Mirage is Deadlock’s latest hero, and he’s a lethal drain tank with a ton of rotation power. However, he takes some serious game knowledge and the right build to function. There’s a lot you’ll need to learn if you want to win matches with him.
For every thing he does well, Mirage has a huge downside. Great CC, sustain, and rotation power but very poor jungle clear, a situational ult, and a less than stellar weapon that makes laning hard. If you’re able to get out of the lane phase and hit teamfights at the right time, he’s a lethal hero. If you fall behind, though? Things aren’t going to go well.
Fortunately, we’ve got the right build to make this hero shine so he can… conquer Wisconsin? Sure, Valve, whatever floats your boat I guess.
Here’s the best build for Mirage in Deadlock, including all the items you’ll need to make up for his weaknesses and his best ability max path.
Is Mirage good in Deadlock?
Mirage is a mixed bag, ultimately landing him in B-Tier on the Deadlock tier list. Unlike most other heroes in the game, he really needs support from his team to be effective. Bad clear and a weak early game make him vulnerable early on, though he makes up for it in the mid game once he starts rotating around the map.
He’s got a steep learning curve, but he can do well in the right hands. Just don’t solo queue with him, you’ll want friends to make the most of his kit.
Mirage abilities explained: What should you max?
| Ability | Description | Upgrades |
|---|---|---|
| Tornado | Transform yourself into a tornado that travels forward, damaging enemies and lifting them into the air. After emerging from the tornado you gain bullet evasion. | +1: +0.5 lift duration+2: -14 second cooldown+5: +20% bullet evasion (the base is 30%, this brings it up to 50% total) |
| 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. Health gain from heroes is 3x more effective than against non-heroes. | +1: -15 second cooldown+2: -15% bullet resist+5: +70 max health steal |
| Djinn’s Mark | Passive: Your shots apply an increasing multiplier on a target. When the multiplier on a target expires or you reach its max, it’s consumed. The target suffers Spirit damage and is briefly revealed on the map. The final damage is the base times the multiplier.Active: Consume multiplier of Djinn’s Mark to deal damage now. | +1: Apply 80% slow for 0.5 seconds whenever you increase the multiplier.+2: +4 second Multiplier duration and +10 base damage.+5: +4 max multiplier (the base is 8, this brings it up to 12) |
| Traveler | Channeled. Target an ally or visible enemy hero on the minimap, then teleport to where they were when your channel started. After teleporting, gain movement speed as well as fire rate until your next reload. | +1: -20 second cooldown+2: +2 m/s movespeed+5: +20% fire rate |
Djinn’s Mark is Mirage’s bread and butter, and getting it maxed early is an absolute must in terms of making it an effective ability. While it doesn’t do much immediate burst damage, the massive slow on it combined with how easy it is to apply make it useful for controlling a fight. Optimizing how you use this ability is essential for succeeding as Mirage.
As such, you’ll want to max it out ASAP, followed by getting points in his 2 for the healing and prot shred and his ult for making him more effective when rotating. His 1 is pretty great at a base level, so don’t worry about investing extra points in it.
Best items to build on Mirage
Items here are divided into four sections: Early game, mid game, late game/luxury items if you’re ahead, and situational items that can be bought at different points in the match depending on what you need.
Early Game items
Weapon Items:
- Basic Magazine: Mirage’s mag size is pretty small, so you’ll want to get more bullets ASAP.
- High-Velocity Mag: An all-around good buy with some nice early bullet shielding.
- Headshot Booster: Mirage’s 3 slowing people down makes headshots easy to land, so you’ll get a lot of value here.
Vitality Items:
- Extra Health: Generally good for staying alive longer. Mirage has built-in sustain, so getting raw HP is a solid call if you’re looking to live longer. Can be subbed out for Healing Rite if you’re getting crushed in lane.
- Sprint Boots: You’ll be rotating a lot on this hero, so getting Sprint Boots early on is nice. You’ll want to upgrade these some time in the mid game.
- Note: You can go Stamina here as well, but Mirage has decent mobility with his 1 and has limited Vitality slots. Sprint Boots are better overall.
Spirit Items:
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- Mystic Burst: Mirage doesn’t do a ton of burst, but this’ll add a chunk of damage to his 3 proc.
- Quicksilver Reload: Perfect for Mirage’s 3, it’ll give you an instant reload on a low cooldown.
