Firstly i want say i wouldn’t have ever made a retaliation build if not for Squib’s build. Experimenting with his warder made me arrive at some conclusions that laid the foundations for this build many months ago. So thank you Squib for the great build you gave us.
Now to the build,
What this build offers-
1. Fast Kill Speed-
We know retaliation is effective against melee builds and usually dead slow vs the non-melee guys. But this build doesn’t suffer from this limitation. You can kill them quickly.
2. Not a lazy man’s build-
You can die when facing hard hitting bosses, mind you. I mean i increased the kill speed where do you think i took the points from? Bingo! Survivability is lower compared to conventional retaliation builds. So keep your eyes on your health bar. Don’t spam Mirror when you panic learn to move a little. Mirror isn’t your life saver.
Build Concept-
1. High OA and DA-
DA is high, since i took points away from survivability i decided to put points into DA to make sure i don’t get shotgunned. Now one might wonder the entire point of retaliation is to get hit but for Crucible purposes high DA saves your ass.
OA doesn’t effect retaliation damage, but it does effect the conventional damage you deal and trust me you deal a lot of non-retaliation damage.
2. Counter-hit-
Now this is the main place where this build shines.
A counter-hit skill is any skill that procs when you get hit and deals conventional damage.
Since our conventional damage modifiers are lower we need powerful procs that work well with lower modifiers.
The relic Avenger and Soldier’s skill Counter-Strike are our Counter-hit skills.
Targo’s Hammer is a strong counter-hit skill with high %weapon damage. So strong we prefer it over Wolverine (a retaliation constellation).
Now again our high DA reduces this feature’s potential but i really like a high DA, i’m not a fan of getting shotgunned 
3. Resistance Reduction-
You deal conventional damage through your Counter-Hits and Cadence but since your modifiers are weaker you need a way for them to really hurt your enemy so RR is the way to go.
4. Reflection-
Our total reflection is 377% with all the buffs up. It helps somewhat against the summoners and casters who refuses to do melee damage.
6. Increasing kill speed even more-
Pretty straightforward thing, you just need to take points out of DA and your kill speed will increase phenomenally. Why don’t i do it? Cause occasionally this Arcane Battletank serves to help my friends in the Crucible
Playstyle-
1. Almost full faceroll
You can faceroll most stuff (with this setup) and go through Challenger Crucible (in a more defensive setup mind you) without buffs or Banners. Gladiator is a different ball game, you’ll need buffs but can do it w/o banners.
2. How to reflect-
Shield Wall is attached to Blitz and has a 85% chance to proc. You use it with Mirror to get the max out of reflection. Reflection important versus enemies like Valdaran and Assholes of Valbury
3. Time your heals-
Don’t spam Tonic and Overguard when health drops be patient and move a little first then act. Tonic is very useful so don’t waste it, last thing you want is it to be on CD when you need it.
4. Nullification-
This isn’t a spell just used to debuff your enemies it also reduces their elemental damage. So it’s basically a War Cry for Elemental Damage. This is better than War Cry as Nullification debuffs the queen’s aura. War Cry isn’t needed here cause the non-Elemental enemies deal some form of physical damage which in-turn kills them
This is the Level 100 Grimtools link. Please refer to this from now on, the rest of the guide will be updated at some later point.
1. Battlemage - https://www.grimtools.com/calc/YNnapAwZ
2. Commando - https://www.grimtools.com/calc/YZe1pXXZ
-I can’t compare the two setups. Personally I like both of them.
-Unlike most retaliation builds, you are not just supposed to stand there but rather need to attack your enemy as well with Oleron’s Might bound to LMB.
-Ulzuin’s Helm is usable on the Battlemage as well
-The Commando devotion uses Ulo instead of Anvil to get Cleansing Waters. Of course it’s not needed and one can go for ANvil. The battlemage already has nullification so it can use Anvil.
-Retaliation has gotten some more gearing options so it’d be easy to gear both builds now
-I won’t recommend leveling as Retaliation characters as it’s slow so just get to 75 as quickly as possible and spec into Retaliation playstyle. Leveling tips in this guide.
Credits to Superfluff, as his AoM build helped me with a lot of things.
Keybinding-
LMB- Blitz (w/ Cleansing Waters)
RMB- Oleron’s Might (w/ Shield Wall)
Keyboard 1- Final Stop
Keyboard 2- Overguard
Keyboard 3- Mirror of Ereoctes
Keyboard 4- Nullification
GrimTools-
http://www.grimtools.com/calc/0V0qBoZm
One could go for Stone Form by completing Obelisk of Menhir but i found the overall skill to be pretty underwhelming. Healing rain was accessible and had a much more reliable proc so i went for that. If one decides to go for stone form i’d recommend spending the remaining points into more OA. I explained above why wolverine isn’t needed here.
Crucible Setup-
Shield needs to be switched to Siegebreaker - http://www.grimtools.com/calc/O2GmLLZd
Leveling Tips-
- Pick Soldier and start off with Cadence using a two handed weapon for quick leveling. Max out Military Conditioning first and put one point into Menhir’s Will
- When you start having issues with spirit requirements invest into Arcanist and get the passive Inner Focus
- Till Level 50 you’ll have to play as a regular Melee Battlemage. After that you can get a Shield and start focusing on Retaliation. Early levels might be struggling but later on it gets smoother to the point you can faceroll stuff
Screenshots-
Items-
-Greens-
You might see a lot of Green gear, don’t worry the point is to cap resistances. So use whatever you get.
-Core gear-
The Spellblade is the core item since it gives you high RR capabilities and helps you deal shit tons of damage
Bosses-
Fast killing speed, need to move a little and engage your enemies but overall you can kill pretty much everyone.
Valbury Boss
-You need to alter setup for them by using Screams of Aether Rings and two Purified Salt in your Weapon/Shield.
-You need to kill them in the following order:
- Van Aldritch
- Garl
- The third guy (what’s his name again?)
The order is extremely important as the last person to survive gets some buffs through the death of the other two.
-To kill them you need to pick one of them and keep targeting that specific one. No matter what happens not switch targets. When their barrier activates don’t switch the targets. Keep hitting your target. You’ll notice you can actually damage them through the barrier. You’ll need to keep engaging your target and after 2 or 3 barriers your target will be dead.
Now you have to repeat this for the other two.
-The method might be tedious but since you faceroll most content it’s fair imo.
In Conclusion-
I would like to thank TomoDak for trading the spellblade with me that completed this build. I was stuck with Agony before this.
This is a pretty fun build and i hope this improves people’s opinion about retaliation and battlemage.
