*Casts revive*
So I'm thinking of doing something similar, albeit with an assassin. I took a look at Passion today and noticed for the first time that it works in
all weapons

And then I remembered you referencing your staff amazon from time to time, and I thought a staff assassin might be viable!
Do you have any tips/tricks (I realize that this thread began all the way back in 2004...) on increasing damage? While I'd like to rely on physical damage as much as possible, after reading through this thread a bit makes me think that might be foolhardy. Plus I don't want to do any respeccing, I think it's made me lazy with my builds. I was thinking, for the sake of not going crazy, this skill set-up
20 Fists of Fire (only for synergy, staff doesn't work with it!)
20 Phoenix Strike
20 Venom
10 BoS
10 Death Sentry
and 1 point in all the usual 1-point wonders.
The way I see it is I'd master Fists of Fire and Phoenix Strike first to get me through Norm and NM (getting to lvl 30 for PS will be an absolute bore), and then run a couple areas in early Hell Act 1 that don't have that many fire immunes until I find an elite 4os staff to make Passion. But do you think it's cheesy to rely on spell damage instead of my staff? I'm just worried I'll die like you did against NM ancients, if not sooner, if I don't use something like Lightning Sentry or Phoenix Strike. I'd
like to use my staff's own power, but I'm just concerned it might not work, or take wayyyy too long. Though I suppose these days an Insight staff could carry me into Hell...