Guild Wars 2

I know, staffs and S/P shine on Legion but for a DPS Legion can dual wielding swords be viable? I mean a dual wielding mage is kinda… ridiculously awesome.

PvP or pve ATM phantasm traits are bugged along with signet of illusions.

Right now I’m running a phantasm mind wravk spec for PvP and seems to be alright will be stronger once they fixed the bugs

the S/S is indeed viable and quite good, actualy i’d say that is totally on par with S/P the only diference would be the stun from pistol, but you have a counter from the sword, so its quite even

From what I’ve noticed, iSwordsman has a slightly faster attack sequence then their counterpart phantasms. Pure speculation, but I often prefer S/S over S/P in quick, short fights. ; the counter also has a secondary attack that dazes foes in a line, which is feastable in practice. The block really shines when up against bosses such as Lupi and Alpha.

I use S/S and have for a very long time. Two leap combo finishers is incredible, but the block also deals a ton of damage (and is great for clone spamming). iS is also brilliant in terms of damage, attack speed and its own leap in/out of combat makes it very powerful for avoiding some damage.

Sacrificing a a stun (1st target)→ daze (2nd bounce) → blind (3rd) for a single block and a phantasm with slightly higher DPS that stacks less bleeds? Not worth it. Not even CLOSE to worth it.

Then again I wouldn’t really ever advocate using a build reliant on phantasms for dps.

Nero.8623:

Sacrificing a a stun (1st target)-> daze (2nd bounce) -> blind (3rd) for a single block and a phantasm with slightly higher DPS that stacks less bleeds? Not worth it. Not even CLOSE to worth it.

Then again I wouldn’t really ever advocate using a build reliant on phantasms for dps.

well that block can turn in a multi-target daze, but the bleed point is true, the swordman hits once and the duelist hits like 5 times or maybe more, BUT! is not such a big diference if you are using mainly power gear, yeah you will lose some damage, but is not really that much to make it not viable

Multi target daze only if they neatly line up for you. Not even remotely close to pistol CC.

Nero.8623:

Multi target daze only if they neatly line up for you. Not even remotely close to pistol CC.

yeah well i was trying to be optimistic there xD

The only real advantage pistol has over sword in this scenario is that the duelist is away somewhere and has to be tracked to be destroyed while the swordsman is in their face and easy to find, if he already isnt destroyed by incidental damage. This is the inherent reason why the duelist sees more success.

This decision falls outside the weapon itself and lies in the realm of condition or power (burst) damage. Sword is a power weapon and its illusion does all of its damage upfront, where the duelist does its damage over time (including the time difference of its eight shots compared to the one leap of the swordsman)

Another consideration is that sword/sword shares a single trait for all the cooldowns. Sword/pistol means that the recharge on your phantasm will be significantly longer unless you choose to use 2 traits decreasing the cooldowns on both weapons, which is generally ill advised.

To be precise, iSwordsmen has a CD of around 8s, when coupled with the Blade Training trait and Illusionist Celebrity , and is perhaps the few phantasms that had their CDs untouched from the latest mesmer nerf.

This.

The S/S setup provides:

1. The shortest cooldown Phantasm (when traited – 9 seconds).
2. A Phantasm that hits incredibly hard.
3. A Phantasm capable of avoiding some damage, due to its leaping in and out of combat.
4. Two leap combo finishers for the mesmer (amazing for applying Chaos armour).
5. A block (which deals good damage) on a short cooldown (when traited – 9 seconds) that also provides a clone.
6. A daze (when traited – 9 seconds).
7. A requirement for only 1 trait to reduce both weapon sets cooldowns.

The S/P setup provides:

1. A much lengthier Phantasm skill (iD) (when traited – 12 seconds).
2. A Phantasm that hits incredibly hard.
3. A leap and projectile combo finisher.
4. A stun/daze/blind (when traited – 20 seconds)
5. A large amount of bleeding through the iD/Sharper Images.

I really don’t see any reason to ever go with the pistol if you want the highest damage output.

Lewis Burnell.2493:

This.

The S/S setup provides:

1. The shortest cooldown Phantasm (when traited – 9 seconds).
2. A Phantasm that hits incredibly hard.
3. A Phantasm capable of avoiding some damage, due to its leaping in and out of combat.
4. Two leap combo finishers for the mesmer (amazing for applying Chaos armour).
5. A block (which deals good damage) on a short cooldown (when traited – 9 seconds) that also provides a clone.
6. A daze (when traited – 9 seconds).
7. A requirement for only 1 trait to reduce both weapon sets cooldowns.

The S/P setup provides:

1. A much lengthier Phantasm skill (iD) (when traited – 12 seconds).
2. A Phantasm that hits incredibly hard.
3. A leap and projectile combo finisher.
4. A stun/daze/blind (when traited – 20 seconds)
5. A large amount of bleeding through the iD/Sharper Images.

I really don’t see any reason to ever go with the pistol if you want the highest damage output.

I’m sorry but you’re wrong. It completely depends on your gear and traits. If you have full berzerker maybe S/S is better in some cases with the 20% CDR, but if you have SI and rampagers/rabid then S/P is probably much better.