What is criteria for “good” here? I spent some time a few days ago searching for fire retal builds but as you said, some kind of hybrids.
In fact, I don’t remember any pure fire retal build. I made FoI paladin and thejabrixone made Hellborne Fervor also paladin (or shieldbreaker?). Both had to stack regular %fire and take things like Torch to complement retal dmg with regular dmg.
I theorycrafted this yesterday https://www.grimtools.com/calc/8NK9RkjV will probably suck harder than hard (even with double rare MI shield)
Right - built myself a acid retaliation build using some of the above knowledge of this thread’s build: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/d2joeBlV
Currently at level 94 and just need to patch the aether and chaos resistances with augments. Would like more conversion to acid though, but can’t do much since need serrated shell for the shield bash which helps kill enemies that aren’t effected by retaliation. Otherwise points will go into Black Death and resistance reduction.
Also binding Eye of the Guardian to Vire’s Might works really, really well. In the Cruicible and SR it’s going to be nuts as this build will 10+ eyes orbiting around it, well, as long as I remember to kit the key for it, but it gives mad sustain and mob clearance. Since it’s turned into a piano build ;-;
And yes, Resilience has a purpose in being so invested in - as when it triggers it fixes the relatively low DA I can get with this build + at the current level it gives 12% physical resistance. And makes BoD more effective too.
As for gearing:
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Not entirely happy with the armour amount of only ~3500, but otherwise I’d have to GDStash some stonebearer boots to fix that, however I’d like to keep the amount of MI’s etc to 2.
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Helm’s somewhat BiS as far as I can tell, mainly for the conversion from elemental to acid damage, resistances and the -10% acid resistance mod to Bloody Pox + with the +1 to all Oathkeeper skills just make things easier skill points wise.
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Medal wise the flat acid retal Mythical Mark of the Forbidden gives is pretty useful, since we can only covert 20% of physical retal to acid retal + the boost in resistance cap makes it a bit more tanky. Mythical Markovian’s Stratagem though could be better, but the resistances it provides aren’t as useful.
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Amulet wise the Mythical Pestilence of Dreeg is definitely BiS
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Foot and Hand gear is mostly good, not much in the options though and Myth. Handguards of Perdition’s +2 to Path of the Three make it’s almost BiS due to boosting that skill up, giving more cooldown reduction + fire to acid conversion. As for the Vilescorn boots their aether and chaos resistance are pretty damn useful and their only boots that give a boost to total % retal damage + acid retaliation.
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As for the belt - oh for some actual resistances on it, fortunately though it boosts poison resistance to stupidly high levels, which with other stuff means reflective enemies are usually a non-issue. While the boost it gives to flat acid retaliation + total % retaliation damage make it hard to pass up for Murmur’s Kiss. As the boost it gives to Aspect of the Guardian just doesn’t make up for the loss of +% retaliation damage.
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Devotion wise it’s okay, there’s enough acid resistance reduction to do the job and Shield Maiden allows Stone Form to occur more often despite the lack of skills that boost shield block % Probably swap the optional Manticore foot node though for the one in Affliction, though could also replace Affliction for Targo the Builder for obvious reasons. But the lack of physical to acid conversion Targo a bit less useful as we need flat acid retaliation. As for Ghoul - it makes it easier to survive since we have 3 different heavy hitters we can cycle around + the physical retaliation resistance it gives :3
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Retaliation wise the number’s nearing 300,000 acid retaliation, which is niiiiiiiice, but testing remains to be seen if it makes this build capable to take on Celestial’s like AlkamosHater Sentinel can. Since I’m grinding this build from an old level 50 all the way to 100 the old fashion way.
So yeah, any suggestions much appreciated, since due to sleep debt (hello sleep apnea, nightsweats + Covid-19 stress) + the Covid-19 pandemic has made my depression worse* so guess who’s brain is a bit crap at the moment? So I’ve probably missed something to make my build better.
And cheers to AlkamosHater for posting this build, which has helped me make my own acid retaliation build!
*Anti-depressant’s mean I’m not getting the “fun” yet, not unless I skim too much sleep, but my skin picking habit’s effectively index to the depression and has kicked up annoyingly higher levels. So I would love it if I could go a day without oozing blood somewhere and give my scars time to fluffing heal.
