Do spells count as ranged attacks?

General Discussion
1

Simple question, since Im looking into the Eye of Etlich for survivability.

Or is ranged attacks just spears and bow n’ arrows?

Whats included?

Thanks!

2

If you have survivability issues Eye of Etclich won’t save you. There are many, many ways to tweak a build for more or less defense and survivability. One’s playstyle is important too. (Sometimes running away or skipping monsters is the most sensible thing to do).

Sometimes you get good gear that also have reduced damage from melee attacks, elite attacks, ranged attacks which is fine of course. But the overall most important thing is to set up the hero the best way and play the best way.

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3

Spells can be classified as ranged or melee depending on the type. For example; Electrified elites’ charged bolts classified as ranged besides lightning damage; while Orbiter seeds are melee. Some Elite abilities are also a mix of both; Frozen damage ramp build up are melee but its final blast is ranged.

To note; charge attacks are melee but arrows, spears and fireball projectiles are ranged as expected. Simply, if you see a projectile or a fading instant hit, it’s good to assume that it’s a missile/ranged and anything else with collision or circling rhythms are melee.
Remarkable exception to this rule are; Reflects Damage pellets and Fire Chains here. Reflect Damage pellets are always melee but they spew as projectiles. Fire Chains are collision based but deals ranged damage periodically.

Read this guide for a start: https://maxroll.gg/d3/resources/elite-affixes

It helps, but you have to be sure that you have some damage output debuffs for any close encounter to keep them at bay first. You have to be sure that you have enough overall defensive traits (resistance/armor rating, vitality, life recovery and so on…) before going for very specific damage mitigation.

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4

I assume you’re referring to your Demon Hunter with the M6 build.

An Eye of Etlich isn’t going to help you. From what I can tell, there are three main issues with your build:

  1. Not enough vitality… your profile shows the health as 365k… you really need at least double that (no I’m not Jay Wilson)
  2. All Resistance is missing on a lot of the pieces that should have it… chest, belt and boots all missing it.
  3. You need Yang’s Recurve… not just for the multishot damage but also the cost reduction will give you at least 40% extra damage reduction due to Captain Crimson’s set. The primal Fortress Ballista is a waste due to insufficient Vit mentioned in point 1… your shields from it will be weak and easily destroyed. It’s a good piece for GoD build though.

If your Barbarian, get rid of that Skull Grasp. WotW set’s damage is primarily from Rend, not Whirlwind. Use Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac instead and put on Wrath of the Berserker as a skill… and wear Mortick’s Brace instead of Strongarms. WotB can be up 100% of the time if you have enough cooldown reduction and will help with survivability.

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