I just started to play with my new Dark Wizard summons and, thinking about becoming a Phantom Summoner, I cannot stop myself to ask what is the usefulness of a silhouette. The 90% exp penalty simply stink. While the shadow is pretty useful (a nice thank that highly repay from the 30% exp penalty when soloing) what is the silhouette role in the gameplay mechanics? Is her magical attack a good enough justification for the hefty costs?
Silhouette is supposed to be the "pvp" summon. Cheap to summon while the 90% XP hit is there to stop you from grinding with it instead of the more expensive summons.
Most importantly, you're like a baby kitten without a pet, the silhouette allows you to always be "armed" at very little cost to you. After the new patch a silhouette last 4 hrs of noncombat time or 1hr of combat all fo teh price of a single D crystal.