Guild Wars 2

Every Mesmer has their favorite(s) Phantasm, and many love them for different reasons. Maybe some people like a Phantasm for reasons that others had no idea they could be used for, so I wanted to know which ones were your most-to-least favorite and why.

iWarden(Focus)- I love this guy. Awesome damage, condition cleanser when you place a Temporal Curtain beneath him, and can reflect damage all at once. I’ve never had a problem with it being stationary as I see it more useful defensively than offensive anyway, and when you drop a Chaos Storm under him with enemies nearby, he becomes much more effective.

iWarlock(Staff)- People say that the iLock is out of place for being a power phantasm in a condition weapon, but I tend to disagree. The iLock does decent damage on its own, and with the staff able to drop around 8 different conditions, it can can get pretty hefty. This is also my go-to Phantasm for regeneration as it doesn’t seem to pull much aggro and stands back safely.

iSwordsman(Sword)- Get 2 of these up and they hound the hell out of the opponent. It also evades while it’s in the middle of attacking. I’m not sure if this is stronger than iZerker, but I’m nearly positive it attacks faster.

iBerzerker(Greatsword)- Damages and AoE Cripple, though I always felt the combo finisher was forgettable. I rarely use the GS anyway, but I gotta respect the Zerker

iMage(Torch) It becomes shatter-fodder after it’s first attack, but casting 3 stacks of confusion, and then shattering for another 2(Illusion Major) has its benefits.

iDefender I believe that somehow, some way this is a good phantasm… But it always seems to crap out on me after one attack.

iDisenchanter I keep trying with this guy… but he always lets me down. -_-

I admit, I know nothing of the water Phantasms. Could anyone illuminate me on their benefits/uses?

Reflecting warden is the best by far.

However i love my berserker since i play much more offensively.

When comparing Phantasms, and assuming you are using them for DPS and not shatter fodder, you really should look at their attack speeds:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Phantasmal_Haste

iSwordsman scales incredibly well with power, attacks nearly twice as often, and is the most mobile (greater chance of it not dieing from AoE, either by evading during the attack or by following a kited boss). It also has a chance to heal and protect itself by comboing off of your chaos and water fields. 3x Swordsmen in Berserker gear will do around 16.5k damage every 4.75 seconds. Having a Phantasm that hits hard and often is amazing. By far my favorite phantasm for PVE.

You left out iDuelist. iDuelist is great for condition damage builds for its synergy with Sharper Images. Traited, it has a 8x 100% combo finisher, capable of 8x stacks of confusion via your chaos fields.

Also, staff is a defense/support weapon that is compatible with both condition and power builds. Warlocks hit like a truck in a group setting, but suffer from a slow attack speed and low survivability.

iWarden is situationally amazing but suffers from a long cooldown between attacks and a long cooldown between casts (compared to other Phantasms).

iDefender triggers retaliation from redirected damage. Situational, but interesting against multi-hit abilities or swarms of weak mobs.

I definitely did forget about the iDuelist. I’d place it inbetween Swordsman and ’Zerker.

… and thanks for the link! I didn’t know there was a chart on attack speeds.

My favorite is the iSwordsman because it hits like a truck, attacks fast, hunts its target relentlessly(haha thieves), and evades also keeping a decent range most of the time to not get crapped on by melee’s.

My second favorite is the iDuelist, it also hits very hard, has a decent attack rate and keeps its distance while mostly properly chasing its target. Also it stacks a nice amount of bleeds and like mentioned is great as a finisher through combo fields.

The iWarden is probably the hardest hitting, has great utility and imo isn’t near as hard to land its attacks as people claim it is.. It’s great as a siege harasser, resser harasser and stuff like that too.

My opinions all stem from my experience in WvW.

Oh I’m going to give you all a tip I learned with landing iWardens full attack. You can cast iWarden, and during its cast time cast iLeap, both will be on your target at the same time allowing you to swap and immobilize them in the warden.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

I definitely did forget about the iDuelist. I’d place it inbetween Swordsman and ’Zerker.

… and thanks for the link! I didn’t know there was a chart on attack speeds.

That chart is incorrect. I have personally done extremely extensive testing of phantasm attack speeds, and have updated the wiki page for each individual phantasm with that information. If you want to find the correct information, make sure you look at those pages, not that big chart. If I have time today, I’ll change that chart so that it is correct as well.

Edit: just went and checked the wiki. Some bozo has gone and removed the stats I put on for half the phantasms. I’ll fix that along with the chart once I get home and have access to my spreadsheet.

I love that warden trick. Perfect time for a BF followed up with a MW when the warden is winding down.

I think all the phantasms are useful in some situations. The most being zerker, swordsman, and duelist. Followed closely by the warlock and warden. Defender has its place, but mage and disenchanter are pretty crap, although some do find good use for the disenchanter.

Zerker is amazing for instant, powerful AOE plus cripple. Swordsman and duelist are great for single target harassment. The way the swordsman does it is especially beautiful. Swordman is better for power/crit, duelist is better for rabid/rampager.

