Phantom mirror

Version 0.30: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

This page is about the item. For the monster-only spell, see Phantom Mirror (spell).

Type	Miscellaneous item
Name	Phantom mirror
Icon

A hand mirror which can create a reflection of a nearby creature, clouding in the process. The reflection's duration increases with Evocations skill and decreases with the willpower of the target. It is, invariably, slightly weaker than the creature it mirrors.

Evoking a phantom mirror allows you to summon an exact duplicate of a single non-player target. The illusion spawns drained, with only 2/3 of the base HD of the mirrored monster. You can use the phantom mirror on any non-tentacle creature in the game. The illusion's duration increases with your Evocations skill and decreases with monster willpower, with a minimum of 9 turns.

The mirror becomes inert after one use; it can be recharged by gaining experience. Like with other miscellaneous evocables, only 1 phantom mirror will spawn in a given game.

Duration

Specifically, an illusion's duration can be calculated as follows:

• Duration class = (Evocations/4 + 1) * (100 - check_willpower) / 100, with a minimum of 1 duration class (this is not equal to turns).
• "check_willpower" is the same function used for other willpower checks. The power of the mirror is equal to (5 + 3 * Evocations), so check_willpower equals willpower - (5 + 3 * Evocations) + 102 - 1d100 - 1d101. If a target has infinite willpower, check_willpower is set to 100, meaning (100 - check_willpower) = 0.

This means that, if a target has at least 99 + (5 + 3 * Evocations) willpower, you will always get a minimum duration summon.

• Duration class is defined in the Summons page. At 1 duration class, the summon lasts 9 turns.

Strategy

Having a spare ally can be very helpful, especially when you're fighting powerful uniques. You can clone just about any monster, including the likes of the Lernaean hydra and Cerebov.

History

• Prior to 0.26, phantom mirrors were one-use items and didn't recharge with XP. Also, it was impossible to create copies of enemies hated by your god.
• Phantom mirrors were added in 0.16.