Phantasm Build Gear

Phantasm Build Gear

in Mesmer

Posted by: athuria.2751

athuria.2751

I’d go with knight’s gear, and pepper your weapons/accessories with Berserker’s (Or Valkyrie’s if you think you need the health buffer, because you look low on condition removal) where you see fit. Especially since you don’t have any points in Chaos for toughness, and decent toughness goes a long way towards keeping your Phantasms from getting one-shot in two seconds and you’re stalling for the cooldown.

Syrlya | Sylvari Mesmer
Arabelle Jones | Human Engineer
Stormbluff Isle

Phantasm Build Gear

in Mesmer

Posted by: Zepidel.5349

Zepidel.5349

full zerker always on anybuild thats not going for bunker… phantasms only get your power/precision/crit damage anyways. This game is about active mitigation (dodging/blinks/invis/invuln etc…) the extra 3-4k hp and toughness you would get from grabbing knights or w/e is equal to about 1 auto attack from a warrior/thief (you’ll live 1/4 second longer). Compare that to the damage boost you and more importantly your phantasm will get and its obvious which to go.

It just comes down to learning when to blow those defensive skills.

Phantasm Build Gear

in Mesmer

Posted by: athuria.2751

athuria.2751

full zerker always on anybuild thats not going for bunker… phantasms only get your power/precision/crit damage anyways. This game is about active mitigation (dodging/blinks/invis/invuln etc…) the extra 3-4k hp and toughness you would get from grabbing knights or w/e is equal to about 1 auto attack from a warrior/thief (you’ll live 1/4 second longer). Compare that to the damage boost you and more importantly your phantasm will get and its obvious which to go.

It just comes down to learning when to blow those defensive skills.

Phantasms inherit your power/precious/crit damage/toughness/healing power and I believe condition damage, but not durations and not your vitality. The damage their phantasms can cause will be nothing if they’re not up, and outside of iSwordsman being able to evade during attack they have no way to prevent damage they receive.

You can totally run a phantasm build in all Berserk, but I think roaming in a PvP area puts too much risk on someone/someone’s AoE burning them right down instantly and leaving you with a long wait before you can pop another.

Syrlya | Sylvari Mesmer
Arabelle Jones | Human Engineer
Stormbluff Isle

Phantasm Build Gear

in Mesmer

Posted by: Zepidel.5349

Zepidel.5349

full zerker always on anybuild thats not going for bunker… phantasms only get your power/precision/crit damage anyways. This game is about active mitigation (dodging/blinks/invis/invuln etc…) the extra 3-4k hp and toughness you would get from grabbing knights or w/e is equal to about 1 auto attack from a warrior/thief (you’ll live 1/4 second longer). Compare that to the damage boost you and more importantly your phantasm will get and its obvious which to go.

It just comes down to learning when to blow those defensive skills.

Phantasms inherit your power/precious/crit damage/toughness/healing power and I believe condition damage, but not durations and not your vitality. The damage their phantasms can cause will be nothing if they’re not up, and outside of iSwordsman being able to evade during attack they have no way to prevent damage they receive.

You can totally run a phantasm build in all Berserk, but I think roaming in a PvP area puts too much risk on someone/someone’s AoE burning them right down instantly and leaving you with a long wait before you can pop another.

thats why you grab signet of illusions for the OP 200% more hp. Roaming in WvWvW is dumb anyways as when I did try it most of the ppl I ran into were obv sub 80’s that I annihilated with 2 attacks or guild groups/zerg that mow you down. Very rarely do you find yourself in situations were a decent fight happens between you and someone else. 5v5 TPvP most of the time you are fine, however yes in 8v8 hotjoin matches you illusions are usually food, the best thing to do here is a shatter build.

(edited by Zepidel.5349)

Phantasm Build Gear

in Mesmer

Posted by: athuria.2751

athuria.2751

Which can have a long delay before it applies and you might find yourself with no phantasms by the time it does (also they will fix that 200% HP eventually). Signet of Illusions does let you lean a little more towards Berserk, but I’d still have at least half knights so that they don’t get burned down before the effect can actually trigger—916 is way too little toughness to hope they just don’t get hit or live through it, and that extra HP will also mean a lot less when everything hits them for more because they have so little defense.

