So, I wanted something with acid/poison EoR and Dervish kinda has it in the name but… I can’t seem to be able to build something remotely durable without a shield. Oathkeeper just doesn’t seem to have good damage reduction options without one. I tried a 2h Shieldbreaker EoR once, it died very fast and painfully (skill issue, sure, but that’s why this question). Nightblade is similarly offensive-oriented. So I end up with a glass cannon. In Melee… Occultist on the other hand has Aspect of Guardian and Possession that do a lot for raw damage reduction. If I go shield, I lose kraken-powered Dreegalore (or Dunefiend as soon as that stupid final piece drops…) So is Sentinel just plain better for acid EoR or am I actually missing something critical for no shield survivability? I don’t have build links, I’m just theory crafting at this point.
So, all I can throw defense-wise on shieldless Dervish:
Veil of shadow
Phantasmal Armor
Pneumatic Burst + Shadow Dance
Phantasmal Armor
Dual Blades for armor?
Blade Barrier
Resilience
Ascension
Haven???
Soulfire
Components for armor absorption and DA
Augments for DA (and armor if slots left)
Prismatic Diamond
Turtle Shell forever? I don’t have good strategy for constellations here maybe that’s what I’m missing
First, your main source of tankiness as a spin-to-win Taken is ADCtH from EoR. But if you got skill disruption with full duration right inside a crowd=
So, you need this: link. Or Possession. Also take care of other CC resists as well.
Second, more attack speed = more attacks = more leech. So, “of Alacrity” suffix is your best friend till 200% attack speed.
I usually feel I have enough life leech, it’s more like I die to stray crits or just strong physical attacks. DA helps with first but not the second. I guess if you overclock ADCtH so that every hit heals you completely than you only need to not get one-shot. Is that the strategy basically?
The strategy is a managed and layered defense. Know an enemy and how to use your skills. As an example, I revived an old HC cold EoR dervish: Died, as always, because of the cats on a keyboard. That’s why I stopped playing on HC.
Its max performance was a comfortable SR50-51 (20-21 now) run. But what if we throw it in SR30-31? I also didn’t use the Ascension because it gives an extra layer of defense vs Benn’Jahr, Zantarin etc
It can be, but there are also what is called ‘circuit breakers’ to help with occasional bursts of damage. For example turtle and ghoul devo procs will help you stay alive if you get a big hit. There are of course other effects that you can use which kick in at low health, or more general healing effects such as chariot or dryad devo procs.
The trick is to find a good combination of these (not always easy) with ADCtH, DA, armor and phys res.
I want to run something like this with Gravetouch shield / Chillheart as it does’t rely on 2h artifact, I’m way less concerned for it’s safety in that case.
why tho, what is it you think a shield brings to the table?
Without a lot of shield focus, overguard+absolution+shield maiden etc etc, to massively bump up block chance, block recovery and amount blocked, shields don’t add much defence, and serve mostly as stat sticks. Then without phys res or such it’s not even as much a defensive stat stick on top.
Shields don’t even work on most/a lot of attack types to begin with, but on top of that the ones they do work on are rng layered with a cooldown, so you don’t even have a safety that it’s then applying to the attacks you actually want it on.
There are so many weapon attackers and specially casters demonstrating reliable safety without a shield, - while then not mandating you make extra sacrifices just to get shieldmaiden/obelisk/block numbers decently up on left side devos/extra items.
