How to Play Mirage in Deadlock

Mirage is the newest addition to the slowly growing hero roster in Deadlock. The character can teleport to friends or foes as soon as they are revealed on the map. He uses a single-fire weapon that also applies a debuff on the enemy target, damaging them once it reaches a certain threshold.

There's certainly a learning curve to this hero, and the first couple of times you try, it might not go all that well. But once you understand the hero's abilities and item builds, things become a lot easier.

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By Artur Novichenko

Deadlock Mirage Overview & Ability Details

deadlock-mirage-attacking-enemy-guardian

Mirage gives off a heavy Egyptian vibe, using sand and scarabs as his main tool. It's the 22nd hero to be released in the game. His stats are pretty standard, featuring a decent ammo pool, DPS, and move speed. At first glance, Mirage's weapon looks similar to Haze's. But unlike Haze's quick-firing primary weapon, his weapon fires one shot at a time.

Like most heroes in Deadlock, Mirage has three standard abilities and an ultimate. Here's a quick breakdown of all his abilities:

Ability Name	Effects	Upgrades
Tornado	Transform yourself into a tornado that travels forward, damaging enemies and lifting them up in the air. After emerging from the tornado, you gain bullet evasion. Damage: 70 (0.7x Spirit scaling modifier) Lift Duration: 1.2s Bullet Evasion Chance: 25% Bullet Evasion Duration: 3.5s Tornado Radius: 3.5m Tornado Duration: 0.75s Cooldown: 32s	1 AP: +0.4s Duration 2 AP: -14s Cooldown 5 AP: +20% Bullet Evasion Chance
Fire Scarabs	Start launching fire scarabs. Each scarab can be launched separately, stealing max health from enemies and applying bullet resist reduction. Cannot apply multiple scarabs to the same enemy. The health gain from hitting heroes is 3x as effective as against non-heroes. Max Health Steal: 90 (0.9x Spirit scaling modifier) Max Scarabs: 4 Bullet Resist: -10% Launch Window: 5s Debuff Duration: 14s Heal vs Non-Heroes: 25% Cooldown: 32s	1 AP: -15s Cooldown 2 AP: -15% Bullet Resist 5 AP: +70 Max Health Steal
Djinn's Mark (Passive)	Your shots apply an increasing multiplier on the target. When the multiplier on a target expires, or you reach the max, it's consumed, and the target suffers Spirit Damage and is briefly revealed on the map. The final damage is the base damage times the multiplier. Base Damage: 16 (0.4x Spirit scaling modifier) Max Multiplier: 8x Cooldown Between Multiplier: 2.5s Multiplier Duration: 4.5s Reveal Duration: 2s	1 AP: Apply 80% Slow for 0.5s whenever you increase the multiplier 2 AP: +4s Multiplier Duration and +10 Base Damage 5 AP: -0.5s Cooldown Between Multiplier and +4 Max Multiplier
Traveler	Channeled. Target an ally or visible enemy hero on the minimap, then teleport to where they were when your channel started. After teleporting, you gain movement speed as well as fire rate until your next reload. Channel Duration: 2.5s Move Speed: +2m/s Fire Rate: +20% Move Speed Duration: 4s Cooldown: 130s	1 AP: -20s Cooldown 2 AP: +2m/s Move Speed 5 AP: +20% Fire Rate

Ability Name

Effects

Upgrades

Tornado

Transform yourself into a tornado that travels forward, damaging enemies and lifting them up in the air. After emerging from the tornado, you gain bullet evasion.

Damage: 70 (0.7x Spirit scaling modifier)
Lift Duration: 1.2s
Bullet Evasion Chance: 25%
Bullet Evasion Duration: 3.5s
Tornado Radius: 3.5m
Tornado Duration: 0.75s
Cooldown: 32s

1 AP: +0.4s Duration

2 AP: -14s Cooldown

5 AP: +20% Bullet Evasion Chance

Fire Scarabs

Start launching fire scarabs. Each scarab can be launched separately, stealing max health from enemies and applying bullet resist reduction. Cannot apply multiple scarabs to the same enemy. The health gain from hitting heroes is 3x as effective as against non-heroes.

