staff caster templar defensive nodes

With shield u'll naturally get more defense compared to staff, in addition u can massively increase ur defense with shield nodes. U can also get proper block with staff if u'r going for melee, but what the hell shall u gonna do if u'r a staff caster? I only see the option to get the same nodes as staff melee, wasting lot of points for useless melee dmg while not getting defense/resistance boosts from shield nodes. Seems like GGG doesn't want us to go that way or i miss sth. Any suggestions?