Mirage Rework: Prioritizing "Trickster" Identity over Utility

Introduction: Mirage’s Recent Performance

I’ve been a Mirage main since the early days of Apex, but I’m currently unsatisfied with his recent performance. While I understand why "More Me" was removed (it was admittedly overtuned), I’m not a fan of the new "Renaissance Man" Perk.

It feels like Mirage’s value is being shifted too much toward "accessing all class objects" rather than his signature decoys and cloaking. Using broad utility to buff a Legend just because their pick rate is low feels like it neglects their unique identity. Personally, I’ve always wanted to see buffs that lean into his original kit—specifically his offensive and supportive potential through bamboozling.

Therefore, I’d like to propose a change to his Ultimate, "Life of the Party."

The Proposal

Remove Level 2 Perk "Boogle Eyes" (Make it base kit or remove it entirely).

Add New Perk: "Upon activating Ultimate, spawn +1 extra decoy and Mirage becomes cloaked. The cloak lasts until the decoys expire or until a weapon is drawn (drawing a weapon cancels the cloak immediately)."

Reasoning for this Proposal

The Return of Cloaking:

I want to bring back the essence of Mirage’s Ultimate, "Vanishing Act," from the pre-Season 5 era. That ability had a fundamental flaw: spawning six motionless decoys made it obvious that Mirage was cloaking somewhere nearby. For players focusing on audio or visual effects, it wasn't a major threat. This led to the current "Life of the Party" rework. My proposal creates a "psychological gamble." By making the cloak a Perk choice, enemies won't know for sure if Mirage is cloaked or just one of the six moving decoys. This uncertainty adds uniqueness and tactical depth without being predictable.

Why remove "Boogle Eyes" instead of "Renaissance Man"?

 While I criticized "Renaissance Man" earlier for diluting Mirage’s identity, I am intentionally suggesting we keep it to serve as a necessary counter-weight. Actually, when I play Mirage, I always choose "Boogle Eyes" over "Renaissance Man" to maximize combat advantage through decoys—even though I know it provides less direct utility for the team. The reason I want to keep "Renaissance Man" as the alternative is to maintain the "cloak gamble." If the new cloaking perk is too dominant and everyone picks it, we repeat the past: "Ultimate = Cloaking" becomes a certainty again. To prevent this, "Renaissance Man" must remain as a powerful, high-tier alternative. By forcing a tough choice between "Broad Utility" and "True Deception," we ensure that cloaking remains a rare, unpredictable tactic. This preserves the "psychological gamble" and keeps enemies guessing whether Mirage is hidden or hiding in plain sight.

Alternative Idea:

I also considered making this change part of his base kit instead of a perk. However, as I mentioned, if he "always" cloaks, it becomes predictable and repeats the failure of the "Vanishing Act" era. If it were base kit, I believe it should have a 50% chance to trigger the extra decoy and cloak. Allowing players to freely choose the cloak every time would make it too consistent; if the community decides cloaking is the "superior" option, we end up right back where we started with a predictable, easy-to-counter ability.

Closing Thoughts: Mirage’s Identity

I may not be the most skilled or hardcore player, but I’ve spent a significant amount of time with Mirage. My priority with this proposal is that Mirage should not become "too strong."

Mirage’s concept of "bamboozling" shines brightest when it’s subtle. If he were given a massive advantage—like a "flash effect when shooting a decoy"—people would study him so intensely that the trickery would become harder to pull off. To me, Mirage should be a Legend that requires mastery to find small windows of advantage. Making him a "top-tier meta pick" would actually ruin his concept.

I appreciate the dev team’s continued attention to him. I just hope that future adjustments focus on his unique "trickster" gameplay rather than generic utility like "Renaissance Man."

I welcome any and all feedback, positive or negative!

Also, please note that this post was translated using AI. I apologize if any of the phrasing is a bit awkward or unclear.