Guild Wars 2

Instead of physically dodging attacks, mirages use their Mirage Cloak to force attacks to pass harmlessly through them. The Mirage Cloak can be used both defensively and offensively, so a mirage must make conscious choices on how they spend endurance.

Activating Mirage Cloak offensively via the dodge button will enable ambush attacks. Ambushes are available on the first skill of every weapon set and are designed to complement each weapon’s playstyle. It’s also possible to force all of your illusions to use ambush attacks via the Illusionary Ambush utility skill, or by taking the Infinite Horizon trait, which, when active, applies Mirage Cloak to all of your illusions.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/developer-diary-elite-specializations/

First paragraph has me worried that the ambush attacks only come from dodges but the second paragraph mentions getting an ambush attack from a utility skill mirage cloak.

Second paragraph also says you can get Illusions to use ambush attacks, not just clones. Wonder if that is a mistake.

The gameplay we’ve seen only shows clones using ambush. But none of the trait or skill tooltips for Mirage indicate that it’s just clones that can get ambush attacks. They all say illusions. So even Phantasms get their own ambush attack.

There are multiple ways to get Mirage Cloak, it seems, and I assume any source of Mirage Cloak will enable Ambushes. We get Mirage Cloak from Dodge, but also from the constructs left behind by Deception skills.

(Actually, have any of the Mirage gameplay videos shown Phantasms at all? Seems like a weird omission, unless they’re trying to downplay the fact that Axe doesn’t come with a new Phantasm.)

I’ve been saying from the beginning that phantasms will likely also be able to use ambush attacks when you give them mirage cloak. There was nothing, other than lack of gameplay, that suggested otherwise. (The only clones auto attack explanation was bs.) Reason WP and Anet are likely focusing on clones for videos is because clones don’t normally do real damage and the mirage is thematically about “deception and acting like a clone.”

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mirage
Basically the same hypothesis I’ve had since day 1:

1) First minor: Dodge gives mirage cloak to the Mirage.
2) False Oasis, crystal sands, and sands of glass (1 heal +2 utilities) give mirage cloak to the Mirage.
3) Infinite Horizon: When the mirage gains mirage cloak(all of the above), give mirage cloak to illusions (this means clones and phantasms).
4) Illusionary Ambush: Might be the only skill that gives mirage cloak to illusions without requiring the GM trait Infinite Horizon. Regardless of if this happens, IH is the obvious trait for PvE DPS mirages and is actually the 3rd utility that gives mirage cloak.
5) Not relevant for PvE but shards of glass can spawn a mirage mirror when you shatter —> touch it for mirage cloak.

When mirage cloak (all of the above) is gained —> Ambush attacks. Again, none of the actual facts indicate that phantasms cannot ambush attack as well.

Power Raid DPS:
Sword+Sword/Focus (maybe GS if the ambush is good enough).
Dueling, Illusions, Mirage.

Condi Raid DPS:
Scepter + Pistol/Torch.
Dueling, Illusions, Mirage.

Regardless of build, spawn 3 ideal dps phantasms then keep spamming mirage cloak for ambush attacks from both mirage and phantasms. Use Illusionary Ambush (or axe in condi builds when fights require lots of refocusing) to refocus phantasms. I also bought several sigils of energy for probably the better DPS rotation. Replace Sigil of air for power builds or some undetermined sigil for condi builds.

What might happen for condi builds: Pistol phantasms hit 5 times with the scepter ambush. Procs sharper images 5 times. Also has a 50% chance to proc DD for more bleeds.

Nothing to worry about for the PvE DPS ppl. It’s looking awesome.

I agree with whats been written above – based on the wording and the tool tips, ambush attacks should trigger with both clones and phantasms.

Luckily, we’ll be able to test it out for ourselves in a few days.

Depends on how Phantasms are programmed I think. Ambush attacks only trigger on auto attacks.
If they’re programmed so their attack skill is an auto attack then i’m quite sure they will get an ambush.
If it’s counted as a skill with a cooldown skill then they won’t.

