Mirror Image has been confirmed to be the new level 80 Mage spell for the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. After Blizzard removed Shatter Shield as our level 80 spell, we were without a new spell for quite some time. Mirror Image is the new spell, and it is pretty good.

The images work very similar to the [Tiny Voodoo Mask] trinket. If you use Mirror Image in a middle of combat, they will automatically fight whoever you are fighting. If you use MI while out of combat, they will just follow you around until you initiate combat, or an enemy starts attacking you.

9/10/2008

You CAN summon Water Elemental at the same time as the Mirror Images, and having the Water Elemental out actually returns enough mana to the Images so that they will not run out of mana and start melee combat.

If you cast Focus Magic AFTER Water Elemental and Images are up, they all will receive the 150 Spell Power bonus.

The Spells that the Images cast are: Frostbolt, Fireblast, and Polymorph: Chicken. Polymorph: Chicken worked like the Shaman’s Hex, and does not break on damage.

The damage for the Images were… overpowered. Frostbolts were hitting for ~1000, crits for ~1500. Fireblast was hitting for ~2000, crits for ~4000. Yea, ouch.

You also get a Mirror Image buff which randomly switches your Mage with one of the Images. Sounds cool because it can switch you before your enemy’s cast lands. But at the same time it messes you up because when you switch, it also interrupts your current cast. You CAN click off the buff to prevent getting switch around.

9/12/2008

Mirror Images’ damage has been toned down quite a bit. Frostbolts hitting for ~500, crits for ~800. Fireblast hitting for ~600, critting for ~1200. Pretty sure everyone was expecting this one, they were doing way too much random damage. Not sure why Fireblast is doing more damage than the Frostbolts though.

You CANNOT click off the Mirror Image buff to prevent getting switched around anymore. The switching still interrupts your casting.

9/30/2008

Mirror Images’ damage has been dropped even more, but now, their damage scales with yours. Also the placement swaping has been taken away.

[Quote from Lhivera on Beta Forums]

Nice find. I believe these Frostbolts are 2.5 second casts, right? In that case, I think what you’ll find is that each Mirror Image is gaining 1.5 / 3.5 / 3 = 0.142857 ~= 14.29% of your spell power.

Prediction with 540 Spell Power:
- Mirror Image gains 1.5 / 3.5 / 3 * 540 = 77 spell power
- Frostbolt damage increases by 2.5 / 3.5 * 77 = 55
- Your result: increase = 55

Prediction with 946 Spell Power:
- Mirror Image gains 1.5 / 3.5 / 3 * 946 = 135 spell power
- Frostbolt damage increases by 2.5 / 3.5 * 135 = 96
- Your result: increase = 97

Prediction with 1508 Spell Power:
- Mirror Image gains 1.5 / 3.5 / 3 * 1508 = 215 spell power
- Frostbolt damage increases by 2.5 / 3.5 * 215 = 154
- Your result: increase = 154

So basically, each Mirror Image gains 1/3 the normal bonus of an instant-cast spell, but it then gets to use that bonus on every spell it casts; its Frostbolts get a 2.5-sec coefficient with no snare penalty. We could double-check this if you could provide a damage range on Fire Blast (since it should get less benefit from the spell power).

Some of the new changes are just rewording of the text of the talents for Improved Water Elemental and Winter’s Chill. Then there are talents which its mechanics have been changed. They are Focus Magic, Molten Fury, and Hot Streak. And of course, the addition of the new level 80 Mage Spell, Mirror Image. I’m sure there are other changes that I have missed, these are just the ones which caught my eye at first glance.

The Focus Magic has been changed to increase the Spell Power of the entire party or raid by 150, and lasts for 1 min or 50 charges. Not only will other spell casters which will want you to have this talent, but other healers as well.

The new Molten Fury has reduced the damage bonus, but increased the duration by changing it so that it is active when the target is at 35% Health, instead of 20% Health. Overall, you should be seeing a damage increase.

The new Hot Streak has been changed to give you an instant cast Pyroblast whenever you get two crits in a row with Fireball, Scorch, or Frostfire Bolt. Increase in DPS for PvE, and gives Fire Mages more potential to melt some faces in PvP.

The new text for Winter’s Chill now states that it increase the critical strike chance for ALL Spells. This is also true for Improved Scorch, and now that talent does the same thing as Winter’s Chill (Boo! I liked the old imp scorch better!). Yes Shadow Priest and Elemental Shamans, you may now join the cool kids club.

A range requirement as been added in order for the party or raid members to receive the Water Elemental’s aura. The range is 100 yards.

And last but not least, Mirror Image has been confirmed to be the new level 80 Mage Spell. For the cost of 10% of your base mana, you can now create 3 clones of yourself. Now here is a look at the spell in action!

Also note, the mage in the video is Fire Spec (you can see hot streak in action too) and the images are pretty much just casting Frostbolts instead of what the Mage is casting. From what I see in the video, the Mirror Images are like the Boomkin’s Treants and just attack your target randomly. I would liked it if they moved around a bit more, or if each image could cast a different spell each or something. It’s still in beta phase, so maybe we’ll see some changes.