Weapon
pistol (Promises Kept). A slow, heavy-hitting hitscan pistol: roughly 14.8 damage per bullet at 2.72 shots/sec for about 40 DPS, 16-round clip, 2.6s reload, 20m-58m falloff. Low fire rate means each bullet matters, and every bullet is a Djinn's Mark applicator — which is why Ricochet is a core late item on him.
Abilities
Fire Scarabs
Ability 1 · targeted damage-over-time debuff with life steal Mirage infests an enemy with scarabs that siphon life from them back to him and reduce the damage they deal.
What it is for: His sustain engine and his single-target debuff. Against multiple infested targets he heals continuously, which is what lets him stay in a brawl he otherwise has no durability for, and the damage reduction blunts whoever is trying to kill him.
- Damage
- Drains 8 health per second at base rank (deadlock.one). 35s cooldown with 2 charges per deadlock.io.
- Crowd control
- No CC, but the damage reduction on the infested target is a meaningful soft debuff.
- Defensive
- The life steal plus the enemy damage reduction is a double-sided defensive effect, and it is his primary reason for surviving fights.
How to play against it
- Apply anti-heal (Healbane / Toxic Bullets) — the ability's value is entirely the heal-back, and cutting the rate removes his ability to brawl.
- Break line of sight and disengage for the duration rather than trading through it; feeding him the drain is how he wins attrition.
- Since the damage reduction lands on whoever he infests, have a different teammate take the damage-dealing role for those seconds.
Interactions
- Two charges means he can infest two heroes and double the drain; his sustain scales with how many enemies he can touch.
- It is the highest-win-rate opening skill alongside Djinn's Mark (60.9% WR per deadlocklabs.gg).
- Anti-heal items cut the drain, which is the standard answer to him.
Upgrade tiers
- Upgrade tiers raise the drain and duration; specific tier values not sourced on the pages checked. Deadlocklabs.gg notes it as a priority skill in the winning opener.
Dust Devil
Ability 2 · self-transforming forward dash tornado with lift Mirage becomes a whirlwind that travels forward, damaging enemies in its path, slowing their movement and lifting them into the air. When he exits the tornado he gains bullet evasion.
What it is for: His engage, his initiation and his defensive reset. It closes distance, catches multiple enemies in a lift they cannot dash out of, and hands him evasion on the way out.
- Damage
- 65 base damage (deadlock.one). T1 adds +60 damage. 36s cooldown per deadlock.io.
- Crowd control
- Movement slow plus a knockup/lift on enemies caught in the path.
- Mobility
- A committed forward travel — he cannot change direction mid-tornado, which is the main way to avoid it.
- Defensive
- Bullet evasion on exit (+30% at T2) makes the seconds after his engage surprisingly survivable.
How to play against it
- It travels in a straight line he cannot steer — dash or strafe perpendicular to his approach and the whole tornado whiffs.
- Do not stand in a corridor when he has it up; take fights in open ground where you have a lateral escape.
- If he lifts you, the follow-up is his pistol and his marks — a cleanse or a stamina-dash the moment you land denies the mark detonation window.
Interactions
- Lift plus Djinn's Mark is his core combo — the lift guarantees the bullets that build marks connect.
- T3 allows a recast within 6s, which converts it from an engage into an engage-and-exit.
- deadlocklabs.gg summarises his whole plan around this: catch up, lift, then punish.
Upgrade tiers
- T1: +60 damage.
- T2: -12s cooldown, +30% evasion.
- T3: recast within 6s, increased spirit scaling.
Djinn's Mark
Ability 3 · passive on-hit stacking mark, active detonation Mirage's shots leave marks on enemies, with a per-target cooldown on application. Activating the ability consumes all accumulated marks at once for their spirit damage, and stacked marks multiply their effect.
What it is for: His burst. Marks accumulate quietly through normal shooting, then all pay out on a single button, which is how a hero with 40 gun DPS suddenly removes a squishy.
- Damage
- 11 spirit damage per mark at base, with a doubling effect per stack (deadlock.one). T2 adds +20 base damage and +3s multiplier duration. 3s cooldown with up to 4 stacks per deadlock.io.
- Crowd control
- None at base. T1 applies a fading 48% slow for 0.8s on proc; T3 adds a 0.5s stun when detonating at max marks.
How to play against it
- Watch your debuff bar for stacks. At 3+ marks, breaking line of sight or dashing out of his detonation range before he fires the active is a direct damage save.
- Spirit resist blunts the whole payload, since all mark damage is spirit regardless of how it was applied.
- Deny the application: his pistol fires only 2.72 times per second, so every bullet you dodge is a full mark he does not get.
Interactions
- Ricochet is described as essential on him (deadlock.io) because it spreads marks across an entire fight rather than one target.
- Dust Devil's lift buys the seconds needed to land the shots that build stacks.
- T3's max-mark stun turns the detonation into a genuine pickup, not just damage.
Upgrade tiers
- T1: fading 48% slow for 0.8s on proc.
- T2: +20 base damage, +3s multiplier duration.
- T3: -0.75s cooldown, +1 max mark, 0.5s stun at max marks.
Traveler
Ultimate · global channelled teleport Mirage designates a spot on the minimap and, after a short wait, teleports there. Taking damage during the wait cancels the teleport.
What it is for: Map presence rather than combat power. It lets him farm a side lane and still arrive for a fight across the map, defend an objective he is nowhere near, or collapse on a gank — and after upgrades it arrives with a barrier and a speed buff.
- Damage
- No damage. 140s cooldown per deadlock.io.
- Mobility
- Global relocation, the defining split-pressure tool in his kit.
- Defensive
- T2 grants a 400 barrier that scales with spirit on arrival, so a late-game Traveler lands into a fight already shielded.
How to play against it
- Any damage cancels it. A single poke shot, a DoT, or a trooper aggro while he is channelling wastes a 140s ultimate — this is by far the cheapest counter in the game.
- Warding and watching his lane tells you when he is about to arrive; the wait period is long enough to reposition.
- Silencing him prevents the cast outright, which is worth a cleanse-denial or a Time Wall placed on him specifically.
Interactions
- The channel is cancelled by ANY damage, including a single chip tick — trooper damage and DoTs both count.
- Pairs with his farming pattern: he can safely hold a distant lane because he can always be in the fight.
- Silence effects (Mina's Nox Nostra, Paradox's Time Wall at T2) prevent the cast entirely.
Upgrade tiers
- T1: +3m move speed and +20% fire rate for 12s on arrival.
- T2: 400 barrier that scales with Spirit.