I cast Stoneskin in about 2~3 seconds using a gear swap into
Fast Cast & Stoneskin enhancing gear including the hands with -15% cast time, I use it often while fighting NMs, not hard, trust me.
As for Phalanx, I am only saying I think it should be a different spell because we already neutralize some enemys damage completely, and I don't see SE moving it up to make even more enemys much of the same. I would love it, more power to RDM and more reason to play it, but I don't see SE doing it, so I like to present other ideas as well, in this case a -DT spell. On low lvs, would mean little, 25% of 50 damage is only -12, under the amount you say to Phalanx, however on big NMs that hit for something like 400, you take out 100 damage, a great amount that helps alot. It would mean you lose nothing on gear, or you survive easier when stacked with gear (why I added it should be like Aegis, stacking outside of gear cap) and thus allowing another thing for RDM to have for itself.