Mirage Mechanic Guide
Introduction
Mirage is a new mechanic where you encounter Djinn who can grant Wishes and create mirage copies of their surrounding area… duplicating and potentially empowering all of the monsters – and the mechanics – within.
Used smartly, These Mirages allow you to double up on the most lucrative rewards in your maps… and even grant some powerful new rewards you can’t get any other way!
The Mirage Challenge League has recently launched. Information in this guide is actively being updated, but may not yet be fully complete, or slightly inaccurate as we continue to learn about the league!
Encountering Djinn
During the 3.28 Challenge League, you’ll find a captured Djinn in every zone in the game. Clearing the Afarud enemies surrounding the Djinn will spawn an NPC allowing you to pick a Wish and enter the Mirage.
Clearing the packs of monsters near the chains will “clear” the Mirage… but the true reward comes from clearing the area and getting the loot from your chosen Wish and the duplicated mechanics and monsters.
Mirages in the Campaign
Normally mechanics are encountered quite rarely in the campaign. In order to give the Mirages in the campaign something to copy, during the 3.28 Mirage League each campaign zone will have an additional mechanic – spawned within range of the Mirage.
This adds a significant amount of enemies and loot to the campaign this league – be sure to make the most of it!
Mirages in the Campaign use a subset of Campaign-specific Wishes, that give rewards that are useful for characters who are leveling – such as Orbs of Binding and Jeweller/Fusing/Chromatic Orbs.
Mirages in Special Maps
Mirages will spawn in special non-unique non-fragment maps, same as they do in regular Maps – such as Valdo Maps and Nightmare Maps.
Mirages
Each Mirage contains a duplicate of its surrounding area – complete with all mechanics and monsters in its surrounding area. The Mirage is considered a part of your zone, and has all of the modifiers on the zone, including scarabs and map modifiers.
The mechanics and monsters inside a Mirage aren’t actually identical, however. If there’s a Strongbox within range, what’s guaranteed is simply that the Mirage will also have a Strongbox in the same spot. The actual type of strongbox, its modifiers, and the loot it drops won’t carry over.
Mirages only copy the “natural inhabitants” of a map – which is to say, everything that spawned within range of the Mirage when the zone was generated. This means there’s no need to try to drag additional monsters into the range of the Mirage – it won’t have any effect.
Mirage Sub-Zone
Mirages are separate “sub-zones” separated by a loading screen. This means that temporary buffs and minions will NOT persist when moving from your map into a Mirage, or vice-versa.
GGG has stated that they’re looking into ways for temporary minions and buffs to persist between maps and Mirages in a future patch.
Dying in a Mirage while in a map will consume one of your map’s portals and return you to your hideout, despite being in a sub-zone inside the map.
Mirage Size
Unlike most mechanics, which determine their size by a circle with the mechanic at its center, Mirages use a different method to determine their size and shape.
All Mirages are a fixed size in terms of area that is walkable by the player. It “spills out” outwards from the location of the Djinn, following corridors and turns until its reached the appropriate size.
This might have a huge effect on which map layouts are best for farming Mirages. The traditionally favored “open” layouts may result in fewer mechanics and monsters being copied by the Mirage, whereas the more claustrophobic and labyrinthine layouts might result in more mechanics and packs of monsters.
Since you might end up very far away from the portal to leave the Mirage as a result, there is a button the UI that returns you to the Mirage Portal.
Empowered Mechanics
Mechanics that are copied by Mirages have a chance to be Empowered by the Mirage. These Empowered Mechanics are more difficult, but give powerful and exclusive new rewards.
Not every mechanic can be copied by a Mirage. Mechanics which create their own sub-zones cannot spawn within the Mirage (as it is itself a sub-zone).
For more details on which mechanics can be copied by Mirages, and how each mechanic is Empowered, check out the “Empowered Mechanics” section of this guide
Afarud Spawns
Within the Mirage, there are glowing transparent purple patches. Going near these will spawn additional Afarud enemies and Djinn caches – similar to Delirium.
Djinn Caches
Killing packs of Afarud enemies can spawn Djinn Caches. These come in Bronze/Silver/Gold variants, and drop a small quantity of loot.
Mirage Maps
Map bosses killed within Mirages have a chance to drop Mirage Maps. These are special Map items in which the Mirage covers the entire Map.
Wishes
Before entering a Mirage, you’ll be given a selection of three Wishes to choose from. These Wishes grant powerful modifiers to the Mirage – increasing player power, difficulty, and/or rewards.
Sigils
Each Wish has an associated Sigil – indicated by an icon on the bottom of the tooltip. These Sigils determine which of the three types of Djinn Coin will drop within that Mirage, allowing you to prioritize powerful Wish rewards or targeting specific Djinn Coins.
Imbued Gems
Djinn Coins found in Mirages can be used to enchant an uncorrupted level 20 active skill gem – granting it an additional level 1 support.
The supports granted by Imbued Gems affect every valid active skill the Imbued Gem is linked to, the same as any other support socketed in that item would. This included skills granted by the equipment itself.
You are limited to only 1 Imbued Gem socketed per piece of equipment.
Imbued Gems cannot be de-leveled with vendor recipes, and can only exist at level 20.
Using Djinn Coins
Djinn Coins grant a random support skill from among supports that are capable of supporting that skill, and corrupt the skill gem on use.
This means that Imbued Gems are mutually exclusive with corrupted level 21/23% quality gems from corruption/double corruption. In most cases, though, the right extra support skill will be signicantly more powerful – even if limited to level 1.
Acquiring Djinn Coins
Djinn Coins have a small chance to drop off monsters within Mirages. There are three types of Djinn Coins, each associated with a different Sigil, and adding a random support gem of a different attribute type.
Coin of Power – Ruzhan Sigil – STR Support Gems
Coin of Skill – Sigil of Kelari – DEX Support Gems
Coin of Knowledge – Sigil of Navira – INT Support Gems
Maraketh Artefact Uniques
Mirage content can drop Afarud Uniques. These uniques can be transformed to alternate versions using a Coin of Restoration.
Saresh, of the Weeping Black
Saresh is a new Pinnacle Boss available through Mirage content.
The Black Barya
In order to fight Saresh, you need The Black Barya. This fragment drops off of a Unique Monster that can spawn near the Djinn within maps.
Additionally, there is a Wish that causes this monster to spawn alongside the Map Boss within a Mirage.
Conclusion
Be sure to check out the other pages of this guide, covering even more topics related to Mirage! This guide will continue to be updated in the future – if you have any feedback, or find something cool you want to share, head on over to the PoE Vault Discord, and let me know!
Good luck, and have fun farming Mirage!
