How to play Mirage in Apex Legends

Apex Legends exploded on Twitch after its release in February 2019. The game has continued to shake up the formula by basing its game around 16 characters with their own unique traits and abilities.

One of these characters is Mirage, a trickster, a show-boater, someone who only exists to confuse enemy squads as much as possible to send them spiraling out of control. He is the perfect choice for those lone wolf players who prefer to split up from their squads to carry a team to glory.

Get a bit tricky with how you use him and you’ll be picking up a slew of battle royale victories in no time.

Passive: Now You See Me…

Mirage’s passive became more powerful following its buff in summer 2020. Whereas Mirage previously cloaked himself for five seconds and dropped a decoy when he was knocked down by an enemy, this invisibility is now triggered in other situations as well.

Mirage becomes invisible when he aids a downed ally, which can truly turn the tide of a fight if you have an ally or another squad to create a diversion. The trickster is also invisible when respawning allies from a beacon. 

On the other side, his invisibility when he is downed took a nerf since his holo emitters can be seen by enemies who are less than five meters away from him, allowing them to easily finish him if he’s focused. It’s also canceled when he is outside the ring and takes continuous damage.

Q: Psyche Out

Psyche Out is the other ability that was heavily buffed last summer. Its previous version sent the same holographic decoy in a single direction to confuse an enemy. When it encountered an obstacle or reached its maximum distance, the decoy simply stopped moving until it disappeared. But now, Mirage can also control the decoy.

When pushing the control key (H on PC by default), the decoy mimics Mirage’s movements. So if he runs in one direction, he can be followed by his decoy, or he can oriented it to the opposite direction to increase his chances of escape in a fight by making an enemy to chase his decoy, for example.

The decoy can replicate almost every movement of Mirage, except climbing walls and riding ziplines. It makes it almost impossible for the enemy to instantly differentiate the decoy from the real Mirage, unless it hits a wall or runs in a weird direction. 

It lasts longer now, with a duration of 60 seconds, and it’s also dispelled when another decoy is used. His cooldown lasts 15 seconds only, which can allow several strategic plays in one fight.

His decoy’s HP received several buffs. Enemy players have to sometimes spend several bullets into the decoy to destroy it, since it has 45 HP. But when the decoy takes damage, visual indicators show it’s only a decoy, so the cleverest enemies can turn around and aim at you even without destroying the decoy.

There’s more. Now, Mirage can create two decoys of his squad when they fall from the dropship at the start of the game. It boasts several uses, from discouraging other players to land in the same spot as you by creating the illusion there will be two more squads to face off against, or on the contrary, force them to land near you if you want to fight by creating decoys on the locations around the one you chose.

Ultimate: Life of the Party

Mirage’s ultimate ability is a perfect escape tool as it deploys a large wave of Decoys on your current spot to distract enemies while you cloak away. It’s meant to cause confusion and give you the chance to either escape a perilous situation or give you the upper hand—a literal ace up your sleeve.

The only issue is, you’ll be unable to use a weapon for a few seconds after you use this ability and you can still be seen by enemies up close. This can leave you vulnerable, so be sure to run when you use it.

If used correctly, you should be able to re-position and use the confusion of your enemies to obtain the high ground and take them all out with ease, putting you one step closer towards being a champion.

Mirage’s ultimate received an indirect buff due to the increased HP of his decoys, but it’s still a risky tool to use. His passive has become even more powerful than its ultimate in their current state.