Clone

This article is about the skill type. For the Wintersday activity skill given to Mesmers, see Clone (Snowball Mayhem).

A clone is one of the two types of illusions created by the mesmer, primarily intended to distract the enemy: Clones mimic the appearance and basic behavior of the caster, but have significantly lower health and do relatively little damage. Upon creation, clones focus only on their targeted foe, persisting until the clone's target is defeated or the clone expires through damage, being shattered or being replaced by a new clone.

Mechanics

• Clones are created by any skill with a type of clone.
• A clone is also created when a phantasm expires after its attack has been completed or interrupted.
• Unlike phantasms, clones display the same name and targeting badge as the mesmer who created them.
• They are affected by boons, area effects, and conditions, but not by environmental hazards such as lava.
• A clone's basic attack is the same as the caster's first weapon skill, e.g. Spatial Surge for clones created while wielding a greatsword. Clones have approximately 1 second of delay between attacks, meaning they attack slower than the player. All effects of attacks such as conditions caused by Winds of Chaos still apply.
  • Clones summoned while holding a bundle will default to wielding a sword.
  • Clones summoned while under a transformation that replaces one's weapon will sometimes replicate the skills of the transformation.
• Although base damage of clones is near zero, they can apply conditions and boons depending on traits selected and their attack skill. Their purpose is to distract opponents, attract aggro, and be shattered by the mesmer to produce damage and other effects.
• Only a limited number of clones can be created at one time. This is shown through the following icon when present but when not present the following icon is used.

List of clone skills

Weapon skills

#	Skill	Weapon			Description
Mesmer
2	Mirror Blade	Greatsword	0.75¾	5	Throw an illusionary blade that creates a clone at its first target and then bounces to enemies and allies, dealing less damage to foes per hit and granting might to allies.
2	Phase Retreat	Staff		10	Clone. Teleport away from your target, summoning a clone that casts Winds of Chaos.
1	Ether Clone	Scepter	0.75¾		Clone. Deliver a damaging attack directly to your target. Summon a clone that casts Ether Bolt. Inflict torment instead if you have the maximum number of illusions.
2	Illusionary Counter	Scepter	2	8	Clone. Block the next attack, and counter by inflicting torment and creating clones that cast Ether Bolt.
3	Illusionary Leap	Sword	0.5½	12	Clone. Summon an illusion that leaps at your target, crippling them. After the initial leap, the clone will execute the Mind Slash sword chain.
4	Illusionary Riposte	Sword	20.25¼	12	Clone. Block your foe and create an illusion when attacked.
2	Feigned Surge	Spear	10.75¾	8	Clone. Surge toward your foe, striking enemies on the way and creating a clone upon reaching your initial target.
3	Imminent Voyage	Trident	0.75¾	12	Clone. Retreat back, summoning a clone to attack your foe while granting chaos armor to nearby allies.
2	Deception		0.5½	15	Clone. Shadowstep and create a downed clone of yourself to attack foes in range.
Mirage
2	Lingering Thoughts	Axe	0.75¾	0.25¼	Spin forward and strike multiple times, inflicting conditions and leaving a mirage at your starting position. If an enemy is near the mirage when it expires, a clone is summoned.

Utility slot skills

Skill				Description
Mesmer
Decoy			40	Clone. Gain stealth and summon an illusion to attack your foe.
Mirror Images			30	Clone. Summon two clones to attack your foe.

Related skills

Shatters

•   Mind Wrack —Shatter. Destroy all your clones, damaging nearby foes. The shatter effect also occurs at your location.
•   Cry of Frustration — Shatter. Destroy all your clones, confusing nearby foes. The shatter effect also occurs at your location.
•   Diversion — Shatter. Destroy all your clones, dazing their targets. The shatter effect also occurs at your location.
•   Distortion — Shatter. Gain distortion and destroy all your clones, gaining additional distortion for each one shattered.
•   Continuum Split — Destroy all your clones and create a rift in the space-time continuum. When it expires, you will revert back to your original point with your previous health, endurance, and skill recharges. Duration increases with each illusion shattered. This skill's recharge cannot be reset by other mesmer skills.

Utility skills

•   Ether Feast — Heal yourself. Gain additional health for each active clone.
•   Signet of Illusions — Signet Passive: Creates a clone every few seconds. Signet Active: Recharges shatter skills.

Weapon skills

•   Mirage Thrust — Ambush. Lunge at your foe and strike them with your sword, briefly dazing them. Leave behind a clone at your original location.
•   Axes of Symmetry — You and all your axe clones shadowstep to a random location around your target and strike, applying confusion. This attack breaks enemy targeting, and your illusions change focus to the targeted foe.

Related traits

See also: Illusion#Related traits

Trait skills that have the type Clone

•   Decoy (Desperate Decoy) — Clone. Gain stealth and summon an illusion to attack your foe.

Traits that create a clone

• Desperate Decoy (Dueling) — Cloak and leave a clone of yourself behind when struck while below the health threshold.
• Deceptive Evasion (Dueling) — Create a clone at your current position when you dodge.
• Escape Artist (Illusions) — Create a clone when you gain stealth.
• Illusionary Reversion (Chronomancer) — Shatter skills generate a clone if you have enough clones present.
• Self-Deception (Mirage) — Using a Deception skill will create a clone if you have any other clones active.

Notes

• Clones summoned automatically, such as by Deceptive Evasion, target the enemy nearest to them upon creation.
• The approximate Weapon strength of each clone is listed below:

Weapon	Weapon Strength
	Min	Max	Midpoint
Axe	26	31	28.5
Scepter	31	37	34
Sword	19	22	20.5
Greatsword	26	27	26.5
Staff	25	27	26

Version history

Patch	Changes
May 11, 2021	Undocumented change: Clones now self-destroy without effect when attacking invulnerable enemies, or if they have no path to their target.
February 06, 2018	Phantasms can no longer be shattered and no longer count toward your maximum illusion count. Phantasms are destroyed and then replaced by clones after completing their unique attack or if their attack is interrupted. Fixed a bug in which downed clones could persist after a rally. Fixed a bug in which downed clones could exceed the illusion limit.
August 25, 2015	Fixed a bug that allowed players to rally off mesmer clones.
June 23, 2015	Specialization update: Summoned clones will now show your equipped off-hand weapon. Fixed a bug in which underwater clones did not show tridents.
September 09, 2014	Mesmer clones now spawn with the correct weapon even if the casting player swaps weapons.
April 18, 2014	Fixed a bug that caused Mesmer clones to receive rune bonuses from their master.
February 05, 2014	Fixed a bug in which mesmer clones and phantasms would shatter prematurely if their target went into stealth.
October 01, 2013	Enabling player nameplates now causes mesmer clone nameplates to display.
June 25, 2013	Mesmers can no longer create clones of siege golems.
May 28, 2013	Clones now attack ranger pets even if the ranger is out of range.
April 30, 2013	Decreased the clone base hit points by 25% in PvP and WvW. Increased the clone base hit points by 28% in PvE.
March 01, 2013	Mesmer clones in WvW once again display their weapons.
December 17, 2012	Fixed an issue where Mesmer clones and illusions would spawn in with no equipment during tournaments.
October 22, 2012	Fixed a crash when resurrecting a Mesmer clone created with the Deception skill.
October 01, 2012	Updated all phantasms and clones available to the mesmer to ensure they activate within their range.
August 28, 2012	Game release: Clones have been added to the game.

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Skill types and profession mechanics