Want to make a molten shell + tempest shield Templar. What will round it out?

Hrm... I was really banking on that block chance lasting the whole game, simply because the next highest block on any shield is going to be 9% lower... that being said, I suppose that's really only about 1 block cluster, so it's not necessarily worth building around perandus just for that.


The shield that interests me by far the most is Aegis Aurora, because of the energy shield replenished on block. That would require me to really work towards pumping up my armor stat. Assuming I could get my armor to 4K, which seems doable, I'd have 75% chance to block attacks, 46.5% chance to block spells, and I'd gain 160 ES every time I blocked anything. This would also cause granite flasks to replenish even more ES, which would definitely help with survivability.


Regarding crits dropping health like a stone, it sounds like it would in fact be worth grabbing those nodes near the Marauder's starting location that reduce crit damage taken. Thoughts?

Im looking at making a high block templar in the future. I am also planning on using Perandus for the obvious reasons but since, as you also point out, you can make up the extra block pretty easily I would also probably end up using Aegis Aurora. The spell block shield also looks useful whenever your fighting against alot of spell damage creatures.

I wonder about that. For chaos damage casters it would definitely be worth having on weapon swap, but for other elements, I wouldnt be surprised if the energy shield gain on aegis aurora combined with high elemental resistances would be more effective. This is, of course, assuming you're using the Stone of Lazhwar.

My templar has grown quite a bit since my last post and I must say I am quite happy with the build. The increased area effect on molten shell really does start to become noticeable after a while, which is why I'm not using concentrated effects.

My equipment is utter garbage for the most part (around 850 armor at level 61!) but thanks to my crest of perandus and block centered build, I have 75% chance to block and 46% chance to block spells, which provides quite a bit of survivability. I rarely die, although there are occasional close calls because my equipment is so inadequate.


I pretty much gave up on using shield bash because of lack of a good weapon as well as desync issues. Basically my arc totem is good enough to the point that I prefer my weapon to benefit spell damage.




From here what I want to do is pair molten shell with mana leech (I had to take a 30 dex node to get enough dex to use it), since right now I run out of mana far too easily, and molten shell will do wonders when I'm hitting 6+ enemies for 2K fire damage.

Then on another 4 slot equipment piece, I want to have tempest shield linked with culling, item rarity, and item quantity. I figure that since I block so often, including spells, it'll do a great job at finishing off enemies.

As for arc, I was thinking it might be worth picking up the static blows cluster, since arc already has a 10% chance to shock (20% at max quality), I'd be upping my damage output considerably, especially with added cast speed.



Beyond that, I really want to get Aurora Aegis for this build, though I've never even seen it linked in game. On a build that blocks this often, the energy shield replenishment will do wonders for survivability.

I never bothered picking up 2 totems because my mana pool cant support it. Not sure if that will change.




Anyway, very happy with this build.

Just keeps getting better.

I just managed to 5L my armor, so now I have molten shell, mana leech, iron will, fire penetration, and life leech linked together. I mostly dont even need to heal unless I'm up against magic/rare/unique mobs, and my mana sustains itself quite nicely. I also have a dagger with a total of 169% global crit chance, in which I have arc, iron will, and mana leech, and my mana pool can be sustained as long as I'm hitting multiple targets with it.


What really changed my build for the better is pairing tempest shield with elemental proliferation, critical strike chance, and iron will, which I learned from the build of the week video featuring the tempest shield ranger. It basically turns my tempest shield into a shock generating machine, increasing the damage that all enemies around me take.


Here is my passive build as it stands:



I am level 70, so I have 2 free points at the moment, which will probably go into block nodes when I upgrade from perandus to rathpith.




Ultimately I'd really like this build to use Aegis Aurora, but supposedly one hasnt even dropped on default yet, so that will have to wait until open beta I guess. The build's main weakness is of course caster mobs with no physical damage dealing enemies around, since nothing will pop molten shell. Reflect elemental damage is manageable as long as I dont surround myself with 15 monsters and pop. Tanky rare mobs that are immune to curses can be quite a pain if they dont deal any physical damage, but those are so far and few in between that I clear maps just fine.

