My Vision of a Templar (help choosing build)

So there I sat at the character creation screen, running PoE for the first time. I poured over the choices and the Templar called to me, seeming to be a balanced character, more or less. What I expected was a mostly melee character, with average DPS, good utility (optional), and above average survivability. What I have found seems to be a complicated mess.

I blundered around the skill tree, not knowing my choices were permanent, and made some terrible choices. At this point I realize that it's time to re-roll, but I still have my original vision for what a Templar is.

My question then, is this realistic? Am I going to see these results from any Templar build, or should I look into other classes? I would see myself in chain/ringmail str/int armor with a 2H staff or mace.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

CONGRATULATIONS!! As a Templar player myself I would like to congratulate you on joining us brethren, I warn you not to stray from god, he will show us Templar the way.

First thing you need to know about us Templar is that we love our elemental damage, and our area of effect, when it comes to having 2-3 or even 4 auras, god has blessed us with our amazing ability to have them with ease.

Our preferred weapon is the staff, with our staff we strike down our foes in the name of god with ease with out sweep ability, but god has blessed us with more then just our brute strength and devotion, he has granted us with an innate magical ability, we easily wield a wand and wield it well with power siphon. With a mace we hold the true might of god, by dealing his harsh cold vengeance with glacial hammer or his wrath by striking down a personal blow from the heavens with a lightning strike.

But you say you want to strike gods foes down with ease, to punish them face to face and show the sinners the true nature of gods wrath with a mace or staff? Here, hold up you weapon brethren for we are going to take down gods enemies in a single sweep.

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgUAAecEswUtBVsPVBQgFE0UcRjbGjgaVRv6IWAl3ylPKaUxnjIJNZI26DrYPAVAoEGqRHJFjkbXR35KfUrITdhN404qUEdW-livWfNbr2BLYG1hIWSjZU1noGxGbmluqnJscql07XTxeA1673y7fNl89YKbgziExITZhO-Haod2iPGKIop0i4yMdpBVkGyTB52Anrmfy5_fogCkGaZXpzCnhKloqW6plKxZrKq18rdyvTm-p8APwBrApsDzxLjFitE20k3V-N0N4XPsOO0g73zwH_cy97746_zF_o8=

But if it not through brute strength you wish to do gods bidding, then maybe let gods power flow through you, and let his magic gifts flow though your fingers like no other. Let gods might surge through you and become like the earth benieth your feet. Hold up your mace and shield and push forward with not letting a single blow to you leave a scratch.

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgUAhMREckA2I020-fAfBLOiAIFvnjxN2Ix2OtjsOBo4p4SQVcAaWfNmnqyq-tJyqXB9HRR82fcyqZWAVo9GTDX46xoyT33Q0CjFQapRYM9l874UcVXGpzAB5_e-FCA26FBHWK94Db6KqW4B3NE2bEakGXJsG_oyCSXfhNllTW5pWNu-p1Pf0k2bg6yvwA-E7-eRdO3DhnrvYEsFLUCgIWCeuXTxGNtbr90N_MVW-meg7g50QYd2Gtt310p918t_K7fT1oo94kjuG6218m6qSsg1kv6PTeOmVzGerFmI8Q==

"

ACUSPoE wrote:

But you say you want to strike gods foes down with ease, to punish them face to face and show the sinners the true nature of gods wrath with a mace or staff? Here, hold up you weapon brethren for we are going to take down gods enemies in a single sweep.

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgUAAecEswUtBVsPVBQgFE0UcRjbGjgaVRv6IWAl3ylPKaUxnjIJNZI26DrYPAVAoEGqRHJFjkbXR35KfUrITdhN404qUEdW-livWfNbr2BLYG1hIWSjZU1noGxGbmluqnJscql07XTxeA1673y7fNl89YKbgziExITZhO-Haod2iPGKIop0i4yMdpBVkGyTB52Anrmfy5_fogCkGaZXpzCnhKloqW6plKxZrKq18rdyvTm-p8APwBrApsDzxLjFitE20k3V-N0N4XPsOO0g73zwH_cy97746_zF_o8=

But if it not through brute strength you wish to do gods bidding, then maybe let gods power flow through you, and let his magic gifts flow though your fingers like no other. Let gods might surge through you and become like the earth benieth your feet. Hold up your mace and shield and push forward with not letting a single blow to you leave a scratch.

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgUAhMREckA2I020-fAfBLOiAIFvnjxN2Ix2OtjsOBo4p4SQVcAaWfNmnqyq-tJyqXB9HRR82fcyqZWAVo9GTDX46xoyT33Q0CjFQapRYM9l874UcVXGpzAB5_e-FCA26FBHWK94Db6KqW4B3NE2bEakGXJsG_oyCSXfhNllTW5pWNu-p1Pf0k2bg6yvwA-E7-eRdO3DhnrvYEsFLUCgIWCeuXTxGNtbr90N_MVW-meg7g50QYd2Gtt310p918t_K7fT1oo94kjuG6218m6qSsg1kv6PTeOmVzGerFmI8Q==

My "first attempt" was something very similar to the first build linked, but I made some deviations that I think will hurt me in the long run. I'm not sure if this was salvageable or not. What abilities would be complimentary to this path? The next time around I'm going to stay out of the elemental specializations to provide more flexibility.

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgUABVsPVDdHRHJG113GeuZ9U4TEinSK5IuMkweb7K9stobFit3z4XPtIA==

Thanks you very much for the builds. I will study them in detail and I'm sure I will have more questions.