Mid Game items
Weapon Items:
- Berserker: Mirage wants long, drawn-out fights, so he gets some big benefits from this item.
- Headhunter: Good for the same reason Headshot Booster is, except just a better item overall.
- Titanic Magazine: You’ll want this earlier than you’d want it on most other heroes considering just how much Mirage needs more bullets, even with Quicksilver Reload.
Vitality Items:
- Combat Barrier: Considering how rotation-heavy Mirage is, having shields is a huge boon. Combat Barrier’s weapon damage boost is a nice-to-have. And remember, any Vitality item purchased boosts your max health, so you’re not sacrificing a lot to grab this.
- Healbane: Mirage’s damage lasts a long while and he can pop his 3 at any time to apply this item, so it’s great value against pretty much anyone with healing.
- Veil Walker: Just a great item to have if you’re roaming around the map. Since your camp clear sucks, getting back to lane fast is essential, and this’ll help you soak some of the damage with shielding if you’re getting pressured out.
Spirit Items:
- Torment Pulse: This is pretty much the only way you’re ever gonna have decent camp clear, but it’s also solid for getting some bonus damage in and proccing your spirit items when Tornado’ing in.
- Suppressor: Great for taking trades and building into Mystic Slow later on.
- Improved Burst: You should have your 3 maxed by this point, and you’ll be able to proc Mystic Burst with it.
Late Game Items
Weapon Items:
- Intensifying Magazine: Mirage’s slow fire rate gives this a lot of value once you’ve got Titanic Magazine, but you’ll want the mid game Weapon Items before you pick this up.
- Pristine Emblem: Fantastic for starting a fight when rotating into a lane, plus it provides some bonus tank stats.
- Ricochet: This item is an absolute must have. If you find yourself with 6200 souls early, you can just buy this outright and get a ton of value. This’ll stack your 3 like nothing else and provide you with a huge power spike across the board.
- Spiritual Overflow: Giving yourself some bonus damage on your abilities can really pay off, but this is the least important of the Weapon Items here.
Vitality Items:
- Leech: Pretty much the only sustain item that’ll give you real value since it’ll reduce the effectiveness of enemies’ anti heal against your scarabs.
- Siphon Bullets: This becoming a Vitality item was a nerf for most characters, but it’s a great fit for Mirage. He’s got enough Weapon Items to buy as it is, so having this is a great bonus if you’re short on Flex Slots and want a power spike.
Spirit Items:
- Mystic Slow: As if your 3 didn’t slow enough, this can make it slow even more. Combined with the DoT on your 2, this item makes you basically Kelvin with sand.
- Escalating Exposure: DoT someone with a scarab and then pop your 3 for a big burst of damage. Also pairs well with Torment Pulse.
- Diviner’s Kevlar: Gain a ton of shield when you TP into a fight. The shield applies before your ult’s channel wraps up, so this can be a great get out of jail free card.
Situational Items
Weapon Items:
- Warp Stone: An easy situational choice if you need some extra mobility, but a bit of a hard sell considering how many weapon items are necessary on Mirage.
- Lucky Shot: If you’re looking for some extra late-game carry potential, this is a good choice.
- Toxic Bullets: If Healbane isn’t doing the job, this’ll give you the extra anti heal you need.
Vitality Items:
- Improved Bullet Armor/Spirit Armor: These are both good buys if you find yourself needing more tankiness earlier on and shields aren’t doing the job. Buy these in place of your shield items like Veil Walker and Combat Barrier.
- Enchanter’s Barrier: The bonus Spirit Damage on this item isn’t quite as effective as the bonus Weapon Damage on Combat Barrier, but it can still be a good option against heavy Spirit Damage.
Spirit Items:
- Withering Whip: You won’t have too many issues slowing a target down, but you can kill their attack speed with this. Combined with Suppressor, this’ll make any carry’s life a lot harder.
- Boundless Spirit: A luxury item, but one that isn’t overly efficient. It’s a nice-to-have, but you won’t need it unless you’re super late in the game and want the bonus movement speed/Spirit Damage.
- Surge of Power: Surprisingly good paired with your 3 for the sake of chasing down targets.
That’s everything you need to know in order to build Mirage! He’s certainly the type of character that’d release in an Alpha, someone whose kit has a lot of strengths, a lot of weaknesses, and not a whole lot in between. His downsides are crippling, but his strengths are incredibly good.
Check out our Deadlock tier list to see where every other hero ranks.