Templar - [2.4] ES League Exclusive! 2x Pseudo 6L + Pseudo 5L with Kaom's and Shield Hierophant - Forum

Work in Progress

Build Premise

Hierophant + Corrupted Essence affix on helmet and gloves give 2x pseudo 6L's and pseudo 5L in boots.

Helm has 20% ele pen + 30% more ele dmg + 3 support gems.
Gloves have 20% inc AOE + 30% more DOT dmg + 3 support gems.
Boots have 2% life leech + 3 support gems.

This allows us to freely use Rise of the Pheonix and Kaom's Heart while not being completely gimped on damage due to no 6L armor/weapon, as well as significantly buffing our eHP/defenses.

Very modular load out. My personal set up is RF/Firestorm Totems/self cast Flame Surge, but could easily be lightning with Orb of Storms/Ball Lightning Totems/self cast Storm Call, or cold with Vortex Totems/self cast Frost Bolt/RF or something else equally creative.

Pros

Very anti-meta: Uses multiple active DPS skills (RF+Firestorm Totems+Flame Surge), no CWDT set up, no golem, no Blasphemy, no true 6L.

Rewards clever use of new exclusive content (Essences). May be a "one-time only" build.

Super buffed RF AOE/Damage.

Combination of mobile and tanky.

Totem/Main skill flexibility. Very modular in your skill preference.

9k+ eHP (8k+ life + 800 unreserved mana with Hierophant's mini 10% MoM)

Kaom's Heart WAS cheap

Cons

Anti-meta: It's not BV Pathfinder busted.

RF sucks for unplayable map mods (plz fix GGG).

Semi expensive and RNG dependent crafting Helm/Boots. Kaom's Heart price is on the rise.

VERY tight on sockets. No room for anything non essential. No CWDT for example.

VERY tight on bases for rare gear. Must use Unset Ring, Marble Amulet, Two-Toned Boots.

Gameplay

Run around with RF, dropping Firestorm Totems as you go to pick off stragglers and trash. When you encounter a tanky rare or boss, switch to Flame Surge with triple totem backup for maximum DPS (RF + Flame Surge + 3x Firestorm Totems).

High HP and 7 Endurance Charges help keep you alive in the fray. Life Leech on Flame Surge and high life regen helps keep you capped off during longer fights.

Passive Tree

lvl 90 Tree

Very generic Kaom's RF tree that favors Life + Regen>anything.

Passive Tree Notes

Endurance Charge Duration is VERY helpful to making sure your charges don't expire. My actual tree has them spec'd over life, but didn't want to look like a noob.
Explosive Impact cluster (4 points) N of Templar is 55% Fire damage and 5% AOE. Take for leveling for sure. Respec out later when you begin to favor survivability more highly.
Tireless and Righteous Decree (%life+ reduc mana costs and %mana+ reduc mana costs respectively) are invaluable. Combined with Clarity, these let you reach a large enough unreserved mana pool (10% of HP minimum for 10% Hierophant MoM), low enough spell costs, and enough mana regen to never run out of mana. I've done the math and Righteous Decree is indeed better than Deep Thoughts
There are 3 more jewel sockets available within 2 points that I have not taken, YET. Once you can afford solid jewels, it's worth swapping %life nodes for these. Also great to put points into post lvl 90. The tree lacks % damage and jewels can give it a lil extra umph. And since the build only reaches about 280% increased damage, diminishing returns haven't kicked in too bad. Check under gear for extra info regarding what to look for on jewels.
Marauder's Diamond Skin gives 15% res all for 2 points. If your gear is struggling to cap res (maybe even Ele Weakness map cap), this can help get you there.
5 points for Scion life regen are not the most efficient. With Endurance Charges up, it's also not needed for sustaining RF. But I found that they help a lot, especially on Vulnerability/Reduced Regen maps.

Gear

Helm

Use Essence of Horror on an ilvl 84+ Eternal Burgonet with a solid uber lab enchant. Pray to Kuduku to roll a high life roll or an open prefix to master craft on life. Armor base to make rolling RRBB sockets easier, as well as minimizing ES which makes RF hurt us more without providing eHP. Praetor Crown if you need RBBB and don't want to spend hundreds of chromatics.

This will be used for our totem set up.

Helm Enchant

Options include:

RF AOE 12%
Firestorm AOE 12%
Firestorm Duration 30%
Flame Surge Dmg Against Burning 60%
Purity of Fire Reservation 20%

Gloves

Use Essence of Delirium on high ilvl Crusader Gloves (top tier AR/ES). Pray to Kadaka to roll a high life roll or an open prefix to master craft on life. Using the hybrid base item to make rolling RBBB easier. This will be used for Righteous Fire.