Well spoken brethren, but seriously Templar is actually really good with elemental damage, it has the best passive nodes possible for any class to acquire and is a very tanky and versatile class, If this is the progression you have experienced so far then its perfectly fine for you to continue through out the rest of the game, many of the quest rewards you will start seeing will reward respec points so no need to keep your build solid from level one, you can always take it back. I suggest you GO into the elemental damage and use it with some solid auras like Anger and Hatred.. make sure you have some good mana regeneration and put on clarity for starters until you find a good blood magic gem, then you can run two auras at once, the ones you would probably want to run would be as said before Anger and Hatred, with those auras and the elemental weapon and elemental damage nodes will amplify enormously, Elemental Templar have gotten some nerfs in the newest patch but they are still strong still, With your gear i would focus on getting as much armor as possible in order of stat roll priorities you should be first looking for elemental resistance, then base life, then random bits of elemental and physical ad-dons (such as 1-4 physical or 4-6 fire damage, with the nodes of elemental damage they will be amplified and scale with the gear.

The second build is a lot more tanky and is preferred for hardcore builds, the first one is higher in damage and uses 2 handers

As a new person to PoE I actually suggest you start off on a hardcore league, pushing yourself harder and harder will make you a better player and will make you better understand why some builds are better than others and what makes your build better, you make mistakes and die and learn from them. Adding a competitive nature to the way you play makes you on edge consistently and makes you A MAN!!! it also teaches you lessons that you can translate though the later portion of your gameplay

I would need at least ten refund points to "fix" my build as it sits. From what I have read you get a total of 18 through the three difficulties combined, so it would be a lot faster to level another Templar to this point rather than play through the whole game with some useless points.

I've also been looking over the quest rewards, trying to figure out what the best choices are. Assuming I'm going with an elemental 2h build, is there anything on there that wasn't mentioned above that is a must have, or should be avoided?

http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Quest_Rewards

Looking through Act I, it seems that these gems would be desirable:
Ground Slam
Heavy Strike
Sweep
Infernal Blow
Anger
Weapon Elemental Damage

Am I on the right path here? It seems that I should also be hoarding red sockets too, since none of these are INT gems. Logic would dictate I should avoid INT gear for a build such as this, since it won't have as big of an effect as armor, elemental damage, and strength, correct?

Edit: It's not possible to get Heavy Strike, Sweep, AND Infernal Blow. Which of these three should be dropped? I think I have IB on my "broken" Templar, so I could just carry that over if true.

Sounds good, yeah act 1 norm does give some OK skills if your looking for an elemental Templar getting any combination of the three DPS elemental auras with reduced mana support gem would be preferable

I suggest looking for these gems for a good 2H build
(((
///
Sweep--weapon elemental--lifeleach--bloodmagic (for multiple targets)
OR
Infernal Blow_Melee Splash_ Multistrike_ Life leach_Blood magic (for deadly fire multi-target damage)
///
2x(Hatred, Anger, Wrath)-reduced mana (Your two elemental damage auras)
Warlords mark (livability and sustainability)
Enduring cry (livability)
Heavy strike--multi_strike--Weapon elemental-Blood magic (Single target)
Leap slam (mobility and entry)
)))
Make sure you have lots of health so you can basically spam those skills with blood magic gem, and enough regen to make up for it so you never have to worry about mana issues and you can just run two auras instead.

There isn't any specific (INT) gear out there, gear is basically Armor, Evasion, and Energy Shield as well as any possible two combinations of the both, I suggest you run good armor based gear but you should be fine with the Armor Energy shield mix as a Templar.. avoid evasion... Templar doesn't support that very well at all.

Its up to you, just pick whichever skill you think you would be best to utilize and make it work, as long as you have the will to force if you can make any build work :)

Sounds good, I'll keep an eye out for those skills. Thanks for the help, this is the exact build I've been looking for, and I'm really excited to get back on the right path.

This has been going pretty well, but I'm having a really hard time finding a good staff to use. Most seem centered around spellcasting and intelligence. Am I just having bad luck with the drops, or will I need to use crafting items to make a staff into what I need?

I'm wondering now if I shouldn't have put the points into staff buffs since this seems to greatly limit my weapon choice, and have done this instead:

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgUAAecEswUtBVsPVBQgFE0UcRjbGjgaVRv6IWAl3ylPKaUxnjIJNZI26DrYPAVAoEGqRHJG10d-Sn1KyE3YTeNOKlBHVvpYr1nzW69gS2BtYSFko2VNZ6BsRm5pbqpybHKpdO108XgNeu98u3zZfPWCm4M4hMSE2YTvh2qHdojxiiKKdIuMjHaQVZBsnYCeuZ_Ln9-iAKQZplenMKeEqWipbqmUrFmsqrXyvqfAD8AawKbA88S4xYrRNtJN1fjdDeFz7DjtIO988B_3Mve--Ov8xf6P5K3ewWdYGek=

I guess it wouldn't be the end of the world to have points in both, since we're only talking about four.

Another issue, at level 23 I can't seem to equip any more staves. I've taken all the INT nodes in this build that were pointed out, but I only have 33 INT. Even the staffs at the vendor (level 23) require 43 INT. I'm really concerned at this point because the wiki shows (http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Staff) the INT requirements for staves skyrocketing to over 100. Should I be looking for INT gear to make up for this? I've been focusing on armor, elemental damage, and the like since I'm not really casting any spells.