[1.2] Lightning Strike Tank - Max Block/Aegis Aurora - Moderately Priced

General idea - This build utilizes Max blocking with Aegis Aurora, high armour, and a generally medium amount of ES to survive. You really don't need more than 1,300ES or so, as you will be blocking so damn much that it rarely depletes. The damage is physical based with the rich using a doryani's, and at level 79 currently is about 10.4k dps. Respectable and can get you through a lot of content.

I had help making this build. I don't think it is anything groundbreaking, and is likely a hodgepodge of similar other builds out there, but I can solo just about anything that doesn't hit stupidly hard and slow.

Current Stats

10,419 DPS
2,748 HP
1,253 ES
Block/SpellBlock 75%/56%
Armour 10,963


Ill keep this simple and just post my gear and general gameplay ideas.

Gear

Gems and Auras

Builds

Bandits


So how does this work in a nutshell?

Find a big ass pack, leap slam right into it, block so much you rarely deplete your ES, and lightning strike everything until it is dead. The fun thing is that since this is purely physical maces, you could just as easily use molten strike, glacial hammer, or even ground slam though I don't like the 80% base damage on that.


If you have mana issues? Use a mana leech gem on your LS.
Life issues? That might be a problem until you can use aegis, but if you are using multistrike and faster attacks like I mentioned, a life on hit gem keeps you going strong pretty well, especially with all the projectiles going off.

I think that about covers it. I know this isn't really unique, but with the setup I have it works well. Doryani's definitely is great if you can afford, but otherwise get a really high damage club or 1-hander mace type.

Have fun with your bashity-bash.

I like the theme of your build - 1H + shield elemental ability tank. I've been trying to achieve something similar with mine, but I'm a poor noob with no uniques and it's my highest level/first char. But I have some questions. These questions are not criticisms, but so that I can understand your thought process and alter my build accordingly. I'm level 67 and have already refunded 24 points. Link of my build below.

1) How does Heavy Strike (tooltip dps, etc.) compare to Lightning Strike, with the passives you've chosen? In my build, Heavy Strike does significantly more damage. Only when I was Avatar of Fire for a bit did Heavy Strike lag behind other abilities.

2) What do you think about Battle Rouse, for mana issues?

3) Wouldn't Spiritual Guardian have been better for higher block chance than Testudo/Iron Wall? It's closer to the Templar start.

4) Does Iron Grip make that big of a difference in damage?

5) Why no Resolute Technique?

6) Why all those Life and Armour nodes instead of going left toward Heart of the Warrior, Diamond Skin, Armour Mastery

7) Instead of your 3 dexterity nodes (+70 dex total), what about getting rid of them and your dex gems. That means no Multistrike and Faster attacks. And instead use Weapon Elemental Damage and Lightning Penetration support gems, since a red/blue sockets would have been easier to get on your 5L? And it might be higher damage.

8) How important is spell block when you have maxed resistances? Aren't you giving up a lot to use the Stone of Lazhwar?

my lvl 67 templar build

http://goo.gl/hCpz7n

"

Lenox2288 wrote:

I like the theme of your build - 1H + shield elemental ability tank. I've been trying to achieve something similar with mine, but I'm a poor noob with no uniques and it's my highest level/first char. But I have some questions. These questions are not criticisms, but so that I can understand your thought process and alter my build accordingly. I'm level 67 and have already refunded 24 points. Link of my build below.

1) How does Heavy Strike (tooltip dps, etc.) compare to Lightning Strike, with the passives you've chosen? In my build, Heavy Strike does significantly more damage. Only when I was Avatar of Fire for a bit did Heavy Strike lag behind other abilities.

2) What do you think about Battle Rouse, for mana issues?

3) Wouldn't Spiritual Guardian have been better for higher block chance than Testudo/Iron Wall? It's closer to the Templar start.

4) Does Iron Grip make that big of a difference in damage?

5) Why no Resolute Technique?

6) Why all those Life and Armour nodes instead of going left toward Heart of the Warrior, Diamond Skin, Armour Mastery

7) Instead of your 3 dexterity nodes (+70 dex total), what about getting rid of them and your dex gems. That means no Multistrike and Faster attacks. And instead use Weapon Elemental Damage and Lightning Penetration support gems, since a red/blue sockets would have been easier to get on your 5L? And it might be higher damage.

8) How important is spell block when you have maxed resistances? Aren't you giving up a lot to use the Stone of Lazhwar?

my lvl 67 templar build

http://goo.gl/hCpz7n

1) Heavy strike with this build will definitely overcome single target DPS over LS, and possibly MS. However I use a quality LS on this character, and that gives the projectiles a passive chance to pierce. MS would just spew the fireballs all over, effectively adding more potential damage per swing.

2) I actually really like battle rouse, and for leveling it might be a good notable to take for the interim. In my current build however I don't have any mana issues, and the mana leech gem on tempest had no multiplier so it was just added utility.

3) Spiritual Guardian and it's circle is great for boosting the ES of your shield. If you have an aegis it is really nice, but that circle only affords 8% block, where the tetsudo section and nearby I was able to squeeze out 12% block and the additional 18% 1H physical damage as well.

4)For iron grip I honestly don't have the numbers. But as I primarily use lightning strike(and its piercing projectiles) and sometimes molten strike, it seemed like spending 1 point on it(as unwavering is required) was a no brainer.

5)For leveling I did actually use resolute, but I rarely miss with the current level 76 build, and it seemed like a large detour for little impact.

6)Simply put, they were too many points to take. Armor and life are important, but max block and physical are a bit more.

7)This is a really good idea. I would love to see how that strategy would work!

