(I plan to do a few of these posts and hope that experts on other skills will continue the series. The point of these are to focus in on one particular skill and only talk about that one skill. This is not a discussion about whether a skill is underpowered or overpowered. This is just a discussion on what makes the skill unique and what are the interesting applications of the skill. Other skills can have their own posts to honor them, and please don’t wait for me to make a post on the skill you want to really talk about.)
The Phantasmal Defender can be found on your utility bar and, unlike the phantasms found on your weapon bar, is not for dealing damage. It does way more then a clone in terms of harm, but that is not why I would ever choose to put one out there. Its main function is to absorb damage, half to be exact. What is the most interesting aspect of the skill, is that even though the tool tip doesn’t say this, the damage it absorbs can be from your entire party, not just the mesmer that created it.
The fact that it absorbs damage from both you and your allies is actually a really important detail that is clearly obscured by the tool tip’s language. Another big detail is that it actually has a lot more health then your standard phantasm, about 2.5 times more health. It actually has the health of whole other player character in fact.
Let’s go over the details of its most important mechanic. The defender splits damage with allies who get its buff. The buff lasts 5 seconds and is renewed every 5 seconds in a 600 radius around the phantasm. It will not send out its buff if it can not attack. The buff can apply to other phantasms. Lastly, retaliation on the phantasm is triggered when it splits damage. A cool thing to note since the Vengeful Images trait gives all phantasms retaliation.
Now to know something about phantasms. The only way I know to make them more survivable is to take specific traits or skills, or to boost them up with boons. The defender’s starting health is 19,943 in PvE and can be boosted to about 33,903 if you choose to use the Persisting Images trait and the Signet of Illusion.
Now for its application. The defender is fine in just about any non-zerg situation. If your running a phantasm build, its a great way to keep your damage dealing phantasm up and doing their thing. If you’ve gone at least 15 points into the inspiration trait line at all, then it becomes another great source of renewable regeneration thanks to Phantasmal Healing. Its a terrible choice for some of those PvE living story events or for WvW karma trains. Just about every group zerg situation will result in your phantasms shattering just as you put them out because the target is now dead and gone. Personally, I like to use this skill in specific fights, such as in dungeons against high damage bosses like Alpha from CoE, or in water fights where its hard to dodge blows because there are way more vectors to be attacked from. Any other time, I feel the skill is pretty optional.
(Other “Know Your Skills”: Signet of Midnight )