Apex Legends Mirage character guide: How to master the holographic trickster's decoys
How to unlock Mirage and make the most of his decoys in Apex Legends
If you want to add Apex Legends Mirage to your roster of heroes then you'll need to spend some Legend tokens, but if you do then you'll access a set of abilities designed to confuse your opponents and send them into disarray. These include being able to produce and send out decoy versions of your character, to trick your enemies into revealing their locations. He's a difficult hero to master for newer Apex Legends players, and if you're not getting the best from his bamboozling powers then he can feel underpowered, so if you want to give this trickster a proper shot then read up on the details in our Apex Legends Mirage guide.
We've also got an overview of all the best Apex Legends characters, along with detailed guides for each one individually below.
Apex Legends Bangalore | Apex Legends Bloodhound | Apex Legends Caustic | Apex Legends Crypto | Apex Legends Gibraltar | Apex Legends Lifeline | Apex Legends Loba | Apex Legends Octane | Apex Legends Pathfinder | Apex Legends Revenant | Apex Legends Wattson | Apex Legends Wraith
Apex Legends Mirage ultimate and abilities explained
Every Legend in Apex Legends has three abilities; a passive, tactical, and ultimate. Mirage's passive, named "Encore!", is easily the weakest of his three abilities, rarely finding itself useful, since all it does is send out a decoy when you go down and turn Mirage invisible for a short while. Unless you're in the middle of a chaotic firefight and there's multiple players all around you, enemies will usually just wait for you to become visible again before finishing you off.
When it comes to Mirage's tactical, "Psyche Out", you have some serious power at your fingertips if you use it correctly. This sends out a holographic decoy in the direction you're aiming, who will only stop if there's an obstacle in his path. When used in the middle of a fight, this decoy can provide the perfect opportunity to shoot at enemies as they're confused by the imaginary man. If they don't see you send him on his way, it will almost always do the trick for a few seconds.
"Vanishing Act", the Mirage ultimate, is very hit and miss. The first few times you use it you'll probably be underwhelmed; a bunch of decoys run out and you become invisible, but then they simply stand still a few feet in front of you. As ultimates go, it's not great, but there's a trick to it. If you deploy the Mirage ultimate while on a ledge - as long as some of the decoys drop down - they will continue running just like the "Psyche Out" decoy.
How to play Mirage in Apex Legends - Tips & tricks
With all that said, here are a few key tips on how to use Mirage in Apex Legends and make the most out of his abilities.
- Crawl for your life when Encore! activates - If you get knocked down, remember to just crawl away as quickly as your knees will carry you. You're invisible for just a few seconds so if you can find a corner to hide in while your teammates frag out, you'll have a chance of survival.
- Use Psyche Out frequently, even when not in combat - Tactical abilities in Apex Legends regenerate quickly - Psyche Out takes just 12 seconds - so if you're running from one location to the next, try sending out a decoy before you go round any corners. If there's enemies waiting nearby, they'll almost certainly shoot at your decoy and give away their position. Then of course, use it as much as possible in battle because it should buy you a few extra seconds.
- Remember to use Vanishing Act when elevated - We mention it above but we cannot stress how much better Vanishing Act is when you can make the decoys continue running. Of course, if you're in a pinch then use it as needed but if you have the luxury of waiting, try and jump up somewhere high before activating it.
How does the Mirage hitbox compare to other Legends?
One other aspect you have to take into consideration when using Mirage in Apex Legends is the size of his hitbox. We go into much more detail in our Apex Legends hitboxes guide, but for Mirage specifically, he's in the middle of the park. Mirage is exactly the same size as Bangalore, which is bigger than Wraith, Lifeline, and Bloodhound, but smaller than Pathfinder, Caustic, and Gibraltar. If you want to play a super small character than Mirage isn't the one, but he's not oversized either.
Mirage voice actor - Roger Craig Smith
As an addendum, if you recognise Mirage's voice from somewhere, we may be able to shed some light as to why. Roger Craig Smith is the man behind the decoy-fuelled deviant, and he's previously voiced Ezio Auditore da Firenze in Assassin's Creed, Chris Redfield in Resident Evil, and most importantly, he's the current voice of Sonic the Hedgehog. Gotta go fast!
Mirage is one of our favourite Legends in the game due to his ability to trick other players, so go out there and start bamboozling!
Apex Legends tips | How to download Apex Legends | Apex Legends cross platform | Apex Legends battle pass | Apex Legends map | Apex Legends Finishers | Best Apex Legends weapons | Apex Legends heirlooms | Apex Legends crafting metal guide | Apex Legends loot tick locations | Apex Legends Nessy locations | Apex Legends loot vault
Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter
Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more
Give me a game and I will write every "how to" I possibly can or die trying. When I'm not knee-deep in a game to write guides on, you'll find me hurtling round the track in F1, flinging balls on my phone in Pokemon Go, pretending to know what I'm doing in Football Manager, or clicking on heads in Valorant.
After 5 years, Apex Legends is going back to the beginning with a Fortnite-style mode letting you experience the launch version of the battle royale FPS
Apex Legends was a top 50 Steam Deck game, but EA's dropping Valve's handheld because it can't tell if those players are actually dirty cheating Linux users