Essential phantom

[dejarik]

I’m currently at level 7-8 in a potd run. My MC is Boeroer’s Fountain of Woe, the rest of the party is Eder (Swashbuckler tank), Xoti (SC priest, buffer/debuffer mostly), one flex slot (to do companion quests and such) and lastly Aloth as a SC wizard.

Essential phantom seems like a lot of fun. From what I’ve read there are many ways to equip Aloth so that the phantom deals good damage or otherwise helps out.

Do you have any basic tips of how I can get value (and fun) out of the phantom with Aloth? I’m not sure if the phantom can do melee, but maybe with the right spells (spirit armor and such). I’m sure there are some high level summoned weapons I can use later, but I hope there is fun to be had before that as well.

[SenSx]

Essential Phantom + Caedebald's Blackbow will be godly => Terrified auto attacks with both wizard and the summon.

But Caedebald's Blackbow is a late game spell.

 

Later on you will get a cloak that gives bonus to your wizard, and an peer rest summon that basically gives you about 5 essential Phantoms at the same time, all wearing Caedebald's Blackbow for mass terrified affliction on ennemies, completely broken.

You cannot summon the lone essential phantom with it though, it will cancel the other.

[Boeroer]

Imo the best way to utilize the Essenial Phantom (until you get Caedebald's Blackbow like @SenSx said, that's an awesome combo) is to give it Concelhaut's Draining Touch as a single handed weapon or with Kapana Taga (reason for Kapana Taga see below). At the same time I let Aloth cast Miasma of Dull-Mindedness onto enemies who will get attacked by the phantom. Bonus points if you have somebody in the party who uses clubs + modal (for me it's often Edér with Shattered Vengeance or Kapana Taga).

Club modal + Miasma results in -65(!) Will defense. Maybe Aloth follows up with a mass Confuse and somebody adds a Shaken/Frighten/Terrify effect (Xoti, Aloth) and some -10 defense to all (see Shining Beacon or Ben Fidel's Neck) and enemies' Will defense is at -95 without too much effort. Should you use some party member with maxed Survival and Ngati's Tusk (Hunter of Hunters enchantment) enemies' will is at -105. 

The reasons why this is a great combination (besides that fact that debuffing Will profits other party members as well) :

• Concelhaut's Draining Touch doesn't go away on a Phantom. It stays as long as the phantom will last.
• it targets Will instead of Deflection. Since Will is so easily debuffed the Phantom will land lots of crits
• as single weapon the phantom will get +12 ACC
• Draining Touch has very high base damage. It works very well with crits (likely overpenetration + crit damage bonus)
• It weakens the enemy (prevents proper healing and lowers max health as well as fortitude)
• Since it weakens on hit it works with the Helm of the White Void (+10 ACC, also works with the phantom)
• it drains health which makes the phantom a lot sturdier

Now you can give Aloth items with +engagement (like Kapana Taga: +2 - or a small shield: +1) and terrify enemies with Aloth (Ryngrim's spells). The enemies will not only get their Will debuffed but also disengage constantly. If the phantom has engagement from items it will use disengagement attacks which have a big dmg bonus - which again works very well with the Draining Touch's high base damage. I usually also give the phantom boots of speed. That way it will close gaps to disengaged enemies very quickly again, re-engaging.

 It is a very potent setup rel. early in the game: a summon that is sturdy and deals tremendous damage while it also causes weakened.

In addition one can wear items that trigger AoE damage on knockout or when damaged: White Witch Mask (Repulsive Visage when blooded), Effigy's Husk, Mantle of the Seven Bolts and such. They also work when the phantom gets killed (not if the duration is up and it simply vanishes though). And it the effects are limited to 1/rest it doesn't matter as long as Aloth doesn't use it up: the phantom will get a "fresh" copy of the item with 1 use/rest every time it gets summoned. You can also give Voidwheel to the phantom so it damages itself with every attack and eventually kills itself, triggering those effects deliberately. Or the Great Sword Effort: it does a Full Attack to all enemy bystanders if the phantom dies.

Other nice things to do with the phantom:

• give it Essence Interrupter - the effect to summon a friendly creature after the enemy is dead also works with the phantom and its copy of the bow
• Willbreaker or Blade of the Endless Paths (or other weapon which put limited "stacks" of debuffs on enemies on hit) : Since you will have two weapons (1 original , 1 copy) you will put two separate stacks of debuffs on enemies. 2 Willbreaker for example will put 2 stacks of will debuff on enemies, lifting the max of -15 Will to 2*-15 Will = -30 Will. BotEP will be able to debiff deflection by -40 instead of -20 only and so on. Another candidate is Ball and Chain with the Action Speed debuff for example.
• Citzal's Spirit Lance
• high deflection gear (armor such as Nomad's Brigandine, bracers, cloak) and Whispers of the Endless Paths with Offensive Parry - phantom will daze enemies if they miss and deal some damage with parries
• Cast Salvation of Time on the phantom: it prolongs its summon duration
• The Red Hand - pretty awesome if its enchanted with Double Tab ang you're fighting against vessels

I'm sure there's more cool stuff you can do with it. That's what I remembered from the top of my head. 

  

[dejarik]

Thank you so much for the extensive answer - this was exactly what I was looking for.

Some follow up questions:

1. Regarding Kapana Taga. It's been so long since my last playthrough. From what I can read, Fyrgist is level 15. Is there some sort of trick to getting Kapana Taga at level 8-10? Just board and take it? Or win through sea combat?

2. What is the logic that the phantom follows in its auto attacks? Is it always the closest enemy? Does it change if an enemy comes closer?

[Boeroer]

12 hours ago, dejarik said:

1. Regarding Kapana Taga. It's been so long since my last playthrough. From what I can read, Fyrgist is level 15. Is there some sort of trick to getting Kapana Taga at level 8-10? Just board and take it? Or win through sea combat?

You don't need Kapana Taga to make the Phantom work with Draining Touch - it's just one of the best items to gain engagement slots for the Phantom so it can do disengagement attacks. A small shield would also work. 

You can get Kapana Taga early if you do some ship fights against easy ships early - so that your cannoneers become masters (four stars). Or you hire some (with Berath Blessing point for example) who already are master cannoneers. Master cannoneers have a high chance to trigger special effects on hit: flooding, burning sails, knocking cargo loose etc.

If you combine this with high firing rate (sloop has quick jibe, use Royal Bronzers or other, even faster reloading cannons), this prevents the enemy ship from firing back since it's occupied with salvage/repair etc. It's a slow process and it can go wrong (you'll have to reload sometimes) but this way you can sink almost every ship, you just need a little luck with with cannoneer's rolls.

Winning a boarding fight against Firgist and his crew when you are severely underleveled is much, much harder or even impossible.

12 hours ago, dejarik said:

2. What is the logic that the phantom follows in its auto attacks? Is it always the closest enemy? Does it change if an enemy comes closer?

When wielding a melee weapon I think it's usually the nearest enemy. It stops when getting engaged of course. It will not disengage voluntarily. I haven't really examined what it does when its immune to engagement (if it picks different targets then). It doesn't switch targets once it has decided whom to attack - unless the "duel" gets broken up by something (pushing, pulling, enemy uses Escape, Phantom gets disabled and so on). The phantom will gladly run into friendly fire spells, walls and other zones of death (like a Meteor Shower you cast or so) - it seems to have zero self preservation.   

Edited October 7 by Boeroer