Guild Wars 2

…Is there a reason why IMage has such a long CD and relatively long attack interval?

30 second CD with 3 stacks of confusion on 3 second duration base and 5.27 second interval.

If I go full condition with Master of Misdirection + 20 point Domination + Perplexity Rune + Koi cake, at most my confusion will last about 4 second (from IMage alone). Mind you that would mean I have to sacrifice Duelist X which is somehow a much better mean of dealing net condition dmg including both bleed and confusion. It’s such a pitiful effectiveness from a “phantasm” compared to what other phantasms
could do.

With full condition and 25 stacks from sigil, confusion dmg will be about 220+ something. 220×3=660 per tick. How many skills can you activate in 4 second? Say, if a very very very very dumb thief auto attacks with dagger nonstop, that would be about 4×2×660=5280.

4 -> 4 seconds of confusion
2 -> worst scenario, 2 attacks per second
660 -> approximately the highest and most stable dmg a stack of confusion could achieve (I didn’t count might because we don’t have reliable sources of might)

Chances are.. even the dumbest person in the game can’t manage to do that. In practice, the effective dmg time would probably be about 2-3 seconds and I’m pretty sure no one will be able to spam skill that fast even if it’s a thief.

Did the balance team overestimate the competency of this phantasm or what? Cuz, I’m telling you, I’ve been running confusion for a very long time, even before the notorious buff-instant-nerf x2 dmg and I still find it very lacking (phantasm wise). I could say the dmg from IDuelist is probably even higher and more reliable than that of IMage even with condi gear.

Illusionary Elasticity seems good for IMage but the extra stack is extremely unreliable. If traited, IMage would deal 4 bounces but there is no target priority at all. If you use this trait with GS#2, at least the attack would hit the target, bounce to you and then hit the target again. IMage + IE doesn’t work because sometimes it hits enemy once then the other 3 bounces are retaliation which is garbage for condi build. If I fight two enemies at a time, there is a very thin chance that the attack would bounce between enemies and causes 6 stacks of confusion; however, it rarely happens.

So… comparatively (phantasm) speaking, what really justifies IMage long CD and all?

this is what i asked Sharp in the next patch notes thread and got no answer. iMage makes ZERO sense.