Guild Wars 2

i’ve been reading guides but still not sure.

phantasmal duelist: this guy stands where summoned and shoots at target, or whoever enters the range? if new enemy, will start shooting him instead?

illusionary swordsman: he leaps to the target and then what? stays there? what’s leap out (wiki mentioned leaping out)

when you summon a phantasm or a clone, you need a target.
and when they appear, they will attack that target ignoring the surrounding
so when you already summon a phantasm or a clone, they will attack that target until they die or the target die and chase that target anywhere it goes if they not stuck when summoned
some phantasm and staff’s clone can attack multiple target if they near the 1st target

about the i swordsman, he leaps to attack and leaps back off from the target

sorry for my bad english

gesho.9468:

i’ve been reading guides but still not sure.

phantasmal duelist: this guy stands where summoned and shoots at target, or whoever enters the range? if new enemy, will start shooting him instead?

illusionary swordsman: he leaps to the target and then what? stays there? what’s leap out (wiki mentioned leaping out)

So phantasms attack on a timer. Let’s say they attack every X seconds.

When you summon the phantasm, it instantly attacks. Once the attack is finished, the phantasm will remain where it is for X seconds. After that time, it will attempt to attack the target again. If it needs to move in order to attack the target, it will move at this time.

Pyroatheist.9031:

gesho.9468:

i’ve been reading guides but still not sure.

phantasmal duelist: this guy stands where summoned and shoots at target, or whoever enters the range? if new enemy, will start shooting him instead?

illusionary swordsman: he leaps to the target and then what? stays there? what’s leap out (wiki mentioned leaping out)

So phantasms attack on a timer. Let’s say they attack every X seconds.

When you summon the phantasm, it instantly attacks. Once the attack is finished, the phantasm will remain where it is for X seconds. After that time, it will attempt to attack the target again. If it needs to move in order to attack the target, it will move at this time.

I wanted to mention the warden is an exception, because it intantly attacks when summoned, and stays there to create a reliable shield from projectiles.

But then I realised they made it buggy, and didnt fix it yet v.v

Alissah.9281:

I wanted to mention the warden is an exception, because it intantly attacks when summoned, and stays there to create a reliable shield from projectiles.

But then I realised they made it buggy, and didnt fix it yet v.v

Well, “made it buggy”. Not really.
Rather, plenty people told plenty crying people that a moving Warden is a terrible idea because it kills the primary function of the Phantasm (due to the loss of location-reliability). Buuut, as a result of endless crying ANet made the change, and here we are with a Phantasm which is sometimes ok for damage, and absolutely useless for its old use, projectile shielding. You cast it, it runs out of the line of fire to attack it’s target. Well done, whiners!

On the plusside, this proved two things:

1. ANet listens
2. They listen to the forums. This is the part which is a bad idea IMO, as it’s a minority here, and it’s a very biased minority.

Carighan.6758:

Well, “made it buggy”. Not really.

Yes really. Aside from any arguments about moving vs non-moving, the warden is absolutely broken. When you spawn it sometimes doesn’t attack at all. Sometimes it runs off and chooses a new target. Sometimes it will spin after 10-15 seconds, sometimes it won’t, sometimes it’ll spin after it has to chase the target, sometimes it won’t, sometimes it’ll spin on summon, sometimes it’ll run in circles after the target…

It’s broken. They broke it.

What happens is that it doesn’t stand still long enough, I think. It seems to have some sort of pre-attack animation (like some of the player skills have), but as it’s mobile now it will abort that animation (and hence never start the actual cast) when it has to move. Due to terrain/pathing issues, it can end up stutter-stepping at enemies (I sometimes see it jitter a pixel back and forth), and that counts as movement.

Ofc, that is a bug, but it’d not be a problem if people never wanted it mobile to begin with! -.-

One of the worst places for me is in the harpy fractal. On some platforms they just cant attack at all :/.

And i really want to use the signet for easy perma reflection :P. Being rapid fired on with an inactive warden and no heal is the worst xD

Alissah.9281:

And i really want to use the signet for easy perma reflection :P.

Well, to be fair you shouldn’t be able to do that. The whole point is that you need to work together to get through the harpies, disabling / blocking / reflecting / deflecting them.

@altelier.5786, Pyroatheist.9031: thx folks, that clears it.

now, unrelated and random question (probably i should open new thread, but still): i play phanta mesmer (not my main). should i shatter phantasmal duelist / illusionary swordsman, or let them keep attacking once they are out? what’s better dps? i understand this is a very vague question, depends or traits, playstyle and situation, and i should probably do my math, but may be there are some general quick thoughts?

gesho.9468:

@altelier.5786, Pyroatheist.9031: thx folks, that clears it.

now, unrelated and random question (probably i should open new thread, but still): i play phanta mesmer (not my main). should i shatter phantasmal duelist / illusionary swordsman, or let them keep attacking once they are out? what’s better dps? i understand this is a very vague question, depends or traits, playstyle and situation, and i should probably do my math, but may be there are some general quick thoughts?

Simple answer: Its pretty much always better to keep thrm up. Mind wrack only to finish off something thats incredibly low hp.

Very detailed and weird answer (read at your own risk): Lets assume you only have 1 phantasm up at all times.
Mind wrack: about 3k damage
Duelist: 5k
Swordsman: 5k

Mind wrack is only usable every 15 seconds, and destroys the phantasm, so youd have to summon a new one. The swordsman hits every 3 seconds. If you could only have 1 phantasm, shattering and creating a new one would be optimal…

But you can have 3. And you cant shatter those, and quickly summon 3 more. Having 3 swordsman up for about 1.66 seconds will do the same potential damage as a mind wrack, and mind wrack will make you lose damage when the dead phantasm would have attacked again. So only mind wrack if its actually enough to kill the mob.

Carighan.6758:

Alissah.9281:

And i really want to use the signet for easy perma reflection :P.

Well, to be fair you shouldn’t be able to do that. The whole point is that you need to work together to get through the harpies, disabling / blocking / reflecting / deflecting them.

IMO, the ONLY point of the new signet is to rapidly summon phantasms. Other heals except mirror outshine it in healing and utility. The only reason to ever take the signet is for the active.

Besides, we were already aboe to wchieve 100% reflection uptime, and solo thr harpies before we got the signet + bugged warden. The signet would just make it a whole lot easier to do, if only the warden actually attacked :P

If were not allowed to achieve perma reflection while solo, Mesmer reflection skills would require a manor overhaul.

Alissah.9281 I see. I’m thinking of situation, where both phantasms have just unloaded and their summoning spells are off cd. if shattered, one gets shatter damage and most likely their re-summoning and unload will happen sooner. if shatter (wrack or confusion) + expedience beats autoattack/alternatives i’m not sure.

gesho.9468:

Alissah.9281 I see. I’m thinking of situation, where both phantasms have just unloaded and their summoning spells are off cd. if shattered, one gets shatter damage and most likely their re-summoning and unload will happen sooner. if shatter (wrack or confusion) + expedience beats autoattack/alternatives i’m not sure.

Sorta depends on the situation. In most dungeons, phantasms are liable to be killed at any moment. This means that you shouldn’t waste them on a shatter.