2.0 Lightning Templar: Lightning Strike or Static Strike?

Hi. A few friends and I have started playing PoE in the new Warbands League. My friends are currently playing a fire witch, a ice witch, and a ranger so I figured I would go tanky by playing a Templar. In order to round out our elemental damage, I would also figured I would focus on lightning as my main element.

When I first played a Templar back in the beta, I did use Lightning Strike as my main attack and I did go back and forth about having it coupled with a multiple projectile gem. However that was so long ago that I have lost touch as to what still works in this new 2.0 version.

So my question is what is the "better" attack gem: Lightning Strike or Static Strike?
Which one do people prefer? What are the situations when one is better than the other?

I was thinking something like this for the build if I were to focus on Lightning Strike


I figured that since I will always be playing with two witches in the party, one fire and one ice, that for my char I would grab Celestial Punishment to get some bonus damage and in order to further buff the projectiles of Lightning Strike I would also grab some skills to make them better, such as Iron Grip. At the same time I would also grab tanky skills to make be handle all the mobs by using a shield and having a good chance of blocking and also good elemental resistances.

Has anyone tried a build like this? Is Lightning Strike a good enough skill to invest this many skill points into to make it work? Is it even viable?

I have changed up the build to focus more on lightning damage instead of projectile damage. This way I can go back and forth between Lighting Strike and Static Strike and the build will still work. But I still cant figure out what is the better ability.



anyone have any thoughts?

Lightning Strike has better attack range, due to its projectiles, while Static Strike is better for hitting everything around you, due to its secondary explosion. For the playstyle you're going for, Static Strike is probably better.

From the tree you linked, you're going with 1H + shield, but have you decided on specializing in a weapon? If you use a mace or sceptre, you can take advantage of the Galvanic Hammer cluster.

Another thing is regarding crit and accuracy. Do you want to use Resolute Technique? If so, then you don't need to bother with speccing crit and accuracy nodes, but you also will have a harder time shocking things.

For supports, you're build relies heavily on lightning damage, so I'm guessing you'll use Physical to Lightning. Melee Physical Damage and Weapon Elemental Damage also work well, though the former doesn't work with the projectiles on Lightning Strike.

Thanks for the response.

I am going 1h and shield, but I haven't yet picked a specific weapon type. Since I dont have any end game gear I dont want to start dumping points into one specific type only to end up finding better weapons of another type and then having to redo the tree.

I did look into the passives that say they increase the damage with all one-handed weapons and I do know that those passives will make the projectiles from Lightning Strike better (unless it specifically says melee damage). However, I figured that pumping just elemental/lightning damage would be better for what I was thinking of going for (correct me if i am wrong).

For Resolute Technique, I dont think I want to go for it. I'll play around with the build to see what it would free up if I did get it, but I wasnt planning on it.

I have been using both Lighting strike (for left click) and Static Strike (for right click). I do seem to be using LS more, not so much since its left click but more so because I am typically the one who is taking the lead of our group so I am always running into the face of the mobs. I do see there were a ton of 1.3 static strike builds so I am guessing that it is the better skill since you can be hitting mobs that are behind you, I just dont know if its 100% needed since I already have 2 witches that are spamming their AoE spells right near by.

So just to clarify Shock and when its applied.

Lets say you have a mace that has lightning damage on it, every time you make a critical hit with that mace you will apply shock?

Now if you were to pick up a few passives to add "+10% chance to shock", this would mean that not only will you shock 100% of the time on crits, but also 10% of the time you attack with the lightning damage mace?

The same can be said for the projectiles of Lightning Strike and the AoE of Static Strike? "+10% chance to shock" means that whenever you deal damage with ANYTHING lightning you will apply shock 10% of the time?

If that is all correct, then I guess it all comes down to how much do I want to have shock be a thing for my build.

You are more or less correct. If you crit with lightning damage, then whatever you crit will be shocked. If you hit with lightning damage, but don't crit, then you roll for chance to shock, which, by default, is zero. Passive nodes and Conductivity, mostly, and also certain Uniques can also give chance to shock.

You also want to consider shock duration as well, as shock duration is based on the lightning damage dealt relative to the monster's effective max life (Which is max life before party scaling, basically). More lightning damage -> longer shocks.

Thanks for the response.

After plugging the numbers it seems that you can end up dealing more magical damage if you were to focus more of the +elemental damage nodes than just going deep into the Witch's area to grab the lightning specific nodes.

Another thing I would like to clarify, how do the passives of "increases elemental damage with maces" work?

Do they apply to
1) the elemental damage that is apart of the actual mace (if any)?
2) any melee gems you use while attacking with a mace (ie. lightning strike and static strike)?
3) the damage of Tempest Shield while using a mace?
4) all elemental spells while holding a mace?

If the passives do work for all the elemental damage you deal as long as you are holding a mace then I think I might go with this build.



How does that look? I grabbed the mace nodes and eagle eye to add some chance for critical hit so that I would have a better chance to apply shock (as well as ignite or chill). With the focus on elemental damage, instead of JUST lightning, my overall damage would be better with the use of Herald of Ash, Molten Shell, or any other non-lightning elemental damage that I would be dealing. I will still keep lightning in the build so that my friends and I are dealing all 3 types, it just seems like there isnt much of an advantage to have the build focus only on lightning.

"Increased Elemental Damage with Maces" will increase all fire, cold, and lightning damage dealt through mace attacks. It's like the weapon elemental damage nodes, but restricted further to maces.

For build pathing, try something like this:







Don't just focus on damage and block. You also need armour and life to survive whatever gets past your shield.

With the massive amount of block you want, however, consider using
That amulet grants half of your block chance as extra spell block.

Hmm well I have yet to play in Merciless so I dont know how much harder the mobs get. I was thinking getting close to max block would be best since blocking does prevent all damage and also to get a lot of elemental resistances due to the hefty penalty in Merciless. I can see how getting a little more max health and armor would help.

That amulet is very nice, however I dont know if I would be lucky enough to find it or even afford it if someone wanted to trade for it. LoL yeah I dont even know what players in this game use for currency when trading for stuff.

Most players use either Orbs of Alchemy or Chaos Orbs for trading. Some of the rarest items are traded for Exalted Orbs. A really helpful website for trading items is http://poe.trade/. As for the Stone of Lazhwar amulet, it's actually quite cheap, and can usually be bought for one or two Chaos Orbs.

That said, you don't really need spell block until at least Merciless (or the final boss in Cruel, thanks to the Awakening expansion).

On a side note, what support gems and other skills have you considered using?