Guild Wars 2

the goal here is a hybrid phantasm damage/group support build for FotM and dungeons. let the pWarlocks and pWardens do the DPS while i reflet projectiles, cure conditions, etc…general party-loving shenanigans.

10/20/0/30/10.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAW8dl0zqqHVzhGaNJxpHMH6LHVhuTqgqLpA38G

full exotic carrion gear. this is where i’m having the most doubt. PWR/PREC/COND? not sure if that’s the best choice. it might’ve been at one point, but that was almost a year ago and there have been too many updates since then to not review the build. i read something about RABID gear earlier…?

personal note: i LOVE reflecting things. probably my favorite thing, hence all the traits and the use of the focus. retention of these abilities is very important to the entertaining nature of playing the character.

thoughts?

Condition Damage? Why? For the few conditions your staff (might) inflict or the cute illusion bleeds?

Zerker is the way to go here, will make your sword, iwarlock and iwarden hit like trucks.

Good build, not the greatest choice of gear. Power and precision? Absolutely. Condition damage? Nooot so much. Rabid gear is a beautiful thing if you’re going for a condition damage build (usually 20 points in dueling and chaos, 30 in illusions), but not if you want to maximize your damage from phantasms.

I have a build/gear here: http://rumehouri.wordpress.com/2013/07/01/new-build-hybrid-phantasm-build-video-guide/ – ignore the build, skip to the gear.

The gear in that post is adapted to give you a little more survivablity, but can be run with zerker gear. I actually prefer zerker armor/accessories with ruby orbs for running dungeons.

thanks for the responses fellas. as of 5 minutes ago i’m currently wearing full zerker gear and weapons. saving up for accessories

echofoxtrot.4239:

thanks for the responses fellas. as of 5 minutes ago i’m currently wearing full zerker gear and weapons. saving up for accessories

Consider grabbing a couple cavaliers or knights bits for your accessories. Full on zerker is a tad squishy for my tastes.

Rampager gear (Prec/ Pow/ Cond) is similar to Zerker gear; full offense. I still think it’s a valid choice if you try to mix bleed damage in your build. The point then is to call illusions with high hit-frequency, let them crit and then probably shatter and resummon. But the staff is the wrong choice and you’d need DeceptiveEvasion for that.

But currently prefer to go the power way (way better vs buildings and not so ramp) mixing zerker, rampager (for prec) and some[prec/ pow/ tough] trinkets (no prefix). They boost the crtchance while giving you a bit armor.

@build
do you really need the 10 pts in illusions ?

Nretep.2564:

@build
do you really need the 10 pts in illusions ?

it was for the “distortion grants reflection” to go along with my reflection thing i had going. never used it though, so i changed it to higher % mind wrack crit chance.

dont really see any better options. thoughts?

echofoxtrot.4239:

Nretep.2564:

@build
do you really need the 10 pts in illusions ?

it was for the “distortion grants reflection” to go along with my reflection thing i had going. never used it though, so i changed it to higher % mind wrack crit chance.

dont really see any better options. thoughts?

That trait isn’t hugely useful, especially in pve. You won’t ever be using distortion for the reflect, you use it for the defense, and with that trait you also get a reflect. With good play though, you only have to use distortion extremely infrequently, making this trait not particularly worth it.

Taking precise wrack instead is probably a worse choice though. You want to avoid using mind wrack since it’ll only lower your dps.

You could put the 10 into dueling simply for the increased damage, taking a random trait with it. You could also put it into chaos taking illusionary defense to get some extra durability based off of your phantasms.

Edit: Taking confusing enchantments in domination is an abysmal choice. Confusion is worthless in pve, and mobs don’t usually move a whole lot, so it is rare that they will even proc the trait.

echofoxtrot.4239:

Nretep.2564:

@build
do you really need the 10 pts in illusions ?

it was for the “distortion grants reflection” to go along with my reflection thing i had going. never used it though, so i changed it to higher % mind wrack crit chance.

dont really see any better options. thoughts?

I guess you could move the points in Domination and get confusing Enchantments. You will get +100 power, +10% condition duration, 5 Stacks of vulnerability on when you daze (using your F3 shatter, you will stack a decent ammount, if you need to burn something and have 3 illusions up.), and apply confusion on units that exit or enter your feedback and nullfield.