Boots

AR/ES Two-Toned boots with life, movespeed, and jammed with as much res as possible. Since we can't guarantee any res on our helm/gloves due to Essence RNG, we need the extra 40% res from Two-Toned base. May be a lil pricey. This will be used for our Flame Surge single target set up.

Chest

Good 'ol Kaom's Heart. The 500 HP buffs our life pool considerably which makes RF more deadly. The downside of no sockets is circumvented thanks to the main synergy of build, Hierophant+Essences.

Alternatives include Belly of the Beast which would add immense flexibility and utility with extra sockets (between CWDT, golem, Blashpemy, etc). Wouldn't even need to be 5L or 6L.

Rings

Kaom's Way provides 4% phys reduction and 3% life regen. Hard to beat.

Could use a second Kaom's Way for even more regen, but the build desperately needs sources of resistance. An Unset Ring also provides a invaluable socket. For the Unset Ring, Life+Res are top priorities. Using Anger Essences on Unset Rings you find may net your some needed bonus Fire Damage if you get lucky.

Amulet

Marble Amulet for obvious life regen. More life, more res. Also a candidate for Anger Essences. Cannot verify if wiki is accurate regarding where these can be farmed. I've had no luck so far and assume it's full of false positives due to Rogue Exiles bypassing the zone drop restrictions.

Belt

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Life+Res. Standard fair. Can easily get 120+ life. Reduced Flask Charges Used is VERY strong and should be sought after if resistances are in order. Flask Effect Duration is an acceptable alternative. Giving extra utility to Ruby Flasks can be a life saver and make minus max/vulnerability/reduced regen mods on maps "doable" with RF on. Corrupted +1 Endurance Charges for more Kaom's Way synergy is BIS, but a belt with 130+ Life is just fine.

MH and Shield

Standard fair for RF. RotP for Max Fire Res. Doryani's Catalyst for solid stats that scale everything we want to do. Alternative MH's want Attack Speed (for Leap Slam), Cast Speed, Fire Damage, Spell Damage/Added Fire Damage to Spells. Hard to beat Doryani's value and price though.

One alternative is if you have a lvl 21 PoF and use a +2 Fire Sceptre to get another 1% max res. I feel a +3 Fire Sceptre gives up too much damage and likely doesn't beat Doryani's.

General Gear Notes

Since RotP and Purity of Fire and Two-Toned Boots provide considerable Fire Res, this is the least important resistance to get on gear. Only one piece will need a mid tier roll (23% Fire Res to hit 88% cap with lvl 20 PoF and perfect res RotP, 57% Fire Res to hit Ele Weakness cap). Cold and Lightning, on the other hand, will need to be on most of your rares and as such should be valued much higher. Endurance charges do add 28% res, but it's not always a guarantee to be up.

Dexterity is nice but not required. Faster Attacks on Leap Slam is a huge QOL but has VERY high Dex requirements. Get it if you can, but don't gimp other stats.

Mana is extra nice. Sustain is tricky (requires Clarity) and 10% MoM encourages a lil larger pool. Rather not use Mana Flask.

Jewels

Conqueror's Efficiency is a solid choice for better mana sustain.

Rare jewels should have life plus 2-3 of the following:

Tier 1 (applies to all damage)

Inc Damage
Inc Fire Damage
Inc AOE Damage

Tier 2 (applies to Totems and Flame Surge only)

Spell Damage
Spell Damage While Holding a Shield
Cast Speed
Attack/Cast Speed
Cast Speed While Holding a Shield
Cast Speed with Fire Skills

Tier 3 (QOL)

Reduced Mana Costs
%Max Mana
Attack Speed (Leap Slam QOL)
Res (if not capped)
Maybe Totem stuff. Marginal value.

Expect to pay a hefty price for well rolled Jewels.

Gems

Righteous Fire

RBBB. Socket into gloves for 20% AOE from Hierophant and 30% more DOT damage from Essence of Delirium. Support gems are:

Inc Burning Damage
Elemental Focus
Inc AOE

Could go Conc Effect over Inc AOE, but I felt the QOL>Max DPS. Having a leveled one in OH set for some fights would be wise.

