Templar tank build, 1h with shield no longer doable?

So I know GGG doesn't like tank builds with 1h and shield. My build with lvl 54 Templar before 2.0 was a elemental tank ish, I know it wasn't going to be good at High level, but still, was my first char.

But I did quite good. Then 2.0 hit and I decided to follow "Sovyn's Lazy Pally - Tanky Templar with Max Block" I killed Piety and Dominus, and did fairly good.


http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwUATwRDyHFNms9DY2jyPO_wH6IAGF2t8cBmPAXvfK9sC2HGrsT2r6c9DwY5-6rzBlFgrj5nm-RRUEfvDhQgXz_BBHloGj7yL37ieTnp1alud-MB3ITZR369NmVNvqcvzLaKYuzBgk1GhO_awXTtBS1670CgRrfTb8C_qZUM96yvG5cEh4-ZMk4=


Then in Act 4 at the first area after the local hub, I get destroyed from the first mobs I encounter. I kite and drink potions, but I barley manged to kill them.

Act4 is just a huge solid rock wall. (Didn't have this problem with Act 1-3)

I got 555 DPS, 53% damage reduction, 16% evade, 75, 53 ,53 -20 in resist and 48% block.

My AoE attack is, Melee physical damage + Melee splash + Heavy strike.
And single attack is, Blood magic + Weapon elemental damage + glacial hammer.
Then I got, Iron will + Molten shell

I play casually and just for fun, I did normal run in act 4 to get the quest stuff, and I notice some bosses got 1hit kill skill and did 75% damage, and last boss was a pain, but managed to do it without getting killed, but I'm sure I was not going to make it if I was appropriated level.

I'm sure GGG is going to balance stuff, but I'm not so sure it's going to help with my problem. So should I just give up with trying to play a tank build, or I'm I doing something horribly wrong? (I'm not going to buy or farm gear cus, casual)

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Frejoh466 wrote:

My AoE attack is, Melee physical damage + Melee splash + Heavy strike.
And single attack is, Blood magic + Weapon elemental damage + glacial hammer.

I am not really sure why you are using single target skill (Heavy Strike) for AoE - just pick any other AoE skill (Ground Slam, Static Strike, Ice Crash, etc.), replace the Melee Splash with dmg support and your clear speed should improve.

There is almost no reason to Melee Splash a single target skill, unless it is doing something that other skills cannot (like Dominating Blow).

Also, why Bloodmagic with Glacial Hammer? I mean, you run your AoE skill of mana, i presume, so why not run both of mana and get another dmg/utility support instead?

Are you using Curses, Warcries, Golem, Decoy Totem?

I had to change my gems after 2.0 (My old setup I 3 hited most groups) But with nerfs and a respec, I had to change my gems. Generally I'm not that good with gems, and still trying to find something good.

But except from the Molten shell (rarely use that) and AoE/single attack I'm not using any other skills. And Bloodmagic I used due to no mana and had 100% health quite allot (high health reg). But that's a bad thing to do? skill cost low health to cast, and thought it was a god thing to try.

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Frejoh466 wrote:

But except from the Molten shell (rarely use that) and AoE/single attack I'm not using any other skills.

If you have some gem slots open, try puting Cast When Damage Taken(CWDT)+Molten Shell+Summon Chaos Golem+Enfeeble(probably low level one, because of INT requirements) into a four-linked item. If you only have three-link, drop one of the skills (except for CWDT). You can get the CWDT gem from act4 gem vendor.

Try using Enduring Cry - it doesnt need to be linked to any support gems, just cast it before engaging enemies, it should improve your survivability by a lot.

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Frejoh466 wrote:

And Bloodmagic I used due to no mana and had 100% health quite allot (high health reg). But that's a bad thing to do? skill cost low health to cast, and thought it was a god thing to try.

Well, its not a bad thing, its just you could be using another support gem instead of the Bloodmagic like Melee Physical dmg, Multistrike, or Faster Attacks (or anything else).

Bloodmagic is usually only used for skills that you cannot sustain on mana.

Ok, so I did not know you could by gems from NPC (never bought anything), but I did run around to see what they had.

Enfeeble and Summon Chaos Golem I need more int for. But I got CWDT+Molten Shell+Iron Will for now.

My single hit is Melee phy dam+heavy strike, but I did not find any AoE gems. I however got a Cyclone that I could add Fortify with, I'm not sure about Leap slam (I got a mace).

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Frejoh466 wrote:

Ok, so I did not know you could by gems from NPC (never bought anything), but I did run around to see what they had.

Check the vendors in other acts if you didnt already - it is always the flask vendor in every act who sells gems. You should find some good AoE and support skills there.

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Frejoh466 wrote:

Enfeeble and Summon Chaos Golem I need more int for. But I got CWDT+Molten Shell+Iron Will for now.

Well, you could go for Fire/Flame(?) Golem instead, it doesnt help with survivability, but it is "free" dmg buff. Or you can summon the golem manualy and put Temporal Chains in the CWDT setup in place of Enfeeble (you would probably need to recolor gem slots).

Even with a 6 slot full of single DPS gems I'm not doing enough damage (not to mention my mana is gone after a few hits).

So I guess I have to respec to 2h DPS build. The build worked fine in Act 1-3, but GGG want you to play DPS build, so guess I got no choice then.

And I don't have enough to respec, so guess I have to wait until GGG does a reset, if I'm lucky they rebalance the skill tree and gives a full respec option. Otherwise I go offline for a year or so, and might be back later. Because the difficult spike in Act 4 is just ridiculous. Nerf Act 4 or buff Act 1-3, because no one likes a difficult spike from nowhere.