When To Respec And What Exactly Constitutes Endgame?

I have my bowazon up to level 70 ( a lot from doing

Baal runs in normal, and now in Nightmare). I am just about to do my first re-spec. That will leave me with two.
What actually constitutes endgame which many guides use as a

Key point.

You focus on just one (sometimes two) main skills that do your damage. You max them and the synergies. Use a guide if you are unsure about how to do this.
You try to get items with +skills for this main damage skill. Melee builds want to get charms with damage, attack rating and life.
Melee builds aim for high attack speed and caster builds for a high faster cast rate.
In late-game, you strenghen your defenses to survive hell difficulty (resistances, life, faster hit recovery, sometimes defense).
You get a merc that fits to your build. Some mercs mainly tank damage, some mercs are less tanky but provide multiple useful auras (like

Prayer+Cure+Insight).
You get an

Annihilus and a

Hellfire Torch for your class.
Then you have pretty much reached endgame.

Slapshot wrote: 1 hour ago

I am just about to do my first re-spec. That will leave me with two.

The respecs are unlimited; after you use the free ones, you can still respec with the

Token of Absolution.
Just make sure that your third build is hell-viable, so you can farm Essences if needed.

I did a respec after getting a torch, then another after getting

Annihilus.

And I keep small/large/grand charms in stash, if I ever need to push for that extra point or two I might not have for a weapon I found. Those with +4-6 str/dex for grands mostly.

+4 also have no lvl requirement, so I use them for newly created chars to use sets, which have low lvl req but high stat reqs.