Guild Wars 2

Hi guys, i’m actually using a phantasm build in tpvp, i’m not good in math, so i just choosed the 2 phantasms that i tought are the best: offhand sword and offhand pistol.
Right now i wanna see wich are the best phantasms we have, you can say your opinion or do some math for the community ^^

Here the list:
Greatsword: Phantasmal Berserker
Staff: Phantasmal Warlock
Off-hand Sword: Phantasmal Swordsman
Focus: Phantasmal Warden
Pistol: Phantasmal Duelist
Torch: Phantasmal Mage

Here my opinion:
Greatsword: not good / not bad, i give it a 6/10
Staff: does that phantasm even worth press the 3? i give it a 3/10
Off-hand sword: great, i give it a 8/10
Focus: potentially the greatest dmg, but it should be comboed with a immobilize 6/10
Pistol: the greatest phantasm, that guy is just better than me, 10/10
Torch: meh 0/10

Hrm, now my experience with tpvp is exactly 0, but for general PvE and PvP usage I’d rate the Phantasms “Depends”. On situation and build.

Exceptions:

• pWarden: Always useful for blocking projectiles and area denial.
• pMage: Never useful due to unreliable chaining and pre-nerf damage levels (now post-nerf, it’s completely ignorable…).

Interesting though that you don’t like the pWarlock. Why? It hits really hard.

• Torch phantasm: lol
• Focus phantasm: High damage potential. However, you ignore its utility. It is a whirl combo finisher, allowing for a lot of possibilities, especially when combined with temporal curtain. It also destroys/reflects projectiles depending on your traiting.
• Greatsword phantasm: Great phantasm, high aoe damage, aoe cripple….but it’s broken. It’s broken really bad. Until it’s fixed, hardly worth summoning many times.
• Staff Phantasm: This phantasm has its faults. The projectile it uses is somewhat slow and non-tracking, but it does hit hard. The special ability of this phantasm, though, is that it does 10% extra damage per unique condition on a target. For this reason, it’s significantly more useful and powerful in many PvE situations than in PvP, but under the right conditions of heavy condition load, this phantasm can hit harder than any other phantasm, hands down, no contest.
• Sword phantasm: This phantasm hits like a truck, and it hits like a truck every 3.5 seconds. Getting several of these out produces a damage pace impossible to counter.
• Pistol phantasm: This phantasm is similar to the sword, except ranged, and does a bit less damage than sword phantasms. Nearly as good, but attacks slower, so doesn’t quite produce the same brutal damage pace.

Pyroatheist.9031:

• Torch phantasm: LOL

Fixed that for you.

Pyro prettymuch nailed it. I’ve only been mesmering for a few weeks at 80, but that torch phantasm is a joke.

You should definitely give the warden a whirl (har har…) for a bit longer – you’ll find some really killer uses. Check out these vids: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RctnzpKspQ (Alissah’s vid) for a DPS-ier outlook, or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2V6ASnuG8uI (Pyro’s vid) for a tankier take. Both are in WvW, but I hear it’s stupidly good in dungeons too. And in sPvP, people scream about that focus pull…so take from that what you will.

So, here’s my personal list:

Warden: 8.5
Staff: 6.5/9 pvp/pve
Zerker: roll a die, add 2.
Duelist: 8 (kind of a one trick pony, and slow-ish)
Swordsman: 9 (one trick…Clydesdale?)
Mage: Nope.

Edit: This is mostly from a shatter build perspective.

IMO, iDuelist is one of the best, with iSword. Focus is very good, but situational. iDuelist hit like a truck and proc combo fields at 100 % if traited. It’s also at range, which gives more survivability. Hitting even faster with Phantasmal Haste (The only phantasm that get a real good buff from this trait).

If you want to mix shatter and phantasm damage, then iSword is the best.

Kirec.2394:

Zerker: roll a die, add 2.

That is perfect!

Pyroatheist.9031:

• Focus phantasm: …It is a whirl combo finisher

That is interesting, I did not know that! The focus skills seemed pretty self explanatory, so I never dug into it further on the wiki.

I keep deleting/remaking mesmer periodically, I get frustrated with the condition removal options while leveling (coming from a Necro…). Most of my mesmer time was spent in spvp. I plan to stick it out this time though. I’ll have to see how good that whirl combo is!

Staff phantasm does track a little bit, from what I’ve seen….it’s just that the orb it fires is slow(and obvious). So it is easy for the enemy to avoid if they get a wide angle on the phant. Timing a cripple/immob at the right time helps, it can hit like a truck when it does hit

Offhand sword phant is my favorite. (Diehard duelist spec)

What’s wrong with the condition removal options for mesmer? 2 separate utility skills, plus being able to trait for condition removal upon torch skills, heal, and signet activation, and having a phantasm that cures conditions. I’m not seeing a lack of condition removal tools.

Cyphel.3659:

Pyroatheist.9031:

• Focus phantasm: …It is a whirl combo finisher

That is interesting, I did not know that! The focus skills seemed pretty self explanatory, so I never dug into it further on the wiki.