While I’m not sure this forum is the best place to discuss mental health, I’m almost certain that berating others over their depression is absolutely the wrong response, so be kind to each other please.
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I understand this build kills faster than any other builds out there, but is it viable for hardcore for someone with no gear waiting in the bank? How is it compared to say the Yuhu acid retal warlord for HC? ; [1.1.5.1] YUHU the acid retal warlord - (HC, SR 80 with full aggro, ~7:45 Naked Cr with extra spawns, 3 min Ravager of the mind kill)
Trying to find THE absolutly best combination for HC survivability, and still do everything/most everything like superbosses etc.
Bollocks, knew I should have gone to bed earlier, thanks though for cleaning it up and being your awesome self.
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Why do you believe this will be nerfed?
EDIT: Another question. Yes, I’m a newbie when it comes to retal builds. Do you have any form of attack damage converted to hp? I feel like with maxed out Counter Strike and Brutal Shield Slam (or whatever else attacks I’m missing) you would be getting a shit-ton more survivability, right?
Sorry for late answer guys, I was offline few days.
@Malanthor this build is tankier but may be riskier either because you basically speed up your game using fevered rage, you can play without on HC. Grava’thul is most dangerous because he has basically no nullify animation when fevered, always bait his nullify before using FR, then kill him fastest as possible or do not cast is second time before he nullify again.
@saucey it will be nerfed because it can go sub5 in crucible being unkillable same time, it can either kill celestials under 1 minute and go very deep in SR 
@The_Mess If you want high defense oriented devotion route for acid retal go for something like it: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/wV1LPWw2. Only devotions, it’s totally another build. If you make some more tests then post results
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@AlkamosHater Running with this at the moment: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/w26LwK0Z 320K acid retaliation for the win! But yeah, stacking DA with this build has proven difficult due to needing to pick up acid RR, though Eye of the Guardian does provide very, very solid sustain in my limited testing, and can be bound to BP or VM to give you a ring of Eyes :3
But thanks for that devotion map, since I missed that Empyrion would fix most of my build’s resistance issues and allow for more retaliation/DA/Health to be stacked. Although it wouldn’t hurt to have some more sources of conversion to acid damage or an acid retaliation devotion/component.
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I forgot Sentinel has no source of flat rr for acid, maybe this devotion route: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/O2GYGqqZ
1,2k armor more and additional absorbotion + fire retaliation which you convert into acid. Survivality is very important if you play with fevered rage. Build in OP way before posting I was testing on Sentinel first but it failed because of worse survivality compared to Witchblade. Would have to go so much into defense to make it semi-viable and in final effect it still would be slower because giving up offensive side so much.
Guardian’s gaze is not very worth, you don’t have high weapon damage and acid damage - retaliation is another source.
I’ve either changed helmet for Callagadra, because of %chance to retaliation damage and +1 all skills. For belt maybe Murmur Kiss will be better, it has high conversion fire->acid so will convert a lot of your fire damage. I don’t know if your medal is worth, won’t it make enemies miss attacks more often so they will not hit you and you lose damage? I am not sure about this mechanic.
You can use 2x Ravager’s eye too, % poison damage do not improve your retaliation because it’s another source. If you want additional 15% reduced resistances try 1x Essence of Cthon
Edit: You don’t need overcap on pierce resistances if you don’t go for Callagadra. Bleeding overcaping is not very worth imo too. You can try to make some changes around components and auguments to get some higher aether resistances (+50%) and chaos (+30% vs Benjahr/Grava’thul). Some spellscorched plating on boots or gloves is worth imo too, depends of your rolls ingame.
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Thanks. 
Oooh, I forgot Scales now gives RR, could drop Manticore then and get some other stuff, especially if I stick Essence of Ch’thon on the mace. Though to no physical to acid conversion on either the mace or the shield I really do need a source of conversion via the component on the mace. Otherwise that a pretty damn good devotion map. Even if it leaves me without a ring of doom from Guardian’s Gaze.
With resistances I generally try to get some overcap on all of them, especially pierce due to my ages ago fun with Fabius, which without serious pierce overcap was a very, very bad idea.
