Spells: What is MIrror Image useful for?

[moderation]

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...=&fpart=2&vc=1

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...=&fpart=2&vc=1

After reading these two threads I am under the impression that Mirror Image and glamour have changed a bit. I still have a few questions though.

1. Are Mirror Image effect and glamour that Vans and Eriu get the same effect?

2. What exactly do the extra images do? Enemy troops seem to still surround my pretender in melee after he casts Mirror Image, and they still seem to be attacking him instead of his images. My defense hasn't gone up, and it doesn't seem to protect much from archers. What is it good for?

3. It does not seem to protect from precision 100 spells, but does it protect from spells with less than 100 precision?

4. What else could it protect you from in theory?

5. Is Mirror Image worth it as a buff compared to other spells? I usually replace it with Mistform since there's a limited number of buffs I can cast before a battle and it doesn't seem to serve much purpose.

[MaxWilson]

1. Yes, in combat. Vans and Eriu with high levels of Air magic get more images, which IMHO is indicative that it's the same mechanic as Mirror Image. Obviously they also get stealthy.

2. Melee combat. If you have 5 images, then only 1/6 hits will actually hit you, until someone does hit you, and then the images go away. I am not sure whether hitting your shield still counts as hitting you (although it is fairly common to lose mirror images without taking any damage, so it definitely counts if they hit you and Prot blocks it). I am also not sure whether mirror images protect you from losing -2 to def for each attack, like Ethereal reputedly does. Could check with -d switch.

3. Nope. Not against any spells.

4. Melee combat, that's it. It used to protect against arrows and spells, but this was removed in a previous patch because it was unthematic and made the glamour nations too good against arrows and spells.

5. I dunno. I imagine it's sort of like the Defense/Prot divide. Against giants I would probably take Mirror Image over Mistform (Mistform will dissapate after one blow and then you're dead, Mirror Image + high Defense will last for a while). Against Jaguar Warriors I'd probably avoid Mistform because they'll just nickel-and-dime you to death anyway, so I'd take Invulnerability and maybe Mirror Image. However, I haven't played much with Air mages so maybe I'm under/overestimating.

-Max

[Natpy]

This one of the best buff for SC with high def. It has realy impressive sinergy with other "shields".

[moderation]

What other "shields" does Mirror Image have synergy with?

Also, speaking of synergy, I've found that Mistform seems more effective when you have high protection and you can keep your fatigue down to 0 through reinvigoration.

[Natpy]

Body Ethereal, Luck, Awe, Twist Fate ets... "to hit" probabilities multiplied.

[moderation]

Interesting. Then it seems there are two ways you can optimize your SCs. Either by buffing protection until you can't be harmed or by buffing defense. But I guess even with defense you will need some protection.

Both Mistform and Mirror Image do seem a little dangerous to use, since they can "pop off" after you take a hit.