[0.10.4] Narutobieber's The Budget Strike Build(LS). Who says melee needs to be gear dependant.

Edits: added fire works much better than melee physical gem from testing.


Here is the premise of the build, not everyone is made of orbs, and not everyone can play tons of hours per day. I helped one of my friend who can't play as much and doesn't trade that much to have a viable build even for 70+ maps. This is a completely non gear dependant build(relatively), the 3 most expensive pieces of gear my friend has is a 5L chest, all it has on it is some HP, 1 low resist, almost no armor for 3 gcp. His qualitied LS gem, we got a 14% for 3 gcp, and his weapon which I found for him for about 4 chaos, its only 230ish phys dps with 50-60ish ele dmg dps. Every other piece of gear was self found or bought for 1-2 chaos.

The premise of this build is to not be reliant on high armor items, which goes on a premium in this market espeically if it has HP+resists. The 3 things that help keep my friend alive is 1. High HP 2. High HP regen 3. VERY high block.

This build also does very good dps from the elemental damage+high str+static blows+inner force+iron grip

PS. Since this build is very non-gear dependent, I'd imagine it would work pretty well in hardcore.

1. The 27 point build


Skill points breakdown: Pretty standard, lots of survivability from templar core + fitness nodes. Good dps boost from catalyse, and rushing to RT so that missing won't be a problem. After RT, finish the templar elemental line for the more damage and resists.

Gear(for new players or people starting from scratch): Go either 1H+shield or 2H, don't fret if its an axe or mace or sword, just use anything that gives you the most dps that you can find. Buy coral rings from vendor, and use an onyx amulet.

Skills: Grab lightning strike and weapon elemental damage as soon as you can and link them together as soon as you can. Grab wrath if you can, and run that as an aura. If you are 1h+shield, grab a tempest shield skill gem and run it with wrath.


2. 58 point build


Skill points breakdown: Complete the marauder skill nodes to gain extra surviviability. Finally make your way up to static blows while grabbing divine toughness+fitness along the way, and grab the shield talents for the extra resists+block at the end.

Gear: Get a 4Link for Lightning strike, you can sometimes find them at the vendors (alch for extra stats) or in trade chat for cheap, like 1 alch or 1 chaos. Try to get gear to get resist capped in cruel. Having mana regen on a ring or 2 will help if you are having issues with spamming lightning strike.
Make sure to pick up a granite flask or 2. They are very useful, especially against some harder hitting enemies and against puncture (since this is low armor build)

Skills: Run 4-link Lightning strike+weapon elemental+added fire+faster attacks. If you have mana issues with faster attacks, use added fire damage. If you are having trouble survivability wise, run life on hit instead of faster attacks or added fire damage. For curses, use enfeeble as your defensive curse, elemental weakness will be your offensive ability(this works much better in groups, if you plan to solo the whole way, conductivity is a good offensive curse). Also use enduring cry to keep up endurances charges in tougher situations.

3. 94 point build (starting to do maps, this is where it starts to be different from other builds)

skill points breakdown: Grab inner force+agility for the extra dex. You can also grab bulwark by ele equalibrium for a quick 8% extra block. Work towards and grab Iron grip+ feel free to grab any health nodes if you feel like you need any health. Fill out the rest as you feel fit, make sure to grab ele adaptation if you have 75 res or more.

Gear: You will need a 5 link chest, but don't fret, it can be a cheapo lvl 40 5L with only hp+ 1 or 2 low resists that you can pick up for 2-3 gcp, just make sure it has decent hp (60+). For other gear, you will need a 4L to run auras, and the rest can be 3L(another 4L will be nice). For your shield, grab a angelic/archon shield with an additional all res mod+ hp for a huge boost in resistances if you need, most are pretty cheap since everyone is looking for high es angelic/archon shields.
Also pick up a decent 200 phys dps weapon+ some ele dps. The total dps should be around 250 or more, this should only cost a few chaos since most of the really really expensive weapons are 240 phys dps+. Also at this period, try to pick up a 11-14% lightning strike for a couple gcps, the pierce really helps in clearing big packs.

Skills:You will be switching to blood magic gem (make sure you have 3 in stock, they can be bought in trade for 1 alch (don't buy for 1 chaos)), this is a crucial switch that will be determined when you feel comfortable. When you have alot of HP and lightning strike spam is hard to keep up even with mana pots, it's time to switch to blood magic gem.
5-link:Light strike+ele dmg+added fire+faster attacks+blood magic. Get a life leech gem, and run life leech instead of added fire if you need extra survivability.
4-link:reduced mana+vitality+purity+tempest shield.
Optional 4-link-reduced mana+blood magic+wrath+anger (run just wrath if 3 link).