I keep deleting/remaking mesmer periodically, I get frustrated with the condition removal options while leveling (coming from a Necro…). Most of my mesmer time was spent in spvp. I plan to stick it out this time though. I’ll have to see how good that whirl combo is!

Staff phantasm does track a little bit, from what I’ve seen….it’s just that the orb it fires is slow(and obvious). So it is easy for the enemy to avoid if they get a wide angle on the phant. Timing a cripple/immob at the right time helps, it can hit like a truck when it does hit

Offhand sword phant is my favorite. (Diehard duelist spec)

traited focus very good against all rangers/engis/rifle warriors, and couple self combo is a bonus

drongas.4189:

Cyphel.3659:

Pyroatheist.9031:

• Focus phantasm: …It is a whirl combo finisher

That is interesting, I did not know that! The focus skills seemed pretty self explanatory, so I never dug into it further on the wiki.

I keep deleting/remaking mesmer periodically, I get frustrated with the condition removal options while leveling (coming from a Necro…). Most of my mesmer time was spent in spvp. I plan to stick it out this time though. I’ll have to see how good that whirl combo is!

Staff phantasm does track a little bit, from what I’ve seen….it’s just that the orb it fires is slow(and obvious). So it is easy for the enemy to avoid if they get a wide angle on the phant. Timing a cripple/immob at the right time helps, it can hit like a truck when it does hit

Offhand sword phant is my favorite. (Diehard duelist spec)

traited focus very good against all rangers/engis/rifle warriors, and couple self combo is a bonus

Yes, I know about traited focus – haven’t played with it yet though Mesmer has so many cool traits!

I definitely want to try that in WvW though. Lately I’ve been seeing a resurgence of LB rangers.

If warden is a whirl finisher, you’d think zerker would be as well. It has a similar look to that of Whirlwind Attack from warrior….

Cyphel.3659:

drongas.4189:

Cyphel.3659:

Pyroatheist.9031:

• Focus phantasm: …It is a whirl combo finisher

That is interesting, I did not know that! The focus skills seemed pretty self explanatory, so I never dug into it further on the wiki.

I keep deleting/remaking mesmer periodically, I get frustrated with the condition removal options while leveling (coming from a Necro…). Most of my mesmer time was spent in spvp. I plan to stick it out this time though. I’ll have to see how good that whirl combo is!

Staff phantasm does track a little bit, from what I’ve seen….it’s just that the orb it fires is slow(and obvious). So it is easy for the enemy to avoid if they get a wide angle on the phant. Timing a cripple/immob at the right time helps, it can hit like a truck when it does hit

Offhand sword phant is my favorite. (Diehard duelist spec)

traited focus very good against all rangers/engis/rifle warriors, and couple self combo is a bonus

Yes, I know about traited focus – haven’t played with it yet though Mesmer has so many cool traits!

I definitely want to try that in WvW though. Lately I’ve been seeing a resurgence of LB rangers.

If warden is a whirl finisher, you’d think zerker would be as well. It has a similar look to that of Whirlwind Attack from warrior….

It is supposed to be, but I think it might still be broken at this time.

with zerker hard land goond combo and it only 4 whirl. i warden 12. it just press 5. then press 4 on iwarden head. and u have amazing group cond removal

Seras.5702:

What’s wrong with the condition removal options for mesmer? 2 separate utility skills, plus being able to trait for condition removal upon torch skills, heal, and signet activation, and having a phantasm that cures conditions. I’m not seeing a lack of condition removal tools.

Mesmer does have lots of options, most of which are from traits – most of which are not accessible until lv 40 or 60. The potential is there, but it is not realized until much later. Until then, more utility slots than I care for are taken up with condi removal – I find it disappointing, mesmer has such awesome utilities! That is what I meant by frustration while leveling.

Ele/necro/engy have more removal from weapon skills/kits/turret – it’s something I took for granted until I played a mesmer! #humble

Ah, I missed the “while leveling” part.

Outside of dungeons though, there really aren’t many conditions that need to be cleansed in PvE whilst leveling. What you do get are short duration and not that strong until you hit 65+. Probably not even until Orr really. Most can be ignored.

Ive been experimenting with a Spvp condition damagr build lately that uses the torch aaaaannnddd… The phantasmal mageisntthat bad. In conbat i summon it wheneve i have time, when im stealthef and repositioning i sometimes let it attack twice, but when ik not stealthed i just shatter it inmeriatally…
Its not the best phantasm but it has its uses in a confusion build imo.
but then again. My condition/confusion build is highly experimental and ive only tested it in hot joins, in ehich you can kill most 1v1 with a 0/0/0/0/0 build… Ill have to test it against good players some day.

Im not currently at my computer, but the traits are 0/20/30/0/20, i use conditon duration runes and scepter torch staff.

Now to answer your question: in a team fight your duelist wont die in the aoes, but most players will notice the attack and dodge atleat half of it. The swordsman is very hard to dodge but t may die in aoes before attacking, the berserker and warden are your only aoe phantasms, berserker would be the best option due to fast attack speed. I use the focus in my tourney shatter build, i put the warden on downed players and people off point with projectiles, but the biggest use of the focus for me is the aoe pull.