Max Health Steal: 90 (0.9x Spirit scaling modifier)
Max Scarabs: 4
Bullet Resist: -10%
Launch Window: 5s
Debuff Duration: 14s
Heal vs Non-Heroes: 25%
Cooldown: 32s

1 AP: -15s Cooldown

2 AP: -15% Bullet Resist

5 AP: +70 Max Health Steal

Djinn's Mark (Passive)

Your shots apply an increasing multiplier on the target. When the multiplier on a target expires, or you reach the max, it's consumed, and the target suffers Spirit Damage and is briefly revealed on the map. The final damage is the base damage times the multiplier.

Base Damage: 16 (0.4x Spirit scaling modifier)
Max Multiplier: 8x
Cooldown Between Multiplier: 2.5s
Multiplier Duration: 4.5s
Reveal Duration: 2s

1 AP: Apply 80% Slow for 0.5s whenever you increase the multiplier

2 AP: +4s Multiplier Duration and +10 Base Damage

5 AP: -0.5s Cooldown Between Multiplier and +4 Max Multiplier

Traveler

Channeled. Target an ally or visible enemy hero on the minimap, then teleport to where they were when your channel started. After teleporting, you gain movement speed as well as fire rate until your next reload.

Channel Duration: 2.5s
Move Speed: +2m/s
Fire Rate: +20%
Move Speed Duration: 4s
Cooldown: 130s

1 AP: -20s Cooldown

2 AP: +2m/s Move Speed

5 AP: +20% Fire Rate

The explosion damage from Djinn's Mark can be triggered early by pressing the ability button.

Mirage Build Guide (Ability Order & Item Progression) in Deadlock

Mirage's abilities make him a versatile hero who can be played in different ways. You can play as a disabler focusing on your first and second abilities, as a ganker with his ultimate, or even as the primary DPS of your team, thanks to his third ability. For this guide, we'll focus on buffing up his DPS to take advantage of his third. Here's how the build works:

Mirage Ability Order

You'll want to unlock Djinn's Mark first for a DPS Mirage build. This will allow you to deal extra damage to your lane opponent any time you land a shot. Even if you don't manage to build up a big stack, the base damage from one stack of Djinn's Mark is decent enough for the laning phase. Unlock Fire Scarabs next, and then go with Tornado. Like with other heroes, unlock Traveler when it becomes available.

You'll want to invest all your early APs into Djinn's Mark and push it up to the max level as early as possible. It gives you four extra stacks at the max level, reducing the cooldown between each multiplier. Once it's maxed out, upgrade Tornado twice to reduce its cooldown and then put 1 AP into Traveler. After that, upgrade Life Scarabs to the maximum level and put 5 AP into Tornado. Put the rest of your APs into Traveler.

Mirage Item Progression

Mirage's weapon damage is pretty good right off the bat. Since we're playing as the main DPS, we'll be going for items that buff up both his weapon damage and his Spirit Power to take advantage of his high spirit scaling abilities. Here are the items you'll want to build on the hero throughout the game.

Early Game

Hollow Point Ward
Restorative Shot
Mystic Burst
Extra Spirit
Sprint Boots
Healing Rite (Situational)
Monster Rounds (Situational)

Hollow Point Ward and Restorative Shot are two essential laning items for Mirage, offering him a decent boost in damage and some sustain. With Restorative Shot, you'll be able to keep your health topped off while poking your lane opponent. Healing Rite is a good optional pickup to top off your health if the opponent keeps poking you with shots. But if you don't need additional healing, go for Mystic Burst and Extra Spirit to increase your overall Spirit Damage output. Once that's done, go for Sprint Boots for mobility. Monster Rounds is extremely situational, and only go for it if the opponent keeps shoving the lane towards your tower.

