Guild Wars 2

HA! You all thought it was just another phantasm build, BUT NOOOOO!!! Sorry for the obnoxiousness there, but I just had too. Ehem. This is a build I have been tweeking and working with for a couple weeks now, testing out different traits and weapons to see what works best. And I have found a good balancing of techniques!

A Phantom in the Night, or whenever really. I am leaving this one here. The updated Phantom is down below.

Updated Phantom

The main focus of my Phantom build is to utilize clones to keep pressure on foes when using the staff or trident, and get as much Vulnerability on them, shatter, switch to GS or spear, and start wailing on them. Mirror image is there to give extra shatter feed before a burst or get the conditions flowing. While the main chunk of combat will be on land in PvE or WvW, where this build will shine brightest, having the capacity to control your foe underwater and still have the same exact strategy work, is actually advantageous, as a lot of people do not expect water combat to go smoothly.

There are some variations for personal preference that can indeed be made. This can easily have a lot of stealth included through utilities by switching in MI and Decoy for sure, and Veil can replace Null field, which is actually a place holder for any utility that fits a persons play style.

Now, to make full use of this build, one must always keep in mind. The more clones you have out, the more power you have. While you can shatter BEFORE you switch to GS, if you wait and burst skills with GS and the finish with Mind Wrack, Cry of Frustration, or Diversion, you will be set to go and start up another round.

Traits can be modified to include Grandmaster skills as desired by taking out the greatsword training, or one of the minor traits in Chaos or Illusion. A recommended Grandmaster would be Prismatic Understanding or Imbued Diversion. Getting Domination to 30 is also a possibility to focus on interrupts with daze to inflict damage or even stun. All in all, this is a very flexible build than can be tailored to a particular play style within the parameters of focusing on using clones as actual decoys and lay the smack down with a balance between condition damage and straight up bursting.

If you wanted more damage potential instead of condition damage, gear choice would switch from Carrion to Rampager, to still have condition damage and higher precision. This would then in turn alter what food items you would go for. So really, this is a slightly skeletal build designed to be tailored to an individual. All in all, no two Phantoms are alike, as different as the people they were in life. It is also recommended to have some soldiers trinkets to improve damage and durability, and benefit from improved toughness and vitality for Condition damage.

More builds are likely to arise from me, as I love to tweak things here and there, and take all weapons into account and find builds that can be used in a variety of situations for both support and damage. After all, versatility is the key to survival, and being well loved in dungeons and other such groups.

Edit: In my excitement, I forgot to mention runes and sigils! :o I will get to that right now!

For runes, I have found that while Nightmare works best, an individual could use Perplexity for punishing foes fairly often, or Undead to get more condition damage for your toughness. This way, we get more resilience AND condition damage.

Sigils, it is really up to the individual. Having Corruption or Bloodlust on the staff or Greatsword will greatly increase likely damage from from the mesmer based on what they prefer to use more often. Bloodlust is likely to work in conjunction with Adept trait in Illusion Compounding Power to further boost power. Trident should have Agony, as its bouncing attack inflicts bleed, and boosting its duration is rather effective. Again, tailor sigils and runes to your own personal flavor, however; my testing indicates as these sets being some of the best choices to maximize the effectiveness of this build.

Neat build! Keep it up!

This is an interesting build. I’d love to see how it works. Normally I’d advise against trying to make a hybrid build on a mesmer, but this one might work. Just a few notes:

• Illusionary elasticity doesn’t work with staff clones, only with trident clones. Underwater combat is rare, and Anet has recently insinuated that the lake will be gone soon, so designing a build around underwater is probably not a good idea.
• Without deceptive evasion, you’re going to have a good amount of difficulty keeping staff clones up for damage, and producing good numbers of clones for shatters. Considering your extremely low clone generation rate, I’d consider removing both of your on-clone-death traits and putting in something else.

Hate to be a pessimist here, but… have you actually tested this build? It looks decent, at best, on paper.

@Pryo – Thanks, I never really thought about it. When I am actually using it, I find that I can keep my clones up fairly often using Mirror Image, or having the 8 second cooldown on Phase Retreat or Mirror Blade. I will do some tweaking to see what I can manage to have better uptime on the staff clones though. Also, it just happened that this build was also viable underwater, I did not actively seek to go for it. Still, great place to hide for ganks when underwater and even do other stuff, since UW attacks can strike onland and vice/versa.

@Gummi – Thanks! I love finding builds that are versatile and customizable to tailor specific playstyles.

@Esplen – This is not simple theorycraft. This is my current build I am using. Sure, I keep tweaking it to try and get a good balance out of it for maximum efficiency both in solo and group play. Though, your pessimism is well found. I know a lot of people post theories on here, and hope to get input. While I do look for input, I was also posting a build that has worked and is working for me. Any tips you have though would be appreciated!

@Elwood: You’ll be able to keep clones up, that’s not a huge problem. The issue slid that you’re taking 2 clone-death traits, but with your low clone generation, you’re getting essentially no use out of those 2 traits.

The only way I see this build working is by sitting at back and just playing zergzerk afk and getting tags out of your Greatsword, which kind of makes the Carrion useless. I don’t see the staff conditions dealing enough damage to make staff worthwhile while sitting back, unless you got caught and needed the stunbreaker.

@Pyro – I see. Hmm…I will tweak a bit in the traits. I will be sure to look into other traits to supplement instead of clone death traits. I will post a renewed version later.

@Esplen – That is very valid as a way to likely play it. But…I don’t play it like that. It is about the mobility at range. A foe cannot really get to you if you are dropping a clone on phase retreat. Each clone can also cause Bleed, Burn, or Vulnerability. Having 3 staff clones is a mighty help any day of the week. Add the fact that clones can now have Quickness (I think. Not really paying attention when I drop the time warp around myself and my clones) and you have the potential to be sending out a lot of conditions and boons to allies, or even yourself. The main point is to lead in with the staff and gets boons and conditions out, then clean up with the greatsword, since by then there is a high chance ot have Fury and a couple stacks of might. Mirror Blade followed by Zerker and boom, you just dishes out good damage. That is how it has worked for me, and it seems to be working well in PvE taking on champs solo. Sure, it takes a while, but you gotta keep moving and using those dodges. It guess…it fits my playstyle.

Edit: The update

So instead of the two clone-death traits. I took an interupt trait, which can happen fairly often in testing, particularly with timing 5 on GS and occasionally/way to often with the 5 in Staff. Halting Strike. Then I reduced the Illusion and Chaos to 20 each and put the last 10 in Inspiration. With my Adept Chaos perk being Illusionary Defense, and already having Compounding power, and having stated this build puts emphasis on moving, having Compounding Celerity seemed to fit well. I will have to test it this evening, but I think this may be more effective than clone death. Now since Sustaining Illusions gives Speed, Defense, and Power, this is a very effective build that puts focus on outlasting and out moving enemies. This would make Null Field a little more effective in the long run to keep conditions off self and boons of enemies, as the point seems to revolve around controlling boons, conditions, and positioning.