8)Remember, if you have an aegis, each block whether or not it is a spell heals your ES. It has saved me many, many times. If you don't want to go that route, try the anvil! It is a very fun unique.

"

finamenon wrote:

"

Lenox2288 wrote:

I like the theme of your build - 1H + shield elemental ability tank. I've been trying to achieve something similar with mine, but I'm a poor noob with no uniques and it's my highest level/first char. But I have some questions. These questions are not criticisms, but so that I can understand your thought process and alter my build accordingly. I'm level 67 and have already refunded 24 points. Link of my build below.

1) How does Heavy Strike (tooltip dps, etc.) compare to Lightning Strike, with the passives you've chosen? In my build, Heavy Strike does significantly more damage. Only when I was Avatar of Fire for a bit did Heavy Strike lag behind other abilities.

2) What do you think about Battle Rouse, for mana issues?

3) Wouldn't Spiritual Guardian have been better for higher block chance than Testudo/Iron Wall? It's closer to the Templar start.

4) Does Iron Grip make that big of a difference in damage?

5) Why no Resolute Technique?

6) Why all those Life and Armour nodes instead of going left toward Heart of the Warrior, Diamond Skin, Armour Mastery

7) Instead of your 3 dexterity nodes (+70 dex total), what about getting rid of them and your dex gems. That means no Multistrike and Faster attacks. And instead use Weapon Elemental Damage and Lightning Penetration support gems, since a red/blue sockets would have been easier to get on your 5L? And it might be higher damage.

8) How important is spell block when you have maxed resistances? Aren't you giving up a lot to use the Stone of Lazhwar?

my lvl 67 templar build

http://goo.gl/hCpz7n

1) Heavy strike with this build will definitely overcome single target DPS over LS, and possibly MS. However I use a quality LS on this character, and that gives the projectiles a passive chance to pierce. MS would just spew the fireballs all over, effectively adding more potential damage per swing.

2) I actually really like battle rouse, and for leveling it might be a good notable to take for the interim. In my current build however I don't have any mana issues, and the mana leech gem on tempest had no multiplier so it was just added utility.

3) Spiritual Guardian and it's circle is great for boosting the ES of your shield. If you have an aegis it is really nice, but that circle only affords 8% block, where the tetsudo section and nearby I was able to squeeze out 12% block and the additional 18% 1H physical damage as well.

4)For iron grip I honestly don't have the numbers. But as I primarily use lightning strike(and its piercing projectiles) and sometimes molten strike, it seemed like spending 1 point on it(as unwavering is required) was a no brainer.

5)For leveling I did actually use resolute, but I rarely miss with the current level 76 build, and it seemed like a large detour for little impact.

6)Simply put, they were too many points to take. Armor and life are important, but max block and physical are a bit more.

7)This is a really good idea. I would love to see how that strategy would work!

8)Remember, if you have an aegis, each block whether or not it is a spell heals your ES. It has saved me many, many times. If you don't want to go that route, try the anvil! It is a very fun unique.

1) OK, that makes sense. I had heard of people doing Heavy Strike + Melee Splash. I wonder how the AoE damage on that compares to your Lightning Strike setup and my Molten Strike setup.

2) I didn't know the mana leech gem existed. But that makes sense. We have different routes to sustaining our mana pools. I still have 14 dex. Lol.

3) Fair enough. I forgot you have a nice unique.

4) Makes sense. You were already on that side of the tree. I've recently attached Iron Grip to Molten Strike and noticed my group clearing became much easier.

5) What's your hit chance on your level 76 build?

6) I ran some numbers. It's actually not as clear cut as I thought, so perhaps your five passives are good for what you're trying to do.

Current (5 passves @ Marauder start):

+16 to max life
13% increased max life
40% increased armour

Proposed #1:

+30 to max life (35 from str)
12% max life
+10 str (5 max life; 2% inc melee physical dmg)
32% increased armour

Proposed #2:

50% increased armour
2% increased move speed
+10 str (5 max life; 2% inc melee phys dmg)
12% max life

7) Yeah, I guess that'd be too significant a change to just do a on a whim. It's the route I'm going, so we'll see.

8) I forgot, uniques. I'm still poor. Haha. And my level 68 Templar keeps my lower level alts fed.

Apparently my accuracy is quite dismal at 62%! This is quite confusing as it doesn't seem like I miss that much at all. If this is an issue, I would definitely recommend either resolute technique to get you near the mace circle, or adding Versatility in the Marauder start area.

"

finamenon wrote:

Apparently my accuracy is quite dismal at 62%! This is quite confusing as it doesn't seem like I miss that much at all. If this is an issue, I would definitely recommend either resolute technique to get you near the mace circle, or adding Versatility in the Marauder start area.

I have RT and all those mace nodes. If your chance to hit is really 62%, you should test out putting on gear with accuracy on it and/or putting in an accuracy support gem. I wonder how big a dps boost you will receive. For me, across various characters, I saw massive dps boosts when moving toward 90% chance to hit.

i really like the idea of this build, do you think you could put up a normal skill tree however? poebuilder always comes up blank for me :(

Thanks

"

lDantonl wrote:

i really like the idea of this build, do you think you could put up a normal skill tree however? poebuilder always comes up blank for me :(

Thanks

"

Lenox2288 wrote:

"

lDantonl wrote:

i really like the idea of this build, do you think you could put up a normal skill tree however? poebuilder always comes up blank for me :(

Thanks

Builds

Level 76

Level 94

Thank you for the help Lenox!

This looks awesome
I'm using dual cybil's claw dual wielding block nodes for an incinerator and its not working well.

I'd really like to go cybils/aegis while keeping incinerate for my damage.

Could you help me mull up a passive tree for this? :)