What you will have at 94 points
*60%+ block (will vary a little with your shield)
*5.5k+ hp with 200+ hp/sec regen (make sure every piece of gear has some hp)
*85ish base resists with just purity (25ish base due to -60 modifier resists in merciless). (30 resists from purity with inner force+55 resists from skill nodes)
*3-4k+ dps with lightning strike (with a weapon that costs a few chaos), this is deceptive because this doesn't take into account the HUGE boost iron grip gives, and also doesn't take into account shock
*Eventually you can run hatred+purity+vitality+tempest shield if you link them all to I believe lvl 18/19 reduce manas. The hatred aura will give a BIG boost in dps. However you will need to blood magic all your skills, because you will only have like 10 mana left over.


Right now my friend is level 83 templar and he has been running maps regularly, he can solo 66-70ish maps just fine. We group for 70+ maps and he survives just fine, he has no problems surviving even against lvl 71 temple piety.

Right now he's working to get better gear, and he's transitioning into a more gear dependent build.

If you have any questions feel free to ask!

I got bored with my LS templar, I'm gonna give a try to your build, lots of good idea in it (although I think getting the Reduced Mana gems might be expensive) !

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superbobob wrote:

I got bored with my LS templar, I'm gonna give a try to your build, lots of good idea in it (although I think getting the Reduced Mana gems might be expensive) !

the reduced mana gems shouldn't cost more than 1 chaos each, they're pretty cheap, you just got to level 2 of em to pretty high lvl to run hatred+purity+vitality+tempest shield.

feedback anyone?

can u show equip for this build?

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Narutobieber wrote:

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superbobob wrote:

I got bored with my LS templar, I'm gonna give a try to your build, lots of good idea in it (although I think getting the Reduced Mana gems might be expensive) !

the reduced mana gems shouldn't cost more than 1 chaos each, they're pretty cheap, you just got to level 2 of em to pretty high lvl to run hatred+purity+vitality+tempest shield.

Or you might as well only use one Reduced Mana and swap it between the links right as you are buffing up.

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VenatorPoE wrote:

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Narutobieber wrote:

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superbobob wrote:

I got bored with my LS templar, I'm gonna give a try to your build, lots of good idea in it (although I think getting the Reduced Mana gems might be expensive) !

the reduced mana gems shouldn't cost more than 1 chaos each, they're pretty cheap, you just got to level 2 of em to pretty high lvl to run hatred+purity+vitality+tempest shield.

Or you might as well only use one Reduced Mana and swap it between the links right as you are buffing up.

That too, also the covenant spidersilk robe is pretty important, however I wouldn't say it's required but it helps. I didn't include in guide, because it's nice, but nowadays it goes for about 3-4 gcp which is a little bit expensive for some ppl for what it does.

It dropped for my friend, so now he doesn't need to run wrath+anger with blood magic gem.

w/o covenant you want to run blood magic+reduced mana+wrath+anger in a 4L (you can remove reduced mana gem after casting the auras)

with covenant you can run reduced mana+wrath+anger, and remove the robe after you cast the auras.

Why LS without LPM?

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Narutobieber wrote:

feedback anyone?

Hi! I'm playing this build right now in HC. :) I'm lvl 27, it's ok, altough I have continous mana problem (Tempest Shield + Wrath reserves about 100 mana, so I have only 65 mana for the LS).

Question: what about bandits reward? I'm at Oak's camp, so should I kill him or spare his sorry life? :)

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Credenza wrote:

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Narutobieber wrote:

feedback anyone?

Hi! I'm playing this build right now in HC. :) I'm lvl 27, it's ok, altough I have continous mana problem (Tempest Shield + Wrath reserves about 100 mana, so I have only 65 mana for the LS).

Question: what about bandits reward? I'm at Oak's camp, so should I kill him or spare his sorry life? :)

bandit rewards.

normal= 40 hp.

cruel = 1 skill point

merciless = 1 skill point.

IF you are having mana issues, try using a slower weapon that does good dps. You won't need faster weapons until you get static blows.

Also look for rings with hp and mana regen, they help alot for mana before you switch to blood magic.

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WoooKer wrote:

Why LS without LPM?

Honestly pierce is better than LMP, 100% pierce is pretty noticeable. However with this build, you'll be very tanky so you'll have the option to be in the thick of things. Also with high strength and iron grip your 3 projectiles will hit VERY hard so you can go ranged pretty effectively if you are having issues surviving the front lines.