Proper Use of a Phantasm

[BlueBard]

I finally got Maxwell Miracle up to level 32 and got his Phantasm power.

Up until this point my only experience with 'pets' has been with low-level Masterminds.  I spent a little bit of time trying to determine how to control this new pet, but as near as I could determine I have no real control over it other than to dismiss it.

So I'm asking the more experienced members of the community if they have any experience with Phantasms and how best to use them.  I'm looking for tips, how-to's, and how-not-to's.  So far I have no strong understanding of how they tick.  I don't want to unintentionally aggro enemies I'm not ready for; is there any way to keep it from attacking other than keeping my distance or dismissing it?

[captainspud]

Um. You just kinda... shoot stuff... and hope it behaves.

[MJB]

I don't have any experience with Phantasm's but I have used Fire Imps. To keep your uncontrollable pets from aggroing you will just have to be aware how close you are to each mob you encounter. If you can stay the right distance away your pets should stay right by your side.

-MJB

[Verfall]

Phantasm's have only ranged attacks, with a lot of knockback. Basically, there's no real strategy to them, just be aware he'll shoot at anything he sees. He does come with the added bonus of summoning his own indestructible decoy who will hold aggro, since his attacks have a small taunt portion to them like Phantom Army. He doesn't really have any decent control aspects beyond his annoying energy torrent, but since he's a ranged user he tends to survive longer than the rest of the pets. Just be aware of your range to the target. If you're close enough to hit, he's more than likely close enough to hit.

He's essentially a fire and forget pet.

[BlueBard]

Geez.

I spent a little time trying to get used to it.  Compared to the pets in CoV, though, this is really limited.  I'm kind of disappointed that the pet I get as a medium-high-level Controller is in some ways less useful than the pet of a low-level Mastermind.  I assume the rest of the Hero pets are similarly limited.

Any rumored plans to eventually back-fit the Mastermind pet controls to the pets in Hero-land?  Now THAT would be useful.

Anyway, it both helps and hurts that the Phantasm has a very short range of detection/aggro.  If I stay far enough away, it doesn't attack.  On the other hand, if I stay far enough away it doesn't attack. 

The knockback attacks are also a mixed blessing.  They have a tendency to knock the target right back out of the Phantasm's attack range.  If the target has a long range attack, this is not a good thing.

On the plus side, it does tend to keep the aggro away from me and I was able to solo a mission mostly using only the Phantasm and only summoned Phantom Army twice.  I'm not sorry I took it, just slightly disappointed that the Controller can't Control it.

[Midnight]

Masterminds have specialized control over pets. That's really the point of the archetype. Controllers have other means of doling out damage.

[captainspud]

Any rumored plans to eventually back-fit the Mastermind pet controls to the pets in Hero-land?  Now THAT would be useful.

Nope. Not only are there not rumors that they'll get it, there was, in fact, an official decree that they won't. If Controllers and Dominators could order their pets around, there would be no reason for Masterminds. It would invalidate an entire AT.

[Anastasiya]

'lo. Dunno how many of you remember me.

Controllers are meant to control the mobs rather than their pets.  As such, Controller pets often come with half a brain cell - but this is okay, as this is half a brain cell more than you can find on some pick-up groups.

Phantasms are situational pets.  Illusion as a set allows for enough control and enough damage that if you're soloing (which it sounds like you are) you shouldn't always need it.  This does depend some on your secondary, of course, but remember: unlike your Spectral Terror and your Phantom Army, Phantasms are fully buffable.  I don't know what your secondary is, but you can make a bind or a macro to heal your Phantasm if you're empathy (/macro Heal Phant "target_name Phantasm$$powexec_name Heal Other").  You can give it Fortitude, AB, you can bubble it, whatever you want to do.  That can allow you to keep your Phantasm alive while taking it into a range where it can kill things more easily.

Assuming you have superior invisibility, I find that Ill/ is one of the easier things to solo past 32.  Against anything other than Rikti and KoA, you can just invis, slide by things you don't need to the things that you DO need, summon Phantom Army to keep things in the room busy while you solo and buff your Phantasm, and then damage away.  If your secondary specializes in or includes debuffs (Radiation for example) you can soften up the targets for your pet.  It can be a tricky learning curve, but by choosing which mobs to use your AoE hold on, which ones can be kept pinned up by the Spectral Terror, which ones need to be individually held, and combining these with your pets and Deceive you can be a killing machine.  For fun and profit, try deceiving a Sapper sometime.

You can always use careful pulling tactics to pull a small number of mobs for your pet to deal with if that's a problem.  Illusion has great range and through careful selection of a target, you can always get a small number to come and say hello to your little friends.  Sure, you can't control your pets - but Illu is the closest thing to a Mastermind's sheer number and versatility of pets that you can get on the hero side.  If you want to waste several hours of your natural life you can even solo EBs, though it's generally quicker to find someone else to come help you hit it.  Use your powersets to your advantage and you should be just fine.

[77]

This comes in handy in emergency cases /macro ID "release_pets"    it kills all pets, troller or MM.

[BlueBard]

Any rumored plans to eventually back-fit the Mastermind pet controls to the pets in Hero-land?  Now THAT would be useful.

Nope. Not only are there not rumors that they'll get it, there was, in fact, an official decree that they won't. If Controllers and Dominators could order their pets around, there would be no reason for Masterminds. It would invalidate an entire AT.

I'm not sure I agree with that.  Controllers, Defenders, and Dominators really don't get any pets until, well, right about the level Max is at.  And then they get one.  (I don't really count Phantom Army as pets and don't argue that they should be controllable.)  What's so bad about them being able to control that one?

But I'm not going to argue about it.  I can think of thematic reasons for most of the Hero pets being relatively independent and uncontrolled.  Doesn't make quite as much sense for the Illusionist, but for fairness' sake (and because I have no choice) I'll accept conformity.