Acid retal

[Carl!!!!]

Looking to do an acid retaliation sword and shield build and have narrowed it down to two options; Warlord and Dervish, but can't decide which to use.

Warlord has more retal and shield bonuses/natural tankiness

Dervish has more RR, a heal and blade barrier for oh ♥♥♥♥ moments, plus blade spirit for more devotion procs.

Any other aspect I should consider?

[gNuff!~©~gNom3™]

i would probably kinda reconsider dervish, nightblade doesn't really offer much for retal itself, and that's what you want in a retal build
think more in the line of Warlord, Sentinel, or Witchblade if you are aiming for acid
Sentinel will have more RR (as you note with dervish) while adding heal and bonus retal dmg and buff etc. from Occultist
Warlord and Witchblade is plenty stronk tho.i might even say more than tanky to make up for lack of extra RR.
Oathkeeper can add some offensive stuff into the mix for more dmg output along with retal (retaliation added to attack for Righjteous Fervor and Aegis of Menhir), Soldier ofc offers some retal and buffs/tankyness from Counter Strike and other passives etc, which would combine well with eachother or Occ bonuses mentioned above

(PS not saying Dervish retal maybe couldn't work, just that it's not as used as ex Occultist/Solider/Oathkeeper combo)

[Carl!!!!]

Originally posted by gNuff!~©~gNom3™:

i would probably kinda reconsider dervish, nightblade doesn't really offer much for retal itself, and that's what you want in a retal build
think more in the line of Warlord, Sentinel, or Witchblade if you are aiming for acid
Sentinel will have more RR (as you note with dervish) while adding heal and bonus retal dmg and buff etc. from Occultist
Warlord and Witchblade is plenty stronk tho.i might even say more than tanky to make up for lack of extra RR.
Oathkeeper can add some offensive stuff into the mix for more dmg output along with retal (retaliation added to attack for Righjteous Fervor and Aegis of Menhir), Soldier ofc offers some retal and buffs/tankyness from Counter Strike and other passives etc, which would combine well with eachother or Occ bonuses mentioned above

(PS not saying Dervish retal maybe couldn't work, just that it's not as used as ex Occultist/Solider/Oathkeeper combo)

I thought about sentinel, but both nightblade and occultist offer the same retaliation bonuses and resistance reduction. However, occultist requires me using 2 active skills to do so, whereas nightblade is more passive (retal bonus is passive, resistance reduction is attached to an aura). Plus nightblade has blade barrier which has more flat retaliation damage for the duration, and I don't need to keep casting heal off cooldown to keep the retaliation bonus up, which can prevent healing when I actually need it.

So that's why it's narrowed down to warlord vs dervish

[gNuff!~©~gNom3™]

can't say much but that you're wrong, occ offers tremendous amount of flat retal and more buff -Blood of Dreeg is great. And blade barrier you can't count on for retal dmg as it's a panic button -one that is liable to end up killing you instead too as it immobilize you
but ofc your choice, i gave my 2 cents, and i'll just leave with adding there's probably a reason there are a dozen sentinel/witchblade retal builds in compendium, and no retal dervish
^doesn't mean it can't work, just that the bonuses you perceive aren't buffing retal as such besides a single puny 85% buff
might even add that veil of shadow could be considered "poor" for retal, as you don't want to reduce enemy speed, as that would decrease your retal dps by them hitting you slower
your decision ofc

[andrew.thiele]

A friend of mine made a very competent acid retaliation Dervish, but he also knows a lot about the games underlying mechanics. Sentinel would definitely be the easier option of these two. It also has a second choice for your exclusive skill that offers Damage Absorption as well as received significant buffs recently when using the Sentinel of the Three set.

That being said, I have made both an acid retaliation Sentinel and Warlord. Even without the added RR the Warlord wins out in almost every situation over the Sentinel. It was quite impressive tbh.

[gNuff!~©~gNom3™]

Originally posted by andrew.thiele:

That being said, I have made both an acid retaliation Sentinel and Warlord. Even without the added RR the Warlord wins out in almost every situation over the Sentinel. It was quite impressive tbh.

yea agree, warlord is just a beast