Phantom still needs work

(Cesmode) #1

Hi,
Recently been playing Phantom against my better judgement. I definitely agree he was way OP when he was released and then nerfed into the ground.

I understand skillful phantoms don’t rely on melee for all of their kills and neither do I…but I have a few issues with the current state of him:

  1. Standing still doesn’t cloak you completely. People still see it.
  2. Coming out of refractive in a melee situation makes you completely vulnerable. If I don’t kill the person on one hit or one hit plus a few bullets(~3 seconds), Im usually dead. Maybe a buff to melee for X seconds after you come out of stealth, or a buff to melee swing while in stealth.
  3. You might as well place a beacon on yourself when running around in stealth. Anyone who isnt new can see it.
  4. A melee swing with kitana on even a proxy (with chopper mod) doesn’t one shot.
  5. You are not fast enough to chase down anyone backpedaling with melee(kitana) and you dont have enough range to kill them most of the time.

These are just my thoughts, my opinions.

(watsyurdeal) #2

So in other words a stealth class isn’t stealthy and being killed by him is still frustrating, old news.

(Cesmode) #3

All I am saying is that in terms of classes where the sole purpose is to kill and be offensive, he is severely lacking. I can get as many kills in a game with fletcher. My buddy gets as many kills, but a ton more XP with nader because he lobs nades and gets splash…phantom gets none of that.

(Naonna) #4

Think outside of melee range/focus. he’s not a melee-only merc, as much as people love playing him that way.

(Mr-Penguin) #5
  1. Visibility while still/walking is fine. Sprinting though…
  2. Headshots. Click those heads. They’ll drop like stones.
  3. Walk, don’t sprint.
  4. Shoot the damn Proxy then. Don’t melee anybody you’re sure you won’t kill.
  5. Again, shoot the enemy.
(deviousOrangutan) #6

He needs other abilities then just his refragment armor, also people who wear headphone, which most do, can hear phantom when he’s cloaked.

(Cesmode) #7

Hi,
Just an FYI I shoot more than I melee with phantom.

After a few more days of playing him and getting MUCH better, maybe he is OK…maybe just a slight tweak to the range of melee or reduce the CD to his cloak a bit. Nothing drastic though.

What I would like to point out is that, and correct me if I am wrong, almost every (if not every) merc gains XP for using their abilities. A nader gets XP for firing nades, and then the subsequent splash damage. Fletcher gains XP for throwing bombs, picking them up, and splash damage. I have been getting nothing for using my cloak. Is this a bug or working as intended? Maybe just a flat 10 XP everytime you activate it would suffice. And no, people wouldn’t activate/deactivate on repeat just for XP. Thats silly and would suggest that a fletcher would throw a bomb, and retrieve it just for XP. Not to mention, you want your cloak available when you need it, not on a 1-2 second cooldown.

I think the larger problem I am having at the moment with phantom is that even though I am averaging a nice 2:1 k/d ratio, sometimes pushing 3:1, I am still middle of the pack in terms of XP. While a Nader, whose “role” or purpose is the same, gains XP for firing nades and the subsequent splash damage.

Thoughts on the XP?

(Drac0rion) #8

I haven’t paid much attention to the XP gains, but doesn’t Phantom get XP from his Refractive armor when he passes nearby enemies while cloaked? Damage soaking doesn’t give any XP though if I’m correct.

(eclipsedScion) #9

This is my biggest issue right now with Phantom and I think should be removed. The noises he makes while stealthed are outrageously loud. I feel like I’m wallhacking when going against phantoms because I can hear them a mile off.

(Cesmode) #10

Ive seen videos of him gaining XP while cloaked, but they must be pre-nerf or something because I don’t gain any XP.

(Black) #11

Ive seen videos of him gaining XP while cloaked, but they must be pre-nerf or something because I don’t gain any XP.[/quote]

Phantom does get XP while cloaked but it’s only 1 xp.

(bontsa) #12

Ive seen videos of him gaining XP while cloaked, but they must be pre-nerf or something because I don’t gain any XP.[/quote]

Phantom does get XP while cloaked but it’s only 1 xp.[/quote]

To be precise and end that debate, Phantom gets 1 “Refractive armour” xp, counting as Combat, for every single enemy passing by him or being around (works through walls too) him when he is cloaked. Exact radius is unknown for me. But it works as a nice little “oh, somebody is about to activate my trap card” notification.

