Agreed! i like the theory crafting done for optimization of spells around build that treantmonk does. He can often give knew life to a spell or a whole build you might have overlooked prior especially for wizards. Only so many ways you can really play a wizard even for having the most subclasses it's frame is kind of much of the same but treantmonk has his moments that make me think that's a good concept to flesh out a build.
For some reason, I'm now picturing you creating one of these optimization guides for every spell in the game, which made me think of this: Find Traps D&D 5e: Optimization and Spell Guide Video is about 20 seconds long, and consists of a screenshot of the spell description and your voiceover saying, "Don't. Otherwise, until next time I'm going to sit back, relax, and have some fun. D&D is for everyone. Thanks everybody, and I'll talk to you soon. (outro music)"
Here’s one use of Mirror Image I’ve found useful: if you’re a back line wizard and a monster has somehow gotten into melee range of you, and you’re considering taking the disengage action, use that action to cast MI instead. The opportunity attack against you will probably miss, and you’ll have the benefit of your remaining images for the rest of the combat.
This is a trick, but tbh I don't think it's that good. You cast MI and then run probably 30 ft. That means the enemy can still most likely chase and catch up with you, meaning you didn't really acomplish anything other than have MI up for maybe 2 hits. Meanwhile you could've cast Misty Step, which is the same spel level, and bonus action to teleport 30 ft. away. You still have action to cast some cantrips and do damage, and you can run those 30 ft putting 60ft gap between you and the enemy, and you don't have to worry about opportunity attacks.
@@KuaEtusit's not always riskier than disengage. It depends on how likely the monster is to follow you and its hit chance. If you disengage, you are not casting mirror image, so the monster follows you and slaps you on its turn with all of its attacks. If you had mirror image up, you would've had a higher survival chance.
i have an arcane trickster rogue who uses a whip (weapon master, though multiclassing works too) and has the skulker and sentinel feats. so he can hide from enemies in darkness, even if they have darkvision, even in melee, and he can then make opportunity attacks if they try to move away. and then the enemy gets frozen. AND he has mirror image for the interaction mentioned here.
Quickened Spell would allow you to use a Bonus Action to cast or refresh Mirror Image during combat while freeing up your Action for Booming Blade. E.g. take the Metamagic Adept feat or build a Sorcadin with 2 levels in Paladin (for smites) and the rest in Sorcerer. Either Divine Soul (for Spirit Guardians) or Clockwork Soul (for extra defenses, i.e., Restore Balance, Bastion of Law, Armor of Agathys etc.).
I do think it's notable for the Trickery Domain Cleric since a Cleric normally ain't gonna get the Shield Spell outside of feats or multi classing. So it's an extra layer of defense on top of already having decent AC with medium armor and a shield and you're automatically preparing it anyway. Plus, a Cleric is more likely to be in the thick of combat and be a likely targeted since there's a good chance they're using Spirit Guardians.
2nd level spells for a lot of casters are also in that weird spot where they aren't quite as general use as first level spells, and they don't carry the huge battle-winning power 3rd level spells have. Once you reach a certain level it feels better to use niche 2nd level spells like Mirror Image because they aren't really using an important resource (besides upcasting shield when you run out of 1st slots).
Definitely a good part of it, yeah - it can be tough to find the best use of those 2nd level spells later in the game. That said, for sorcerers/wizards I do find myself gravitating towards mind whip as the best in class spot there - obviously it doesn't fill the same role as mirror image, but it's a spell that is surprisingly useful even late into a campaign (and is one of the best ways to bait out legendary resistances in my experience). I could see mirror image being a good backup plan for using 2nd level slots, I just find myself not wanting to use an action in combat for it.
Made a barbarian/wizard once (I know, but hear me out) focused on self buffs that don't require concentration, and out of combat/utility spells last year, and that was when I noticed that if I cast Mirror Image and then RECKLESS ATTACK, as long as the d20 targets a copy, the enemy attack is never made with advantage! The voice of my DM when he accepted that move was a mix of proud and pain.
Funny enough, I've only ever seen a player turn off his mirror image one because the DM knew it could be done, so therefore the enemy spellcaster also knew, and "suggested" that the PC do exactly that. Then the caster's minions trounced on the wizard. It was absolutely brutal.
3:43 with this same logic, would something like armorer’s thunder gauntlets cause the attack to then have disadvantage? As they’re technically making an attack on a target other than you.
That's a good question. I just looked at the wording of the fighting style, and it doesn't specify "creature," only "target." So by the same ruling Chris came to with the Sentinel feat, I'm pretty sure you can?
