Phantasmal Defender

This article is about the mesmer skill. For the trait skill that previously had the same name, see Lesser Phantasmal Defender.

Phantasm. Summon an illusion that taunts your target and all nearby targets while blocking. When it finishes blocking, the illusion explodes, dealing increased damage for each attack it blocked. — In-game description

Phantasmal Defender

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Profession

Mesmer (skill list)

Slot

Utility

Type

Phantasm

Summons

Illusionary Defender

Training cost

3 Hero points

Game link

API

API

“

Phantasm. Summon an illusion that taunts your target and all nearby targets while blocking. When it finishes blocking, the illusion explodes, dealing increased damage for each attack it blocked.

  Damage: 393 (0.4)^?

  Damage: 197 (0.2)^?

  Increased damage per block: 50%

  Maximum Damage Increase: 500%

  Taunt (3s): Involuntarily attack foes.

  Taunt (1s): Involuntarily attack foes.

  Number of Targets: 5

  Radius: 240

  Range: 900

— In-game description

Related traits

Domination

• Illusion of Vulnerability — Inflict vulnerability when you interrupt a foe. This trait can only affect enemies with defiance bars once per interval.
• Furious Interruption — Gain quickness when you interrupt a foe.
• Vicious Expression — You and your illusions deal increased strike damage to foes without boons. Disabling a foe removes boons from them. Disables include stun, daze, knockback, pull, knockdown, sink, float, launch, taunt, and fear.
• Power Block — Interrupts deal damage and inflict weakness. Enemy skills that you interrupt have an increased cooldown. Cannot increase recharge of skills with no recharge or skills on creatures with defiance bars. This trait can only damage enemies with defiance bars once per interval.

Dueling

• Phantasmal Fury — Your phantasms have fury.
• Duelist's Discipline — Pistol attacks from you and your illusions have a chance to cause bleeding. Interrupting a foe recharges pistol skills. This trait can only reduce recharge on enemies with defiance bars once per interval.
• Ineptitude — Interrupting a foe inflicts blind, and blinding a foe inflicts confusion. This trait can only activate on enemies with defiance bars once per interval.

Chaos

• Illusionary Defense — Gain a stacking damage reduction whenever you summon an illusion. Virtuoso: Triggers when stocking a blade.
• Chaotic Interruption — When you interrupt a foe, recharge one of your equipped-weapon skills at random. Only affects weapon skills that are recharging.

Inspiration

• Sympathetic Visage — Phantasms take your conditions when they are first summoned.
• Illusionary Inspiration — Summoning an illusion heals all allies around you. Virtuoso: Triggers when stocking a blade.

Illusions

• Persistence of Memory — When a phantasm becomes a clone, it transfers its boons to you.
• Compounding Power — Creating an illusion increases your outgoing damage and gives increased condition damage for a short duration. Virtuoso: Triggers when stocking a blade.
• Phantasmal Haste — Phantasms spawn with quickness. Gain quickness when you create a phantasm.
• Phantasmal Force — Phantasms deal increased strike damage for each stack of might you have. Gain might when your phantasms become clones.

Chronomancer

• Delayed Reactions — Disabling a foe slows them. Disables include stun, daze, knockback, pull, knockdown, sink, float, launch, taunt, and fear. This trait can only affect the same enemy with once per interval.
• Time Catches Up — Activating a Shatter gives your illusions superspeed. Shatters deal increased damage to movement-impaired foes.
• Chronophantasma — The first time a phantasm would become a clone, it instead resummons itself and attacks again. Resummoned phantasms inflict a percentage of the original's damage. (Resummoned phantasms are briefly dazed.)

Virtuoso

• Phantasmal Blades — Phantasms that successfully complete their attack launch a blade at their target and grant you fury when they expire.

Notes

• Summons a phantasm called Illusionary Defender wielding a shield and no weapon (but does damage).
• When used underwater, the activation is 0.5½ second.
• If the explosion of the Phantasmal Defender deals the final blow to a mob it progresses the Shield Master achievement.
• Phantasms have their own unique weapon strength that is independent of the player's equipped weapon rarity.

Bug:

While the tooltip uses a weapon strength of 2553.5, the defender's weapon strength midpoint appears to be ~2363.

Version history

For a detailed skill history, see here.

Patch	Changes
May 22, 2018	The tooltip for this skill now shows the correct damage the skill inflicts in PvE. Its damage has been reduced by 50% in PvP and WvW.
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. This skill taunts your target and all nearby foes for 3 seconds in PvE and for 1 second in PvP and WvW, then blocks attacks. After it has finished blocking, it explodes, dealing damage based on how many attacks it blocked. The phantasm now spawns closer to the caster's location. It no longer grants protection. The recharge has been increased to 40 seconds in PvE and 50 seconds in PvP and WvW.
February 22, 2017	The recharge of this skill has been reduced from 25 seconds to 20 seconds.
October 18, 2016	The casting time of this ability has been reduced from 1.5 seconds to 1 second.
July 26, 2016	This utility skill now applies protection for 4 seconds in a radius around the mesmer. The damage reduction from this illusion has been reduced from 50% to 33%.
October 23, 2015	Heart of Thorns release: Phantasms: Fixed a bug in which incorrect damage values displayed in the skill facts.
June 23, 2015	Specialization update: Phantasm damage has been increased by 15%. Updated the description of this skill to more accurately convey that it also absorbs damage directed at allies. Functionality has not been changed.
January 27, 2015	The cooldown on this skill has been reduced from 30 seconds to 25 seconds.
May 20, 2014	Updated the skill facts to have the appropriate damage indicator (separate from the general fix to minion skill damage).
August 28, 2012	Game release: Phantasmal Defender has been added to the game.

Trivia

• The Illusionary Defender's shield resembles the Wall of the Mists.