(thoroughPistachio) #13

I can go like 14-2 with Phantom, and have a much lower score than someone else who went 14-2 (or less even) just because of their “splash damage” and other awards (not counting bombs defuses and such). It’s clear this is a dumb area as well. SD’s handling of Phantom leaves me brutally questioning their ability, as a new player on the scene in my life. He’s been how long now. You need to correct his overnerf.

(Drac0rion) #14

SD deals with OP mercs or when there’s a serious bug with them, otherwise: oh well guys, I’m sure we’ll get to it SOMEWHERE in 2016…
I think Redeye was only looked at because nearly nobody played him, but Phantom just looks like a really fun character and unique with his katana and refractive armor, so I believe that still quite many players use him in their squad. That’s why he doesn’t need any attention currently.

(Cesmode) #15

When Phantom came out, OP or not, I flat out said(and still believe) that he doesn’t belong in this type of game simply because you have mercs holding choke points, holding positions, etc…and, at least early on, phantom came out of nowhere and oneshotted nearly everything within seconds.

He’s been nerfed to the ground.

-The sound his cloak makes needs to be lowered. What’s the point of a cloak if you can hear it? Whats the point of playing this merc if you can hear him around the corner, and still be spotted by vasilli marker?

-He needs more XP while cloaked… @coolFortress ,you may be correct but I still don’t see it. I see it pop up sporadically and randomly sometimes. Im in cloak a lot of the time, near players, and don’t see it. Regardless, 1 xp per enemy near him is pretty weak. As someone said, you can play a nearly perfect offensive game, and score half as much as a nader who had the same k/d simply because they get more XP per nade(more than you get for refractive armor if this is even working) and more XP with splash damage.

For now, he is so hit or miss at times. I can run up a 30/5 K/D in a game, rack up something like 7 or 8k XP and sort of feel good about myself, despite the fact that I was a killing machine and had slightly better than mediocre XP. Other times, I run up a 12/10 game, with 3k xp. Whereas with my main squeeze Fletcher, regardless of map or team that I play, I can get an easy 10k with maybe only a dozen kills. If I were able to get 30/5 with fletcher, combined with the XP I get from tossing stickies and repairs/defuse, thats a 13k+ xp game.

Or, if you feel that phantom is working as intended…allow us to some how sort the “score” screen by kills and/or deaths as well even though we can’t see those stats until the game has ended…show us whose doing better in order. So that if theres somebody calling out us phantoms saying our XP scores are so low, switch to something else…I can simply say “filter by kills”…

(MrSoUndso) #16

I think Phantom needs more loadouts with the kartana.

(Telzen) #17

They already did. His cloak is a lot less visible now than right after his nerf. Just walk and stand still when needed, don’t sprint.

(Ballto) #18

Phantoms fine as is, keep at him, learn to use the armour as armour and only as a cloak when youre flanking.

If youre having trouble with him play Proxy aggressively, youll get the general feel of flanking and jumping/jitter shooting

(Ballto) #19

only thing id change, all loadouts need a weeb blade

(Drac0rion) #20

Phantom is not fine, as of now he is the most useless merc if you want to try competitive matchmaking. You’re just so weak in your role of picking off mercs one by one, you might as well pick a sniper to snipe them one by one or just pick Fragger and rush through the front doors and still win 1vs2.

He simply doesn’t fulfill his role, many mercs can do what he does and even more.
More katana loadouts honestly wouldn’t matter, it’s just a superior melee weapon to others, but that doesn’t mean Phantom himself is melee centric merc. It just looks cringeworthy to see the low level Phantoms just keep on chasing with the katana if they’ve been spotted or they miss their first swing.

But since he has great guns, he has nice killing potential already, so he could only use a minor buff, either give him +10 maybe even 20hp if you want to make him really scary OR just let the damage absorption from the refractive armor persist for about a full 1 second after you open fire, giving him extra survivability as there is no real way of buffing his damage for assassinations.