I have been playing AT with Mirror Image + Sentinel since the beggining of 5E. I love it! Just be warned, I have had a lot of DMs say this is too OP and rule that mirror images will not trigger Sentinel despite it being RAW.
No honest DM/Player would allow Multi Image to be paired with Sentinel Feat. It's not RAW or RAI, Invoke Duplicity is also a stretch, but Multi Image would be incorrect.
Great catch with that Sentinel feat interaction! At first glance I thought it shouldn't work, since the enemy is trying to attack you, hence you are the "target" of its attack. But no, that's not what's happening. The enemy really is targeting a mirror image, it's just that it THINKS that target is you. Very clever observation!
Another optimization I like for Mirror Image is setting a Contingency to cast it "when I am targeted by an attack". While playing a build very similar to your 'table-friendly necromancer' build, this was both extremely flavourful and also very effective. As far as defensive spells go, I also like Blink quite a lot. Sometimes it is INSANE in combat, allowing you to essentially bypass enemy attacks entirely. It also lends some good out of combat utility, allowing you to cast it, hold an action to dash, and walk through doors/walls/other impassible objects. Pretty strong for a non-concentration spell, though generally a bit better at the later levels when that third level slot is not as big of a cost (which is why I think it gets overlooked sometimes, since people don't pick it at low level, then forget to come back to it).
I don't think the Marut is the right example, since it's attack is similar to magic missile and the Marut doesn't roll an attack roll, but I understand the applicability in the case of an almost guaranteed hit.
Love this spell on a melee bladesinger. Even if our ac is sometimes high enough for the attack to miss anyway not getting hit is super valuable when your in melee with such low hp.
I've never had a player ask to continually cast spells like this. But I like your houserule of allowing it in dungeons and similarly dangerous scenarios. I might ask the player to compromise with me, rather than just assuming they always have the spell up at the start of every combat: The spell lasts 1 minute. So at the start of any intiative, roll 1d10 for the number of rounds remaining on your current casting. It feels pretty fair to me that the character might have to spend an action at some point in the fight to re-up their buff. It could create interesting decisions for the player: do I spend this turn putting my illusion back up, or is there something more important I need to do right now? It keeps more of the spice of reacting to circumstances rather than just optimally preparing for everything, in my opinion
While that does seem like a fair option, I think it can be pretty difficult to track something that lasts less then a minute but more than a round in combat. I know from experience I had a combat that lasted over 10 rounds, and it got very confusing trying to remember when different one minute buffs were applied. Having that happen most combats with various length buffs could cause a bit of confusion.
I've never thought about having remaining rounds on a spell like that, I like it, what are the chances you had just cast it right before combat started, if you are doing it every minute, 1 in 10 sounds reasonable.
@@luka2784 I get that. But bookkeeping is a big part of this game either way. If combats start getting lengthy, it's not *that* hard to use tally marks to track the number of rounds or to buy a spindown d20 to count rounds. There are solutions to this that aren't really any harder than tracking HP or spell slots.
I've seen so many people use this spell wrong. They often roll the d20's to divert the attack when they are hit with an attack, not when they are targeted by an attack which makes the spell so much better then it really is.
Though to be fair the spell probably should work that way. It's not usually worth using if you go by RAW and have to spend an action in combat and images can get used up by an attack that wasn't actually going to hit you.
Ive grown to sour on mirror image, and find myself agreeign with Kobold. Shield dipping, you have 19 AC, a lot of thigns that wouldnt have hit you will destroy your mirror images. The only way 10+dex holds up is the game being really low powered, or really high powered, because you need either enemies with weak enough tohits that you arent forced to armor dip, or enemies with so high tohits that it doesnt matter if you armor dip, because they hit you on a nat2 either way.
Eerie timing for me - Our Friday session ended with me casting this on my Bladesinger (lv12) before Spelljammer fleet combat, as I hold concentration on a Wall of Force we're using like a windshield
Speaking of Trickery Domain Clerics, they could not only have Mirror Image up, but also up to as many duplicates as they have proficiency bonus (and sufficient rounds to create them) with their Invoke Duplicity. So depending on their level / PB, between these 2 features you could have anywhere from 5 to 9 duplicates (plus yourself) for your enemy to decide between. Even better, the ones from Duplicity don't disappear when they're hit, and on each round Bonus Action you can trade places with one duplicate so the enemy really never knows which one is you! I'm playing a Trickery Cleric right now, just reached level 4, and I wish I'd seen this idea before I made level--I'd have taken Sentinel for that reason!
