Phantasmal Mage underwhelming for power
It’s a condie phantasm, what exactly were you expecting?
Seriously though, for most of this game’s history the torch phantasm has been nothing more than a flaming pile of garbage widely regarded as worse than a clone. Nevertheless, torch has been a staple in builds purely because of how good a skill the prestige is. Think of skill 5 as an extra illusion for a shatter now and then or just ignore the fact that it’s on your bar.
Even though it’s still not a great phantasm, I actually think the iMage is better now than in the past because if you synchronise casting with prestige burn in melee range you can stack what – 3+2 stacks of burning, plus another 2 stacks when the iMage throws it’s projectile (which it will recast if chronophantasma). That’s a not insignificant amount of burning, especially if buried beneath other conditions from shattering, etc.
If Anet does another ‘we totally care about your input now guys’ session before the next expansion we need to get them to give the Mage the same treatment as the avenger, keep it ranged though.
Even though it’s still not a great phantasm, I actually think the iMage is better now than in the past because if you synchronise casting with prestige burn in melee range you can stack what – 3+2 stacks of burning, plus another 2 stacks when the iMage throws it’s projectile (which it will recast if chronophantasma). That’s a not insignificant amount of burning, especially if buried beneath other conditions from shattering, etc.
That playstyle doesn’t feel like the torch to me though, getting up close and personal to the enemy just to let your illusion do the damage? Kinda pointless imo.
I’d rather the primary attack on that skill be updated, as well as potentially update the phantasm itself. I don’t use it enough to know how I’d like to change it though
It’s a condie phantasm, what exactly were you expecting?
Seriously though, for most of this game’s history the torch phantasm has been nothing more than a flaming pile of garbage widely regarded as worse than a clone. Nevertheless, torch has been a staple in builds purely because of how good a skill the prestige is. Think of skill 5 as an extra illusion for a shatter now and then or just ignore the fact that it’s on your bar.
Well said.
The mage is my favorite condi phantasm. It’s a little tricky to cast it right next to someone to get the extra two burn stacks, but it’s a really nice boost. If you use prestige plus casting image plus the image attack, it’s 7 burn stacks in a pretty small window. If you use continuum shift and have enough condi/burn duration, you can get up to 14 at once.
Swordsman is a nice phantasm for power builds. Seems like it can be okay to have some offhand phantasms that are better for condi and some for power.
Even though it’s still not a great phantasm, I actually think the iMage is better now than in the past because if you synchronise casting with prestige burn in melee range you can stack what – 3+2 stacks of burning, plus another 2 stacks when the iMage throws it’s projectile (which it will recast if chronophantasma). That’s a not insignificant amount of burning, especially if buried beneath other conditions from shattering, etc.
That playstyle doesn’t feel like the torch to me though, getting up close and personal to the enemy just to let your illusion do the damage? Kinda pointless imo.
I’d rather the primary attack on that skill be updated, as well as potentially update the phantasm itself. I don’t use it enough to know how I’d like to change it though
You’re not letting your illusion do the damage – the iMage’s attack is a side effect, an additional 2 stacks of burning on top of the primary effect.
The primary effect is synchronising iMage cast with Prestige burn for a small burst of burn and direct damage – which now after the increased burning, while still not great is certainly non-negligable. I should clarify – I’m counting the on cast effect of iMage as part of the phantasm. The phantasm’s attack itself (the bouncing) is mediocre only because of unreliability of hitting. If it was AoE fury and burn on top of the AoE cast burn, it would be decent.
If the iMage’s attack hits on top of all of that, it’s a bonus which is great (nevermind the fury which will allow you more chance of crit with F1 if playing hybrid, using say Sage amulet with already 25% chance from Master of Fragmentation, or if using Viper gear in wvw).
Well before when prestige did pathetic burn, mediocre direct damage and iMage had no on cast effect, the only thing prestige was used for was to bait a dodge before unloading a shatter so as not to be predictable – you were only interested in landing the shatter, especially if playing power with GS.
But now if they dodge prestige/iMage cast you can follow up and land the shatter – if they don’t dodge they get hit by 5 stacks of burning and some direct damage instantly. Or if you’re guaranteed to land the shatter you can burst on top of the burn for even more damage.
So I’m finding it useful in both pvp and wvw builds currently as it reduces further the predictability of when you’re going in for the burst, and you can spread the damage application a bit more than in the past. The main issue is reliablity of the iMage landing its bounce – which is why I would prefer an AoE attack.