[1.1.5] Niz's Dual Searing Bond 1H Block (Safe Level 90 HC, Solo). RIP on 1.2

I made this build in the beginning of Invasion in order to survive the unbalanced invaders at that point (after dying on day one with a Scion). And it turned out that Searing Bond could be used without many supports, currency, or passives. So being that the Templar is perfect for this skill, and is also in a good area for block and life, I went with this build idea. It works, and it will get you to a high level in HC, solo. That is the point of the build.

I only play solo on ladders, which is worth mentioning. This build is not for DPS, and probably isn't going to add a ton to parties. It is for surviving solo on all map levels.

The other idea involved is convenience at the start of a new league (empty stash, no problem). The Templar gets all the important gems for the build himself, other than a couple. You also do not need a 5L, or a good weapon (end-game you'll probably want a good weapon, like a +2 fire gems, +1 all gems sceptre). You can craft a +1 Fire Gems sceptre with a magic sceptre, ruby ring, and Orb of Alteration. You *do* want it to be a sceptre, for the colors and the stat requirements. And since SB doesn't need many supports, you can use the IIR gem for the majority of the game, until you get a +1 all gems sceptre and Empower.

The build is armor and block based. For auras, I use Determination only, but you can use more if you decide to take aura nodes or use the Blood Magic gem in your weapon. I use everything other than my Searing Bond and aura with Blood Magic gems (really just curses and enduring cry perhaps, otherwise I use CwDT which doesn't use mana/life).

Note that the build is a dual curse build. You can get away with one curse, but later on your DPS will suffer for it. So you have the option of using Doedre's Damning, Windscream, or a corrupted item with "Enemies can have one additional curse" implicit mod.

Also note that this build won't have any dexterity, at least not when completed, other Han what you have on gear. So don't plan on using anything dex related.

*The main goals stat-wise are 73% block, 45-75% spell block (depends what items you are using at the time), 5.5-6k life (gear dependent), base 79% all elemental resist (78% for cold if you want to save a point), 7 endurance charges, 6k-8k+ armor (gear dependent), and decent SB damage (over 10k is achievable, with a one hander, if you have a level 3+ Empower or level 21 SB).*

Note that the beam DPS of SB isn't really your DPS. You can hit many enemies at once with that DPS, which would give you the real DPS. So it varies by number of enemies hit and their resistance. In some cases SB can have very high DPS. Anyway, that's why I say "beam DPS".

Things change as you progress, but the main thing is Searing Bond and Increased Burning Damage in a sceptre that gives +levels. Empower and IIR will be the third link, depending on where you are progression-wise. Empower is the end goal.

Uniques: These are the uniques I recommend, although the first two (or three, you decide between the curse uniques) are *highly* recommended.

-Crest of Perandus, Pine Buckler. The 40% block chance and the good life roll, plus lightning resist, go a very long way... it will be hard to find another shield that will make up for the block on Perandus. Block is much stronger than armor. You can equip this at level 8, so it is pretty much the first thing you should save for after getting SB in Act 3 Normal (Crematorium Quest Reward).

-Windscream, Reinforced Greaves (you can also use Doedre's Damning if you prefer, although I find that Windscream are generally better, since you don't end up losing as much, they have MS and all ele resist, although it depends on what gear you have... if you have a sick pair of boots but not good rings, then go for Doedre's Damning instead). You'll want these as soon as casting dual curses is reasonable (cost-wise, etc).

-Saffell's Frame. This is highly recommended for end-game. If you run maps like Crematorium, you will need it. You won't need this until very late into the game.

-Optional: Stone of Lazhwar with corrupted implicit "Enemies can have an additonal curse". This is best-in-slot for this build. Otherwise just use a good life amy with attributes, as int can become a problem later on, and dex is always a problem. A regular Lazwhar is questionable... it helps but I think the extra life is better. If you want to cap out your spell block for bosses, you could throw a normal one on with Saffell's. I would not use it all the time though.

*Note that I do have a corrupted Lazhwar, which is why I can achieve the life, movement speed, spell block that I do. Unfortunately it is not an easy item to get, but it really is one of the best items you can get for this build, hands down.*

I had a Kaom's in HC, but I gave it away. Too bad, with the fire damage mod, it's really good for this build. It would have put me over 7k life and 10k beam DPS. It has less than half of my chest's armor, but with 7 charges, 73% block, and 10+ second Immortal Call, it is worth it.

My Current One Month HC Gear and Links:
These are the general links. I switch out the blue gem on my gloves sometimes depending on the map, boss, etc. I use triple curses rarely (with Doedre's), which is why vulnerability was in there.
(some stuff is in off-slots or sits in inventory)


*Also note that I have 30 dexterity on my one ring. Unless you make a different tree, you're going to need some dex to use Perandus, the build alone has like 14 dex haha.*

You can use Vaal Skeletons before you go for Immortal Call, which will help a lot to distract enemies and take aggro off of you (you will want a high level/quality IC, so you won't be using that until late game, when you have 7 charges). I usually put it into my shield until I get IC, but that depends on your socket colors.

