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Sylas is good because he's hard for bosses to kill. Most of his damage basically comes off normals (due to phantom shards) so it's very easy to play safe if you're not very used to a boss. … (more)
Highest damage rotation is cyclone saw into illusion fist, if you dodge after your cyclone saw or charge illusion fist for ~1 second it will increase illusion fist's power by about 30%. Charging it is actually very slow in most cases and dodging before using it eats up a lot of stamina which is difficult for him to hold on to so I'd recommend just using the weaker, but much quicker and stamina efficient version of illusion fist. Using the uncharged version will only cost you about 1k (2k in the case of a crit) damage per rotation. Being sure that you land the enhanced timing on spirit rend is vital in doing damage since it makes a difference of 2 shards per rotation (which is potentially 4k+ damage as well as other advantages that I wont get into in this brief guide)
A big part of capping out sylas's damage potential is making sure you maintain the best version of his buff Phantom Force. There are 3 versions of phantom force Guard: When you're below 30% HP it will increase your defense and give you very slow health recovery until you pass the threshold Try your best to stay out of this stage Blade: Increases your damage Try to stay out of this stage Hilt: Increase your damage even more Gives you stamina recovery per second which you desperately need Maintain this stage as much as possible
Hilt is obtained by not taking damage for 30 seconds. Even if you do get hit as long as you were protected by phantom shards you will not return to Phantom Force: Blade
Skills: Sylas has a lot of SP moves. USE ALL OF THEM. THEY'RE ALL VERY GOOD
Spectral Sting: Throws 6 phantom daggers in a straight line for X(?) meters before they stop and begin to orbit around before hitting the target or disappearing. This skill only takes 250 sp which sylas gains very easily so you should be using it as much as possible. If it is off cool down use this skill right after cyclone saw instead of using illusion fist, then you may continue using illusion fist while this skill is cooling down.
Phantasmic slash: AoE attack that deals damage every second or so the target stands inside it, lasting about 10 seconds. It does more damage per consecutive hit, going up to 3x the damage of the initial hit (500/ 1000/ 1500). I'd recommend using this on sandbagged bosses like braha or kraken, or throwing it out while a teammate is using a lockdown skill on a boss. It slows non-major enemies while it's in effect but not bosses. It will slow down braha, however, as well as iset while she's in her first stage.
Extinction roar: High damage skill that has a 2 part execution. First you throw a marker out to hit the enemy, if it hits you will have 30 seconds to land up to 20 phantom shard hits on the target which will increase the moves damage (by how much I'm not certain). Use this skill AS SOON AS POSSIBLE as it does a good chunk of damage but it's cool down is very long, almost 3 minutes. So the sooner you use it the sooner it will come off cooldown. Unfortunately if you miss the marker it will eat your SP, however, it will not go on cool down until you activate the attack so you can try again once you have the SP.
Impulse zone: Least useful skill. Puts down an AoE that's good to stay in if you've fallen into Phantom Force: blade. It will restore your stamina while you're standing in it and increases your defense by a good amount. It doesn't serve much use if the boss moves away from it sadly.
Soul Drain: Very useful for keeping yourself alive. It serves the same purpose as a succubus fang, although with weaker effect, and has a 30 second duration with a 30 second cooldown for only 250 SP which is infinite health regeneration on paper. It will apply the buff on 3 other party members if they're in the area of effect when you activate it which is rather large and for each teammate it's applied to it will take 6 seconds off the duration of your own buff. I'd recommend moving away from your party when you activate this move if you need the health desperately since the buff isn't useful at all when applied to more than one other person given it has such a short duration for them.
Illusion shield: Applies a shield that restores a set amount of HP per second to yourself and 3 other randomly selected teammates. It will also reduce incoming damage depending on how much time is left on the buff. Does restore a good chunk but not nearly as useful as soul drain since it's cooldown is almost 3 minutes for a skill that lasts about 20 seconds. Also not reliable for your team unless you're in a party of 4 or less since it may not even apply to the person who needs healing.
That pretty much covers the basics, he has a lot of good tools that make him very viable and easily the most flexible character in the game. He doesn't have big numbers but he makes up for it with multiple hit moves and a lot of SP gain. (less)
