Phantom Summoner (Freya) guide — Spectral Master

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Phantom Summoner class guide for Lineage 2 Freya: how to get the class, which skills to take, what to wear and where to level.

Phantom Summoner

Contents

Introduction

This guide is for those dark wizards who suddenly remembered, or discovered with surprise, that next to the wide, well-trodden road to Spellhowler there's also a little path where strange creatures walk. If you too are tempted to find out where it leads - welcome to the Phantom Summoners!


Actually, the name already makes it clear that the character belongs to the "Summoners" subtype - i.e. those who can summon a combat helper. Like all other professional summoners, the PS has 5 summons, 3 kinds of cubics, a number of buffs for the summon and debuffs for the enemy, and they also added a nuke...
And don't be misled by the fact that the PS spends its childhood under the sign of magic - from the moment it gets its main class, magic is no more than an auxiliary tool, even though we do have something to shoot with.
Phantom Summoners can wear robes or light armor, and have Anti Magic and weapon mastery among their passives. They can choose any weapon except bows and daggers (the PS has an accuracy penalty with these weapon types because of its magical origin).

More about summons

Our summons are called Phantoms or Shades. They're separate creatures with their own stats, skills, level and control panel.
It's because of this panel that a person unfamiliar with playing a summoner gets the impression that playing a summoner is harder than a regular character, since you have to "control two". However, all of the Phantom's actions are placed on your shortcut bar next to your regular skills and used the usual way. So the difficulty is only apparent.

A character can have no more than one summoned creature at a time, be it a summon, a pet or an imp (the only exception is toy pets from bracelets).
Unlike animal pets, Phantoms have no inventory of their own and don't eat food. To boost their attacks, phantoms can use pet shots (SPS, BSPS) from the summoner's inventory. For the summon to use shots automatically, they must be placed on your game panel. Soulshots for summons have no grade and are bought from the pet manager in any town for 24 to 27a depending on town tax. Pet managers also sell packs of soulshots (Pack of Pet Soulshots), which contain 500 shots. The packs cost the same as 500 unpacked shots but weigh much less and can be opened as needed, which really helps Phantom Summoners, who have a low weight limit by nature. (warning: packs can't be opened if 70 or more slots of your inventory are full) The number of soulshots a phantom uses per hit grows with the phantom's level (though let's note right away that no one has ever bothered to make an exact table of shot consumption by level and type of summon).
A tip about summon soulshots: It makes sense to buy pet shots in packs of 500 and unpack them as needed. This way I carry 4-5k pet shots to use in battle and up to 70-100 packs "to top up when needed". (from IOaner)

With the release of the new game update Freya, some changes were made to the life of Summoner-type classes:

  1. The phantom no longer takes XP. (the exception is Hecate, which still absorbs 90% XP)
  2. The extra buff slots the summoner gets by learning the corresponding skill now apply to the summon as well.
  3. Weapon elemental attributes fully affect summons (Freya): 100% of the attribute is passed to the summon and another 20% stays on the master. Armor elemental attributes affect both at once: 100% for both the summon and the master.
  4. Now the effect of all herbs applies to both the phantom and the master for five minutes, as it should.
  5. Summoning phantoms no longer requires crystals of different grades. Only Spirit Ore is needed, which can be bought in the shop in any town.

The summon can grow only when the summoner learns the next level of the skill. The summon's own level then changes and equals the PS's level +2.

We get the first two Phantoms - the Shade and Hecate - right when taking the Dark Wizard class. However, even though these phantoms improve with each skill level and by 40 already have skill level 4, this is a demo version. Such a phantom lives only 20 minutes and has a skill reuse of over an hour. Besides, unlike cats and unicorns, Phantoms can't restore their master's MP. So it's impossible to use them for leveling, but you can get some idea of summoning and controlling Phantoms.

Once you get the PS class, summons become full-fledged: a summon's lifetime is extended to an hour (in combat) or longer (at rest). And the next summon can be called right after the previous one disappears (dies).

Unfortunately, a real and huge downside of summons is that most of the LA2 arsenal simply doesn't affect them. Bonuses from the summoner's armor, jewelry and weapon don't affect phantoms.

