Guild Wars 2

Lets face it this little guy (I’m Asura Don’t judge me monkey!). Well he needs some love from the Mesmer community….. I see more mesmers run phantasmal defener… But in all honesty having perma conditions in this new meta (Necros and engis are running rampant.) Reducing direct damage isn’t the issue. Clearing conditions is… And I thought he sucked. I refused to use him. But he is our best condi clearer… HE attacks every 3-4 seconds and usually lasts throughout most of his cooldown in team fights. And is even harder to kill in 1v1s… He allows us to facetank 2 condition spamming necros and a thief (did it 5 min ago).
So everyone tip your hat off. And learn that while we may not be the best at innate condi cleanse… we can cleanse more per second than most with him. Here’s to you our condition clearing bad kitten …

Signed,
Thankful Mesmer

Edit: Thanks to Pyro For suggesting him.

As PvE player:

I’ve always used iDisenchanter. But it’s always been to unreliable to clean my conditions. I use Inspiration IV (condi removal on heal) with healing mantra, which took care of 90% of conditions. If there was a heavy condition boss, I’d take con cleansing mantra in my slot. This sounds like iDisenchanter was not needed, but …
I always put it in my free slot when I expect bosses with boons. cSwords were not reliable due to melee range and GS #3 is too slow. But iDisenchanter took care of any boon. Perfect for bosses like the Ettin in asuran fractal or the boon-tower-golem in CoE. Pretty much “best skill for those”.

But with the new maxHP, I might try it to clean my conditions … but it’d occupy another of my slots, while inspiration IV doesn’t …

same as above.. you must stick within range of idischanter to have your condition cleaned.. and clone are not exactly smart at positioning .. usually stick around it means death…

I’m going to stick my neck out and say it – I think iMage is better than iDisenchanter (apart from the cooldown of course)!

:p

Hrm, cleanses 1 condition instead of 2, doesn’t rip boons, but buffs retaliation, deals minimal confusion damage and causes slightly more direct damage.

I’d say “debatable”.

I use the iDisenchanter situationally in PvE. For condition-removal I just find Null Field more reliable, particularly because you need a target to summon the iDisenchanter on. But for boon removal I prefer the phantasm – boons get reapplied so fast that you can’t wait for the Null Field cooldown, so it’s useful to have a phantasm constantly taking them off. I would like to see him get a damage buff or something though, or something to give him an offensive element.

Nikku.3562:

I would like to see him get a damage buff or something though, or something to give him an offensive element.

+Damage for each boon removed; or +Damage when target has no boons (like Sword’s new #1-3)

Nretep.2564:

+Damage for each boon removed

That would actually be really nice without being at all OP, and would make for a clearer choice between Null Field and iDisenchanter.

I always keep iDisenchanter on my skillbar in PvP. Mesmers like to whine about their lack of condition cleansing but the truth is we are just one Utility skill away from good cleansing, plus boon stripping. The only problem is it is not completely reliable, but that barely matters with the rate it cleanses conditions at.

It’s a Utility Phantasm, it doesn’t need to do damage.

Curunen.8729:

I’m going to stick my neck out and say it – I think iMage is better than iDisenchanter (apart from the cooldown of course)!

:p

Yeah, the iMage is pretty similar. They both remove conditions.

…if you trait 20 points and a major trait
…with a 2x longer cooldown
…removing half as many conditions
…not removing boons
…attacking 3x slower
…with less hp

Well, to be fair with the trait iMage’s CD is only 20% longer, attacks about 25% slower, and I don’t think it has less HP.

But yes using iMage to remove conditions doesn’t work.

Embolism.8106:

Well, to be fair with the trait iMage’s CD is only 20% longer, attacks about 25% slower, and I don’t think it has less HP.

But yes using iMage to remove conditions doesn’t work.

Just checked my numbers
iMage is on a 50% longer cooldown (1.5x)
The iMage attacks 2x slower, both with and without pHaste
The disenchanter does have more hp than normal phantasms, though not nearly as much as the defender.

Pyroatheist.9031:

Embolism.8106:

Well, to be fair with the trait iMage’s CD is only 20% longer, attacks about 25% slower, and I don’t think it has less HP.

But yes using iMage to remove conditions doesn’t work.

Just checked my numbers
iMage is on a 50% longer cooldown (1.5x)
The iMage attacks 2x slower, both with and without pHaste
The disenchanter does have more hp than normal phantasms, though not nearly as much as the defender.

Without the trait it is, but with the trait it’s only 20% longer (24 vs 20). IIRC Disenchanter attacks every 4.5 seconds and iMage every 6 seconds, so it’s not quite double speed. The HP I’ll take your word for it since I never noticed.

@Embolism: check the wiki page for phantasmal haste for the proper numbers.