Here is my 90 One Month tree, exactly as it is. I took the Templar fire damage to break 9k beam dps, but if not I would have continued with the Mara armor, eventually getting the crit multi reduction, then respec the flask-life node (what I did in Invasion, which results in better survival, for a small amount of dps loss. I also respeced out of the max cold res node this time around).
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgUBAecCcQSzBS0FWxJpEuEUIBRNFm8XHBiRGYUaMho4GlUabB0UJKonLyjFKU8qEyynLdI26DbpOtg9_ETnRtdMNVBHUWBVxlcNWGNZ813GXhNfP2BLYSFko2oecH1xeXKpcrt07Xrmeu98uHy7gpuE74uMjM-PRpBVkc6drp7Nnz6gtKFtogCi6qPypKynMKeEqBiplayqrK-1BLnNu-28n8AawxPDhsWKxtjPZdDQ0iHUfOFz42rjn-Qi52rnkew47SDvDvAf8azyL_MG877z3fZI9zL60vuq

As you can see, level 93 or more is ideal. You could get more damage or armor, that would be up to you. This build benefits a lot from end-game leveling, so if you don't want to hit high levels, it might not be a good choice. There are better SB builds for lower levels. This is 100% meant for solo high level mapping in HC, and it also happens to be a great build for starting out in a new league.

**Bandits: Normal help Oak, Cruel kill all, Merciless help Oak.**

Normal: Use Ground Slam and Molten Strike for leveling, with a 2H. You only need to make it to Act 3, and there on the first quest you will get your searing bond gem as a reward. Watch out for any gems I've mentioned above, take those as needed. You can make the sceptre as stated above, and if you can afford to buy Increased Burning Damage and IIR (the latter you will have to buy, Cruel gives IBD), do so once you meet the level requirements (31 for IBD, and 24 for IIR). Otherwise just use whatever decent gear you find, try to get a Perandus if possible, and use enduring cry and a single curse if possible. Easy shite.

And for passives, you want to get mostly life and Holy Fire (Templar node) for the time being, and move towards Ancestral Bond by the end of normal (I usually take it by the end of normal or beginning of cruel). Make sure to level any gems you'll use later on as well,
especially BM and the auras.

*Note that you will not get IIR or Empower from quests. You will have to check the wiki to plan things out as far as the gems you do get.*

Cruel: Not much different. You'll want to take Purity of Elements if your resists are low, but if you can afford to take Clarity or buy it, it will help tremendously in Cruel. I do recommend Clarity for Cruel, as you won't have everything linked up and attached to Blood Magic yet, nor CwDT. As per the tree, move down towards the marauder resist and life nodes. Those will occupy your points for a while.

Take it slow on Dominus, and if you can get a +2 sceptre beforehand, that will help. It isn't necessary though at all. Just use your totems to kill the adds in the second phase, and use common sense. It is one of the harder boss fights, but it is not very hard with this build.


Merc/Maps: At this point you should be able to get your items linked up, sooner or later. And you need your dual curses by now, so hopefully you have that settled already.

You'll want your two or three BM gems (which you should have been leveling) to be equipped now with your curses and your lightning warp. You can continue to run clarity until you feel that the flasks can make up for it (helps when you only have SB on mana at this point). Once you feel ok with flasks, and definitely once you hit 60 and can get a Sanctified Mana Flask, you should switch to your determination gem (hopefully you've leveled it).

Merciless is when I start taking all the block nodes, although you can take them earlier if you really want to. Thats just me. The life and life regen is more important early on. You'll need the block now though, so start taking it if you haven't. After that you can finish your charges and anything else you want, like armor nodes for example.

Go ahead playing like normal. Once you kill Piety for the points (you don't need to kill Dom unless you want to), level in Docks and Catacombs if you want. By 70 you should be running some maps and have a shop thread going. At that point you can upgrade your items, trying to get items that generally are like mine (or a +3 sceptre which is obviously better, there are none in the one month right now unfortunately). Now just grind maps forever and end up hating PoE because the map drops suck and solo players are screwed by it. Gating exp behind rng is fun, right? Ok, I'll stop.

Hit 90 with One Month character (always solo), despite the lost time from computer issues. Also have killed Palace Dominus and Courtyard bosses, which I wanted to do with this specific character just to make sure it was working well. I can't upload video, don't have any software atm.

I suppose I could have faked it... for what reason I don't know though. But, yeah this build can solo all 76+ map bosses, including Dominus and Courtyard. Atziri is another story, as the skill is SB.

*Note that at level 90, I now have over 8k armor (after aura)".*