how to survive phantom , and why i love him

(elegantRoyalty) #1

i really like this new merc , been playing him quite a bit, im not very good but im seeing a lot of very easy to correct mistakes people make when hes around that tend to lead to short lives and calls of op

  1. his cloak/shield. its 80 hp shield and it lasts long enough for him to get to you, but it is cancelled when he attacks, it is very visible especially if hes running and it doesnt mask his foot falls. Keep you head on a swivel, DB has been low on flanking up till now but now you need to start checking those blind spots as you go around corners. listen for the sound of the cloak engaging or the addition of another set of foot falls, if you have tunnel vision or arent checking your corners or listning out for him you wont see him coming and then its too late.

  2. He feeds on lone squishes theres nothing like a couple of aura/proxies in a nice compact herd for those 2+ insta kills. although you need to stay near team mates more than ever now you also dont want to be standing on each other. make it so he cant kill you all with one hit (think of him as a grenade) stay together to cover but dont sit on top of each other.

  3. If you are one of the class’s that can be one shot your also one of the classes that have to let him catch you, see his shimmering cloak have the knife out , just turn and run hes slower than you and wont be able to stab you. time to remaster the old jump spin shoot land running technique again. and if you are with a team mate or two they can kill him as he trails you.

4.The shield disappears with the cloak , one good shotgun blast will always break it . but dont unload into a shield leaving you dry when he drops it by himself anyway.

  1. hes a hunter dont expect him to be sitting back on defence expect him to be ambushing you somewhere between spawn and the front line. just because you auras and proxies can out run the fraggers and rhinos, ask yourself do you really want to be the first one round that blind corner?

  2. change up , consider moving out of his food group , the fast squishies have been running wild of late and the meta just shifted. before phantom a horde of proxies and auras was a pretty decent thing , but now… if your teams full of one shot bait your just asking for phantoms to come into play, consider playing against it, Rhino for example is pretty close to a hard counter, if you have the barrels spinning even if he gets the jump on you and the first thing you see is the sword sticking out your chest you can still kill him before he finishes you. and if you see him a second away… well mini gun at point blank range shreds him in the blink of an eye. and phantoms dont tend to dodge they come in straight

so in short, learn to see him , learn to hear him , think about where hes likely to be coming from, detection is key to surviving phantom. if your one shot bait you can out run him. stay with your team! but not too close. and consider the team balance , are you offering him an all he can eat buffet? then change it up!

to be clear if you get stabbed you made an error somewhere. ask yourself how did he get that close? where didnt you look

and this is why i like phantom , he actually encourages people to play as a team and stay together hes making me pay more attention to my situation.

(noupperlobeman) #2

Well put op. I’m still on the fence regarding whether or not
he’s overpowered

I’ve written a shorter guide for those in need:

  1. Don’t play 80hp mercs
  2. Stay with your team
  3. If you absolutely NEED to play 80 hp mercs, see #2
(RuleofBooKz) #3

No one is saying u cant like ghost boy. Obviously a fun to play merc. What most are saying is a slight to med nerf is in order.

But i like how u simplify it into 3 points on how to “stay safe” lolz! in a pub u can “stay with ur team” if u like sitting in spawn as an attacker or just not play a quarter of all the mercs - excellent strategy!

(giftedStatue) #4

I think Proxy was always a little overbearing in pubs, and I never mind another way to deal with a heal-station-camping Aura.
Still though Phantom spin2win is just silly.

(elegantRoyalty) #5

[quote=“RuleofBooKz;42665”]No one is saying u cant like ghost boy. Obviously a fun to play merc. What most are saying is a slight to med nerf is in order.

But i like how u simplify it into 3 points on how to “stay safe” lolz! in a pub u can “stay with ur team” if u like sitting in spawn as an attacker or just not play a quarter of all the mercs - excellent strategy!

[/quote]

i sort of enjoy playing him, but its more for the affect hes having on the meta that i like him.
maybe its just because ive hit level 10 and finding myself on higher level servers but i like to think phantoms scaring people into playing better, people do seem to be staying together more now theres someone out there hunting the lone wolfs. someone punishing those lone squishes using speed to substitute for team play, basically hes making people play better. and hes making the merc selection wider.

and your being a little unfair i think, those games where everyone hanging back not understanding how the game works is getting rarer, ill agree they do still happen , but when your bent over and pre lubed, your getting fucked anyway phantom or not. and i never said don’t play a quarter of the mercs i said you shouldn’t have your whole team being a quarter of the mercs.