Escape Artist

[atlashugged.7642]

Has anyone had any effectiveness with this trait? I feel like it would be more effective if it created the clone after you broke stealth, and not during it. Often with stealthing, you want to make the most use of your stealth and take time to reposition. You don't want to break it right away. If you don't break your stealth right away though, the clone is going to die and do nothing but an auto attack.

So right now the only use I can see for the trait is with a mirage build with infinite horizons, but even that is very narrow.

[Lunalight.8120]

The idea behind this trait is probably to turn every stealth skill into a decoy. To give the illusion that you're still there when you're actually not, not mainly to offer additional shatter fodder. Regarding effectiveness: It's heavily relient on how good you can "disguise" the transition from player to clone movement and obviously the skill of your enemy not to get fooled by this.Generally i think the other 2 traits are a way better pick at the moment. This seems to be more of a troll skill to make fun of bad/new players (who then later complain that mesmer is op and demand nerfs).

[Jitsuryoku.9038]

Escape artist - because it leaves a clone behind, making pursuers think you're still there. I think the naming is ideal and the mechanic is great, I used to use duelist clone on dodge when stealthing to emulate exact same thing, and in critical situations it's amazing!

[RabbitUp.8294]

If you play League of Legends, it's like a skill Wukong has, where he stealths, leaving behind am immobile clone. Its effectiveness relies solely on the enemy falling for it, and you taking advantage of not just the skill itself, but also the mentality it creates. For example, you can stop moving, and the opponent will think you stealthed and ignore the "clone".

Similarly here, clones have very predictable behaviour and it's something you can already take advantage of to confuse someone, but now you can also mask your stealth skills, so it's not immediately apparent to someone that you are getting away, or getting ready for a burst. It's not meant to be very effective as shatter fodder outside of maybe pve.

Of course, it's a trait that relies on someone falling for it, instead of granting some immediately and reliable bonus. And that's what both of the competing traits do. So in the end, it's an interesting skill, but not worth the slot. It would be much better as a minor trait, as part of Master of Misdirection, since most other classes have some secondary bonus to the trait that reduces the cd of profession skills.

[MailMail.6534]

I actually like this trait a lot. Unfortunately, the other two traits are simply way better.

The best I could see this being utilized in is a WvW roaming build that happens to be using a lot of stealth already.

[apharma.3741]

@MailMail.6534 said:I actually like this trait a lot. Unfortunately, the other two traits are simply way better.

The best I could see this being utilized in is a WvW roaming build that happens to be using a lot of stealth already.

While I don't like the trait I think you summed up the problem nicely, other traits are better and this trait has limited to no use at all. I cannot in good faith think of any situation against a player I wouldn't have already destroyed where this trait would be useful because stealth and leaving a decoy largely accomplish the same thing.

[atlashugged.7642]

@"Takashiro.8701" said:The idea behind this trait is probably to turn every stealth skill into a decoy. To give the illusion that you're still there when you're actually not, not mainly to offer additional shatter fodder. Regarding effectiveness: It's heavily relient on how good you can "disguise" the transition from player to clone movement and obviously the skill of your enemy not to get fooled by this.Generally i think the other 2 traits are a way better pick at the moment. This seems to be more of a troll skill to make fun of bad/new players (who then later complain that mesmer is op and demand nerfs).

The problem I'm finding is that any clones you create with this are going to be destroyed by AoE anyways almost immediately. It has no realistic chance of changing the behavior of an enemy as a result. If the purpose is to actually troll, then I can accept that. But it's pretty bad at trolling.

[ArmageddonAsh.6430]

@MailMail.6534 said:I actually like this trait a lot. Unfortunately, the other two traits are simply way better.

The best I could see this being utilized in is a WvW roaming build that happens to be using a lot of stealth already.

I havent seen it used at all as far as i have sene, its a very limited use trait, due to how limited the stealth is. Its kinda wasted. It seems like a lazy attempt to just have a trait there and they couldnt think of anything better to do. Condi builds will always take MtD and If they aren't taking MtD for what ever reason, they will take Phantasmal Haste.

[Curunen.8729]

The trouble is sound effects - it's obvious when someone has used Prestige or Signet of Midnight or even Mass Invis and Veil because you can hear it.

The only stealth with no tell we have is already Decoy or Desperate Decoy - which is nice, but not necessary.