I like the concept, but where do you get the idea that the Mirror Images are coming from you and your Duplicates? And what's with the Duplicates/PB? When you are a 3rd lvl Trickery Cleric, you have the ability to use an action to do Invoke Duplicity (one). Then as an action, you may cast Mirror Image (3), creating 4 in total that are not affecting eachother mechanically in any way. When 17th lvl, a Trickery Cleric can create 3 Duplicates with an action, making 6 Duplicates in total in addition to oneself. And I don't get the Bonus Action to switch places with a Duplicate. Where does the PHB specify that? I read it as you may move the duplicate(s) up to 30ft with a bonus action, and that's it. If they're perfectly in your true space, then an attack targeted at either you or your duplicate should hit both, no? Even so, this is a two-turn setup. Believe me, those Actions are just too valuable in combat to use. I have tinkered so much with this and I'd love you to be right, but I can't see it. One thing I almost got to do, was creating a duplicate, and on the second action use Cloak of Shadows, hiding, and then cast Spirit Guardians or something. Hasn't happend yet due to the pressure of that setup. Kind regards, Trickery Cleric lvl 11
@@opposumness3107 I neglected to specify that I was talking about the One D&D version. The current One D&D UA Trickery Cleric includes the ability to move your duplicate and then trade places with it. It no longer requires concentration, and doesn't specify that you can only have one at a time, so for a big fight where you're willing to use up your Channel Divinities, you can just keep making them every round. Of course the Mirror Image duplicates aren't coming from my Channel Divinity duplicates, at least mechanically, but they serve a similar purpose. From the viewpoint of the enemy, you could be any one of the images / duplicates, especially since you can keep trading places with a Duplicate every round as a Bonus Action. And even if they do target "the real you" and not a Duplicate, then you roll to see if they hit an Image instead. Also, Channel Divinity gives more uses as you level up, in the One D&D version. I was wrong about it being based on PB though. I just looked again and saw that it's now a separate progression from that. But by Level 18 you have 4 of them, and regain one of those on a Short Rest. From what we've been hearing, the current UA version of each Class / Sub-class of everything except Monk and Bard are likely locked in to be presented as they currently show (Monk only got one presentation, with no idea yet how it did in the voting, and Bard got a more finalized version but would just go back to Class spell list since the Arcane spell list got canceled).
@@ryadinstormblessed8308 Oh my god. I had a tingling sense that you used the OneDnD one, without me ever looking for myself. That's such a sweet upgrade, thanks for the insight.
I never understood, WHY DOESN'T MIRROR IMAGE USE A D12? 4 targets left: 1, 2, 3 is you 3 targets left: 1, 2, 3, 4 is you 2 targets left: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 is you
My issue is, that I never seem to have the action economy to cast the spell. In most cases, another spell has higher priority. Maybe it is also just the way I play. A cc spell or damage spell in most cases is just more effective. Like, I rather cast Shatter, Web, Grease, Vortex Warp, Silbery Barbs, Scorching Ray, Misty Step, and Thunderwave. (yes, I know that Web is concentration.) It is not like Mirror Image is a bad spell, just that others are more flexible and valuable and less situational.
I feel like mirror image is ONLY ever worthwhile if you can precast it, and if 2nd level slots are not your biggest slots. I don't see how giving up a highly proactive action like web or slow, for a modest defensive one like mirror image ever makes sense.
Having mentioned the value of Mirror Image with the Sentinel feat, I also think it's worth mentioning the Artificer:Armorer and it's Thunder Gauntlets. Similar wording, imposes disadvantage on attacks against targets other than you. Mirror Image is on the Armorer's spell list (although I'm very inclined towards dipping Wizard levels on Artificer builds regardless, so a little bit of a moot point). An Armorer can be benefitting from this combo as early as fifth level, which is quite nice, and could potentially be adding Sentinel into the mix as well (I wouldn't generally advise quite such an all-in decision, but definitely design space worth dabbling with).
This is one of the rarest interactions that you'll see(sentinel mirror image ) and I have a sad story to tell. Once upon a time, a DM ruled that the mirror image duplicates, since they are not real, they wouldn't qualify for a target. Yeah, I didn't argue, but, if your DM does that, they hate fun and should he ashamed of themselves ( but also don't EVER ARGUE DURING THE GAME, save it for after games).
Huh. Arcane Trickster is a really good use case. Sentinel and Metamagic Adept (Quicken) would both make it even better. Could probably have that running at level 10. It's not _good_; but it's interesting. I'd be down to play it. Stabbed if you run, stabbed if you don't. And it's not like Sentinel and Metamagic Adept are bad things to have outside of this.