Running into the middle of everything and blowing up and tanking up damage like a boss is very satisfying for me. Any thoughts on the passive tree?

Some possibilities for further points:

* Amplify AoE passive in templar start is ripe for the picking

* 2x 12% life nodes near "Bloodles" and 1x near "Golem's Blood"

* The life regeneration on endurance charge node will give you 1.2% regen with 6 charges and give you access to 50% crit damage

* The "Bloodthrist" crit/damage cluster at the top

Couple of points:
i) Amplify is very nice.
ii) I don't understand why don't take Elementalist. On the same note, it's only one point to the Body and Soul notable. I guess you are so tanky that you don't need it though.
iii) Is the whole detour to the sixth endurance charge & Unwavering Stance even worth it? You get those two notables plus a whole bunch of +str which helps with damage, but not much else.
iv) I am also wondering if going for Whispers of Doom (or alternatively using Doedre's Damning) would be feasible for this build - to combine elemental weakness with Conductivity/Flammability or even critical weakness.
v) Inner force seems nice. I still have lvl 40something molten shell templar laying around, will probably test it.

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FriarJon wrote:

Some possibilities for further points:

* Amplify AoE passive in templar start is ripe for the picking

* 2x 12% life nodes near "Bloodles" and 1x near "Golem's Blood"

* The life regeneration on endurance charge node will give you 1.2% regen with 6 charges and give you access to 50% crit damage

* The "Bloodthrist" crit/damage cluster at the top

I took the amplify AoE passive because increased area for molten core gives me so much more wiggle room with molten shell. I took the 12% life passive near golem's blood, and I'll definitely keep the ones near bloodless in mind. I hadnt noticed those before. While I do think this build couldnt benefit from crit multiplier, I'm not sure I want to take the life regen endurance nodes passive, because it seems like a waste when I can get 1.5% regen passive from troll's blood. That being said, it's probably my only option. My instinct is to skip the bloodthirst cluster because it focuses on crit chance, which isnt terribly helpful for this build.

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WearyWanderer wrote:

Couple of points:
i) Amplify is very nice.
ii) I don't understand why don't take Elementalist. On the same note, it's only one point to the Body and Soul notable. I guess you are so tanky that you don't need it though.
iii) Is the whole detour to the sixth endurance charge & Unwavering Stance even worth it? You get those two notables plus a whole bunch of +str which helps with damage, but not much else.
iv) I am also wondering if going for Whispers of Doom (or alternatively using Doedre's Damning) would be feasible for this build - to combine elemental weakness with Conductivity/Flammability or even critical weakness.
v) Inner force seems nice. I still have lvl 40something molten shell templar laying around, will probably test it.

Elementalist is 2 points away for 10% increased damage and 10 intelligence, which doesnt seem worth it to me, given the other things I could spend points on.

I actually do have the body and soul notable, so I'm not sure why that wasnt included in my link. Weird. Definitely worth getting. The other body and soul node requires a 6 point investment for the cluster, which isnt quite worth it to me.

Regarding the 6th endurance charge and unwavering stance, the 6th endurance charge is just kind of on the way, and unwavering stance is very useful IMO. I havent tried it, but I'd imagine that it would be very disruptive to have casts interrupted while tanking 10+ monsters at once.

2 curses might be helpful, especially for those pesky mobs that dont do physical damage (cant pop molten shell), and also have innate high resistances. I'd opt for the ring rather than spending the extra passive points to get there though.

Regarding inner force, I dont think it would increase anything for molten shell other than the armor bonus. The damage would be unaffected.

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BRavich wrote:

Regarding inner force, I dont think it would increase anything for molten shell other than the armor bonus. The damage would be unaffected.

Correct. Inner Force only effects the armor bonus for Molten Shell. Remember, it will also improve flask buffs like the armor from granites. Auras as well. What auras are you using?