Syrlya | Sylvari Mesmer
Arabelle Jones | Human Engineer
Stormbluff Isle

Phantasm Build Gear

in Mesmer

Posted by: Zepidel.5349

Zepidel.5349

Which can have a long delay before it applies and you might find yourself with no phantasms by the time it does (also they will fix that 200% HP eventually). Signet of Illusions does let you lean a little more towards Berserk, but I’d still have at least half knights so that they don’t get burned down before the effect can actually trigger—916 is way too little toughness to hope they just don’t get hit or live through it, and that extra HP will also mean a lot less when everything hits them for more because they have so little defense.

1 to 10 seconds right? meaning on avg 5 seconds. If your illusions are dying in 5 seconds chances are you are screwed anyways. and remember GW2 IS ALL ABOUT ACTIVE MITIGATION not passive. doding/invuln/block etc… the extra hp and toughness you will have out of zerker will let you live about 1-2 seconds longer. compared to the extra damage you and your phantasm would have its not worth it.

Phantasm Build Gear

in Mesmer

Posted by: mambastik.8735

mambastik.8735

Depends on the play style you’re looking for. If you want a Phantasm build and stray away from your previous shatter build, you might want to invest in Chaos (defence) to pick up the Regen and the Protection whenever Regen. The extra defence also carries over to your Phantasms. Trust me, every little bit helps.

No staff and no focus for swiftness means Blink is your only true mobility and stun breaker. In the Chaos, you can pick up the Master of Manipulation and also Illusionary Defence. All in all, you get Defender(50%), Protection(33%), and with 3 illusions on field (9%) – giving a total of 92% damage reduction. Though I’m not sure how each is calculated. The main point is that you’re alive for a whole lot longer to keep pumping out Phantasms. Also with Defender up and 2 other illusions, you practically have a 100% uptime area Retaliation on 4 targets – any AoE will mean 4xRetaliation, which will eat anyone alive.

Swordsman hits for 1 and Berserker hits for 4, and you’ll have minimal condition damage if you go for Knight/Berserker/Valkyrie. If you want, you can sacrifice on Sharper Images. That may not play nice together, especially with the gear suggested so far.

I’m also a mostly roamer WvW Phantasm build. My laptop can’t really handle the larger battles.

(edited by mambastik.8735)

Phantasm Build Gear

in Mesmer

Posted by: athuria.2751

athuria.2751

Which can have a long delay before it applies and you might find yourself with no phantasms by the time it does (also they will fix that 200% HP eventually). Signet of Illusions does let you lean a little more towards Berserk, but I’d still have at least half knights so that they don’t get burned down before the effect can actually trigger—916 is way too little toughness to hope they just don’t get hit or live through it, and that extra HP will also mean a lot less when everything hits them for more because they have so little defense.

1 to 10 seconds right? meaning on avg 5 seconds. If your illusions are dying in 5 seconds chances are you are screwed anyways. and remember GW2 IS ALL ABOUT ACTIVE MITIGATION not passive. doding/invuln/block etc… the extra hp and toughness you will have out of zerker will let you live about 1-2 seconds longer. compared to the extra damage you and your phantasm would have its not worth it.

Yes GW2, and especially the Mesmer class, are strong on active mitigation, but your phantasms can’t actively prevent damage to themselves. It’s not in their behavior. Their survivability is entirely dependent on how much their health and toughness can soak up—and an extra 1-2 seconds of survival isn’t much for you, but it is for them, and it is for buffering between your cooldowns so you can keep them up as consistently as possible.

And phantasms are a damage over time mechanic—the extra damage is nice, but doesn’t really mean as much in a fight about consistent pressure as much as as keeping that pressure—and passive strength for an attack that can’t defend itself goes a long way towards keeping that pressure reliable.

