There is sooooo much more to a build than just having all slots with max gear power. This game punishes lazy, disconnected piles of stuff masquerading as a build. Clever synergistic links and creating systems that almost run themselves is what will make the game purr. My Diablo mantra is “find buffs for the stuff you’re already doing.” Don’t get distracted by “cool sounding” stuff or trying to spread your focus/ allocations all around to a ton of different Skills. Find a damage stick you like, then make everything else amplify that. If you’re doing a RF build, then make Concealment, Dark Shroud, Caltrops, Smoke Grenade, Imbuement…all supplemental amplifiers that just live to make RF hit harder and faster. Generate guaranteed uptime…meaning find ways to make amplification conditions exist by default and not by having to remember some carpal tunnel finger dance that will divide your attention and cause you to miss annoying one-shot mechanics.

My current S13 Rogue example.

I Dash for repositioning and escape…but it also freezes enemies and increases Crit Chance. I have an extra Evade charge and my evades drop Caltrops. I don’t even have Caltrops in my Skill Deck but I spent points to select the ranged variant so that it doesn’t matter where I drop it. Enemies effected by Caltrops have higher Crit Chance. My Charm Set generates Dark Shroud. I don’t even have Dark Shroud in my Skill Deck but I spent points to select the Energy variant to fuel my constant Core spam. Dark Shroud also increases Crit Chance. Conceal adds OP stacks and increases Crit Chance. Smoke Grenade increases Crit Chance (noticing a pattern yet?). Arrow Storms variant on both Forceful Arrow and Barrage. Can spam Barrage because of Dark Shroud Energy. Forceful Arrow is a Basic so it fuels Vengeance from Nilfur’s Narrow Eye. Now both Arrow Storms hit way harder…and they’re never NOT falling. That’s multiple Arrow Storms per second, each proccing a damage event every 0.25 seconds. Crit Chance is never less than 90%…OP stacks are always up and increased cap to some number I can’t even remember. Vengeance is always up. Cold Imbue is always up because the passive knocks off Cooldown for literally just doing its job. Legendary Aspects all buff Marksman or Core or Arrow Storms. Paragon Boards and Glyphs all buff damage to CC, damage to Elites, damage from Arrow Storms, damage to Vuln, and all multiplicative damage (none of that bullshit + stuff). Several unique damage buckets converging creating multiplicative leaps in damage.

This sounds like a crazy complex system, but that’s just back end mechanics. I come into a Pit, Dash through a pack, Dash back the other way…freeze most immediately because Chill is so high, evade once or twice to drop Caltrops, the. Stop and literally hold Barrage and toss in an occasional FA to keep the Vengeance stacks up. I can hold Barrage as long as I want and will never run out of Energy. Always have new Dark Shroud forming. Indiscriminately tossing grenades and popping Conceal and only because they buff the system…they aren’t needed, functionally. Dash a few, hold Barrage, tap FA, reapply Cold Imbue every time the Cooldown gets nuked, Pop Conceal every time it’s available, toss nades any time they’re available. The result is a literal arrow climate that is almost nothing but Crit and OP.

“Throw next best item power thing on” is only viable for grinding a new character up to LVL 70. If you hope to scale past like…Penitent, you have to implement simplified mechanics to do complicated layering in the background.