Probably my brain not braining as usual!
I seem to remember that someone preferred ranged weapons for increased max ms from the Hydra devotion, and because you can combine 1h ranged with shield, maybe thatās it.
So I have this idea you see. A Oathkeeper/Soldier build that uses both the Anvil devotion (and whatever else, plus the healing trinity of Behemoth, Havestmanās Scythe, and Tree of Life), and the Talos full set. Im thinking counter strike and the EGās of course, and all the phys retal and phys retal devotions i can squeeze in. Any Ideas for further theory crafting on it?
Of course, gonna try to toss in Shield Maiden and Obelisk of Menhir, no brainers there.
Another thing that interests me is, and i dont really know how to phrase it, is āself spreading damageā kinda like pox or something similar, that you could have as a reactive ability, like chance to proc on being hit, I believe I have seen it on a Helmet, but dunno =)
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Vire the Stone Matron is one of my favourite devotions, and it happens to be very good for a retaliation build. It is possible to get Vire, Obelisk and Tree of Life (see my classless passivist build), but I havenāt tried fitting in Behemoth and Scythe as well. Also, because it was classless, I avoided some procs because I did not have much to bind them to.
I havenāt played this for a bit, but I havenāt given up! Just didnāt have that much time and wasnāt in the mood. Iāll be updating my story in a bit.
Yeah, that was me.
It wasnāt because ranged weapons scaled better, it was because of the QoL improvements: Increased movement speed and the ability to destroy containers, barriers and spoil orbs at a distance, both of which made traversal faster (and in a passive game, traversal is pretty much all you do). Also because the Hydra devotion adds a lot of damage, so all other things being equal, ranged is better than most other weapon typesā¦ assuming that the weapon itself is just as good of course.
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Swirly RGB gaming? GD aesthetics are too good 
Iām a half-stivist up until I get Voracious Reach. Speedy guardians 
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Hey passivist fans.
I have a build that might interest you.
After about 4-5 passive and/or passive-adjacent builds, I think this is my most comfortable one so far. Itās based on my favorite passive skill: Blade spirit, and uses the Chillwhisper set to supercharge them, but also gets support from wind devils and a nemesis relic for 8 pets total 
While not strictly a passive build (It does have some active stuff) you can get about as close to passive as it gets without being truly passive if you forego the movement skills. The only thing left is keeping Pneumatic burst upā¦ and itās on a 2.5 minutes timing, thanks to Ilgorās eternal vigil medal.
For a passive-ish experience, see the build as iām playing it: (Using PB, Amatokās breath and Shadow strike mostly for movement, and 1 point in blade barrier as a panic button)
For a near-passive version, move the 4 points from the SS line blade barrier to dual blade
PB is such a potent boost to the build that I donāt thing going full passive with this build would be very good.
But hey, activating a skill every 2 minutes or so is darn close, so I figure you guys would enjoy 
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Ill have to give it a look =)
Hey has anyone tried a passivist build with the Reign of Terror mod? Ive been playing alot of that lately and I seem to be reliving all of this post again with the D2 classes lol =)
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I have not played Reign of terror, but I have played a LOT of diablo II
Your only options would be:
Pet druid
Pet necromancer
Thorns or holy shock/fire/freeze aura
Valkyrie amazone
Shadow master Assassin
Thunderstorm Sorceress
Personally, I think the sorceress has more upsides in end-game with a dream runeword setup, but you will have to start no-passive for sure.
I donāt know how Reign or terror has balanced the skills thoughā¦