Mirage

**Mirage** is an Autobot Tech.

## Bio

*Now you see him, now you don't. Mirage is one high-class Autobot with some slick espionage skills. His disappearing act has confounded Decepticons for years, while his high-end racecar alt mode belies his formidable speed.*

## Max Stats

**1-Star**

* Health: 874
* Attack: 85
* Max Rating: 248

**2-Star**

* Health: 1592
* Attack: 141
* Max Rating: 535 (sig 100)
	+ 505 (sig 50)

**3-Star**

* Health: 3,909
* Attack: 296
* Max Rating: 1,227 (sig 50)

**4-Star**

* Health: 10,461
* Attack: 792
* Max Rating: 3,094 (sig 10)

5-Star

## Game Abilities

### Basic Abilities

* Shielding
* Power Burn 1
* Attack Debuff 1

### Abilities

* *Heavy Attacks*: Mirage shrugs off Ranged Attacks and Burn Debuffs when speeding up as an F1 car.
* *Ranged Attacks*: 100% Armor Penetration
* *Passive:* Mirage starts the fight in Power Mode, granting +30% Power Rate. While in this mode, Mirage activates a Shield when the opponent activates a Special Attack. The shield decreases enemy Critical Damage and Ranged Damage by 59-90% until Mirage is knocked down. The shield requires 15 seconds before it may re-activate.
* Mirage has a chance to return to this mode from other modes when struck by enemy attacks.

### Signature Ability

**K.E.R.S** - The Kinetic Energy Recovery System generates the following buffs when activating Special Attacks:

* Special 1 - Faster projectiles for 2.3~19 seconds.
* Special 2 - Unblockable basic Melee Attacks for 2.3~19 seconds.
* Special 3 - +90% Attack for 2.3~19 seconds.

+0.18 seconds per level.

(The buffs refresh for each special attack hit, essentially letting him take full advantage of the buffs during the Specials and only counts down after it ends.)

### Special Attacks

1. **Jump Start** - *A quick warm-up to knock the boom glitches out the enemy's brain garage.*
	* Mirage enters Disruption Mode, granting Ranged Attacks a 60% chance to drain 6~9% Power while in the mode.
2. **Sleight of Hand and Fist** -  *A stealth approach using technology and trickery helps maintain that freshly-waxed shine.*
	* Mirage enters Incapacitation Mode, in which Melee Attacks have a 100% chance to inflict a -2.45~4.75% Attack Debuff for 13.5~20 seconds. (Max: 15)
	* Stun for 1.5 seconds every 7 Attack Debuffs inflicted.
3. **Pretense** - *Mirage surprises the opponent with a lesson in inertia and a forceful introduction to the 200MPH club.*
	* Mirage enters Agility Mode, granting 15% Attack for the remainder of the fight when Dodging or Sidestepping opponent attacks.

### Synergy Bonuses

* **Speed Chasers** - Sideswipe, Bumblebee (DOTM), Cheetor - +6.5~15~40% Attack on the next hit when dodging opponents' attacks.
* **Sharpshooters** - Arcee, Hound - +5~10~20% Critical Rate on ranged attacks.
* **Espionage Specialists** - Bumblebee (DOTM), Bumblebee - 14~24~70% less likely to activate the opponent's abilities when hitting with Special 2 or 3.
* **Racing Rivals** - Hot Rod - +8~12~30% Critical Damage.
* **Shield Amp** - Soundwave, Blaster - +2~4~10% damage deduction when Shielded.
* **Brain Drain** - Shockwave - Shockwave Drains 8~10~25% more Power from Shocked opponents.
* **Uneasy Allies** - Cliffjumper - +1~2~3~8% Armor.
* **Optimus Maximus** - Optimus Prime - Start the fight with 10~30~40% Power. Only applies if all Bots on the team have this Synergy.
* **Leadership** (5-Star) - All lower tier teammates gain +10% Power Rate.

## Strategy

### Commander

Mirage is a very versatile utility Tech Bot with his Special Attacks. The mode buffs he gets from each Special Attack do not have a time limit, but they can be lost if you get hit too much, so be careful not to lose them before taking advantage of them.

Like Windblade, Mirage can avoid all ranged attacks when in alt mode, so avoiding projectiles will be much easier, especially if they're coming from deadly ranged damage and shock Mods, and instant-hit ranged Specials.

Mirage's Special 1 ranged attacks can keep an opponent's Power down, even if he/she is Blocking.