I dunno... I would most likely resolve this on the attacker's dice by factoring a percentage roll miss chance & possibly combined w/ a buff or debuff from Perception. Homebrew > standard
Unfortunately, non-Pact-of-the-Blade warlocks have little other choice. Assuming you don't want to tie up one of your few eldritch Invocations with Armor of Shadows (Mage Armor at will), the only options for non-concentration protection are this and Armor of Agathys -- and yet AoA is best for melee attacks and the non-blade warlock doesn't want to be anywhere close to melee. For this reason, I've been thinking the warlock I'm building is going to have to be thinking of teleportation spells like Misty Step as their only real defense. (If you're being targeted, get to cover.)
I highly suggest melee casters in midtier to switch from shield to mirror image and open up more options for Absorb Elements Feather Fall or ... gasp... Silvery Barbs. Usually around level 11
I've been theorycrafting Mirror Image builds lately, and this drops right on time! Thank you so much! Would LOVE to see more videos like this for other spells!
plus if you are using a shadowblade to make that AoO and your target is in dim light or darkness then the attack is made with advantage... which also triggers sneak attack. (edit: don't always need an enemy to be within 5 feet of your target... that's right enemy, not ally... the other trigger is if an enemy of the target is within 5 feet, this will often be your ally but doesn't need to be.)
Mirror Image will finally be decent for a Dex+Charisma built Draconic Sorcerer in 2024 5e. My Sorcadin wears plate and the images have too little AC to matter against enemies with multi-attack, but high Dex High + Charisma Draconic Sorcerers will at least get benefit from this, even if they dont get their much needed spell list to compete with Aberrant and Clockwork
I really think you missed one of the main reasons a caster would take mirror image. If they weren't optimizing their AC. Not every game includes multi-classing, and not every wizard is a blade singer. If you compare the efficacy of mirror image on a caster with only the mage armor spell, then only 10% of the images are lost to a hit which would have missed you.
Take the bit with the Sentinel Feat with a grain of salt... While it's a very cool concept, I'd say your Duplicates would be, well, "copies" of your character, features included. Granted, they're not creatures, and can't take actions, but I'd count them as still "having the feat" regardless if they gain no benefit whatsoever from it. Other than that, nice video.
If you have a really high AC this spell is pretty much useless. You'll just waste images on strikes that wouldn't have hit you anyway. A character who can get to the mid 20s on AC should avoid this spell. You're better off with Blink or even Haste.
Query: I know the duplicate counts as a valid target (per MI). But, does the duplicate count as a creature? Answer: Per most targeting spells, it would have to count as a creature to be a valid target. Edit: also I paused the vid 2 seconds too early to make this original comment.
Mirror Image + Fighter: Cavalier with unwavering mark. If you mark the opponent, they would have disadvantage on hitting your mirror image and the spell may last longer.
Thanks for the tip with arcane trickster, I'm definitely using that at some point. Not sure if I'm being pedantic, but can't a creature choose to close their eyes to willingly be unable to see to bypass mirror image? Usually they'd make the attack with disadvantage (making this still a concentration-free blur) but in the case of the marut it would automatically hit so it doesn't matter.
Can we think of the Blink spell as having one mirror image up, that doesn't go away for a minute? (Yes, lots of nuance beyond that (no sentinel, etc.) - but still, a 50-50 chance of a I'm not here super defense.)
my first time hearing of this interaction was "man that feels cheesy" ... but after some thought it makes sense. you are an expert in striking enemies, when they don't strike you but attack close to you - so yeah, kinda makes sense :) as always, love your content, chris. always looking forward to monday thanks to you :D
I am yet to meet a DM who does not turn down this interaction with "yeah, but the mirror image is a duplicate of you so it also has the sentinel feat and you get no attack".
Eldritch knight has to wait till 8th level to learn Mirror Image. That’s plenty of time to pick up Sentinel, but at the level is it worth building around a random 2nd level spell?
I like to use this, followed by dodging the next turn, when I'm really hunkering down to protect my concentration. This video has me wondering though, would an enemy have disadvantage to attack only me in this scenario, or also my mirror images? Funny side note: if an enemy attacking you closes their eyes they have disadvantage to hit, but will never hit a mirror image since they have to see it to be affected. So if you dodge with mirror image up it would always benefit an enemy to attack you blind.
I'm currently playing a sorcerer and one of the challenges I wanted to build into this character was not having the shield spell, since it gets used so much. Mirror Image and Blink are my go to defenses for the character instead. Definitely changes up how you think about playing your character though.