But even if its programmed as an auto and Anet doesn’t want phantasms to have ambush attacks, i’m sure they’ll find a way to “fix” (nerf) it.

Phantasm skills look like they have a “cooldown” on it. And if that’s the case, I doubt they are programmed as auto atacks. Then again those pauses between phantasms attacks might just be programmed as really long aftercasts.

However, when looking at traits like Phantasmal Haste it says this: “Phantasm Attack Skill Recharge Reduction: 20%”
Probably meaning they have cooldowns on their skills.

Personally I REALLY hope phantasms will get ambush attacks, but i doubt they will.
There is too much we don’t know about it. We will have to wait and see.

I think Duck’s explanation is correct. The currently equipped weapon decides what kind of Ambush attack will be performed. It’s basically by coincidence that this is shown with the auto-attack information.

What isn’t yet clear is how the “ambush window” mechanism works. It looks like triggering Mirage Cloak creates a period of time when an ambush can happen, but it’s not yet clear what actually decides if the attack is triggered within that window (or why a window is needed). I’m guessing it gives a mechanism to allow tuning damage fairly easily.

I wonder if we’ll get a Downed ambush skill like Rogues get. They’d have to change one of the downed skills (prob 2) to give you Mirage Cloak too or something though.

I’d also be surprised if Phantasms did ambush attacks. Them being skill 1 attacks and clones using skill one is a logical flow given how Anet tends the program their skills. Clones actually have the skill 1 attack so giving them mirage cloak logically should flip the skill to the Ambush version. They might do it, and the utility may even act differently, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up.

So Mirage Cloak forces attacks to pass through you harmlessly… like a normal dodge? I get that it’s different to some extent, but the wording just feels forced and what we’re getting from it doesn’t feel like much. I guess this will be dependant on how much Ambushes affect our playstyle.

Just feels like we’re getting more evasion and a wee bit of flashy damage. Our utilities and Axe skills just don’t feel very unique against each other. 3 of our 9 skills are Shadowsteps with different extra effects. Another 3 create Mirage Mirrors with some extra effects (healing, confusion, evade), and their CD is 30, 20, 30.

The main thing I’m excited about is Jaunt, the 1/2 second CD shadowstep with Confusion, giving us massive mobility and powerful Confusion sustain.

Dondagora.9645:

So Mirage Cloak forces attacks to pass through you harmlessly… like a normal dodge? I get that it’s different to some extent, but the wording just feels forced and what we’re getting from it doesn’t feel like much. I guess this will be dependant on how much Ambushes affect our playstyle.

The difference is Mirage Cloak does so much more. It allows you to cast skills while dodging. In PvE and PvP that thing is huge, uninterruptable skills in the same time you gain an Ambush attack.

Ambush attacks function just like Thief stealth attacks. You actively… activate the skill within the ambush window just like you would backstab within the stealth window.

I feel like, at worst, Phantasms will also gain an ambush attack based on your current weapon. Whatever the case, we’ll find out this weekend.

I dont think phantasms will have ambush skills, for several reasons:

- Phantasms dont have the #1 wep skill to turn into ambush
- Not a single ambush phantasm skill datamined so far
- Seems just odd for example a sword phantasm performing a scepter ambush

I think phantasms wont have ambush skills yet i do hope they benefit from the trait/utility. Something like instead of casting an ambush skill phantasms would have double damage in the next attack. Or they could get their attacks refreshed for insta follow up.

Refia Montes.3205:

Dondagora.9645:

So Mirage Cloak forces attacks to pass through you harmlessly… like a normal dodge? I get that it’s different to some extent, but the wording just feels forced and what we’re getting from it doesn’t feel like much. I guess this will be dependant on how much Ambushes affect our playstyle.

The difference is Mirage Cloak does so much more. It allows you to cast skills while dodging. In PvE and PvP that thing is huge, uninterruptable skills in the same time you gain an Ambush attack.

I would rather my defensive skill defend me and we got an actual elite spec mechanic.

It does defend you. It just does other stuff.

