2-Handed LS Templar Badass Build

Let me know what you think. The build is made for no specific weapon. If you have one you want to use, you can take a lot of the specific weapon things along the way.

The reason I didn't is because I wanted to take Resolute Technique; and a lot of the weapon specific trees waste points on Accuracy; also it allows for more flexibility while leveling and when finding loot.

There are 32 points left over, which could be used to run up towards the Witch tree and take the Lightning dmg passives up there... Or you can take 7 of them and go towards Iron Grip for the projectile damage. [EDIT: Armor Master is also a few steps away, which may be helpful]

I opted to take more of the Physical Dmg specs because the way LS works is 50% of your physical damage is converted to Lightning Dmg; so more physical dmg is more raw lightning dmg. I'm not sure which is more optimal, but I'm not overly concerned about min/max.



If there are any necessary things I missed let me know and feel free to re-work it as you see fit.

i don't think unwavering stance is worth the long way down and like all builds that focus on just one type of magic damage: what do you do when you have an enemy resistent to lightning damage? the resistence decreasing curses are quite mana expensive for a melee champ

I'm going to disagree with Arbaros here, or at least play devil's advocate for the sake of hearing more opinions.

As I play with my 2h (staff) templar, I realize that doing things such as re-casting molten shell or swinging a slow weapon can be challenging when swarmed by a large mob. With an evasion rating so low, I think that the losses from unwavering stance are small in comparison to the gains. No stun means that your attacks cannot be interrupted, right?

Additionally, you've got Berserking, and a good 2h group down there next to unwavering stance.

Finally (and a question for OP) why did you stray away from blood magic? From my perspective, your build has a lot of health, and not very much mana to begin with. Since you are already there, it seems like it would be worth picking up.

@MeanMug:

There are a few problems with your build:

First of all, melee modifiers (+% melee damage) will only apply to the initial hit on your target and not the Lightning-Strike-projectiles (the game treats them like arrows from a bow).
But those projectiles will be the bulk of your dps.

On the other hand passive modifiers which increase the damage of a specific weapon (for example +8% damage with maces) WILL apply to the projectiles (note that those nodes don't mention "melee" anywhere).

So avoid any passives which explicitly say "melee" (this includes those that say "increases 2H melee") and focus on one specific weapon type instead.

Secondly, try to avoid elemental damage. It only applies to 50% of the damage for LS, while +weapon damage (like +% mace damage) apply to all of the LS damage (note: if you use a weapon which mainly does lightning damage for some reason, the elemental nodes will be more worthwhile, but most weapons will mainly do physical damage).
One exception is Catalyze because of its huge modifier (30%).

Consider working towards Iron Grip, because the LS-projectiles do not benefit from your strength out of the box (remember those are projectiles, just like arrows from a bow).
Iron Grip will change that and because you are far down in the marauder tree, you will have a significant amount of strength.

Consider taking Resolute Technique, because Templars don't have good accuracy and you would have to invest many skillpoints into crit-increasing nodes to make it worthwhile (and it is on the way to a nice cluster of +mace damage, if you consider using maces).

TL;DR:
Don't use +% melee damage modifiers AT ALL they don't apply to the projectiles.
Use nodes which add physical damage for a specific weapon type instead, those are not melee specific and will apply to the projectiles.
Try to avoid elemental modifiers (only take them if they are on your path any way), those only apply to 50% of the damage.
Consider taking Iron Grip for a significant boost in projectile damage which will be your main DPS.
Consider taking Resolute Technique.

Source: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/65351 and http://en.pathofexilewiki.com/wiki/Lightning_Strike

Here is an example for a 2H mace LS templar:

Chrisguitar; Thanks a lot for your input. I didn't know any of that stuff about the projectiles and melee damage modifiers. Iron Grip sounds like it's pretty clutch, and I definitely need to grab that.

Pangolin; I strayed from Blood Magic because I just have no experience using it. Also this build has no use for Energy Shield, so I figured keeping that health pool up would be vital.
The build has 60% mana regen; I don't know if that would be enough to roll around with late game, but my plan was to gear up +mana items and take that Aura (don't know the name offhand) that gives you x amount of mana per second.



Thanks for the great information guys. This is only my second character; and I figured I'd post it here because I have a feeling I made a lot of similar mistakes due to a lack of knowledge on my Shadow as well. I'll take some time and consider the wealth of knowledge gained here to try and build a more viable character.

Thanks again.

@Chrisguitar ; I'm actually realizing my ENTIRE BUILD was based on doing the exact things you told me not to. (elemental damage, and melee weapon damage).


I like that build you posted, but I noticed that you avoided all of the mana regen nodes and also didn't take Blood Magic. How would that character be able to cast LS so often ?

The mana-costs of LS aren't very high: http://en.pathofexilewiki.com/wiki/Lightning_Strike

They will be increased by skill-modifying gems, but even if you have like 250% increased mana costs through gems, it won't be far more than 30-40 mana per hit.
I'm not there yet, but i think together with the 40% increased mana regeneration node it can be handled by 2 mana flasks.

But maybe i'm wrong here, does anyone have endgame experiences with the mana cost of LS?

Here is my HEAVILY REVISED 2H LS Templar. I took your advice and strayed away from the Melee Dmg nodes and went with the Staff damage. (No particular reason, just looks coolest IMO)

I plan on using my re-spec points to take away all of the elemental dmg / mana regen nodes later on, and investing those skill points in either more Life Regen, or Staff Dmg; but for leveling early game they have proven to be extremely useful.

Also, blood magic is right there, so if i want to make the change from mana to blood (if my life is regenerating at a rate I'm comfortable with) that option is always on the table for just 1 skill point.

"

chrisguitar wrote:

@MeanMug:

There are a few problems with your build:

First of all, melee modifiers (+% melee damage) will only apply to the initial hit on your target and not the Lightning-Strike-projectiles (the game treats them like arrows from a bow).
But those projectiles will be the bulk of your dps.

On the other hand passive modifiers which increase the damage of a specific weapon (for example +8% damage with maces) WILL apply to the projectiles (note that those nodes don't mention "melee" anywhere).

Hey buddy,

I am a bit confused by this (as are many i suppose). How would a "melee damage" modifier not increase the damage of the LS? A portion of the LS, after all, is based off of how hard the initial melee hit is. If you strike harder with your weapon of choice, the % of lightning damage should increase? Below is a quote from the POE Wiki stating that projectiles will do 70% of the full wep damage. So those melee dmg modifiers will increase the total melee dmg, which will in turn increase the projectile dmg. Or am i wrong?

"When the melee attack is made, three lightning projectiles will shoot out in a ~85 degree arc, traveling in a straight line until they strike an enemy. Unmodified projectiles will do 70% of full weapon damage, of which 50% is physical and 50% is lightning damage (the bolts benefit from added damage, e.g. as from aura's), against any target struck."

-Thanks

The wiki isn't accurate regarding melee damage modifiers here.

At least according to the guys in this thread http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/65351 who tested it.

It makes sense if you think about it:

The LS-Projectiles are treated as projectiles, just like arrows from a bow (like i said before).

While distributing skillpoints you now have to think about what passives would actually increase arrow damage.
Nodes which explicitly state "added melee damage" wouldn't increase arrow damage and thus won't increase LS-projectile damage.