Oh huh, I think any time I've ever been with someone who had this spell we skim read and only rolled after knowing an attack would proc the mirror image d20. Lol
The fact that you've never seen a player voluntarily dismiss a mirror image is tempting me to come up with a scenario to do just that. No luck so far, but it's planted in my brain now.
i plan to take/use mirror image on my profane soul blood hunter goo warlock as i wont have access to shield and will be martial focused (pactcof the blade).
In your example of a high level bladesinger with Res. Con, bladesong, War Caster, ring and cloak of protection and 16 constitution, they certainly would have more than a +10 to their con saves. Assuming +5 from intelligence, +3 from constitution, +2 from items and (assuming high level means at least level 9) 4 proficiency, it would be a +14. Still unlikely, but four times more likely than you presented it.
the spell get thwarted with any non normal sight . the one minute duration . the action all thhese really put a rench of the cog of this spell preventing it from being trully good
One of my barbarians in a game i run has sentinel and a ring of mirror image, i sent this to him as soon as you said sentinel feat and i realized how those work together 😂
Just remember, the lower your AC the more effective mirror image is. So dump your dex and wear no armor to really boost the effectiveness of this spell. This includes mage armor, which makes it so 15% of attacks that would already miss you have a chance to destroy an image. In fact, every point of AC from armor or magic items or feats will add a 5% chance for missed attacks to potentially destroy images, so make sure you avoid all that.
Mirror image isnt a creature for u to go sentinel with. If we had insight ac, instead of just base, natural, armor and dex, mirror image cloud benefit from bladesong, but thats not raw to give it your int bonus to ac, like u get
I play an Arcane Trickster with the Sentinel feat and Mirror Image. Going to multi-class into fighter for action surge and going to go Cavalier for Unwavering Mark. I think this is a pretty good melee rogue build
It’s also pretty good at Ranged as I was playing a wood elf so I have longbow proficiency and we’re using the optional rule from Tasha’s: Steady Aim, which I can use while my mount moves
I'm not sure if someone has already asked this in the comments, but I've heard some people discuss how Mirror Image interacts with the Blur spell. Both are second level, and since only one requires concentration, you could technically benefit from both at the same time? Moreover, is there an order in which you'd cast these spells that could allow any attack that targets one of the duplicates to also be made with disadvantage? Like if you were to cast Blur first followed by Mirror Image, would the duplicates then also be "blurry?"
They do stack, however a smart opponent would just close their eyes and then attack - this only imposes disadvantage, just like Blur without Mirror Images. This of course also applies when attacking someone that used Mirror Image but not Blur. A DM might want to rule that willingly closing the eyes during combat could grant advantage to anyone attacking them (see Blinded condition) or lose their opportunity attack for the round if blind is to harsh. The order doesn't matter since the image always looks like the user. Otherwise getting stabbed once during combat would negate the effect since the caster is obviously the guy in blood soaked clothes.
Has anyone mentioned the synergy with the Warcaster feat use of a cantrip as a reaction (ie. the sentinel reaction attack can be a Booming Blade cast, too)?
If you read the specific wording of those two feats, you'll see that they do not work together, RAW. The Sentinel attack when a creature attacks somebody else is not called an Opportunity Attack, and even if it was, the Warcaster feat is very specific that it *only* applies when an enemy's movement provokes an opportunity attack -- which has nothing to do with the Sentinel feat.
I have been playing an arcane trickster with mirror immage and sentinel weekly for almost a year now. However, the times I get good value out of it are few and far between. Giving up your action a lot of the time is really tough and with only 1 minute duration precasting it before an encounter almost never happens for me. It also competes with shadowblade for uses of the few 2nd level spell slots I've got. (DM really likes killing of our familiars). Advantage is huge for my build because of elven accuracy. I build the character specificly for that combination, yet get to use it way less often then I had thought initially.
Great timing! I was just considering this spell over another while leveling up. I really enjoy this format as well. Current news and One D&D is all well and good, but this is much better!
I want to play an Armorer Artificer some day with Mirror Image as a main spell for them. Take sentinel walk up to an enemy, cast MI, then wait. If they attack my character, redirect the attack to a MI, wack them with a gauntlet, then that attack should be less likely to hit it. Maybe get 3 levels of Fighter for Echo Knight to do more of the same shenanigans.
I'm playing a bladesinger and really appreciate mirror image in certain circumstances. Like when I'm going up against a big guy whith a high plus to hit. But other times it's not worth the action and I can instead cast some aoe or go in a do some attacks in that first round of combat. It's just a nice addition for when you need some extra defense and have time to set it up 😊👍
