Templar - [3.4] The Blessed Smiting Guardian, he who fights with Sentinels (WIP) - Forum

I'm still working on this build, I started the league with this, no twink gear or anything. Managed to hit 86 and it's been doing super well. It's a very fun play style, something I really enjoyed as an elementalist with golems. Wanted to do something like that for physical builds, so here we are.

Pros
- Fun play style, you do damage and so do your minions
- Cheap and possible to start with no gear fresh in league
- Sword based so lots of nice uniques to bring you even to red maps
- Your character still does good damage, minions will clear up the rest
- Never feel lonely
- Requires no uniques to start with

Cons
- Smite's AOE is nothing like Reave
- Having to deal with dumb zombie AI on the Sentinels
- You will still be the main damage dealer, Sentinels are a bonus
- Min-maxing gear is troublesome as you need a mix of stats

You start with your golem and relic, then kill and build up your Sentinels. You aim for rare monsters in packs while your sentinels deal with the weaker monsters around. There is little to no management of minions so you don't really care where they go.

Spoiler

Level 90 tree

Help Alira for the multi and resists, easier to manage at the start of a new league.

Ascendancy: Radiant Crusade -> Unwavering Crusade -> Harmony of Purpose -> Time of Need

TBD

Spoiler

My current gear

Spoiler

Recommended gear
I strongly recommend The Tempestuous Steel for offhand stick. Costs 1c and can be used early game.
For main hand weapons, Scaeva and Ahn's Might does a fantastic job, even in yellow maps.
Rest of your gear? Doesn't matter, no uniques required. Just use whatever you want to cap resist. Get some flat accuracy on your gear as well, lots of nice accuracy in the minion clusters.

If you want your minions to move faster, I recommend using whatever Essence of Fear on rings to get some movement speed on your minions.

Spoiler

Main
Smite + Multistrike + Elemental Damage with Attacks + Lightning Penetration + Melee Physical Damage + Physical to Lightning

We are fully converting our damage to lightning to make full use of Lightning Penetration. The links are arranged with priority in mind.

Herald and Aura
Hatred, Herald of Purity + Minion Damage + Faster Attacks + Summon Holy Relic

We will be running Hatred as we are scaling physical, not Wrath as we do not want to waste the phys bonus from Herald of Purity.

Note that you might want to skip Faster Attacks until you have enough mana to attack with your main skill, your Sentinels work just fine with Minion Damage. If it's still too much for your character, consider Blind which has no multiplier.

Summon Holy Relic is a mixed bag for me. Sure it does help, but if it was missing I probably wouldn't be able to tell. It's a nice little addition.

Movement
Leap Slam + Faster Attacks + Blood Magic + Fortify

Nothing special, just use whatever you like, even Whirling Blade.

Utility
Blood Rage + Summon Lightning Golem (up to you)
Cast when Damage Taken + Immortal Call + Enfeeble + Flesh Offering
Ancestral Warchief + Melee Physical Damage + Maim

These are strictly a preference thing. This is what I ended up using. You generate charges to the teeth, so level your CWDT to the max, immortal call as well, or as high as you can possible level.