Syrlya | Sylvari Mesmer
Arabelle Jones | Human Engineer
Stormbluff Isle

Phantasm Build Gear

in Mesmer

Posted by: Gaiawolf.8261

Gaiawolf.8261

I also recommend going with knight’s gear and some zerker/valkyrie/soldier pieces thrown in. I think my setup is roughly 50% knights, and the other 50% is spread for the others. GW2 does use more active defenses than most games, but in wvw you’ll never avoid it all, especially when outnumbered, jumped, or rushing into an enemy zerg. There’s just too much happening and too many stray projectiles.

In the end it comes down to your playstyle, and in smaller battles you can go either way (knights to outlast them or full zerkers to get them before they get you), but in larger battles all that extra zerker damage gets smaller compared to their total health pool. So I go defensive because I’d rather be able to escape with a few hundred health and heal up to jump back in than have to run all the way back from the WP.

Lone Wolf Mesmer | Warrior | Engineer | Thief
Dissentient [DIS] ~Tarnished Coast

Phantasm Build Gear

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Posted by: Esplen.3940

Esplen.3940

And phantasms are a damage over time mechanic—the extra damage is nice, but doesn’t really mean as much in a fight about consistent pressure as much as as keeping that pressure—and passive strength for an attack that can’t defend itself goes a long way towards keeping that pressure reliable.

I agree. I tend to think of my Phantasms as DoT’s that I’m applying to an enemy. I don’t entirely rely on them, nor do I ignore them. I just keep them applied and that’s it.

I personally don’t even run Signet of Illusions as my utilities are too precious for a 200% health increase (that and most people will target my clones/me instead of my phantasms).

Lastly, I run Valkyrie Armor with Berserker weapons/trinkets because the Bers armor will give ~10% more critical rate (not including runes) as opposed to ~2k health from the valk armor. I have a full bers set for PvE but the main difference between the two is the runeset (full ruby orbs on bers and full centaur on valk). The difference is negligable but the valk is helpful when I’m having trouble with conditions. It also lets me make one more mistake versus nuke classes.

Neither way is right, but that’s just how I like to play my class.

Phantasm Build Gear

in Mesmer

Posted by: Zepidel.5349

Zepidel.5349

Which can have a long delay before it applies and you might find yourself with no phantasms by the time it does (also they will fix that 200% HP eventually). Signet of Illusions does let you lean a little more towards Berserk, but I’d still have at least half knights so that they don’t get burned down before the effect can actually trigger—916 is way too little toughness to hope they just don’t get hit or live through it, and that extra HP will also mean a lot less when everything hits them for more because they have so little defense.

1 to 10 seconds right? meaning on avg 5 seconds. If your illusions are dying in 5 seconds chances are you are screwed anyways. and remember GW2 IS ALL ABOUT ACTIVE MITIGATION not passive. doding/invuln/block etc… the extra hp and toughness you will have out of zerker will let you live about 1-2 seconds longer. compared to the extra damage you and your phantasm would have its not worth it.

Yes GW2, and especially the Mesmer class, are strong on active mitigation, but your phantasms can’t actively prevent damage to themselves. It’s not in their behavior. Their survivability is entirely dependent on how much their health and toughness can soak up—and an extra 1-2 seconds of survival isn’t much for you, but it is for them, and it is for buffering between your cooldowns so you can keep them up as consistently as possible.

And phantasms are a damage over time mechanic—the extra damage is nice, but doesn’t really mean as much in a fight about consistent pressure as much as as keeping that pressure—and passive strength for an attack that can’t defend itself goes a long way towards keeping that pressure reliable.

>And phantasms are a damage over time mechanic

what r u smokin m8? phantasms deal huge dmg in a burst every 5 seconds or so and instantly after being cast, damage over time my kitten its burst dmg. If you think your auto attacks etc are doing more dmg than your phantasms then idk. And if you phantasms do die in less than 5 seconds it takes for the sigil to take hold (rarelly unless your ikittenerg) whoever was aoeing just took a huge amount of retal dmg. and with phantasms hitting for upwards of 5-8k i never run into a situation were the other person hasn’t blow all their active mitigation before me.

