10.3 Update - BazzV5's Pure Totem Templar with CI

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Fearmonger wrote:

Why take the 8% ES node past Arcane Focus in the Witch ES cluster? If you want more EHP you can just take one more node in the Templar Body and Soul cluster.

Good question and I don't have a good answer however....

I pre-plan builds to level 78 as thats where it gets to a point where solo'ing is a pain in the ass. I'm pretty sure that the skill point that you highlighted happened to be the one I took at clvl79 when looking for some instant reward. Didn't even cross my mind to use the point in the Body & Soul cluster, (mental lapse maybe :p), but it would be a very good choice if wanting to raise armour as well as ES.

Infact, I'm not too sure where to go next with any future skill points. DPS seems sufficient, as does Armour and ES.

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Fearmonger wrote:

Why not spring for Mental Acuity off of the Shock node in the shadow tree? Just haven't got enough levels yet?

Yup thats another good point. If skill points were still easy to come by then Mental Acuity would fit the build perfectly but the way I see it is that there's so few levels left after 78 that you/we really need to put those points towards any perceived weakness specific to your char. Clearing speed is a non-issue so I opted for even more ES in that 8% ES node.

Other notables that I considered were Storm Cast and Inner Force and now that I'm at clvl80, I'm probably gonna throw a few regrets at the tree and test some of these options including Mental Acuity.

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Fearmonger wrote:

At first I didn't think going for the Crit and All Resist clusters on the Marauder side of the tree was justified, but once I got to mid-late game I realized how much the build hurts for strength, is that partially or entirely the motivation for taking those nodes?

Nope...it just happened to work out nicely that way.

First cut of the build I was thinking of going all the way down to Unwavering Stance as this being my first CI build I had concerns about constant stuns and didn't want to be tied down to wearing Eye of Chayula. Speaking to some of the more experienced CI witches in the game, the best advice I got was to try without US and see how it goes so I allocated the points towards the Crit Multi and All Resists, (and Elemental Adaptation), instead.

Stuns are sometimes, an issue as any CI char will know, but with totems it's much less of an issue as the totems are still clearing mobs even if your char is stunned.

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Fearmonger wrote:

Why a Spirit Shield instead of a Kite Shield?

For me it came down to the lack of caster mods on Kite Shields but it's just another one of those choices we all face in either going for more defence or more DPS.

My perfect Templar caster shield would be a high resist Kite with high Spell Damage, high Crit Chance for Spells and some Mana Regen but those Spell mods don't exist on Kites so the next best choice was to give up the armour and get most of the other mods on a pure ES shield.

If my char was lacking in Armour, (and I think I said in the OP that my goal was 2500 armour), then yeah a Kite Shield would be a valid choice.

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Fearmonger wrote:

PS: I ended up running Ground Slam and then eventually transitioned to Lightning Strike on the way to 31. I used only 3 nodes that I respecced later which were the 3 HP nodes to allow me to connect to the totem life cluster. After filling out the templar section, I grabbed the Body and Soul Ring on the top left of the tree and then starting heading towards Static Blows, abandoning that and heading for the totem cluster so that I would have dual totem at exactly 31, which allowed me to have Static Blows 2 levels later (with skill points from bandit).

My damage on the way to 31 was more than fine (usually 1 shotting trash mobs unless I missed, and 2 shotting rares) although my survivability was very glassy, if you were trying on HC you'd probably want to be a lot more aggressive by taking the HP nodes in the Templar area and then spending more respec points later.

Nice.

I tried a new char based on this build in the recent 1 week race and was casting Spork from lvl 15 until level31. Was a bit slow but worked well enough too. Only real difference I made was taking the life nodes below Static Blows which would mean only 3 respec points required.

Was working out well until getting 1-hit by Ruthless Vaal from what I thought was a safe distance away. :\

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kieke187 wrote:

been lvling this build too lvl 69 now only probs i kinda have is totem survivablity(in maps 62 and up) rest seems ok.

Nice going.

I would've thought you'd be fine with your Totems by level 69.

Post your Spell Totem gems or whisper me in game and we can run though map if you like.

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BazzV5 wrote:

For me it came down to the lack of caster mods on Kite Shields but it's just another one of those choices we all face in either going for more defence or more DPS.

My perfect Templar caster shield would be a high resist Kite with high Spell Damage, high Crit Chance for Spells and some Mana Regen but those Spell mods don't exist on Kites so the next best choice was to give up the armour and get most of the other mods on a pure ES shield.

If my char was lacking in Armour, (and I think I said in the OP that my goal was 2500 armour), then yeah a Kite Shield would be a valid choice.

Ah, that's the info I was missing, makes sense. Thanks for the responses.

Considering Tempest Shield is of questionable value, any thoughts on running Purity instead? It costs more but you could probably drop the 4 points spent on Diamond Skin to pick up a couple mana nodes and maybe a little more ES/Armor.

Anyone can help me with start with templar dunno what to do he is so weak at start cant kill the second boss that is with frost any tips? Also which gem to get first after the 1 boss you kill at the beach before entering town?

You can pretty much auto-attack everything with random blue two-handers and a little supplemental glacial hammer or ground slam or lightning strike until early teens, at which point you should have enough mana/mana-regen to switch to dual wands and spark spam. Getting Clarity via trade or by running a Witch through Brutus will help significantly.

Dont get me wrong but i want to try templar on tommorow league thats why iask so i should start with slam??

If you're concerned about maximizing for a race then do some practice runs on default now, it's largely personal preference.

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thisbutironically wrote:

You can pretty much auto-attack everything with random blue two-handers and a little supplemental glacial hammer or ground slam or lightning strike until early teens, at which point you should have enough mana/mana-regen to switch to dual wands and spark spam. Getting Clarity via trade or by running a Witch through Brutus will help significantly.

Thank you for that tip! I'm re-rolling for this build and early off this pays off!

I cant pass the medicine quest when im fighting the boss i mostly die dunno whats the problem i go to him on level 2 Templar also tried with Marauder both fails dont have enough poitons to fight him.