What the Phantasmal Haste page shows is the time from the end of one attack to the start of the next attack, the proper attack rate would be from the start of one attack to the start of the next. Having said that, I did a quick test and I’m wrong, iMage actually attacks every 7.5 seconds compared to iDisenchanter’s 4.5 seconds. So it’s actually about 70% faster.

(iMage is even weaker than I remembered.)

Disenchanter is quite good 1v1 for fights without a lot of AoE. He’s also useful against guardians. Not so great in PVE.

Thedenofsin.7340:

Disenchanter is quite good 1v1 for fights without a lot of AoE. He’s also useful against guardians. Not so great in PVE.

It isn’t that bad in group fights either, as it can hit a lot of people with its cleansing/stripping bolt. If you get two shots out of it that’s as much as what Null Field does.

Oh and my other problem with it is its very long cast time, but it’s the same as iDefender.

I am close to officially replacing the iDefender with the iDisenchanter on the build I’m running for the following reasons:

• With the increase in HP and SoI working properly and the 20% HP trait, it has respectable health.
• The amazing party utility it brings.
• The lower cool down versus the iDefender, especially in mind due to the IC nerf.
• Most importantly, the retaliation nerf which crippled iDefender tremendously.

It’s pretty much a clear choice (if you were using iDefender pre-patch)

iDefender is no longer a worthwhile choice after the uber nerf to the Vengful Images trait. On the other hand, iDisenchanter’s attack sound effect is freak’n awesome. It sounds like a machine-gun-cannon!

The nice thing about disenchanter is people don’t stress him because he does no damage so its nbd. But he really is our best source of Condi clearing.

Pyroatheist.9031:

Curunen.8729:

I’m going to stick my neck out and say it – I think iMage is better than iDisenchanter (apart from the cooldown of course)!

:p

Yeah, the iMage is pretty similar. They both remove conditions.

…if you trait 20 points and a major trait
…with a 2x longer cooldown
…removing half as many conditions
…not removing boons
…attacking 3x slower
…with less hp

I should have clarified – in a build with sufficient condition removal, I don’t find iDisenchanter to be worth the utility slot.

And in such a situation, at least iMage (untraited) provides some retaliation – pretty decent retaliation although the duration needs a buff, and damage.

But I can appreciate iDisenchanter in a build without many sources of condition removal. I just think there are so many better skills to fill the precious 3 utility slots, that iDisenchater is difficult to justify on many builds.

iDefender is still worth while, but it depends on the situation.

Curunen.8729:

Pyroatheist.9031:

Curunen.8729:

I’m going to stick my neck out and say it – I think iMage is better than iDisenchanter (apart from the cooldown of course)!

:p

Yeah, the iMage is pretty similar. They both remove conditions.

…if you trait 20 points and a major trait
…with a 2x longer cooldown
…removing half as many conditions
…not removing boons
…attacking 3x slower
…with less hp

I should have clarified – in a build with sufficient condition removal, I don’t find iDisenchanter to be worth the utility slot.

And in such a situation, at least iMage (untraited) provides some retaliation – pretty decent retaliation although the duration needs a buff, and damage.

But I can appreciate iDisenchanter in a build without many sources of condition removal. I just think there are so many better skills to fill the precious 3 utility slots, that iDisenchater is difficult to justify on many builds.

I find it very easy to justify given it also strips boons. Besides, think of it this way: if you use iDisenchanter you don’t have to worry about getting condition removal in your traits or whatever.

^Boon strip is definitely something great, I agree.

And yeah with condition strip then you could go without mender’s purity, sigils, runes, and so on.

But with essentially 1 spare slot (yes… blink + decoy) on land, I find it hard not to pick a different utility.

Curunen.8729:

^Boon strip is definitely something great, I agree.

And yeah with condition strip then you could go without mender’s purity, sigils, runes, and so on.

But with essentially 1 spare slot (yes… blink + decoy) on land, I find it hard not to pick a different utility.

In PvP i have tried every condition removal combo we have via our traits and skill slots (runes don’t work since my build requires a specific runeset to be effective). This is menders purity with 2 mantras, null field etc etc. With the brand new FOTM face roll necros running around when I am bunkering against 2 of them those combinations didn’t work.

In the current map rotation it provides strategic placement for this guy. And i sit there and run around bunkering my butt off with these two necros throwing everything they had at me and every 3s the conditions would just disappear. When it comes down to just conditions cleared per second vs. the cool down. iDisenchanter wins… 2 conditions every 3 seconds. The only thing that comes close is menders purity with Mantra of recovery/resolve. And once you blow through those you have to wait at least 13 seconds to be able to reclear conditions again….

You know what, I apologise – this guy isn’t half as bad as I remembered him to be – always remembered him to be dying too fast and requiring awkward positioning.

Started playing with him again and I haven’t felt the urge to ditch him yet! Hopefully it’ll stay like that for a while.