Guild Wars 2

Just some thoughts of making them more versatile and reliable, but at the same time keeping them balanced. Now, these are really just ideas, nothing more. Because of that, they probably seem radical to you, because, they are.

What if:

• Phantasms “fade” after they are casted, resulting in decreasing damage with each attack. Example: First attack 100%, Second attack 80% damage, and so on. Maximum decrease stops by, lets say, 50%.
• Therefore, Phantasms have a slightly lower cooldown.
• Phantasms are invulnerable during their first attack. Still dodgeable.

Consequences?

• Phantasms are more reliable in Zergfights because of their invul.
• Phantasms are more balanced in smaller fights and 1v1s. Nobody really kills them immediatly after they spawn, so the invul shouldn’t be a problem.

Possibilites?

• New traits. Examples: Fading power gives them more HP at the same time – or increases their attack speed slightly, making them more useful for stacking bleeds while at the same time, keeping their direct damage output down. I could imagine that this trait could replace the old “15% more damage for Illusions” trait.

Your thoughts?

Seems like a nerf to me.

I’d be okay with that if they returned Illusionists celery to minor adept and halved all phantasm summon skill cooldowns by half. Otherwise, no, this is a bumming nerf.

you cant recomend it mesmers dps in pve is lowest of all enyway and 60% of it is phantasms
and if phantma is invonreble on first attack if I shatter it before it will suvive than?

baylock.1703:

you cant recomend it mesmers dps in pve is lowest of all enyway and 60% of it is phantasms
and if phantma is invonreble on first attack if I shatter it before it will suvive than?

Phantasm Mesmer with the right build can be one of the highest DPS in the game depending on how many phantasms you can maintain on the field.

Sounds like a nerf not a buff.

First of all: Numbers are just random examples and you shouldn’t base your decision on them. That stuff needs testing.

Second: It is not intended to be purely a buff, or a nerf. It’s just a thought to balance them in all aspects of the game. Why are phantasm builds bad in PvE and WvW? Mostly because they die instantly. This way, they could atleast deliver their first burst at 100%. How long does a phantasm live anyway? They either get shattered or killed most of the time. The only realistic scenario where they stay alive is dueling, and that’s the place where they are considered OP.
Talking shatters: You should still be able to shatter them during their invul time.

Phantasms weak in PvE….. what? The best PvE builds are Phantasm builds not to mention in WvW Phantasms are only useless in a zerg in roaming and small groups they are just fine.

Phantasms deal low DpS. DpS means damage per second and if an iDuellist attacks every 5(?) seconds with 5k it makes him 1k dps wich is about melee GS aa. Only the iWarlock has a good dps against well condition affected enemies. He comes up to 3k DpS.

btt: I like the idea of this, but I would increase the start damage to 120%, then go down by 1% each second. Otherwise fast attackers are weaker and f.ex. iWarden doesn’t give a kitten :P But it’s true in WvW die often die immediately and in PvE you will allways have 2 phantasms and 1 clone ready to replace by the same amount of p and c.

this is a terrible idea

Its funny and not bad but its complicated and kinda useless i know :P

Reading between the lines, you want a Phantasm build to be more viable when fighting zergs, correct? Not going to happen.

Xyonon.3987:

Phantasms deal low DpS. DpS means damage per second and if an iDuellist attacks every 5(?) seconds with 5k it makes him 1k dps wich is about melee GS aa. Only the iWarlock has a good dps against well condition affected enemies. He comes up to 3k DpS.

What? Come on!

Xyonon.3987:

Phantasms deal low DpS. DpS means damage per second and if an iDuellist attacks every 5(?) seconds with 5k it makes him 1k dps wich is about melee GS aa. Only the iWarlock has a good dps against well condition affected enemies. He comes up to 3k DpS.

btt: I like the idea of this, but I would increase the start damage to 120%, then go down by 1% each second. Otherwise fast attackers are weaker and f.ex. iWarden doesn’t give a kitten :P But it’s true in WvW die often die immediately and in PvE you will allways have 2 phantasms and 1 clone ready to replace by the same amount of p and c.

Where are you getting these numbers from? Because let me tell you non of them are accurate. If your going to throw around numbers you better have test to back them up, the only time Phantasms are not viable is in a giant Zerg, because then they truly will be stomped out of existence.

Ryn.6459:

Xyonon.3987:

Phantasms deal low DpS. DpS means damage per second and if an iDuellist attacks every 5(?) seconds with 5k it makes him 1k dps wich is about melee GS aa. Only the iWarlock has a good dps against well condition affected enemies. He comes up to 3k DpS.

What? Come on!

It sounds worse than it actually is.

Phantasms burst, so in open world they grant you higher dps (since the mob dies too fast). For example you cast ISwordie, he hits for 5k, waits 5 sec and hits again 5k, the enemy dies. Then he did 2 attacks in 5 sec, gives him 2k DpS. Or heaviest scenario, if you cast him in the end, he spawns attacks 5k kills -> 5k DpS. But over time its about 1k :P (champ, dungeon, …)

You also can have up to 3 phantasms at the same time and image 3 Warlocks who grant you 9k DpS sustained and you did nothing yourself at this time.

Also there are heavy aoe hitters like the warden or zerker. The iBerserker hits for 8k ever 6 sec i guess. This results in 1333 DpS per enemy, wich means against 5 (max targets of iB) enemies hit grants 6666 DpS per iBerserker.

However it’s all theorycrafting, phantasms aren’t that awesome neither that bad. Just be sure to pick the right weapons (phantasms) against the right enemies

€dit: Sure the nubers aren’t accurate, I can’t check them right now :P But the CD of phantasms are between 4-12 sec afaik and the damage they deal are just the damage i deal with them at lv80 ^^

Numbers are more or less ok (unbuffed). But how can you said that’s low DPS? With 3 phantasms and your own attacks… Maybe I just missunderstood your first post.

If your numbers are not accurate then this is not their true DPS and your argument is invalid. There is a reason you go Phantasm build in PvE and Dungeons, please come back with real numbers before making claims because so far they are unsubstantiated.

Stop Zerging → problem solved.

Ryn.6459:

Numbers are more or less ok (unbuffed). But how can you said that’s low DPS? With 3 phantasms and your own attacks… Maybe I just missunderstood your first post.

If i read it again – yes :P I meant a single phantasm deals relativly low dps. However they still got first strike, then cd and not vise versa wich grants them burst. Also they got utility (reflection, combo finisher) and are up to 3 phantasms. The nubers were unbuffed.

Deathcon.5903:

If your numbers are not accurate then this is not their true DPS and your argument is invalid. There is a reason you go Phantasm build in PvE and Dungeons, please come back with real numbers before making claims because so far they are unsubstantiated.

There is no “accurate” nubers, since they copy cat your own stats. Your argument is invalid The numbers are correct more or less, you can argument with them.

x Charlie.4820:

Stop Zerging -> problem solved.

Very productive ….

You can go to the dummies in sPvP or in Lions Arch and test it out, you wont crit on them and you can reset your traits for an even boost in stats with/out your gear. Even better get steady weapons and try it out, giving pure DPS not influenced by gear.