Having now had proper experience with the Mimic fight on Hard (both with my dodging strike build not picking up health orbs, and with my Plant Summon build) I have a few extra things to add.
Turns out, for a mage, the fight is pretty well balanced. Things do a lot of damage, and it shows. I guess the fact that lots of things jump on your during that fight makes dodging strike really worthwhile. As in, I'm actually struggling to manoeuvre through all the slime or fire without being slammed.
In the first stage, the perfect guard time for the bite is much earlier when compared with the Jumpkin, which is really putting me off. Still haven't quite got used to it yet, but it would be nice if the consistency was there across the Jumpkin, Shroomie and Mimic.
As for the second stage, it feels like there's just a tad too much fire around during the final barrage - mainly because, if you've just been chillied from the last wave, he instantly hits another chilli or two and half the room ends up being on fire. Maybe, when the counters land on the ground they should put out any nearby fires by smothering them?
I swear, that mimic rune block the final stage is the most dangerous enemy of the fight. Its stomps do damage around the 120 mark for me, and oh boy do they hurt. It doesn't help that occasionally you're a little too slimed in to get away from it quick enough as well, resulting in it getting a multi hit combo. I found a fantastic way to take care of it using Dodging strike - as it makes its sound to jump for it's slam ability, dodge backwards, then cancel out of the dodge with a perfect guard to the shockwave. Best thing is, it even works around the slime.
To remedy that problem... to be honest I'd rather be set on fire and have the opportunity to move than get slimed in and stomped on. Maybe I just need to pay more attention.
Anyway, I still haven't actually beaten the fight with either of the two builds I've been testing with, so still more to do
