I'm back to ground slam again. Why is lightning strike so bad? Help.

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chrisguitar wrote:

@MeanMug:

There are a few problems with your build:

First of all, melee modifiers (+% melee damage) will only apply to the initial hit on your target and not the Lightning-Strike-projectiles (the game treats them like arrows from a bow).
But those projectiles will be the bulk of your dps.

On the other hand passive modifiers which increase the damage of a specific weapon (for example +8% damage with maces) WILL apply to the projectiles (note that those nodes don't mention "melee" anywhere).

So avoid any passives which explicitly say "melee" (this includes those that say "increases 2H melee") and focus on one specific weapon type instead.

Secondly, try to avoid elemental damage. It only applies to 50% of the damage for LS, while +weapon damage (like +% mace damage) apply to all of the LS damage (note: if you use a weapon which mainly does lightning damage for some reason, the elemental nodes will be more worthwhile, but most weapons will mainly do physical damage).
One exception is Catalyze because of its huge modifier (30%).

Consider working towards Iron Grip, because the LS-projectiles do not benefit from your strength out of the box (remember those are projectiles, just like arrows from a bow).
Iron Grip will change that and because you are far down in the marauder tree, you will have a significant amount of strength.

Consider taking Resolute Technique, because Templars don't have good accuracy and you would have to invest many skillpoints into crit-increasing nodes to make it worthwhile (and it is on the way to a nice cluster of +mace damage, if you consider using maces).

TL;DR:
Don't use +% melee damage modifiers AT ALL they don't apply to the projectiles.
Use nodes which add physical damage for a specific weapon type instead, those are not melee specific and will apply to the projectiles.
Try to avoid elemental modifiers (only take them if they are on your path any way), those only apply to 50% of the damage.
Consider taking Iron Grip for a significant boost in projectile damage which will be your main DPS.
Consider taking Resolute Technique.

Source: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/65351 and http://en.pathofexilewiki.com/wiki/Lightning_Strike

Here is an example for a 2H mace LS templar:

Spoiler

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgUBhMREcop0D1SpaBRNBLMyiXflV-KBb548TdiMdgVbogDsOBo4p4SQVcAaZp5xTZrPQ2O3MVj1ncRZ86yqJ-0ZLtlhcql82fPdah6oGPIvROcc52o7IPDkrd7BGenwH1HmtC9BP1cN0iGezacw974UIFBHGJHJmKZkg7EPzPcygSvfspSHWD2exQHnNug7O3dTITRgxFiveA2pbrXybqoyfk3jrFn-j_rSNukkqhmF42pGaRpsna6nCBVQE8xP86pSUfnsy49G0NCboWe97m_06c9lVcbG57nd7w4=

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jasondazed wrote:

Chris, do you know if skills like Strong Arm [18% Increased Physical Damage with One Handed Melee Weapons] apply to the projectiles? I understand regarding a skill like Melee Damage [12% Increased Melee Physical Damage], but the wording is different between both skills and Strong Arm seems to imply that it would work with LS.

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poepoepoepoepoe wrote:

Ground Slam - Attack, AoE, Melee
Lightning Strike - Attack, Lightning, Projectile, Melee

LS projectiles will scale off projectile affecting nodes, most notably for str builds, iron grip. Endgame you will probably have 300 str without trying too hard, thats a 60% dmg buff to the projectiles right there.

Another, point blank (support gem since the passive is way too far for templars), 50% extra dmg to things standing right in front of you, making LS pretty decent single target dps

LS is probably better with pierce/LMP/Projectile Weakness than chain. LS gem adds 3% pierce per quality, so you can play around with a combination of projectile weakness, quality LS gem and pierce support gem to make the projectiles pierce 100%, with LMP thats probably much better than chain fork imo, as the damage just keeps decreasing as they projectiles chain and fork. That would mean the projectiles deal the most dmg to the mobs at the front (which is annoying since you would want all the mobs to drop dead at the same time) And if you use both the curse and the quality gem to get 100% pierce, you can save 1 gem slot.

Some of your build points are a bit questionable, the long journey down just to grab unwavering stance isnt really worth it. If you remove all the points from below resolute technique, 20++ points and take the marauder starting point nodes. There are plenty of efficient nodes there, like for example a cluster of nodes that give 45% to all resists for just 7 points! You also took 3 points worth of increased aoe at the templar starting area, which doesnt affect LS at all.

Heres a thread discussing LS mechanics http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/65351/highlight/

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chrisguitar wrote:

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jasondazed wrote:

Chris, do you know if skills like Strong Arm [18% Increased Physical Damage with One Handed Melee Weapons] apply to the projectiles? I understand regarding a skill like Melee Damage [12% Increased Melee Physical Damage], but the wording is different between both skills and Strong Arm seems to imply that it would work with LS.

It won't affect the LS Projectiles, because the description contains "melee".
The initial hit on the targeted monster will however be affected.