Can someone explain Mimicry to me like I'm a 5 year old?

[Gusto]

I've unlocked the node, I've defeated the Panther, but I haven't done the Frog boss yet, so can't actually use it - that I understand.

When I unlocked it I could see the V and C buttons. For kicks I pressed the C and got the shiny aura and watched as the V button counted down to 0. All good.... obviously couldn't use the special action, but appeared to all be working.

But why did it then completely drain my mask? Even after the 1 minute countdown had finished it still drained my entire mask which had been full of energy (350).

Anyone explain how this all works please?

[Kaos]

Just tested with Shadow Walker mask. Pressing C had the Mask Energy drop by 1 Mask Energy per second while Pressing V has the Mask Energy drop by 10 Mask Energy per second. It is possible that the starter masks don't require defeating the Frog boss to unlock Mimicry since they don't require Yellow Crystals to activate. However, it would require testing to confirm. Pressing C changes the appearance of the character and providing the Mimicry bonus while Pressing V activates the Active ability like Invisibility for Shadow Walker.

You need to keep on popping Sunstones to keep Mimicry mode active since it constantly drains your mask.

[Elikir]

I think every mimicry are locked behind the frog boss, even mimicry from the starter masks

I also think every masks have their own consumption rate, i tested the civilisation mask, while mimicry costed 1 energy per second, if you use his active, it become 5 energy per second, while shadow walker cost 10 per second for its active

Originally posted by Kaos:

You need to keep on popping Sunstones to keep Mimicry mode active since it constantly drains your mask.

I second this, i think its also one of the reasons you have a recipe to craft a 10K energy battery

Originally posted by Gusto:

But why did it then completely drain my mask? Even after the 1 minute countdown had finished it still drained my entire mask which had been full of energy (350).

"Full of energy" unlock the max energy nodes to finally have 1000+ energy limit and create few "energy gathering crystals" to have an almost weightless source of energy, again 10 000 energy available, and you take energy from it until you're full

If you struggle to get green crystal, farm the sabre tooth boss, easy to do, yet give nice amount, also 2 tips to accelerate the green crystal farming :

1) Boss stats AND REWARDS scale with amount of participants, including NPCs you bring with you, so get 3 tribesmen who will mostly be meatshields and be the main DPS, enjoy the rewards

2) you can dismantle the keys (useful only once, bring 1~3 green crystals) BUT you can also dismantle blue crystals, for fixed 5 green crystals