Fire Storm Totems

RRBB. Socket into helmet for 20% ele pen from Hierophant and 30% more ele damage from Essence of Horror. Support gems are:

Spell Totem
Faster Casting
Fire Penetration

Despite Hierophant already giving 20% pen, Fire Pen still is BIS for maps or bosses with fire res. Alternatives would be Inc Duration or Elemental Focus. I don't like Ele Focus since some maps you wont have RF up and you rely on totems to burn enemies for bonus damage with Flame Surge.

Hierophant also gives us triple totems. Great for trash/stragglers, but has can be used in parallel with Flame Surge on tough bosses.

Flame Surge

RBBB. Socket into boots for 2% Life Leech from Hierophant. Support gems are:

Faster Casting
Elemental Focus
Fire Penetration

Used almost exclusively for single target and for sustain when in the fray.

Leap Slam

Socket into weapon or shield. Support gems are:

Fortify
Faster Attacks

Typical mobility/movement skill set up. Fortify especially since we're often in melee range. Faster Attacks should not be leveled beyond what your Dex can support.

Auras/Curse

Socket into whatever Leap Slam isn't (MH or shield). Auras are Purity of Fire (min lvl 20) and highest lvl Clarity. Elemental Weakness or Enfeeble for a curse in last socket. Could drop Clarity for Blasphemy, but I find the Mana regen is needed and not enough sockets to run both.

Enduring Cry

Socket into Unset Ring. Can be switched around with curse, so whatever makes your socket colors work. Only way to keep up Endurance Charges. I favor Endurance Charge Duration passives on tree VERY highly to avoid these dropping off accidentally.

Final Gem Notes

Build needs 2x Faster Casting, Elemental Focus, and Fire Penetration. Leveling up extras in OH set to roll over to 20q or Vaal is a good idea. Also 21/20 on Firestorm and Flame Surge is a solid DPS bump, so do the same for those.

Faster Casting, Inc Burning Damage, and Flame Surge get most value from quality. Rest mostly give %Inc Damage, which is still strong due to low %Inc Damage on tree/gear.

The build is modular in what gems you want to use, even if you want to run RF. Flame Blast may make a better totem skill for you or something more ranged friendly than Flame Surge.

A lightning centric build using Orb of Storms in gloves, Arc/Spark Totems, and self cast Tendrils/Storm Call would be doable with adjustments to tree. Maybe RF with Orb of Storms in gloves.

Or some sort of ice build using Vortex, Frostbolt, etc could be a lot of fun.

Biggest considerations for adjustments is whether AOE nodes are useful (Arc/Spark don't gain bonus from AOE, but Storm Call/Orb of Storms do). Those can be respec'd if necessary. Arsonist's 40% fire damage does little for cold/lightning specs obviously. That 1% regen can be made up elsewhere.

Leveling

Level as a generic caster. Fire Trap, Flame Totem, Spark, the works. Fill up Templar start and take the Templar starting %Ele Damage nodes right at the start (leading to Retribution over the life/mana regen. Reverse these once you are running RF.

After filling out Templar, head for Witch AOE nodes. Then Marauder for regen/max res. Last are extra Endurance Charges and finishing any life clusters you may have missed.

After you complete normal lab and have taken Illuminated Devotion Ascendancy node for pseudo 5L's, you have a few options. Go full lightning with Orb of Storms in gloves, Spark in Helm, Herald of Lightning/Ice in boots. Or stick with fire and some combination of Firestorm + Fire Trap + Flame Totem. If you go for the latter, then definitely take Explosive Impact. Cannot be emphasized how big a power jump completing normal lab is.

Too many ele dmg nodes, so don't go Blade Fall or Blade Vortex or Chaos Degen routes in my opinion.

For Cruel Lab take Pursuit of Faith. No real value gained.

For Merciless Lab take Ritual of Awakening for triple totem goodness.

Build really starts to come together at this point. Firestorm should transition to Spell Totem in helmet. Once you can sustain and have right gear, start using Righteous Fire.

For Uber Lab take Divine Guidance. Marginal value, but makes mana sustain much easier. 10% MoM adds a solid amount of eHP. Argument could be made for Conviction of Power for Endurance Charge generation (and Power Charges for triggering Elemental Overload), but it seems to weak and unreliable imo. May as well just get used to self casting Enduring Cry.

Pass this point, it's just acquiring the rest of your gear. Kaom's Heart, Kaom's Way, and the helm/gloves will take a while to get/farm.

Last edited by Uruloki on Sep 24, 2016, 1:00:06 AM

Last bumped on Oct 8, 2016, 1:23:38 PM