Seriously, Mirage Cloak is Distortion that we can get without shattering plus it enables Ambush attacks. It’s literally all upside when compared to a normal dodge.

Dastion.3106:

I’d also be surprised if Phantasms did ambush attacks. Them being skill 1 attacks and clones using skill one is a logical flow given how Anet tends the program their skills. Clones actually have the skill 1 attack so giving them mirage cloak logically should flip the skill to the Ambush version. They might do it, and the utility may even act differently, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up.

If I remember right, the code is actually “use the first available skill from right to left in the skill list.” They have since patched it out, but you used to be able to throw GS2 and fire off a racial transform to end up with a clone of the transform. So as a human I could get an Avatar of Melandru as a clone, who would fire off its skills from 5 down to 1 in that order(so healing fields and the like happened – it was neat, if limited in usefulness).

(We can presume common NPCs follow the same logic, considering how oldschool Braham opens with shield bubble in the molten boss fractal.)

I think Ambush might get around that altogether; they fire off their Ambush as soon as they gain cloak. It’s entirely possible Ambush is in slot 5, or not even in a slot altogether and is pure code. If they even have the same skillbar logic, there’s plenty of support for flipping from “Locked” or just nothing to a usable skill when conditions are met(see cultist hammer).

The only reason our auto-attack cuts out and gives us Ambush in that slot is to give us domain in how to mess with our enemy(and possibly get around any bugs involving the clone generation on scepter interfering with Ambush).

Phantasms can still go either way, but I’m hoping Ambush will just be their regular skill at worst, since we could actually really use a way to reset+coordinate phantasm attacks, both in terms of their attack ticks and in terms of combo fields.

FJSAMA.2867:

I dont think phantasms will have ambush skills, for several reasons:

- Phantasms dont have the #1 wep skill to turn into ambush
- Not a single ambush phantasm skill datamined so far
- Seems just odd for example a sword phantasm performing a scepter ambush

I think phantasms wont have ambush skills yet i do hope they benefit from the trait/utility. Something like instead of casting an ambush skill phantasms would have double damage in the next attack. Or they could get their attacks refreshed for insta follow up.

Doesnt’ mean much when we haven’t even datamined all of the ambush attacks for core mesmer weapons

tobascodagama.2961:

It does defend you. It just does other stuff.

Seriously, Mirage Cloak is Distortion that we can get without shattering plus it enables Ambush attacks. It’s literally all upside when compared to a normal dodge.

If it was just Distortion, I’d be more happy because we’d get synergy with other traits. I just can’t help but feel we aren’t getting something that feels super “mesmer” in this spec.

More so, it doesn’t feel like we’re getting a lot to play with.

With Chronomancer, we could all speculate about how we’d use the Continuum Shift to double output, and that was interesting. I don’t feel something as game-changing as that is in Mirage. I may be wrong, and maybe I just have to play it for myself and see more of the Ambushes (since we’ve only seen condition clones).

FJSAMA.2867:

I dont think phantasms will have ambush skills, for several reasons:

- Phantasms dont have the #1 wep skill to turn into ambush
- Not a single ambush phantasm skill datamined so far
- Seems just odd for example a sword phantasm performing a scepter ambush

- Phantasms have one skill that may be set as their #1 skill. They may have a unique ambush with it.
- Phantasm skills don’t have a chat code which makes Phantasm ambushes much harder to find.
- Yeah that is true, maybe Phantasms have their own ambushes? We’ll see.

tobascodagama.2961:

It does defend you. It just does other stuff.

Seriously, Mirage Cloak is Distortion that we can get without shattering plus it enables Ambush attacks. It’s literally all upside when compared to a normal dodge.

You also get superspeed from the minor so if you wanted to move I bet you could run further than 300u in those 2 seconds.

Dondagora.9645:

tobascodagama.2961:

It does defend you. It just does other stuff.

Seriously, Mirage Cloak is Distortion that we can get without shattering plus it enables Ambush attacks. It’s literally all upside when compared to a normal dodge.

If it was just Distortion, I’d be more happy because we’d get synergy with other traits. I just can’t help but feel we aren’t getting something that feels super “mesmer” in this spec.

