Hello everyone,
Phantasmal Blades is a fun and very powerfull skill. With the addition of defence, it can make a very well balanced build.
This post is focused on clearing crucible 170, but the build can of course clear crucible 150.
With a more offensive setup, you can expect under 25mn for a 100-150 clear with 2 buffs.
Crucible 150-170:
With both setups you can expect a 12-15mn clear time with 2 buffs.
You will need to use Energy potion, but remember that casters and AoE ground spells are your friends to replenish your energy pool.
Both build variations are quite tanky, and you don’t need to run often.
I) Without shield:
This setup is a bit faster, but more risky too: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/lV7wrOvV
Depending on your item rolls, you might need to put some points in spirit.
Since I saw many people say you need either a soldier with shield, a caster with perma-invulnerability, or a DoT build to clear 170, I was pretty happy this one works 
II) With shield:
With this setup, you are very tanky, and should be able to facetank most of the time, while dealing good damage:
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/vNQRb4n2
It is quite specific since you don’t take the HP buff in the crucible, but the energy one. Without it, you won’t be able to sustain the enormous cost of constant PB spamming.
If you don’t want to craft:
- the belt can be replaced with either a Cord of Deception or an Oldenar Stabilizer
- the boots can be replaced with Greaves of Ill Omen or Footpad of the Grey Magi
- the Spellblade can be replaced with a Guardian of Death Gate, though the debuff last 3s instead of 5s.
If you want to craft, do it at the Black Legion smith for vitality or aether resistance
Special notes:
About the the build:
I’m quite new to the game, and not a Crucible pro. I never tried the crucible with any other character.
I would appreciate any input from a more experienced player about his clear time with the build, and how safe he feels there 
Bosses order:
Since Kupacabra has a huge amount of vitality resistance, you should not kill him first every time.
Try to take down melee purple bosses first if there are. Aleksander can be a primary target too, since he’ll take much more damage.
Groble Death Effigy:
This is clearly BiS in our case, but only with the Oracle suffix. You should aim for a high energy cost reduction (up to -13%) and good energy regeneration.
If you don’t want to farm it, an Orb of the Black Flame can be a good substitute, though you’ll spend energy a bit faster and deal around 10% less damage.
Citadel Relic:
This is a strong defensive relic, with a potentially very good completion bonus.
The best one would be DA (up to 4%), but Stun Resistance or 6% to every stats can be good too.
No Manticore:
Since I just hate this devotion, and there are no other way to get the flat 5s Reduced Resistance for vitality, I decided to take another route.
I’m using a macro to switch weapons, cast Bone Harvest with an item with Reduced Resistance, and switch weapons back.
You can use either a crafted Plaguebearer Master SpellBlade, or Guardian of Death Gate. The last one is easier to get, but the debuff only last for 3s.
If you don’t want to use a macro, you’ll need to get the Manticore. You could use this devotion setup for instance: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/eZPmbPKN
However, you will lose around 200DA.
There is a good free maccro tool named “autohotkey”. This is the script I’m using:
"::
BlockInput, On
SendInput {z}
Sleep 20
Loop, 50
{
PixelSearch, Px, Py, 1552, 1406, 1552, 1406, 0A0A09, 20, Fast
if ErrorLevel
{
Sleep, 10
}
else
{
SendInput {3}
Sleep 20
SendInput {z}
Sleep 20
break
}
}
BlockInput, Off
Return
Please note that my screen is a 2560x1440, the z key is used to switch weapons, and I have a french keyboard where " is the 3 key, so you might have to change it a bit for you. Phantasmal Blades are bound to the right click, and you must leave empty the right mouse button on the secondary skillbar (the one showing when you switch weapons).
Special thanks to Janodal for his original build, to Chton for his many variants that helped me a lot, to ABCBarbecue for posting his builds, and to everyone who helped me on my previous post, specially Benx for pointing the usefulness of Foul Eruption.
My apologize if my english is not so good