Phantoms have no CP as extra protection in PvP. Potions used by the PS on summons don't work, and they can't use potions themselves since they have no inventory. Only blessed scrolls and herbs work on a summon.

At the same time there's a small plus: debuffs the summoner gets (including overweight) don't affect the Phantom (exceptions: the Seven Signs debuffs for the losing side - applied to the phantom separately; and a weapon with an attribute - if the summoner gets a grade penalty from that weapon, the attribute won't affect the summon)

Beginning summoners should also note that a Phantom can't interact with its master: hit him or use skills against him. However, the master is free to do as he likes with his summon, so he can kill it without getting flagged.

Summons

All Phantoms have the following stats: STR 40, DEX 30, CON 43, INT 21, WIT 20, MEN 25
And they have a 30% PvP penalty (except Hecate).

Silhouette 

[[Summon_Silhouette_(1228)|]] (')[http://linedia.com.ua/w/index.php?title=Summon_Silhouette_(1228)&action=submit

Hecate used to be considered a PvP summon, but now it's used only when summoning a more effective summon isn't worth it. For example, while fishing or when the summoner needs to get past aggressive but not too strong mobs. Many PSs prefer not to spend SP on learning this skill at all.

Shadow 

[[Summon_Shadow_(1128)|]] (')[http://linedia.com.ua/w/index.php?title=Summon_Shadow_(1128)&action=submit

A good helper for scouting new territories and on mobs with increased HP (for example in the catacombs)

Soulless 

[[Summon_Soulless_(1278)|]] (')[http://linedia.com.ua/w/index.php?title=Summon_Soulless_(1278)&action=submit

Nightshade) 

[[Summon_Nightshade_(1333)|]] (')[http://linedia.com.ua/w/index.php?title=Summon_Nightshade_(1333)&action=submit

Spectral Lord 

[[Summon_Spectral_Lord_(1408)|]] (')[http://linedia.com.ua/w/index.php?title=Summon_Spectral_Lord_(1408)&action=submit

Cubics

Besides Phantoms themselves, the PS can also summon cubics - special creatures that don't obey their master's will at all. The PS's cubics are designed to debuff the enemy (the one targeted) and trigger when the summoner is in combat mode. All cubic debuffs count as magic.

To summon two cubics at once, at level 44 the PS gets Cubic Mastery - 1, and to summon 3 cubics at once, at level 56, Cubic Mastery - 2. 

[[Summon_Spark_Cubic_(1281)|]] (')[http://linedia.com.ua/w/index.php?title=Summon_Spark_Cubic_(1281)&action=submit - stuns the enemy (trigger chance 12%, cooldown 10 sec, success chance 80%, duration up to 9 sec). Lives 15 minutes, needs 5 to 14 D crystals per summon. (9 skill levels) 
[[Summon_Phantom_Cubic_(33)|]] (')[http://linedia.com.ua/w/index.php?title=Summon_Phantom_Cubic_(33)&action=submit - lowers the enemy's P. Atk., P. Def. and attack speed (randomly applies one of three debuffs, lowers the stat by 23%, trigger chance 30%, cooldown 8 sec, success chance 80%, duration by test data about two minutes) Lives 15 minutes, needs 2 to 7 D crystals per summon. (8 skill levels)

Skill1330 0 Mass Summon Phantom Cubic Has a variant - a mass cubic with the same properties, summoned for each party member. The mass cubic costs 8 to 28 D crystals per summon. 

[[Summon_Smart_Cubic_(783)|]] (')[http://linedia.com.ua/w/index.php?title=Summon_Smart_Cubic_(783)&action=submit - Learned at level 80. Needs 2 A-grade crystals to summon. Removes debuffs placed on its master and uses its own skills (wind strike 150 damage, poisons 210 HP/tick (9 ticks), IT'S PRETTY AND IT GLOWS !!)))


To be continued...


Source: 4game forum

See also: all class guides · Phantom Summoner (High Five) · Phantom Summoner (Interlude) · class tree · class transfer quests · Subclass