More so, it doesn’t feel like we’re getting a lot to play with.

With Chronomancer, we could all speculate about how we’d use the Continuum Shift to double output, and that was interesting. I don’t feel something as game-changing as that is in Mirage. I may be wrong, and maybe I just have to play it for myself and see more of the Ambushes (since we’ve only seen condition clones).

Distortion makes you unable to contest a point. Mirage cloak is significantly stronger in PvP scenarios than distortion due to that fact alone.

Ghotistyx.6942:

tobascodagama.2961:

It does defend you. It just does other stuff.

Seriously, Mirage Cloak is Distortion that we can get without shattering plus it enables Ambush attacks. It’s literally all upside when compared to a normal dodge.

You also get superspeed from the minor so if you wanted to move I bet you could run further than 300u in those 2 seconds.

Correction 0.75s not 2s. Also remember mirage doesnt have 25% Passive speed. And swiftness access….ye..
Also 1 trait used just for that feels short… Since its a drawback from base dodge

It makes it so that mirage cloak is nothing but beneficial. You keep all the options from a regular dodge plus more. That sounds plenty good.

Feels bad wasting traits for that. Daredevil didnt waste 1 trait to get movement impairing condi removed, another trait for 450 range dodge amd another trair for less dmg mod… 1 trait gave everything.

OriOri.8724:

Distortion makes you unable to contest a point. Mirage cloak is significantly stronger in PvP scenarios than distortion due to that fact alone.

Evade and invul are different. Its the same thing than saying bound dodge vault spammer was problematic and super op due to the fact that it can contest points

tobascodagama.2961:

It does defend you. It just does other stuff.

Seriously, Mirage Cloak is Distortion that we can get without shattering plus it enables Ambush attacks. It’s literally all upside when compared to a normal dodge.

Ghotistyx.6942:

It makes it so that mirage cloak is nothing but beneficial. You keep all the options from a regular dodge plus more. That sounds plenty good.

Except that as we can see the only ambush attacks worth a kitten are Scepter and Staff.
Hell Sword, GS and Spear, for whatever underwater combat is worth considering, are so drastically bad you will probably get more out of an empty trait line then being forced to use mirage cloak.

Oh hey, old Sword 4 returns. Sword’s ambush is perfect for Dom/Duel/Mirage ’rupt/shatter. GS gives some useful aoe.

I’m upset with the state of underwater combat in general so no complaints there, though Trident looks good for condi ’rupt.

And its nothing new, but elite specs don’t affect all builds equally. Mirage can certainly work with power weapons, but its not ridiculous to think that wasn’t the intention.

With such little damage I don’t know how you can call the GS ambush skill useful.

Yeah, GS is… strange. I want to hope that that will be the one clone skill in the game that has close damage to the mesmer, but it sounds like it’s just going to be incredibly neat looking and flashy but not at all a worthwhile source of… anything, really. The best we can hope for is it triggers the GS trait per user and per target for 12 might, but that would make it the only ambush that actually requires a trait to do anything meaningful at all, across all gamemodes. It’s not even a terribly great cleave… it’s a wvw tag at best, and even still not great.

Either the skillfacts are hiding some important info or it’s a skill that has been pre-nerfed. It’s hard to imagine anet putting so much work into a skill that is only flashy and not really effective.

From what they said it sounds like you will be able to dodge even while downed – that’s huge defensively (especially in PvP) and also means we probably get a downed Ambush skill like Rogues do.

I don’t think they said dodge when downed, but you can dodge when you are disabled, like stunned or knocked down. I could be wrong tho.

Hot Boy.7138:

I don’t think they said dodge when downed, but you can dodge when you are disabled, like stunned or knocked down. I could be wrong tho.

Yea I was going off of Dulfy’s notes. Sounds like they meant while disabled.

Not giving us a downed ambush attack would be a missed opportunity though.

None of the wiki skills have proper coefficients. For all we know the damage numbers could be on a condi amulet to show off the other mirage skills.