So I’ve been playing Phantom a fair bit lately, and I find that when I walk or stand still, many people won’t see me. NOW, this may be a good thing for balance or may be OP, depending on your POV, but the point is, Phantom now has a purpose beyond simply killing people. Every merc in the game has an ability that helps his/her team in some way, from killing people to reviving them to covering objectives to spotting them, except Phantom. His cloak makes it EASIER for him to get kills, sure. But I can’t think of any other ability that doesn’t either directly kill enemies or help teammates(even Redeyes smoke can be quite useful). Phantom seems out of place, because he’s not quite as good as the assault classes at killing enemies, but had no support ability either. But now his ability makes him a valuable team player, because he can COVER OBJECTIVES. I’ve had plenty of times where I was crouched cloaked in the corner near the C4, waiting with my extended cloak time(due to being still) and had a Proxy or something run in the room, looks around, does not see me despite looking right at me, and then starts defusing, at which point I come out and stab her. Phantom finally has a use beyond killing people.
Thought: Phantom is in a GREAT place right now.
Well thing is…there isn’t always a C4 just sitting there…what about EVs that move with chaos all around them, Phantom can’t just stand there and get obliterated by like 50 airstrikes…
I agree that the recent changes made Phantom more enjoyable to play and that he is fairly balanced right now. Still wish he had some other team oriented utility though.
@xavien Well ofc not. No merc is great at ALL things objective, even the objective specialists like Bushwhacker can’t do jack sh*t to stop an EV. But for defending C4, keeping C4 from being planted, and even defending the EV and secondary OBJ like the barrier on bridge, he’s now a viable choice.
@cornJester There’s always giving him the ability to destroy turrets, mines, etc. Only problem is, we already have enough TF2 fanboys crying about how DB ripped of TF2. I love TF2, but thinking that TF2 invented grenade launchers, stickybombs, miniguns, turrets and even the very concept of medic is stupid.
I’m still not happy with Phantom… he’s visible on fast move and noisy as well with his cloak on. And every time he strikes, hi’s “KACHA” remark is a dead give away to anyone in the vicinity.
@derpypenguinz19 I know, it’s fair to make him more visible, but that ringing sound of his cloak really has to go. And the “KACHA” too is counter productive to him.
Don’t you dare take away my “KACHA” sounds. The uncloak attack sounds are one of the silliest and funnest aspects to him now and I love it. It’s not about making him more effective but more fun. More personality = more fun for me.
Phantom is more useable then before. He is actually playable. But Katana right-click is still bad as crap. It’s almost impossible to hit targets who are simply walking with it. Normal strike, no problem at all, the right-click, still broken from the nerf.
But he is the best “cheaters spotter” if some low-level Vassili is sniping you down when you crouch in a corner or just crouch and someone randomly perfect aiming on you and headshots you.
This has been known information for a very long time. Almost everyone knows that this is his purpose as a merc. My friends have been doing this since his launch.
Do you actually know the fact his cloak is only ringing when he is cloaking? And not all the time.
Phantom isn’t in a great place, but he’s not in a bad place either. He’s one of the only mercs never used in competitive, thusly - he’s only in a great place when you’re talking about pub play.
Cloak buff was nice, but the katana is in dire need of a buff:
1)More range (it’s a giant sword FFS not a cricket bat)
2)Fix secondary “stab” attack reduced range compared to normal slash
3)Reduce that slower turn speed slightly
4)Make “ringing” quieter, or change it to some kind of static
That would make him too OP in pugs. A group of two and more people that are new to the game would be easily killed by Phantom because they wouldn’t realize someone kills them from behind.
I bought Phantom a few days ago and I think he is in a perfect place. He already stomps noobs but is below mediocre against experienced players. You can’t make him harder to spot because people will leave pugs.
The only thing he needs is a slight longer range on his heavy attack from katana. It’s ridiculously short.