Level
2nd
Casting Time
1 Action
Range/Area
Self
Components
V
Duration
Concentration
1 Minute
School
Illusion
Attack/Save
None
Damage/Effect
Deception (...)
Your body becomes blurred, shifting and wavering to all who can see you. For the duration, any creature has disadvantage on attack rolls against you. An attacker is immune to this effect if it doesn't rely on sight, as with blindsight, or can see through illusions, as with truesight.
I'm trying to find an argument for this spell over Mirror Image.
Mirror Image gives you three illusory clones with AC 10+Dex. This works really well in situations where you take few attacks with high bonus to hit. You just need to roll greater than 6/8/11, depending on how many clones you have left, to nullify an attack against you. You're very likely to mitigate 3 attacks that would have beat your AC otherwise.
Blur on the other hand gives incoming attacks disadvantage, which is awesome. To beat a DC of 13 for example (without bonuses), the DM has a 40% chance normally and 16% chance with disadvantage. The thing is, you need to make a concentration check every time you are hit to keep the spell going. In order to match up with, or beat Mirror Image, you need to nullify three attacks that would have beat your AC without disadvantage. I'm not quite sure how the math works out on that. If you have high constitution though, being able to make those con saves could be the thing that makes Blur win out.
One advantage for Blur is that Mirror Image can be wiped out with a single Aoe (Fireball, Breath Weapon, etc) but Blur will keep going as long as you pass your con check. Good for anyone using the War Caster feat (Eldritch Knight tanks).
I do not believe Mirror Image is negated by AOE.
Mirror Image Description: "Each time a creature targets you with an attack during the spell's duration, roll a d20 to determine whether the attack instead targets one of your duplicates. . . A duplicate can be destroyed only by an attack that hits it. It ignores all other damage and effects. The spell ends when all three duplicates are destroyed."
The spell specifies an attack. AOE's require saves. So I believe the AOE would hit you, but you would not lose any duplicates.
I believe Jeremy Crawford specified something similar to this regarding Magic Missile (which also does not require an attack), but I think it applies to AOE's too.
Yes, I am mistaken. I should have double-checked Mirror Image! Though, I suppose your Mirror Images could be wiped out pretty quickly from anything with multiple attacks or a horde of enemies, where as Blur will stay up for the duration regardless of how many attacks come your way (barring dispels, etc of course).
That is very true, up against a creature with multiattack, and with some bad luck, mirror image can be gone in a hurry!
You cast both Blur and Mirror Image to make Mirror Image that much better. Only Blur requires concentration.
Mirror Image looks exactly like you. Make yourself blurry and keep those mirror images around longer.
An enemy using green flame blade certainly doesn't mind your mirror image spell. There's a non-zero chance your duplicates are easier to hit than you are, so rolling against your duplicate gives a GFB fighter the opportunity to still splash damage on you.
I think they're situationally relevant. A blur could protect from Sneak Attack-style damage and other such riders for slightly longer; even if the attacks hit, simply forcing them to be made with disadvantage has its purpose.
I honestly want to know, which is overall better? Right now I’m using blur but mirror image seems just as good, which should I use?
No
It depends on the situation. If you anticipate taking a lot of attacks, blur is more reliable, since mirror image ends after blocking three hits. If you are facing one enemy with a single big attack (or a high to-hit bonus), you are safer with mirror image since its damage prevention is more reliable. Mirror image also has the advantage of a long duration and no concentration requirement, so you can cast it early if you know a fight is coming.
"You both it!"™
How does this work for animals? A saving throw isn’t listed, but what about animals with heightened senses for smelling and hearing, such as a wolf or a panther?
They would only ignore it if they have blindsight, such as a giant bat. It's a pretty short list of things that would ignore this.
Blur is most effective on the so-called “Gish” classes, such as Artificer and Eldritch Knight. Since they tend to have high AC and good Con saves, giving their opponents Disadvantage drastically lowers their chance of getting hit, and they have an excellent chance to make their Con save if they do get hit. For a pure caster (such as a Sorcerer or most Wizards), Blur is less useful, since their AC is not generally very good to begin with.
In addition full casters really want their Concentration free for other things. Mirror Image ends up highly efficient.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe GFB would not work. GFB requires that you target a creature, meaning you have to target the caster, not a duplicate. And because a duplicate is not a creature, if you miss the caster adn hit a dupe, GFB would not leap over to the caster.
“Creature” is a very broad term.
In this context, I would rule that the attacker perceives the illusion as a creature, and so they would still be able to target and hit it, hitting you with splash damage.
You're obviously free to rule that way at your table, but that's not how GFB or Mirror Image work RAW.
Illusions are not creatures unless explicitly stated as such. They aren't in this case. And there are good reasons for that. Like mentioned above they aren't affected by AOE. If they were creatures though, they would be. But what would their save bonus be? How much hp do they have? They have no stats. They could be targeted by other spells as well if they were creatures. Etc. Treating them as creatures raises a bunch of questions with no answers because they quite clearly are not meant to be treated as creatures.
Furthermore, the whole point of Mirror Image is the attacker doesn't know which one is real. So you can't choose to target a copy any more than you can choose to target the real creature (which again, would become untrue if the copies were creatures). You make an attack and it hits one of them randomly, and the GFB secondary damage is lost (unless another creature is within 5 ft).
Just a reminder- This spell negates sneak attacks from rogue archers, too!
Blur is a concentration spell, mirror image is not and both last up to 1 minute. Both can be used at the same time.