Guild Wars 2

Hey everyone,
in PvE a phantasmbuild seems to be the best option for dealing dmg (dps) but the thing I do NOT get is how to keep 3 iSwordmen/iDuelists up. Using the trait in inspiration and the signet of illusions doesn’t work that well if your enemies (like sparki and slick, gigantius lupicus, old tom, alpha essence,…) keep spamming aoe all over the ground and kill your phantasms with one hit.

Now my question:
How can you keep your phantasms alive? Pls help me I don’t get it.

They are meant to be squishy to counter the sort of damage they can do. Not alot that can be done if taking the health trait and the health signet.

Could look into seeing if they benefit from a % of our Vitality then another way could be to go into more Vit to help buff theirs

Just summon more when they die. The skills recharge super fast for such powerful minion skills. Obviously some fights are going to be more difficult than others but you shouldn’t have too much trouble keeping up at least two at any given time unless it’s a boss like Ooze or Zerker Abom.

Placement is usually a key factor. If the phantasms are getting OHKO’d, spread them apart. If not, you can usually place them together so they give each other regen and, generally, they should be able to recover enough health until the next AoE. Sometimes it’s unavoidable because of the boss mechanics so just tough out the fight.

@Armageddon
the only basic stat illusions do not inherit, it the owner’s vitality. Better get more toughness.

@Anarchy
you can’t place the phantasms’ spawn location. But I think I get what you mean:
Do not stand on a single spot./ Do not group together.

But generally,
what Guang said. Phants are not meant to survive the whole fight. Not even necro minions or ranger pets do. Illusions were meant to be squishy. Just shatter (if necessary) and resummon.

@Nretep you can manipulate the placement of ranged phantasms, I.e. warlock, duelist etc. But yeah, generally the placement of melee phantasms doesn’t matter since they walk to their target to smack them (or spawn on them) anyway.

But yeah, just summon more really.

there are many situations where you can keep alive phantasms expecially in order:

iZduelist
iZerker
iWarden

Example in svanir fractal boss, you can place 3 iduelists under the ice Platform where the boss teleport in phase changes and just fight in another position….You won t have to summon any other phant until the end of the fight.
There are many situations for each phantasm…all have to be tested in each situation.

iSwordman just Attacks frontally and evade after attack…too random to try to use it effectively.

Get Illusionist’s Celerity and as many weapon-specific CDR traits as you can (0/20/0/25/25 gives full reduction on duelist/swordsman+warden, for example)

The extra health will rarely, if ever, save a phantasm under attack so make sure you can resummon them as quickly as possible. Duelists also rarely die unless the boss floods the entire arena or their line of sight is broken (Dwayna Statue and the Iron Marshes Fire Shaman are good for seeing that in action, especially if the statue gets pushed into a corner duelists tend to run into melee range instead of strafing 2m)

I personally think phantasms and clones should have a 2second immunity on spawn so they can at least get off their first attack before popping like bubbles.

mesmers are not a sought after class in guild wvw, one of the problems with mesmer is it requires a target for most attacks other class’s you can just aoe spam in the zerg. So not only do you have to pick someone out and cast a phantasm which is major disability in gameplay in zerg situations but when you do the chance of the attack actually hitting is about 1/3.

Mesmers in wvw will always only be the token veil or portal, where as they should benefit from being dps.

2 second immunity on phantasms and illusions would literally fix mesmers in wvw.

Possibly change targeting so if you have no one targeted you can fire a zerker in the direction your facing or place a warden like a mark.

I posted something about this. Phantasms are not completely reliable for the whole duration of a fight if it is in a highly enemy aoe situation.

My trick is not to get out all 3 of them. If you are running offhand sword and pistol then summon both of them then when the skills are recharged wait until one of the phantasms die. Then use the recharged phantasm skills so as to keep at least 2 phantasms up at one time.

You can waste most your utility on signet of illusions and defender…but really it’s not worth it.

I started playing a Sword/Torch and Scepter/Sword build that I’ve been having incredible fun with in PvE, but haven’t really tested it in sPvP or WvW yet.

The Phants die, but in addition to the health signet and trait, I also took reduced cooldown on Torch skills, so my Phant mage refreshes faster.

I don’t think the placement of all the traits and skills were intended for an entirely Phant build – so I have some other things up my sleeve, and don’t rely 100% on Phants.

Skill 2 on Scepter (forget the name – block, torment) and I use Skill 4 on off hand Sword (some kind of counterspell – summons a clone if I block, daze if I fire it) along with the interrupt traits.

So, in addition to good Phants (extra life, reduced dmg to me, increased dmg), I also have counterspells, distortion (main hand sword skill 2), invisibility (Prestige), and lots of Torment stacks.

I also use Runes of Torment, for the AoE Torment on Heal.

Also, the Scepter has a Confusion causing skill (3 I believe) that goes along rather well with the Torment.

I guess, its a hybrid build.

But, the solution I found to Phants not living as long, was to diversify and not rely on them 100% of the time, as much as I love my Swordsman and my Mage.

Here’s a link to the build (I didn’t fill out any of the armor – just weapons and traits):

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgEQRAsf7clwzyrnQTgGf9IhJF923oUgdvT6hpV9rB-w