Warden is great when you get it to stick and it’s a good safe zone. Can be difficult to land on good players, tho, so it’s not top tier for me unless it’s traited. Then it’s a beast anywhere. Warlock and mage are great for bosses, but outside that mage sucks and warlock is still good for power/crit builds. Mage still sucks.

iWarden is my favorite simply because in my mind techno music goes off when casting it making it a little asura phantasm raver.

That’s an awesome analogy on the warden! Another note the Defender has quite a bit of health and if you run 20 into inspiration you can get phantasms to regen on each other plus generate extra retaliation. So your defender can stand up to quite a bit of attacks if it is standing near other phantasms (swordsman/zerker/warden). And if you run signet of illusions (not a crap signet like everyone thinks) it grants a 200% health increase on an illusion that has an already high HP.

defender is good if you equip signet of illusions and stack toughness

Jackums.3496:

For me, Berserker > Swordsman > Duelist = Warden (> the rest).

agreed, berserker is by FAR the highest dps of any phantasm. considering its an aoe. warden deals more total damage, but it’ll never get all its hits off.

Ok, I have just carefully restested every phantasm and put the results on the phantasmal haste page of the wiki. The table there is now 100% accurate.

Some of the phantasms are actually not affected at all by phantasmal haste. Not a single phantasm actually has the recharge reduced by 20%. The closest is the warlock, at 18.5% reduction, but most fall closer to 15% or less.

Pyroatheist.9031:

Ok, I have just carefully restested every phantasm and put the results on the phantasmal haste page of the wiki. The table there is now 100% accurate.

Some of the phantasms are actually not affected at all by phantasmal haste. Not a single phantasm actually has the recharge reduced by 20%. The closest is the warlock, at 18.5% reduction, but most fall closer to 15% or less.

You are awesome. Thanks for this!

iZerker, that guy has saved so many times when trying to run away.

Warden and defender,, my 2 favs

Pyroatheist.9031:

Ok, I have just carefully restested every phantasm and put the results on the phantasmal haste page of the wiki. The table there is now 100% accurate.

Some of the phantasms are actually not affected at all by phantasmal haste. Not a single phantasm actually has the recharge reduced by 20%. The closest is the warlock, at 18.5% reduction, but most fall closer to 15% or less.

The table is now accurate, but the specific pages for the Phantasms (Atleast, the iWhaler) are still off lol.
Also, do the underwater Phantasms have any real strategic use, or are they simply meant to be cast and forgotten?

My problem with the iDefender is that it takes two utility slots to be effective (1 for the Defender, one for Signet of Illusions) and even still it evaporates rather fast if you have even one other person on your team. If it had more base HP, it’d be an excellent support Phantasm.

Underwater combat in general is meant to be forgotten.

Pyroatheist.9031:

Ok, I have just carefully restested every phantasm and put the results on the phantasmal haste page of the wiki. The table there is now 100% accurate.

Some of the phantasms are actually not affected at all by phantasmal haste. Not a single phantasm actually has the recharge reduced by 20%. The closest is the warlock, at 18.5% reduction, but most fall closer to 15% or less.

Have you tested and have attack speed for the Rogue? (Not that it makes a huge difference in a downed/drowning state)

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Also, do the underwater Phantasms have any real strategic use, or are they simply meant to be cast and forgotten?

Now that the trident auto-attack applies bleeding I think the clones are of more use than the phantasms — even for power builds, sadly.

iBerserker. LOVE. Fast mobility, chasing, AoE (if somewhat random), and cripples. Great for slowing down targets trying to flee, or to cast on the run to keep people from chasing you. Also great for tossing into a horde and see all those numbers pop above everyone’s head. It spawns pretty quick and does the attack somewhat quick, so there is less telegraph prompting involved. As it should be with clones/phantasms, imo.

Second would be iDuelist. Can’t beat those rapid fire rounds for condition damage/damage. Especially if you throw down a field.

Third would be iSwordsman. Leaping attack!

Fourth would be iWarden. The huge con is that it doesn’t move. It stays where you targeted the enemy and where it spawns. So if someone just sidesteps, they’re completely out of harm’s way. The full damage on a target is quite high, though, and very nice in those rare cases it gets a full attack before being popped/evaded. It blocks projectiles when the arms are swirling too, though this lacks some utility since you can’t place it where you want it. You spawn it on a target. So if I wanted to place it at a doorway to block archers shooting through at me, I can’t. I’d spawn it on top of one of the archers… and then they’d just move out of the way and keep firing at me. Thus, I’d need to jog over to the spot it spawned to stand on top of it to get protection… but by then the whirlwind attack is usually done and on its long cooldown or they’ve simply killed it.

And then iWarlock. Heavy damage if you are in a party and spam conditions. But the attacks are so very slow.

