Author — NeophronPK, Masterwork player

Basics

Non-obvious information about Phantom Summoner's shadows and their usage on MasterWork. Just useful facts, no flood.

All the shadows are universal and have equal Accuracy, Evasion, Critical and Atk.Speed, but have a notable difference in HP, P.Atk, P.Def, M.Def and Speed. Also, each shadow has unique features, which set the main vector of usage of the servant.

Note: servants stats, shown below, presented with all standard buffs, rhythms and self buffs Spirit Sharing Lv. 1 and Final Servitor Lv. 1 , that are an example of the average buff in reality of MasterWork, excluding Servitor Share Lv. 1 , since the stats, transferred from the master, depends on his equipment.

Shadow

Minuses:

• Speed of that shadow the lowest among all, even lower than the shadow magician Silhouette, which means she is extremely ineffective in PVP
• Highest consumption of Beast Soulshot NG among all shadows

Pluses:

• Highest damage. P.Atk equal to Soulless, and above all other shadows
• Exceptional constitution. Shadow has a built-in property Vampiric Attack Lv. 1 with 12% power, that stacks with Vampiric Rage Lv. 4 9% power

Note:

Use Shadow as solo-PVE sevitor in agressive location with strong monsters, where any other shadow can't survive and requires constant healing. Try not to use this shadow, unless there are reasons for this.

Soulless

Minuses:

• Weak constitution. Lowest HP among all other shadows
• This shadow applies debuff to his master Contract Payment Lv. 1 , that slowly consumes MP as a payment for his service
• Soulless will try to apply Contract Payment Lv. 1 every 8 sec

If your character is out of shadow's cast range, Soulless will ignore any commands and move to master to cast Contract Payment Lv. 1 , even during PVP.

MP can't be called significant (3-5.4 MP), rather Contract Payment Lv. 1 simply neutralizes your natural MP regen. In a situation where you are forced to spend MP this can be a negative factor. However, the debuff can be removed by Smart Cubic.

Pluses:

• High physical damage. P.Atk. equal to Shadow, and higher than any other summon
• High magical damage
• Speed of this servitor is the highest

Note:

Use Soulless as solo-PVE servitor only if it doesn't lack of HP and you don't have to use your MP for something else.

Soulless has same P.Atk as Shadow, but uses less Beast Soulshot NG and moves faster from one monster to another.

Use Soulless as PVP servitor, if you are not playing the role of semi-support.

Silhouette

Minuses:

• Low mobility. Almost lowest Speed among other servitors, below only Shadow. That makes this servitor less effective in most, but not at all PVP-scenarios
• Low damage. Practically lowest P.Atk. among other shadows, below only Nightshade. This makes this servitor absolutely ineffective in PVE

Pluses:

• Active skill Steal Blood Lv. 1

Note:

Among all shadows only Silhouette have attacking nuke, which, considering high M.Atk, causes significant damage to the enemy and is a good way to effectively counter mobile and «kiting» characters (Soul Breaker, Arbalester, Hawkeye etc.). Everytime they come closer to hit, and move back later, double hit them by yourself and Silhouette

Nightshade

Minuses:

• Lowest damage. P.Atk. is lower, then any other shadows have

Pluses:

• High durability. Highest HP, P.Def. and M.Def.
• Active skill Shade Sacrifice Lv. 1 . Healing target, at the cost of servitors HP. Works similar to Sacrifice Lv. 1
• Active skill Curse of Shade Lv. 1 . Combo debuff, simultaneously lowers P.Def. and M.Def. by -10%, and provokes to attack. Works similar to Aggression Lv. 1
• Active skill Mass Curse of Shade Lv. 1 . Same as above, but with AOE effect in a small area. Works similar to Aura of Hate Lv. 1

Note:

• Probably the best PVP servant against any archers
• Combining Shade Sacrifice Lv. 1 and Curse of Shade Lv. 1 makes Phantom Summoner a semi-support, capable of causing confusion of enemies and supporting allies with healing
• Thanks to its durability, Nightshade is able to collect "trains" of monsters and hold their attention by using Mass Curse of Shade Lv. 1 . Phantom Summoner may combine roles of tank, disabler and healer, and sometimes, by smart usage of Corpse Burst Lv. 1 - AOE mage
• Don't forget to use Servitor Share Lv. 1 , that adds 25-35% of your P.Def. to servitor
• Don't forget to remove Berserker Spirit Lv. 1 from your servitor, to increase P.Def.
• Also, by removing Berserker Spirit Lv. 1 from your character, you will increase P.Def. transferred to servitor by Servitor Share Lv. 1

Spectral Lord

Pluses:

• Ultimate servant-flagship. Best in total stats
• Active skill Dark Curse Lv. 1 . AOE(!) combo-debuff, combining effects of Wind Shackle Lv. 1 and Poisonous Cloud Lv. 1 . Reduces Atk.Speed of target by 23%
• Active skill Dicing Death Lv. 1 . Blow-type ability, equal to Deadly Blow Lv. 1
• Active skill Corpse Kaboom Lv. 1 . Equal to Corpse Burst Lv. 1

Notes:

This servant did not participate in comparisons with other shadows, because he is a servant of Spectral Master, not the Phantom Summoner, and there will be no intrigue in that.

Actually, Spectral Lord is the quintessence of the advantages of all shadows and is devoid of any weaknesses. He's almost as fast as Soulless and almost as durable as Nightshade, but Spectral Lord in a significant gap from all the shadows P.Atk., making it an undeniable favorite for any solo-PVE content and many solo-PVP scenarios.

Author — NeophronPK, Masterwork player