Mirage Staff

Mirage Staff (ミラージュロッド, Mirāju Roddo, lit. "Mirage Rod") is a Formchange in Kingdom Hearts III. It allows the user to transform the Keyblade into a staff, granting access to illusory attacks of light.

Mechanics

In Kingdom Hearts III, Mirage Staff is the Formchange of the Ever After Keyblade, associated with Element Form. It has a base duration of 20 seconds and a maximum combo length of 5, or 10 with clones. Its basic attacks have Sora strike enemies with surging attacks infused with light, and its finishers grant Sora the ability to fire light beams all around him. The Mirage Staff's Avatar Shift ability allows Sora to spawn up to four ethereal copies of himself by dodging while in combat. While at least one copy is active, the Attack command will instead activate Avatar Barrage, which has Sora and the copies fire shots of light at the enemy.

While the Formchange is active in combat, only Avatar Shift can be used as an evasive technique. Outside of combat, only Air Slide can be used if equipped, both on the ground and in the air. Additionally, Sora will do a backward dodge similar to Backslide when pressing / without tilting ; this occurs even if Air Slide is not equipped.

The Formchange's finish command has Sora plant the staff into the ground and spawn a tower from underneath him. Sora, alongside two copies of himself, raises his palm and has rays of light streak across the ground, damaging enemies caught in the beams.

Abilities

Alongside the abilities from Element Form, Mirage Staff also has access to Hover and Avatar Shift.

Form Actions
Attack		Attribute	Power Multiplier	Form Value	Reaction Value	Revenge Value	Guard?	Repel LV	Status Effect
Keyblade Transformation Attack (キーブレード変形演出中の攻撃, Kīburēdo Henkei Enshutsu-chū no Kōgeki)		Neutral	0.5	0	1	0	O	—	—
Front Magic Beaming (正面魔法照射, Shōmen Mahō Shōsha)		Neutral	1.2	8	1	0.5	X	—	—
		Will be replaced by the "Rush Magic Horizontal Spin" attack if the target is above you or at mid-to-long range, or "Swoop Magic Eruption" if the target is below you.
Jump Magic Eruption (跳び魔法噴出, Tobi Mahō Funshutsu)		Neutral	1.2	8	1	0.5	X	—	—
Rush Magic Horizontal Spin (突進魔法横回転, Tosshin Mahō Yoko Kaiten)		Neutral	0.6(x4)	6(x4)	1(x4)	0.5(x4)	X	—	—
Golden Rays		Neutral	1.6	8	1	0.25	O	—	—
		Blast enemies with a crisscross of magical light. (Combo finisher)
Revolving Rays		Neutral	1.2+1.2	8+8	1+1	0.25+0.25	O	—	—
		Fire blasts of magical light as you turn. (Combo finisher)
Swoop Magic Eruption (急降下魔法噴出, Kyūkōka Mahō Funshutsu)		Neutral	1.5	8	1	0.5	X	—	—
Avatar Barrage	(avatar barrage)	Neutral (rapid-fire)	0.1	3	0	0.1	O	—	—
	(combo finisher)	Neutral (rapid-fire)	0.3	2	0	0.2	O	—	—
		Sora and his avatars fire projectiles at the target. The finisher causes all active avatars to vanish.
Finish (フィニッシュ, Finisshu)		Neutral	0.5(x3)+2.0	0	1(x3)+5	0	O	—	—
		Sora plants the staff into the ground, spawning a tower from underneath him, and joins forces with two clones to summon rays of light to attack enemies.

Strategy

Mirage Staff's regular combo sequence shines in mob fights by constantly applying omnidirectional attacks around Sora, as most Heartless will flinch by such wide attacks prior to being able to inflict damage, its controllable mobility while performing this sort of attacks also grants it a role to ease positioning across the map, but as not all of its attacks properly surround Sora, other Formchanges like Storm Flag can be used to complement its blind spots. Against a single target, Revolving Rays should be used as close as possible to ensure that the second hit lands, as the first hit can only combo consistently into the second one this way, but if the first hit misses as well it's recommended to use Airstep as to minimize vulnerability, with the hitbox of Revolving Rays still active if used early enough.

Avatar Barrage's high hit rate per second grants Mirage Staff a good niche at quickly charging Situation Commands as to enable the use of other Formchanges and Grand Magic, or as to stay indefinitely with Mirage Staff by constantly recharging itself in mob fights if the final attack is always cancelled with Avatar Shift and the attack command is mashed fast enough. Avatar Barrage having the fastest combo sequence in the game also grants it a role to quickly enable combo finishers from other Formchanges such as Second Form's Magnet Burst, but the timing is important as to not use an unintended attack instead.

As the only Element Form Formchange with a final combo finisher in Revolving Rays that always makes use of Magic Galvanizer, Mirage Staff has the most reliability to maximize the damage output of Grand Magic spells to use immediately after it, especially Aeroza if the innate Aero Boost from Ever After is active. As Avatar Barrage can't be used to set up Magic Galvanizer, if Magic Galvanizer is innately active, support from other Formchanges like Ultimate Form and Double Form is recommended as to considerably extend the combo sequence for far more damage at the end. Overtime is also recommended to be active as to increase consistency with the awaiting casts of Grand Magic. With the right preparation, it's possible to defeat foes like Dark Inferno from nearly full health in a single combo with only 2-3 casts of Grand Magic.

As it has a healing Shotlock, Shimmering Drops should be considered before casting Cure magic, especially if Second Chance and Withstand Combo are active as to not require considerable healing with a significant Shotlock count. Spectral Rays deals a lot of damage and keeps damaging opponents for a moment after it's been used, allowing it to easily combo with further uses of itself or as to enable an opening for a combo with other attacks.

The height granted by Mirage Staff's finish command can be complemented with Doubleflight as to ease attacking from a safe distance with Double Arrowguns or Hunny Blasters, in addition to an opportunity to use Diving Strike, with its high power and decent range being a good way to enter back into the field. Glide can also be used to await for a favorable opportunity to attack.

Learning Mirage Staff

Kingdom Hearts III

• The Ever After has Mirage Staff as its Formchange.