The rest aren’t worth mentioning imo.

kandolo.2574:

Pyroatheist.9031:

Ok, I have just carefully restested every phantasm and put the results on the phantasmal haste page of the wiki. The table there is now 100% accurate.

Some of the phantasms are actually not affected at all by phantasmal haste. Not a single phantasm actually has the recharge reduced by 20%. The closest is the warlock, at 18.5% reduction, but most fall closer to 15% or less.

Have you tested and have attack speed for the Rogue? (Not that it makes a huge difference in a downed/drowning state)

I have not. If I’m really motivated tonight, I’ll see what I can do for that one.

I’m running a hybrid phantasm build atm, or well I have up to the 15% damage trait in inspiration and a few other traits for phantasms so I’ve actually been paying more attention to the phantasms rather than total shatter fodder. All of the phantasms have their place and some do some pretty dang neat stuff. Used to really love zerker but I think a lot of that was the instant gratification of all the numbers popping above people’s heads. Now tho I don’t even use greatsword any more and in fact extracted mine for ectos haha I think swordsman is really cool and warden, tho warden looks pretty silly as a human waving her arms around, both can be used on fields to great effect. Mage is awesome if you can get two or three of them out but is a little lacking as a single phantasm because of the slow attack speed. I like the duelist but I just hardly ever used it and so my pistol got turned into ectos also. The two underwater phantasms are both pretty nice and I rarely shatter them.

I’m not too sure the time of attacks for swordsman/duelist is correct just off of eyeing the two times.

The numbers are very close to my not-very-accurate stopwatch tests I did last night. Looks correct to me. Remember, we are talking about time between activations. Duelist does 8 attacks over 1¾ seconds, so it will probably feel closer to 5.5 seconds in between activations.

iZerker: (before first nerf) 5/5. iZerker: (now) 4/5

iWarden: 2/5 (only good on gw2’s brain dead ai who haven’t learned to move from aoe lol in gw1 ai moved from aoe lololololol)

iWarlock: 4/5 in team fights and 3/5 solo

iSwordsman: 2.5/5 complete crap

iDuelist: 5/5 my fav since they ****** izerker

iMage: 0.5/5 LOL BS that has no place in gw2

iWhaler: 3/5 meh phantasms. Should deal higher damage and have a physical combo

iMariner: 3.5/5 acceptable but was much better before damage nerf, MUCH BETTER.

Edit: forgot the two utility phatasms and they’re both -1/5. Worst utilities ever…

Gaiawolf.8261:

Underwater combat in general is meant to be forgotten.

Lol mesmers are great in underwater though.
1vX would have to be like 2x easier than on land :p

My favorite phantasm is the traited iWarden. No other phantasm makes me feel safe beside them except for traited wardens.

iDefender only seems to work well for me underwater :P

iDefender is my savior, 10/10 for me there. Goes extremely well with iSwordsman giving him the -50% dmg buff. Send both together into a small group in WvW and they will cause havoc.

1. iWarden (traited): offense, defense and utility in a same skill :-) 5/5
2. iBerserker: cripple, DE multi targets tagging 5/5
3. iSwordman: the only phantasm who use his attack range successfully (he moves around his target) does he have better AI? 5/5
4. iWarlock: only deals damage but still very reliable 4/5
5. iDuelist: he doesn’t know he has a 1200 range (always try to go 900). Stupid illusion. Without that he would be better than iWarlock 4/5
   and the bullets have now only 20% chance to trigger the combo
6. iDefender: can prevent a one shot death. Good overall but situational use 3/5
7. iDisenchanter: stupider than iDuelist, this little guy thinks he’s Defender. I use it versus heavy condition situations (when Null field isn’t enough). 2/5
8. iMage: okay for confusion build. Why his bouncing attack cannot be traited? 1/5

Defender only really shines when you stack toughness and have Signet of Illusions but when that is the case he is quite nice, combined with phantasmal healing and another (different) phantasm, like the swordsman, he can stay alive for some time and provide a nice damage reduction for your group.

mambastik.8735:

iDefender is my savior, 10/10 for me there. Goes extremely well with iSwordsman giving him the -50% dmg buff. Send both together into a small group in WvW and they will cause havoc.

interesting, never actually used dual sword much since i need the focus for wvw and the warden with reflect is awsome. but iv allways felt that the swordsman put out the hurt, atleast underwater.

I might try it out and get some kind of speed runes.

About the other phantasms the disenchanter comes out alot in pve when the bouble isnt enough, like cacudeus manor vs the necro hes great.

imo, every phantasm is great and have their good use depends on the build. I’m a phantasm glass cannon build, in spvp I use gs/sword-pistol, both izerker and iduelist hit like a truck and I love them. In WvW, I have to swap pistol for focus ‘cause of the speed buff (a must in wvw lol) and projectile reflect (killer ability lol). iWarden is decent too except that it is stationary and has long recharge time. My only wishlist that if Anet could make iWarden ground-targeting then it’s truely on par with other phantasms