Phantasm Chronomancer
The only problem that exists for phantasm builds are the same ones that’ve existed before.
1) AoE spam hitting everything and their dog on point
2) Shattering of clones/phants a necessary function for the mes/chrono to get by with life.
Maybe as a home point holder in 1v1 scenarios it’d do its thing. Add the team fight aspect in and things start going eschew.
The only problem that exists for phantasm builds are the same ones that’ve existed before.
1) AoE spam hitting everything and their dog on point
2) Shattering of clones/phants a necessary function for the mes/chrono to get by with life.
Maybe as a home point holder in 1v1 scenarios it’d do its thing. Add the team fight aspect in and things start going eschew.
In response to your second point, I guess calling it the ‘Phantasm Chronomancer’ is misguiding. This build utilises shatters just as much as a shatter build, however instead of shattering clones for damage you shatter phantasms to respawn phantasms and reset their attack timers — phantasms aren’t actually expected to last that long. Micromanaging phantasms’ health and shattering as they get low allows you to keep them up and maintain dps. It’s actually why I chose to take might on shatter instead of reducing phantasms’ attack speed (the illusions master trait), to discourage myself from trying to preserve phantasms as long as possible. By the time you have shattered both iBerserkers away, it will be ready to be recasted because every time you shatter a phantasm it reduces your phantasm cds by 2s. It’s why mental defense (every time you proc it another will respawn when it shatters) and the shield 4 (chronophantasma doubles, so 4 phantasms) work so well in the build.
I think this is more similar to what people are running if they’re going for damage (assuming they’re taking the inspiration trait).
Otherwise, you’ve got this one:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAR8enknB1qhNqBmpBEgilTjiMAWggqeaz2ttcEauwB-TpBFABE8AAYf/BxLDswRAotDCAAXAAA
What you’ve got going for you is something between tanking and damage. I’d recommend with mesmer to go for one or the other. Otherwise you’re giving up too much to tank or giving up too much to be effective damage (in my opinion). Phantasm generation is great, but you’re still primarily using them for shatters. I’ve played both builds and had a fair amount of success with them.
Claude – Pink Fairy Mesmer
The only problem that exists for phantasm builds are the same ones that’ve existed before.
1) AoE spam hitting everything and their dog on point
2) Shattering of clones/phants a necessary function for the mes/chrono to get by with life.
Maybe as a home point holder in 1v1 scenarios it’d do its thing. Add the team fight aspect in and things start going eschew.
In response to your second point, I guess calling it the ‘Phantasm Chronomancer’ is misguiding. This build utilises shatters just as much as a shatter build, however instead of shattering clones for damage you shatter phantasms to respawn phantasms and reset their attack timers — phantasms aren’t actually expected to last that long. Micromanaging phantasms’ health and shattering as they get low allows you to keep them up and maintain dps. It’s actually why I chose to take might on shatter instead of reducing phantasms’ attack speed (the illusions master trait), to discourage myself from trying to preserve phantasms as long as possible. By the time you have shattered both iBerserkers away, it will be ready to be recasted because every time you shatter a phantasm it reduces your phantasm cds by 2s. It’s why mental defense (every time you proc it another will respawn when it shatters) and the shield 4 (chronophantasma doubles, so 4 phantasms) work so well in the build.
I understand the theory behind your trait lines, and in fact the setup has been done in various ways.
It’s a great setup for long range shatter bursts as you can sit back, spawn, and shatter clones while dropping CC to lock down and make things land properly. You can use anything from berserker to sinister or viper.
Here’s an example of what I’ve been playing with
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQJARWnsnB1qhNqBmpBEgiFWjCN6+pqjMBCggrOZb2oF-TZRHABeXGQo9Hq9QAIwTAAgLAAA
Also, Maim will net you more damage than Shattered Strength even on a power amulet. Those torment stacks will keep ticking away even when the shatters are on CD. Really that’s the beauty of chrono line + illusions, the low cd with high clone/phant output means the shatters are a cascading effect, especialy if you work in your CS to boot.