2. The only issue with GS and S/S is that, compared to using a staff, you don’t have access to a non-utility field (i.e. Chaos Storm). You do, however, have projectile (Mirror Blade), whirl (Phantasmal Berserker) and two leap finishers (Illusionary Leap and Phantasmal Swordsman), which you can combine with Feedback, Veil or Null Field to decent effect.
3. In general, our AoE abilities are fairly limited. That’s not to say they aren’t effective; just that we have a harder time than other classes tagging mobs with damage in Dynamic Events. Other than that, GS and S/S is perfectly viable in PvE.
4. Mind Wrack still requires our clones and phantasms to run up to the target and explode to deal damage. The daze from Diversion doesn’t stack, so you’ll need to ensure different illusions reach the target at different times to get the most out of shattering three illusions at once. Distortion causes illusions to shatter instantly.
5. This depends on your traits and the encounter. Phantasms tend to account for a good proportion of your damage, particularly if your traits are biased towards phantasm support.
In general, there is no harm to shattering if the shatter would kill the target (since your illusions die with the target) or if the target is about to die anyway; or if the target is about to kill your illusions. If you have two or three phantasms active, you need to balance the time until those phantasms begin their next attack cycle against the cool-down remaining on your summoning abilities.
6. Probably power, precision, crit damage for GS and S/S.
7. The purpose of clones in PvE is largely to distract the target from hitting you. They’re fairly (but randomly) effective. Depending on your build, phantasms will form anything from a decent proportion to the bulk of your damage output. Duellist, berserker, warlock and swordsman all deal fairly decent damage. They’re also your main source of combo finishers (duellist is 20% projectile; berserker is whirl; and swordsman is leap).
There are a number of bugs with illusion traits which need to be ironed out. For a full list, refer to the stickied thread in this forum. Broadly, these include:
(a). The trait which grants fury to phantasms overwrites the trait which grants retaliation to phantasms.
(b). The trait which decreases the time between phantasms’ attack cycles has a disproportionate effect on the Warden but no effect at all on a number of other phantasms.
©. The trait which allows phantasms to give regeneration to allies is only functional on the duellist.