and can't be removed — taking her mobility fully out of the fight.
OdetteMageHardOdette's ultimate deals a huge burst of magic damage in a wide circle with almost no way to dodge once cast, killing Joy's thin HP pool before her chained dashes carry her clear.
MoskovMarksmanSoftSpear of Misery and the global Spear of Destruction both hit from far outside Joy's effective dash range, letting him poke her down before she can close the distance to start her combo.
FredrinnFighter · TankSoftCrystalline Armor stores the damage Joy pours into him and converts it straight back into HP, and Energy Eruption's one-second taunt drags her out of her dash chain the moment she over-extends.
BrunoMarksmanSoftVolley Shot's Powerball slows Joy from range before her dash chain closes the gap, and Flying Tackle's stun cuts the rhythm short the moment she does.
FaramisSupport · MageSoftCult Altar's Specter state clears his team's debuffs and briefly resurrects them, so the burst Joy spends her whole dash chain landing simply gets undone.
DiggieSupportSoftAuto Alarm Bomb chases Joy down and slows her out of her rhythm, and Reverse Time yanks her back to where she was marked, undoing the whole dash chain.Heroes whose own counter list names Joy — the same matchup, read from the other side.
AuroraMageHardJoy chains Meow, Rhythm of Joy! up to four times off her Leonin Crystal, weaving through Aurora's freeze windows and reaching melee range before she can reposition.
BeatrixMarksmanHardJoy chains Meow, Rhythm of Joy! dashes off her Leonin Crystal to close the gap while on-beat casts shield her, so Beatrix's 0.6s weapon swap never buys the distance a basic-attack weapon like Wesker or Nibiru needs.
Luo YiMageHardJoy's chained on-beat dashes carry her straight past Luo Yi's sigils and into a burst combo a squishy mage can't survive.
LyliaMageHardJoy chains up to four Meow, Rhythm of Joy! dashes, each on-beat cast shielding her, so she closes through Lylia's slows and bursts her down before Black Shoes' 4-second window can save her.
NanaMageHardJoy's chained Meow, Rhythm of Joy! dashes weave through Magic Boomerang and Molina Blitz's paths entirely, closing distance risk-free before Nana can land a full combo.
PharsaMageHardJoy's on-beat Meow, Rhythm of Joy! chain shields her through Curse of Crow or Energy Impact and crosses Pharsa's poke range before she can react.Duo partners whose kit completes this one.
ValentinaMageJoy can chase down and finish a target that Valentina has just locked with a mimicked enemy ultimate, since her dash chain closes distance faster than most targets can recover.
CiciFighterCici and Joy can double-rotate the same lane; Curtain Call links two enemies and drags them together into range for Joy to finish with a chained dash combo.
MashaFighter · TankJoy can dash in to isolate a single enemy from their team, letting Wild Power's percent-HP basic attacks and Thunderclap run them down without interference.
PaquitoFighter · AssassinJoy's Leonin Crystal damages and slows a target before Paquito's Champ Stance combo knocks them back and slows them 75% with nowhere left to run.
MathildaSupport · AssassinMathilda's shield and speed buff can be used on Joy mid-dive, letting her survive long enough to land every beat of Meow, Rhythm of Joy! for the bonus damage and shield.
AngelaSupportHeartguard shields Joy from anywhere on the map and attaches Angela to her for the whole dash chain, letting her keep pouring Love Waves' healing in if the dive turns bad.
ZhuxinMageZhuxin's Lantern Flare stacks Soul Snare and lifts a group airborne, giving Joy a free, uncontested window to dash in and finish with her burst.
KhufraTankKhufra's ultimate pulls and stuns a clustered group, and Joy's dash chain lets her weave through them landing hits on every beat for the perfect-rhythm Spell Vamp.DiggieSupportDiggie's ultimate Time Journey can save Joy the instant a dash chain leaves her over-extended, clearing any CC and granting brief immunity to escape.
KaguraMageKagura's ultimate knocks a grouped enemy team outward, and Joy can chase down any straggler with her chained dashes before they reach safety.Weave basic attacks between beats since they don't break the rhythm and add free hybrid damage.
Drop Leonin Crystal near or through a wall to use it as a springboard escape route, not just an engage tool.
Chase a low-HP target with chained Meow, Rhythm of Joy! casts — each hit refreshes the 0.8s recast window.
Save the ultimate's perfect-rhythm Spell Vamp for extended skirmishes rather than opening a burst combo with it.
Cast Look, Leonin Crystal! before engaging so the slow is already active when you dash in.
No — Joy is one of the hardest heroes in Mobile Legends because her damage, shield and Spell Vamp all depend on landing dashes precisely on the musical beat, which takes real practice to feel out.
Swift Boots into Glowing Wand, Holy Crystal and Lightning Truncheon gives strong burst and attack-speed for weaving basics between dashes in the jungle role.
Kaja's suppression and Odette's inescapable burst both shut her mobility down entirely, and Cyclops's homing Star Power Lockdown immobilizes her mid-chain no matter where she dashes.
Jungle is her default role for early objective control with Retribution, but she flexes into mid lane as a mobile burst mage when the draft needs that instead.