Hi OP, people have already given good advice. Just my 2cents here.

Since you’re cool with taking out 10pts in Illusions, these points can be moved to:

1) Domination for more offense: Mind Wrack is a solid choice even though you run a phantasm build, Halting Strike is less reliable but good with a bit of practice imo and you have 3 ways to interrupt (Chaos Storm, Diversion F3, and Into the Void). You might enjoy the counterplay Interrupt just like Projectile Reflect.
2) Dueling for more defense: Deceptive Evasion is always good in PvE as clones can act as distraction.

Also, i strongly suggest you try Shattered Conditions as an alternative to Mender’s Purity. Because you run with Signet of Illusions, you basically can have 8 conditions cleansed on demand (4 shatters with reset = 8 shatters), for you and your allies. I can’t imagine how much the love you’re gonna get from your friends.

different opinions on confusing enchantments. understandable, seeing as the debatable usefulness of confusion in PVE is the reason i switched from a confusion build to this phantasm build in the first place. the best thing to do unfortunately might just be to put these last 10 points in a line with stats that help balance the build and not really worry about the trait.

keenlam.4753:

Also, i strongly suggest you try Shattered Conditions as an alternative to Mender’s Purity. Because you run with Signet of Illusions, you basically can have 8 conditions cleansed on demand (4 shatters with reset = 8 shatters), for you and your allies..

i gotta say, im a big fan of mender’s purity. i use mirror so i can reflect, which has a shorter cool down than ether feast, in addition to the on-demand condition removal. it’s a nice smaller removal so i dont have to use null field every time i want to lose one stack of something.

plus, shattering in a phantasm build just to remove a condition seems counter-intuitive, even though it does it in an AoE. on top of that, the inspiration line already has too many good trait choices to use one of them on this. i wish just one of them was in dom or duel so these last 10 point weren’t such a bother.

echofoxtrot.4239:

different opinions on confusing enchantments. understandable, seeing as the debatable usefulness of confusion in PVE is the reason i switched from a confusion build to this phantasm build in the first place. the best thing to do unfortunately might just be to put these last 10 points in a line with stats that help balance the build and not really worry about the trait.

keenlam.4753:

Also, i strongly suggest you try Shattered Conditions as an alternative to Mender’s Purity. Because you run with Signet of Illusions, you basically can have 8 conditions cleansed on demand (4 shatters with reset = 8 shatters), for you and your allies..

i gotta say, im a big fan of mender’s purity. i use mirror so i can reflect, which has a shorter cool down than ether feast, in addition to the on-demand condition removal. it’s a nice smaller removal so i dont have to use null field every time i want to lose one stack of something.

plus, shattering in a phantasm build just to remove a condition seems counter-intuitive, even though it does it in an AoE. on top of that, the inspiration line already has too many good trait choices to use one of them on this. i wish just one of them was in dom or duel so these last 10 point weren’t such a bother.

Shattered conditions is a great burst aoe condition removal….but you really don’t want it in a phantasm build. You want to avoid shattering even in situations where you must remove conditions, and so mender’s purity really does a great job.

i ended up doing 10 in chaos. i get a little extra toughness and boon duration to counteract my squishiness, 10 sec of regen when i get to 75% health, and i chose illusionary defense for a little more anti-squishy.

also, now that i have points in chaos, i can change to fall damage protection for jumping puzzles

so, final build is 10/20/10/30/0. works pretty darn well for what i need it to.

I’d just go 10/30/0/30/0 or 20/20/0/30/0 so that you can either get faster greatsword cooldowns (gs is pretty good in pve with the AOE phantasm that hits like a train) or go full in dueling so that you can get faster pistol and faster sword cooldowns. Faster sword cooldowns makes your squishiness less of a problem since you will have blurred frenzy ready more often.

I wouldn’t bother with any defensive traits, if enemies start doing heavy attacks on you, you have ways to make distance, invulnerability and even stealth if needed. If they’re projectiles, then well you have temporal curtain, warden and feedback, and if blurred frenzy is on cooldown and you’re desperate, you can use distortion.