Phantom Questions

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Just a few questions about Phantom that have been bugging me. I'm considering switching from my Shadower to a Phantom (permanently), but I'm not quite sure yet...

1. Phantoms don't seem like they have very many 1v1 skills. Apart from stealing Rapid Fire or something along those lines, do they have any straight up 1v1 DPS in any way? Or does their above-average mobbing make up for the lack of 1v1?

2. What exactly do the card stacks do?

3. Is Ultimate Drive worth using at all during boss fights? Or would it be considered more of a LHC/Stronghold training skill?

4. What are the best skills to steal? I noticed they don't get Haste... Also that they have a large amount of crit chance from passives; would skills that buff up this crit probability/damage be best?

5. Any thing else I should know about them? I know they get nerfed later on (around the time Luminous comes out), but I'm not really concerned about that atm.

[Jamesie]

1. Stealing a 1v1 skill each job may help, but most of the Phantom mob skills are also fairly strong for 1v1 anyways.

2. When you get all 20 (or 40 in fourth job), you can cast a buff.

3. Rapid Fire beats Ultimate Drive in most cases.

4. They may not get Haste, but like Mercedes they get passive speed. There's guides that detail what's good and what's not good for stealing, so I think you can handle looking for that. The important part to know is that what skills you steal will vary greatly on your funding. If you're funded enough to have Decent SE on a glove, stealing SE is a bit counter-productive. There's plenty of other examples, but I think you'll get the idea.

5. Your final attack chance is based off crit?

[JoeTang]

Just a few questions about Phantom that have been bugging me. I'm considering switching from my Shadower to a Phantom (permanently), but I'm not quite sure yet...

1. Phantoms don't seem like they have very many 1v1 skills. Apart from stealing Rapid Fire or something along those lines, do they have any straight up 1v1 DPS in any way? Or does their above-average mobbing make up for the lack of 1v1?

In 4th job, Rapid Fire is the best single target attack to steal. Twilight is slightly better than Ultimate Drive for single target, but makes you move so isn't ideal, but is maxed earlier in builds, and takes fewer points.

2. What exactly do the card stacks do?

Phantom has a beginner skill called Judgement they can use starting in 2nd job. Whenever they get a critical, their Blanc Carte skill has a chance to activate (like Final Attack), throwing a card at the enemy to do damage. This adds one to the card stack. When the stack is full, they can use Judgement, which throws 5 cards at once to do the same damage as Blanc Carte, and 10 cards in 4th job to do the same damage as Noir Carte. It also gives a random buff.

3. Is Ultimate Drive worth using at all during boss fights? Or would it be considered more of a LHC/Stronghold training skill?

Ultimate Drive would only be useful for multitarget or when your Rapid Fire/Twilight hits too much damage cap. Twilight is stronger, but makes you move so you have to use Phantom Charge with it, which can make you take damage, or you have to be against a wall.

4. What are the best skills to steal? I noticed they don't get Haste... Also that they have a large amount of crit chance from passives; would skills that buff up this crit probability/damage be best?

The only skill that buffs crit rate and damage is Sharp Eyes.
http://www.southperry.net/showthread.php?t=52062

[emailbox]

Thanks for the answers guys, helped a lot. Two final questions (sorry!):

- From the stealable skill table in Locked's guide, I'm deriving that you can only steal from Adventurer classes, correct?

- Do party buffs (like HS, SE, etc) work for your entire party, or just for yourself?

[JoeTang]

Thanks for the answers guys, helped a lot. Two final questions (sorry!):

- From the stealable skill table in Locked's guide, I'm deriving that you can only steal from Adventurer classes, correct?

Correct

- Do party buffs (like HS, SE, etc) work for your entire party, or just for yourself?

Party.

[emailbox]

Thanks a lot for the help!