Anyhow - messed around with the build you suggested: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/bVADWxQ2 Gives significantly more acid retal with a few tweaks, and might be worth making my final build as. Though the amulet component is a firm “maybe”…
Of course though following the advise you provided I did a thing :3 https://www.grimtools.com/calc/DV9LXon2 More DA, more health, more armour, with a small bump in total retal to give an average acid retal value of 347,164 with a max of ~390k.
Gear wise - the current headpiece works well due to the +1 to Oathkeeper, but primarily because of conversion and the 10% resistance debuff to BP. While Mythical Mark of the Forbidden works well due to resistances and +3 energy regen, which this build definitely needs since I’ve been sucking down energy pots when ever I set off all the skills. Anyhow, testing time and also time to kick Ravager’s arse once Scales have leveled up fully.
Of course the core issue with acid based retal Sentinels is without better acid to physical retal you’re limited to certain gear and a need for more RR in order to be effective and so can’t take a better devotion map that yeilds more sweet, sweet retal damage. Worse with Witchblade though because you only have one sources of RR for acid then and absolutely need to pick up more RR sources to be effective and you’re still hampered by lack of conversion to acid…
i see that CS was converted to acid dmg but this build is phys retaliation build right?
so i wonder how can CS dmg remain that high?
same +%retaliation damage as physical and there is acid RR from Curse of Frailty
What potions are needed for Cally? - She’s completely whipping the floor with me at the moment, almost killed her 3 times, but she’s proving very tanky to acid retal >_< And I don’t recognise the pots in the video on killing her.
Did get Ravager though with out any potions, just a case of breaking off to let skills cooldown, even using Fevered Rage.
I was not speedrunning celestials with acid but from my experience when you use fevered rage Ravager is harder than Callagadra. Cally herself hit less damage, her tornadoes are not “buffed” with fevered rage. You probably need more pierce overcap. I am horrible at math but 40-50 should be enough. You can try changing auguments only versus her or take Mythical Golemborn boots, they increases your armor too. As you noticed managing cooldowns is very important, it’s not worth to use health potion when your ghoul or menhrir will is up as example.
About pharma:
- Short duration: Aether cluster, Courageous Tincture, Cursed Tinkture, Blade-ward Tinkture
- Long duration: Elixir of the ancients, Elixir of the void, Royal jelly beam/essence/extract/ointment/salve, Elixir of the dranghoul, Ugdenjuice, Ugdensalve, Vilescar oinment.
This is most helpful set. If you have fast timing you can use potions like Hungerer Oil, Stoneheart oil, Aetherward oil on second bar but it will not increase kill time.
If you killed Ravager I am sure you can kill Callagadra too. With Sentinel it’s harder than with Witchblade for sure, you need some RNG. My last speedruns with Sentinel were VERY inconsistent, with Witchblade I was not failing.
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Thanks! I forgot about overcapping pierce completely. Also I found using the shield boosting pot from Devil’s Crossing actually helped somewhat.
Main issue for me was being not awake enough to manage all the skills uses as effectively as I could. Since dashing in and activating 5-9 skills and fighting until Ghoul etc’s on cooldown then dashing out was working pretty well. Was even able to facetank her briefly after 50% health, but got too cocky and died.
Oh and I managed Ravager without any resistance etc pots He was pretty easy once I figured out to run away to let skills cooldown. Sadly still took about a 1 minute.
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btw - I think I now know how to deal with Valdaran with Fevered Rage. Hit him with BP and facetank with abilities and procs right until he starts throwing lightening spheres constantly. When he does that, kite away and let him fling you around with his teleport then charge back in, hit OG etc and facetank him until he’s dead.
Done it 3 times I think now successfully with my Sentinel build.
Also ran into Kupa and he melted away nicely, while Salazaar actually died pretty quickly despite them being high acid resistant :3 Of course though I accidentally ended that run and didn’t get to the end of The Ancient Grove dungeon to see how quickly Gargabol died to me.
In 75sr or lower he is not much issue, in sr100+ he can just melt me in second. It’s possible to kill him with FR if you go with all buffs up, fight for 2-3 seconds, go away and wait for all cooldowns or just cheese with aether crystals but it is going to be slower in final effect than just respec one point in town after you die.
Edit: Or just bind Assasin’s mark to Eldritch shard and no use Bloody pox at all.