Guild Wars 2

This trait always intrigued me, and I’ve used it in the past, but I’ve continually had one glaring issue. The first part of my rotation is usually to summon phantasms , which means that it casts the signet immediately at the start of the fight when I have barely any buffs (unless we prebuff, which we never really do).

Does anyone use this in a boonsharing build? If so, how do you best utilize it?

Before HoT, I used it in fractal 50s as part of a Blurred Inscriptions-Inspiring Distortion build. Properly timed, those party-wide one second distorts could really be powerful on some fractals. You can still do it now, and in fact Alacrity would make it even better, but I’ve mainly been running Dom/Illusions/Chrono now. (I still use Blurred Inscriptions for personal use though. Signet of Midnight is actually a great utility with that trait. Instant distort, condition cleanse, and stunbreak on a fairly short recharge.)

I believe the trait does not proc if you do not have currently any boon on you.

But you need to adjust your playstyle depending on the trait. I don’t know which boons you are tying to copy (your own or trying to double what the party is giving you) but you may want to wait before using your first phantasms. The great thing about this trait is precisely that it is not passive, you do have some control over it. It’s not perfect, but it’s not bad.

As to that, I would always wait for a Guardian’s “Feel My Wrath!” to go off. Just watch for the quickness. You can double-copy it using both the trait and the real Signet of Illusions. Or if no Guardian in the group, primarily it was for helping keep Might up.

I use this trait as I run inspiration with my chrono in PvE to ensure I always have focus reflects when needed. There isn’t a better GM trait to run anyway when going full wells. Even completely oblivious to it, it’s a nice passive buff to the party to refresh those boons on a fairly frequent basis.

Ok, let’s see here.

First, the trait absolutely procs with no boons. Even if it didn’t though, you’ll rarely have no boons, just usually not anything worth sharing.

Yeah, you could use it to double the guardian elite shout for quickness. That requires you to not use any phantasms until they hit that shout though, which slows down your dps even more than it already is. Alternatively, you could just use the chrono build and pump out 90% quickness uptime and 90% alacrity uptime and be more useful anyway without needing it.

If I’m in a situation that doesn’t require reflects, I’ll trait domination for the extra damage. If I need reflects, I’ll toss on a focus, trait inspiration, and replace calamity with feedback. Now that I’ve got a glamour (2 with time warp), the glamour trait is arguably better than illusionary inspiration.

To top it all off, illusionary inspiration screws with your skill queuing and stuff. Things won’t work right if you try to use them after casting a phantasm when you have that trait, because it partially locks you into casting the signet at some level. Swapping weapons won’t work properly, previously queued skills won’t fire, and trying to use new skills will be delayed. It’s all sorts of screwy, and I avoid it like the plague on those grounds alone.