Mid Game

Soul Shredder Bullets
Enchanter's Barrier
Spirit Lifesteal
Improved Burst
Surge of Power
Improved Spirit
Ricochet
Enduring Speed
Debuff Reducer (Situational)
Knockdown (Situational)
Metal Skin (Situational)

Soul Shredder Bullets is a core item for Mirage in the Mid Game because of how much Spirit Damage the hero can apply. It also gives you some Spirit Lifesteal. Echanter's Barrier and Spirit Lifesteal are the next items you'll want to go for to give yourself extra health and healing. After that, go for three purple items: Improved Burst, Surge of Power, and Improved Spirit. These items naturally build into key late-game items for Mirage.

Ricochet is a must-buy on the hero since you're focusing on Djinn's Mark. The bouncing bullets from this item also apply stacks, which means you'll be able to trigger the effect on multiple enemies during fights. Finally, upgrade your Sprint Boots to Enduring Speed, and you'll be all set in terms of your core items.

Situationally, Debuff Reducer can be useful if you're having trouble with the enemy team's crowd control abilities. Metal Skin can help save you against weapon damage. Healbane is another good choice when you're up against tanky heroes like Abrams. And if you're looking for some extra disable yourself, Knockdown is a cheap active item that's worth picking up on Mirage.

Late Game

Warp Stone
Superior Duration
Siphon Bullets/Leech (Pick 1)
Spiritual Overflow
Boundless Spirit
Mystic Reverb (Situational)
Debuff Remover (Situational)
Unstoppable (Situational)

Warp Stone is an amazing item not only on Mirage but on any heroes in Deadlock. The instant teleport effect can help you get in good positions or escape when things turn south. You want to pick it up as soon as your core items are covered on Mirage. After that, go for Superior Duration to increase the duration of your Tornado. Siphon Bullets and Leech are good items on the hero, but one between the two should be enough to give you enough sustain and Lifesteal.

Boundless Spirit and Spiritual Overflow are the two final major damage items you'll need to wrap up this build. At times, Mystic Reverb can be a good choice, too, for the extra Spirit Damage. Debuff Remover is useful against heroes like Pocket, who constantly apply negative effects on your character. But if the crowd control in the enemy team is too much to handle, Unstoppable is always a nice final item to get.

How to Play Mirage in Deadlock

Mirage is typically a solo laner because of how hard it is to trade with the hero one-on-one, thanks to his Djinn's Mark ability. Although the damage is low at the early levels, you'll want to consistently apply it any chance you get. If you manage to get a full stack of Djinn's Mark on the enemy target, it can easily lead to a kill.

The hero also has a decent attack animation and projectile speed, which makes securing souls with the hero pretty easy. When you get to the lane, try to get as many last hits as you can while poking the hero with your shots to build up stacks. Once you unlock all your abilities and have more items under your belt, start playing aggressively. With a few Djinn’s Mark stacks built up, you can go in with Tornado and use Fire Scarabs to steal health from the enemy.

You can use Tornado while reloading to make yourself invulnerable for a while when you're in a tricky spot.

When Mirage gets his ultimate, he reaches a massive power spike. You can use it offensively to connect with your team if they're setting up for a kill, offering some extra firepower and crowd contro l, or defensively to get out of a tricky spot by teleporting to your allies. During team fights, you'll want to play from the backline. This hero has an excellent attack range, and the damage fall-off isn't that noticeable when you're far back. Use your weapon to build up stacks from a distance. Life Scarabs is also effective from a distance, and Tornado serves mostly as an escape tool in this build.

When used from a distance, Life Scarabs has a downward trajectory.

The hero can quickly close distance as soon as an enemy is revealed on the map. So, if you're snowballing and are ahead in terms of items and Souls, push your advantage by keeping the pressure up. Anytime you see enemies on the map, and your abilities are off cooldown, try to look for kill opportunities.

Mirage is certainly an interesting addition to Deadlock, featuring unique abilities. As the game evolves and meta shifts, the build for this hero will certainly change. For the time being, feel free to try out this Mirage build in your Deadlock games and let us know how it goes.

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