Phantasm Build Gear

in Mesmer

Posted by: athuria.2751

athuria.2751

Which can have a long delay before it applies and you might find yourself with no phantasms by the time it does (also they will fix that 200% HP eventually). Signet of Illusions does let you lean a little more towards Berserk, but I’d still have at least half knights so that they don’t get burned down before the effect can actually trigger—916 is way too little toughness to hope they just don’t get hit or live through it, and that extra HP will also mean a lot less when everything hits them for more because they have so little defense.

1 to 10 seconds right? meaning on avg 5 seconds. If your illusions are dying in 5 seconds chances are you are screwed anyways. and remember GW2 IS ALL ABOUT ACTIVE MITIGATION not passive. doding/invuln/block etc… the extra hp and toughness you will have out of zerker will let you live about 1-2 seconds longer. compared to the extra damage you and your phantasm would have its not worth it.

Yes GW2, and especially the Mesmer class, are strong on active mitigation, but your phantasms can’t actively prevent damage to themselves. It’s not in their behavior. Their survivability is entirely dependent on how much their health and toughness can soak up—and an extra 1-2 seconds of survival isn’t much for you, but it is for them, and it is for buffering between your cooldowns so you can keep them up as consistently as possible.

And phantasms are a damage over time mechanic—the extra damage is nice, but doesn’t really mean as much in a fight about consistent pressure as much as as keeping that pressure—and passive strength for an attack that can’t defend itself goes a long way towards keeping that pressure reliable.

>And phantasms are a damage over time mechanic

what r u smokin m8? phantasms deal huge dmg in a burst every 5 seconds or so and instantly after being cast, damage over time my kitten its burst dmg. If you think your auto attacks etc are doing more dmg than your phantasms then idk. And if you phantasms do die in less than 5 seconds it takes for the sigil to take hold (rarelly unless your ikittenerg) whoever was aoeing just took a huge amount of retal dmg. and with phantasms hitting for upwards of 5-8k i never run into a situation were the other person hasn’t blow all their active mitigation before me.

Where did I say my autoattack was ever doing more than my phantasms? That phantasms continue to attack every 3-8 seconds (because that varies per phantasm) as long as they’re alive is precisely what makes them such a good DoT ability—if you can keep a phantasm rotation going constantly you are constantly hitting the enemy with that damage (and constantly hitting in stagger, because good luck trying to sync your phantasms attacks up, but it’s actually better for DoT) and putting them under pressure where there’s only so many hits they can block and so much room they have to heal before they start to get whittled down again—but that means nothing if they aren’t up.

Burst is about a rapid onslaught of damage—phantasms hit hard on their own, but setting up multiples takes longer and it’s very hard if not impossible to get them to hit together, short of right at spawning and because of the differences in attack time they’ll very quickly fall out of sync. If I were to play phantasms as a burst it would be to throw two up + a clone rapidly and then shatter after their attacks—which would rack up considerable damage, but it’s a long set-up and long cooldown, and preventing one phantasm from spawning or hitting can leave a significant gap in your burst. Really, if I wanted burst in a phant build I would go for a hybrid—DoT pressure until I have them down and then burst to finish it off.

Also retal is per-hit, so “huge amount” is pretty questionable—phantasms only have a little over 2k health on their own, probably about 2.5kish with the 20% trait. One getting busted pre-signet could easily only be 2-5 hits—so maybe 700-1.7kish damage with full Berserk. Pretty decent punishment for daring to kill it, but nothing that’s going to stop someone intent on flattening you.

Blowing cooldowns is separate to the kind of build you play, because you can get someone to waste them on crap and then use a burst build to shred them or you can wear them down and counter them with pressure until they crumble under it because they lost their mitigation before you did.

Syrlya | Sylvari Mesmer
Arabelle Jones | Human Engineer
Stormbluff Isle