[bart.3687]

I tried Escape Artist and I must say that it is a bad gimmick-trait imo. I see 0 reason to use it in pve, and in pvp it's not gonna make people think that the clone is you; they will just cleave it down instantly, move along and wait for you to leave stealth in most cases.Not to mention it doesn't really fit the Illusions traitline's theme, which is more about phantasms, shattering and hybrid damage rather than stealth.I think this trait ought to be replaced with something else. Sorry, but to my mind it is another mistake Anet made in recent patches (along with pve Confusion nerf, replacing Confusion on axe with torment & nerfing Staff condi output in pve. Of course, these are way more severe, but still).At the moment, I don't really have any idea what it could be replaced with, but I believe they can come up with something much better and more useful than current Escape Artist.

[Xaylin.1860]

@ArmageddonAsh.6430 said:

@MailMail.6534 said:I actually like this trait a lot. Unfortunately, the other two traits are simply way better.

The best I could see this being utilized in is a WvW roaming build that happens to be using a lot of stealth already.

I havent seen it used at all as far as i have sene, its a very limited use trait, due to how limited the stealth is. Its kinda wasted. It seems like a lazy attempt to just have a trait there and they couldnt think of anything better to do. Condi builds will always take MtD and If they aren't taking MtD for what ever reason, they will take Phantasmal Haste.

I actually find MtD to be way less attractive since they changed Cry of Frustration (a change I personally approve of since it makes it easier to balance with power shatter). It literally makes Decoy a second Mirror Image and could also be useful in combination with Desperate Decoy. I also like it for Prestige / Signet of Midnight. For Veil and MI not so much. Probably because I tend to use those skills in different scenarios.

[ArmageddonAsh.6430]

@Xaylin.1860 said:I actually find MtD to be way less attractive since they changed Cry of Frustration (a change I personally approve of since it makes it easier to balance with power shatter). It literally makes Decoy a second Mirror Image and could also be useful in combination with Desperate Decoy. I also like it for Prestige / Signet of Midnight. For Veil and MI not so much. Probably because I tend to use those skills in different scenarios.

Mmmm, why? With the Ammo trait. I could see plenty of reasons why a Condi might run MtD Too me, its too limited. Its based on Stealth abilities. I can see it being decent for the PU builds, the heavy stealth builds. If you dont run all of that, its a wasted trait in my opinion. I wouldnt be too bothered if they just cut it out and replaced it with something else, hopefully better.

[MailMail.6534]

Yeah, I guess y'all are right. I still think it's a cute trait in theory, but I simply can't think of many situations where the other two traits wouldn't be better utilized. Very very niche. It probably should be buffed in some capacity or scrapped completely. Let's brainstorm ways to improve it.

[Arlette.9684]

Escape artists turns Decoy into a Mirror Image with stealth, I don't see that as a bad thing. Also improves clone generation on builds that don't run clone dodge. I dig it, not very happy with its place in Illusions tho, I feel like it would've been a better fit elsewhere.

/2cents

[ArmageddonAsh.6430]

@Arlette.9684 said:Escape artists turns Decoy into a Mirror Image with stealth, I don't see that as a bad thing. Also improves clone generation on builds that don't run clone dodge. I dig it, not very happy with its place in Illusions tho, I feel like it would've been a better fit elsewhere.

/2cents

Do you think its a good trait though? Is it worth taking a a 40second cool down skill? The problem with this trait is, if you have loads of stealth (likely PU as well...) then its great. If you take 1 or 2 Stealth skills, then it gets weaker. So the LESS stealth you have. The worse it gets. The last thing this game needs is more promotion of stealth spamming.

[Arlette.9684]

@ArmageddonAsh.6430 said:

@Arlette.9684 said:Escape artists turns Decoy into a Mirror Image with stealth, I don't see that as a bad thing. Also improves clone generation on builds that don't run clone dodge. I dig it, not very happy with its place in Illusions tho, I feel like it would've been a better fit elsewhere.

/2cents

Do you think its a good trait though? Is it worth taking a a 40second cool down skill? The problem with this trait is, if you have loads of stealth (likely PU as well...) then its great. If you take 1 or 2 Stealth skills, then it gets weaker. So the LESS stealth you have. The worse it gets. The last thing this game needs is more promotion of stealth spamming.

I haven't ran PU since the very early days of PoF, it's just counter intuitive for the aggressive Mirage play style and more often than not you cancel your stealth earlier to keep applying pressure. When I was rolling with Escape Artist, I was running my shatter spec and would use it offensively to double wrack quickly, you can argue that you can do that with Mirror Image as well, and I'd agree. But having the option of using it both defensively and offensively is great. it's just 2 illusions on demand with a stealth and a stun break, those 2 illusions can just as easily be used for distortion immediately following stealth exit. Furthermore if you run torch, you get a little more bang for your buck out of The Prestige.

I hope that answers your question.