Guild Wars 2

After rolling with shatter for quite awhile, I decided I want to try my hand at a phantasm build. I don’t think I’ve seen any up to date phantasm builds but then again I didn’t really look too hard for it, so I decided to come up with one on my own.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQJARWlknpItlpxRNcrRiqhc2mPRZ3vkKQ56A-TVCFABCcBAeU9nsUCikyvGOEA6pLQu9HW4IAAwDAIAACwNvZ28mBG6QH6QH6Q7mD9mD9mDtQAmXAA-w

Just a quick note: I think PU is kind of overrated, and really isn’t necessary for roaming in WvW. And you kind of have to invest a lot to get it and your damage probably takes a significant hit.

Anyways I decided that the best build will probably be GS/Staff. GS I think is probably a must for a phantasm build so I would probably not switch that out for another weapon set. I was also debating whether I should go Sw/Sw or Sw/Pi.

Sword MH is a nice weapon, with the immobilize and the multiple ways you can use Blurred Frenzy, I will give it that.

Sword offhand was OK. I really like dazing people with the #4 and it is really clutch in a lot of situations due to its low cooldown. I like the damage that the phantasm does, however I’ve encountered a few problems. It is mostly a melee phantasm, although it leaps to the target and it is easily dodged.

Pistol is really sweet as well. iDuelist’s multiple hits pretty much guarantee that the target will be hit and it’s ability to stack bleeds is awesome. Magic Bullet is dope too and really clutch in interrupting heals, stomps, revives, etc.

However I feel Staff was the all-around better option. The warlock, while probably not as good as the duelist is still decent. The advantage with the warlock is that it deals its damage all up front which is great for bursting targets. Staff also has an amazing amount of defense and utility which all contribute greatly to survivability. It felt like a no-brainer in this case.

I opted for a 10/15/0/25/20 build in the end.

10 in Domination is obvious, 15% extra damage with illusions.

25 in Inspiration is kind of self-explanatory as well. 15% extra damage with phantasms, perma regen, condition removal and extra phantasm health

20 in illusions for extra damage for each illusion up and illusionist’s celerity which I feel like is a must for this build with the CD’s and what not. I have played around with Illusionary Elasticity and I can say it is really, really amazing and has so much synergy with Staff/Greatsword. You can get up to 6 stacks of might, 6 stacks of vulnerability on a target and have it hit the same target twice for double damage with the GS #2. It was excellent burst. With the Staff, it’s like Winds of Chaos on steroids. I immediately noticed a drastic DPS increase. I’m not sure if this causes the clone’s Winds of Chaos to bounce more but if so this is more justification. Bleeds and burns just stack like crazy as well as might and fury. Staff I felt was that weapon that lacked a lot of DPS and pressure in power builds, Illusionary Elasticity allows that to be possible.

15 in dueling is what was pretty much left. Vigor on crits, Fury on Phantasms and bleeding on illusion crits. I really like the bleeding on illusion crits, especially if I have a Greatsword clone of a Staff clone up. I will however miss the extra 300 range on manipulations but I feel this is well worth the sacrifice. You also may of noticed that I dont have Deceptive Evasion. I feel that with the Greatsword/Staff this is not needed at all. I can pretty much spit out clones on demand with the low CD on GS #2 and Staff #2. Also it overwrites existing illusions which is not a good thing for Phantasm builds. And it has the bonus effect of not giving away your position in stealth.

In terms of some of the choices I made:

I put a sigil of air and fire in my greatsword, well, IDK I just like damage lol. The GS #2 proccing fire and air is just crazy! And I feel it adds an extra kicker to the GS auto because at times it feels a bit lackluster in the damage department.

I put Energy and Leeching in my Staff, well, for extra survivability OFC! Even though I am fairly tanky with 2,500+ armor and 20K+ HP, a bit of sustain goes a long way!

As my utilities I chose Ether Feast, Mantra of Resolve, Blink and Decoy. Blink and Decoy are kind of self-explanatory.

I know people are probably going to call me bad and say (omg you have Mender’s Purity why don’t you use Mantra of Resolve you can clear 6 conditions in 13 seconds and free up an extra utility). I did not realize this until somebody point this out in one of my builds for shatter mesmer, but I tried it out and realized it wasn’t for me, and for multiple reasons which I will list.

#1: It just doesn’t fit my playstyle. I find it really, really annoying having to recast this kitten mantra every 10-15 seconds and having to press the button twice for two small heals rather than one large heal. I could of used this valuable time to be aggressive and pressure the opponent further. If I was a condition build I wouldn’t have a problem because condition builds in general are more passive in nature and you can pressure the opponent alot more without attacking.

#2: It pretty much screams, look at me I’m casting a healing mantra, come and attack and interrupt my heal please! Interrupts were a huge problem for me, especially against Warriors, Thieves and Mesmers. I can cast it while in stealth of course, but I only have two sources of stealth on high cooldown. And an interrupted heal easily loses you the fight.