Perhaps that’s the problem with the iMage. We are talking about the phantasm not the weapon itself, torch have it’s utility, about all if traited. But iMage, even in a specialized confusion build, isn’t enough good to reach other phantasms which works well in almost any type of build. In a not confusion build seems weak. And phantasms should be widely used as one of our strongest/best attacks.

After confusion nerf, iMage needs adjustment. Perhaps adding a bit of burn, base damage or something else. Although I’m scared to think about a possible adjustment. Sometimes when they adjust something, ends worse … We still suffer some of these settings, as in the iBerserker or bouncing attacks.

iwarlock is pretty good against enemies loaded up with conditions (8/9k crits); which makes it amazing in pve boss fights… in pvp… i suppose it would work best when supported by a nader engi or something (dont pvp much)

Zoser.7245:

Perhaps that’s the problem with the iMage. We are talking about the phantasm not the weapon itself, torch have it’s utility, about all if traited. But iMage, even in a specialized confusion build, isn’t enough good to reach other phantasms which works well in almost any type of build. In a not confusion build seems weak. And phantasms should be widely used as one of our strongest/best attacks.

After confusion nerf, iMage needs adjustment. Perhaps adding a bit of burn, base damage or something else. Although I’m scared to think about a possible adjustment. Sometimes when they adjust something, ends worse … We still suffer some of these settings, as in the iBerserker or bouncing attacks.

Burning seems like the most logical fix for iMage.

3 stacks of confusion + 3s of burning on enemies; 3s of retaliation on allies AND pulsing 3s of retaliation to nearby allies in a small AoE (5s cooldown between pulses). Numbers of course up for discussion.

Could also inflict 3s of burning in an AoE to nearby enemies?

Burning is powerful although a condition that can be remowed.

They have the numbers, for me it is enough to draw their attention regarding this phantasm and perhaps with some luck, in the next balance patch they’ll up him to the damage level of other phantasms like Warlock, Swordsman, Duelist… Of course including the confusion damage in the equation. They are not going to change that.

Of course, we usually let or imagination fly and think what we would like

In the other hand we’ll see what they do or don’t….

My Top 3 would have to be iWarlock, iWarden and iDuelist. But that depends on what you mean by “Best”! Some phantasms work better in some builds over others.

iWarden is a blender of death though, indeed ,unless your target is immobilized, an NPC or quite unaware of what’s going on, at least some of the damage is wasted. Regardless, this Phantasm deals the most damage in a single ability compared to other phantasms and the projectile destroying/reflecting ability is not be scoffed at. Plus, the fact that this guy can deny projectiles means that he is harder to kill than other phantasms.

I swordsman for damage and iduelist for damage and bleeds.

PVP 1v1 situation

iBeserker : 6/10 AOE Medium-High Dmg with Long reload time. 4 hits every time but sometimes misses 1-2 hits
iDuslist: 8/10 single High Dmg with Long reload time. But the accuracy rate is much better than iBeserker
iSwordman: 9/10 best phantasm Mid-High Dmg with Short reload time. 100% accuracy vs not dodging enemy
iWarden: 0/10 WTF? Spinning? Hitting oxygen?
iWarlord: 4/10 Maybe viable in Carrion or Ramgager build. But it is really Low Dmg when lack of conditions build
iMage: 2/10 Similar to iWarlord with Very Long Weapon Cooldown

Keith.7238:

PVP 1v1 situation

iBeserker : 6/10 AOE Medium-High Dmg with Long reload time. 4 hits every time but sometimes misses 1-2 hits
iDuslist: 8/10 single High Dmg with Long reload time. But the accuracy rate is much better than iBeserker
iSwordman: 9/10 best phantasm Mid-High Dmg with Short reload time. 100% accuracy vs not dodging enemy
iWarden: 0/10 WTF? Spinning? Hitting oxygen?
iWarlord: 4/10 Maybe viable in Carrion or Ramgager build. But it is really Low Dmg when lack of conditions build
iMage: 2/10 Similar to iWarlord with Very Long Weapon Cooldown

Dat necro.

His information isn’t even remotely accurate either. What a waste of forum space.

Keith.7238:

PVP 1v1 situation

iBeserker : 6/10 AOE Medium-High Dmg with Long reload time. 4 hits every time but sometimes misses 1-2 hits
iDuslist: 8/10 single High Dmg with Long reload time. But the accuracy rate is much better than iBeserker
iSwordman: 9/10 best phantasm Mid-High Dmg with Short reload time. 100% accuracy vs not dodging enemy
iWarden: 0/10 WTF? Spinning? Hitting oxygen?
iWarlord: 4/10 Maybe viable in Carrion or Ramgager build. But it is really Low Dmg when lack of conditions build
iMage: 2/10 Similar to iWarlord with Very Long Weapon Cooldown

Warlock*

It can actually hit as high as a swordsman, but with longer cooldown time. Using carrion or rampager will actually decrease the warlock’s damage.

And you just bumper a 5 months old thread x.x

edit: LOL, Necro’d again xD?