Phantom Spark underpowered?

[Vic Malicious]

Phantom Spark is okay I think, but Scholar's Staff, which I obtained some dozen hours earlier, tends to be far better for me. Overall nearly every enemy in late biome takes 1 shot with SS, and 2 shots with PS (although I'm not capped in ranged yet). PS seems to do maybe a tiny bit better when fighting bosses, but even that is nearly unnoticable. I hit 2.5k crits with both weapons, but my regular hits with PS are higher and speed is slower.
In comparison, Rune Song for melee just feels like the best weapon.
For the insane amount of grinding it took to get Phantom Spark over Rune Song, I was really hoping for something more powerful.
The feeling of floating around and one-shotting everything with SS is too OP to switch back to two-shot.

I run poison build with Ivy's Pants and Ring, Mold Necklace, and Scholars hat/chest.

Thoughts? Maybe I'm underutilizing PS somehow?

[Daitengu]

Pretty sure it's because you aren't taking into account the summoned phantoms that also deal dmg as well as heals.

It creates a bias against the phantom bow compared to the Scholar staff.

[DY5L3X14]

You're missing out APS, crit chance and crit damage and the ghost(s). You're also not optimally geared for a ranged build. Taking just the Spark's APS into account you're looking at a difference of around 80 dps vs the staff. The staff hits harder per shot, but that's about it.

As for Runesong, well, fully buffed and geared I can hit for around 2.5k with a Runesong, 3.2k with a Sickle or 5.3k (after a brief build up period and excluding ghost damage) with a Spark. Those are real in game numbers vs bosses using a fully maxed out character wearing appropriate armour etc. for each build and using every form of buff available from potions and foods. With that information I'll leave it for you decide which weapon is the strongest.

[Vic Malicious]

Originally posted by Ninja_tengu:

Pretty sure it's because you aren't taking into account the summoned phantoms that also deal dmg as well as heals.

It creates a bias against the phantom bow compared to the Scholar staff.

True, those do help out with bosses, giving PS a greater gap there.

[Vic Malicious]

Originally posted by DY5L3X14:

You're missing out APS, crit chance and crit damage and the ghost(s). You're also not optimally geared for a ranged build. Taking just the Spark's APS into account you're looking at a difference of around 80 dps vs the staff. The staff hits harder per shot, but that's about it.

As for Runesong, well, fully buffed and geared I can hit for around 2.5k with a Runesong, 3.2k with a Sickle or 5.3k (after a brief build up period and excluding ghost damage) with a Spark. Those are real in game numbers vs bosses using a fully maxed out character wearing appropriate armour etc. for each build and using every form of buff available from potions and foods. With that information I'll leave it for you decide which weapon is the strongest. :partygoblin:

I did factor in APS in 1.4 v 1, I didn't annotate it though, probably meant to. I'm not even sure what Sickle is, not something I have yet. I did some rudimentary number crunching and without ghosts, the +25ish% damage boost at slower fire rate on staff came out significantly higher than the +crit and +crit damage. As you said, not fully optimized I suppose, but I'm unsure what else to get gear-wise that's out. Most of my talents are still in the 30s and 40s so I will have a ton of extra damage when I get things like the poisons and the full +50% range for ranged at 100.

What gear do you consider "optimal" for ranged out of curiosity?

Edit - Found the sickle under melee lol, nevermind that.

[DY5L3X14]

Originally posted by Vic Malicious:

What gear do you consider "optimal" for ranged out of curiosity?

With Weakness detection talent you want more ranged attack speed to proc 100% crit chance as often as possible and to stack up Keeping momentum to a lesser extent.

With that in mind I use a full Omoroth's (yet to test with Octarine legs and a Hunter Cloak or Slime Armour, but quite similar numbers) with a Polished Gold Crystal and a Morpha's for rings, For neck either Mold, Polished Gold Crystal or a Polished Octarine Necklace, you could also use Omoroth's neck if you want the move speed/armour etc. Finally, a Blue Leather Tome OH.

The biggest difference between ranged and melee is that you need crit hit % with melee and speed with ranged - esp. using a Spark.

[Vic Malicious]

Originally posted by DY5L3X14:

Originally posted by Vic Malicious:

What gear do you consider "optimal" for ranged out of curiosity?

With Weakness detection talent you want more ranged attack speed to proc 100% crit chance as often as possible and to stack up Keeping momentum to a lesser extent.

With that in mind I use a full Omoroth's (yet to test with Octarine legs and a Hunter Cloak or Slime Armour, but quite similar numbers) with a Polished Gold Crystal and a Morpha's for rings, For neck either Mold, Polished Gold Crystal or a Polished Octarine Necklace, you could also use Omoroth's neck if you want the move speed/armour etc. Finally, a Blue Leather Tome OH.

The biggest difference between ranged and melee is that you need crit hit % with melee and speed with ranged - esp. using a Spark. :Caveling:

Very interesting, ty. I use regular crystal, don't have polished jewerly yet, and I'm still missing Omoroth's legs after like 10 kills, but I'll try that build sometime when I get off of work.

[DY5L3X14]

Originally posted by Vic Malicious:

Very interesting, ty. I use regular crystal, don't have polished jewerly yet, and I'm still missing Omoroth's legs after like 10 kills, but I'll try that build sometime when I get off of work.

I'm 100% certain there's other 'solutions' to the same 'problem', like slow speed and full crit hit/dam etc. so don't take my word as being 'this is the best', but it works great for me.