#3: I actually prefer to have two seperate sources of condi cleanse rather than have all my condi cleanse tied to one skill. Maybe I am at full health but I have an annoying blind I want to cleanse. It would be a waste to use mantra of resolve on just the blind. and not get anything from the heal. Also poison is a huge issue. What I have noticed is that Mender’s Purity doesn’t cleanse the poison before the heal, which is huge IMO. With Power Cleanse, I can just cleanse the poison, and heal using Ether Feast with no problem. Having them on separate cooldowns allows me to micro-manage conditions much better.

#4: I actually prefer the burst healing I get from Ether Feast, 7-8K or so, rather than the 5-6K you get from the Mantra.

The omnomberry ghost I feel synergizes well with my build. The greatsword auto is great for proccing the effect, and with the amount of times the winds of chaos bounce, it is also great for proccing the effect.

So yeah, any comments, criticisms or changes/alternatives you guys would suggest for this phantasm build for WvW?

Do you mean Mantra of Recovery rather than Mantra of Resolve in your post?

I wouldn’t take it either unless you had Harmonious Mantras somehow traited. With your current build it would only give you two charges for two condi clears per charge.

I do use Mantra of Recovery though in some builds with Harmonioius Mantra. The time to re-cast is in stealth particularly with decoy or veil or when you blink yourself out of trouble.

I was in your position almost half a year ago and switched from shatter to phantom so I will do me best to give you my feedback on how I find playing around with different phantom builds/weapons while roaming in wvw. Take what you want form it

Quick disclaimer first off is that i don’t min/max but play what feels right/I can afford, Also this is based on my own experiences/preferences (Mostly solo roaming) which differ from person to person :P

Weapons.
GS: I find is almost a must in roaming on a lot of mesmer builds. As you are content not swap it out I will move onto the next weapons and assume GS is supporting any of the following weapon sets.

Staff: My personal experience with staff is that it is not what it use to be after the chaos armor nerf. I have been running Staff/GS recently and find myself missing my sw/pi sw/sw sets. With staff I find that the phantom misses to often and dose not provide the instant burst that I need in some situations. The slow speed on the phantom attack/staff auto also dose not work vs people running away as they can outrun it leaving GS as your only chasing option. Surprisingly I also find that when you are aimed by more than 2-3 people staff also provides less defense than sw due to again the nerf on chaos armor and the long CD on chaos field. Phase retreat somewhat makes up for it and good use of it makes staff a really fun weapon and still viable but I personally feel that using sw/sw or sw/pi are more viable roaming options.

Sword:
Sword as my main hand weapons is my go to option for my off hand set over scepter and i personally prefer staff because of the following options.
Blurred frenzy:
Despite being good damage is the reason I find sword more defensive than staff when being aimed by 2-3 people as there is no limit on the amount of damage you can evade while using it as appose to staff which reduces the damage taken instead of blocking it(Aegis excepted). Also in a phantom build the play style lends you to using this skill as more of a defensive option as your main damage output is done via your phantoms. Also excellent vs those pesky thief’s for stopping the burst if timed right.
Illusionary leap:
For all that it is buggy sometimes still an amazing skill and almost rivals phase retreat I find. If being pressured in a heavy cc environment I use the swap as a stun breaker on a 9 second CD. Cant beat that :P

SW/SW: My personal off hand of choice.
For the block I find to be better then the stun on pistol vs thief’s and in roaming there are a lot of them :P. This is due to no cast time or target requirement also very decent damage if you wait for the counter to finish. Adds a lot of deference to sw/sw on top of blurred frenzy. I build a lot around countering thief’s for roaming as well there are a lot of them to counter compared to other classes.
Daze is also amazing if using interrupt traits. Cast/travel time is ok but could be better(then again the travel time on the daze bolt was buffed a while ago which makes it very nice to use compared to what it was).
Phantom hits hard and dose decent damage and survives ok. Also on a very low CD so easy to pump out but fails to blind spam due to single hit.
Another good thing about SW offhand is that you only need blade training freeing up 10 trait points compared to pistol.

SW/PI
Phantom is very nice. High damage and bleeds. Also follows targets in stealth which gives you an upper edge vs thief’s and mesmers. Also ranged which if you can set up two on a single target and then kite away from them adds amazing pressure. Also not susceptible to blind like the swordsman.
The stun is where I prefer the offhand sw over the pistol. Stability/Blind renders this skill useless plus the cast time and target requirement means it is not as good I find as the sword offhand block plus the high CD. On the other hand when you get the skill off the 2 second stun is very nice and great for stopping runners.
The other down side to Pistol it generally requires 10 more traits if you want to trait it which can limit your build a bit.

Random Trait lines/Builds that I swap between depending on my mood.

Traits/utilities/sigils I always use.
Travelers runes because movement.
Duel energy because dodge is a live saver.
I also use duel battle these days for the extra might but swap battle out for different sigils depending on the situation. AKA dieing to condi alot swap to generosity, want extra burst use fire. But I never swap out my energy.
Blink, decoy and mass invis are a 100% must I find.