With his Special 2, you can stun-lock and perform three full consecutive combos on the opponent, which you then can top off with a Special! (providing that the opponent doesn't have Evade or becomes Unstoppable)

For longer boss fights, you can use Special 3, then constantly sidestep ranged attacks and dash back from melee attacks to stack up attack buffs for massive damage.

### Opponent

#### General

Don't underestimate his basic projectiles when Special 1 activates.

The second hit of Mirages' Special 2 is Unblockable, and thus hard to avoid. The best, but tricky way to dodge such an attack is to sidestep his first shot, then dash back. If you dash back just as Mirage's first shot hits your Bot, he will miss with his second hit.

#### Rulers of Kaon

Commanders conquering Kaon have noticed Mirage's damaging ranged shocks (shocking for 300% of attack) which are powerful enough to down your bots. Avoid them at all costs. In this case, a brawler (say Grimlock) or anyone who can purify the very damaging shock can stand their ground. Try to keep Mirage from pulling a Special 1 on you as his ranged attacks will be amplified. If he manages to pull it off, there are ways to counter. Say, Blaster's Interference slowing them down, Scorponok's blinding attacks disabling ranged special attacks, Starscream's Null Rays nullifying the ranged boost, and G1 Megatron's awakened signature ability stealing the buff. However, **these don't counter the actual ranged shock mod** but try to mitigate it as best as possible.

### Strong Match-ups

* Ironhide - Mirage can burn Ironhide's Power, Incapacitate his Attack, and Shield himself and Purify Burns if does get hit by Ironhide's missiles.
* Mirage's Special 1 is generally useful for keeping the opponent's Power down, suitably against Demolition Bots like Waspinator and Megatron (ROTF).
* Scorponok - Mirage can delay the Predacon from gaining Venom Charges, and avoid getting Dazed and Backfires by driving around his stinger barrage.

### Weak Match-ups

* Sideswipe has the potential to nullify Mirage's shield with his Special 3.
* Starscream's Null Rays will make sure Mirage's Buffs, Attack Buffs and otherwise, will shock painfully if he hits him.
* Mirage will feel the full force of Bumblebee's Shield-Breaking Specials.
* Hound - Mirage's heavies are notorious for being untouchable to Ranged Attacks, but that trick stops at Hound's Precision Ammo. (Nonetheless, as long Hound doesn't have Precision Ammo on, Mirage's other skills are great counters.)
* Cheetor can inflict his full Special damage with a Feral Strike.
* Grimlock - The dinobot relies on melee attacks which Mirage’s shielding has no answer to.
* **Galvatron and Megatronus** - In a rare chance for a demolition to be superior to a tech, Galvatron and Megatronus’s dark burns can bypass the shieldings of Mirage even though they will not deal massive damage with their specials plus Megatronus’s relic of obedience can prevent Mirage from activating his shield for his specials however be warned not to get power burned.

### Recommended Modules

* The Laser Guidance Module will help Power Burn opponents with his Special 1.
* Prime Module will enhance Mirage's base stats.
* The Transwarp Cell will make him more likely to dodge ranged attacks.
* **Scout's Sentry**: Mirage will gain even *more* power on Crits.
* **Nightbird's Mark**: Mirage's Crit potency will be amplified, allowing him to gain a lot of Power.

## Obtainment

* Bot Crystals
* **September 2019** Bot Chip Set (with rebalance)
* Affluent Crystal (Congrats, he finally gets his own personal Crystal after 5 years with Soundblaster!)

## Updates

* 2017, v1,0
	+ Mirage’s Ranged Attacks now decrease the opponent’s Power Flow just when in his Special 1 “Disruption” mode.
	+ Special 2 “Incapacitation” mode: Increased amount of Attack Debuffs required to trigger a Stun from 5 to 7
	+ Improved in-game ability icon clarity when his Signature Ability is active
* 2019, August 28, v8.0
	+ Lowered the chance that Mirage will switch to Power Mode when hit.
	+ When hit by a Special Attack, Mirage has a 100% chance to switch to Power Mode and activate his Shield.
	+ K.E.R.S: The timer for the respective buffs activated by his Special Attacks 1 and 2 will reset on each hit of the Special Attack. This means that Mirage gets the buff throughout the Special Attack, and the timer only really starts counting down after the last hit connects.
	+ K.E.R.S: For his Special Attack 3, the buff will active when the Special Attack starts, and the timer will not start counting down until the Special Attack animation is completely finished.

## Trivia

* His design is based on *Generations Combiner Wars* Mirage, which is a redeco of Dragstrip with a new head.
* Mirage has the flavor text "Can you keep up?", when using Special 3.