I always go 4/4/0/0/0 the rest of the 6 points I swap out depending on how I feel.
Taking III and X in Dom.
Dueling minor I personally run IV as a given due to nearly always using is sword but if using a staff then i switch to II. For the master trait I run DE over Phantasmal Fury. I know you lose out on damage but when your phantoms are dead you can revert to playing like a shatter build while waiting for CD’s also the wep swap with duel energy dodge into Distortion has saved me more times then the extra damage ever has(again personal preference). It also works well when going 6 into chaos as i will explain in the next section.

The next two builds I also run sw/sw GS mainly and will be mainly talking from that perspective.

Chaos. 4/4/6
Chaos I play semi Phantom lock down while stacking lots of vulnerability through vulnerability on interrupts/daze and Debilitating Dissipation clone deaths.Mantra of distraction is also a must have for the clutch dazes but as you only have 2 every 30 seconds you need to time them right.

Debilitating Dissipation:
For the vulnerability stacking and to mask that you are a power build with bleed stacking. Works well with Deceptive evasion as your clones are dieing all the time. Can be swapped out for manipulation cd reduction for shorter blink but I find Debilitating Dissipation better in the long run.
Bountiful Interruption.
Amazing trait I find. Can easily self buff to 20 stacks of might if things go well interrupt wise through all your dazes and knock backs. normal fight I general sit around 10 stacks with duel battle sigils dropping down to 6 and peaking 15 – 20.

CI for Grandmaster.
The immobilize is amazing and catches so many people off guard. chain that with sword 3 and another daze and well people don’t like it when the phantoms just beat on them and they cant move :P also helps stop runners/thief’s
Can also go here PU but well Yuck :P though if running a GS/Staff build can place the staff CD trait here i guess if you want to. That means you still keep Bountiful Interruption and can proc a lot of interrupts of chaos storm 0.o worth a shot.

Few pros:
As it is a kind of lock down you also are more active instead of waiting on your phantoms to do all the work and need to support them via stacking vulnerability limiting movement.
Lots of vulnerability and might stacking potential through interrupts.
45% built in boon duration with travelers = long might up time.
Good vs power builds I find.
Cons.
Biggest one is the lack of Condi removal. Get hit by a necro bomb and = GG. This is where all your dazes/interrupts knock backs and dodges come in handy as i find the best way to migrate damage is to not get hit at all and stop them from hitting you. Very hard vs a good condi thief though the pistol channel skill is very easy to interrupt.
Stability also counters this build a lot so GS 3 them and pray it removes Stability if not wait it out and kite kite kite :P

Inspiration 4/4/0/6
Same 4/4 traits as mentioned earlier.
I find this plays as a mainly normal phantom build but I can take a few supporting options for myself to cover any weak spots on the day. Instead of your damage coming from self buffing and de-buffing through might and vulnerability as in the chaos line you get the second 15% damage increase for phantoms.
Traits I pick are random for the 3 spots. I dont have a set load out on this build and it is more situational on the day.

Persisting images. For tanker phantoms. Always a plus and not much more to say.

Mender’s Purity. For well some much needed condi removal on heal.

Compounding Celerity. If you dont use a run speed rune for whatever reason while roaming it can provide that extra edge.

Restorative Mantras. Purely for that extra healing if i am running a mantra (which i am always running mantra of distraction :P) and to fill in a spot. 2.6k base healing also ensures you can take 1 – 3 auto attacks while charging and still break even hp wise. Has saved me on a few occasions as well when my heal was on CD.

Shattered Conditions. Believe it or not this has saves me quite a few times and is Great for breaking Immobilize if you use your F4 shatter and have a few clones out :P. Normally also used for clearing the heavy Necro bombs as well. I know shatter goes against the grain of a phantom build but you sometimes need to use all your available options to survive and having this option there is great.

As for how build plays I find it is a very good all round build which covers nearly all encounters to a greater or lesser extent pending traits. Condi removal on heal/Shatter if traits are picked for them. Good HP pool to survive burst. Respectable phantom damage and HP. Extra healing during those long sustained fights. And a free Utility spot to swap utilities out of pending on the encounter.

Few side notes
I personally run full pvt armor and full berserk trinkets and weps for both builds( use to be full glass but them thief’s 1 hitting you while you are fighting someone else :P). I find I do easily enough damage to kill other roamers as they mostly are all glass. While having enough sustain to take that backstab out of nowhere that announces a/another thief is around trying to kill you :P
I also dont stick to these two builds and will on a whim just change traits/lines/weapons/gear to mix things up a bit as I get bored of the same play style very easily.

Anyway hope this giant wall of text helps you in some way and gives you a few extra ideas. Then again the best way to find a build is to mess around with traits and see how they affect you then personally and pick the ones that work for you.
If you have any extra questions and you are on NA just send me a PM in game and i will be happy to help