[1.0.5] Lightning Strike Staff Crit Templar Build - 17k+ DPS - Dual Curse

NOW UPDATED TO 1.0.5+

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivbaAbGUsD0

Current (lvl 88) Build:


Endgame plan:


Leveling Guide
Remember that you do not need to follow this guide exactly, if you feel you need to get things in a different order, do it. If you don't need the +30 stat nodes, don't get them.


Skills:
Lightning Strike 20%
Weapon Elemental Damage
Faster Attacks
Multistrike
Added Fire
Life Leech

Auras:
Discipline
Clarity
Wrath
Hatred (If you have enough mana)

Curses:
Elemental Weakness
Critical Weakness
Enfeeble
Temporal Chains
Projectile Weakness (Solo only)

Bandit Rewards
Normal: Oak +40HP
Cruel: Oak +18% Physical Damage
Merciless: None +1 Passive Skill Point

My Gear


If anyone is interested, my weapon for this build is available for mirror. It's the highest DPS melee staff on the forums and is also 6linked. PM me on the forums and msg me in game.


Not for sale!

yea cool guide :)

why u use a staff?^^ its possible with every type weapon? wouldnd be daggers the best choice?

"

trashs1 wrote:

yea cool guide :)

why u use a staff?^^ its possible with every type weapon? wouldnd be daggers the best choice?

I prefer 2h weapons for a few reasons. I can get the 70% crit chance from the 2H crit nodes by Templar, I can run a Kaom's Heart since my links are in my weapon, and with a Staff I can get the 70% crit 40% multiplier from the staff crit nodes at the top of the tree.

Great build mate and a very well done video !

@Tyronis3:
As far as I can tell, this is a pretty solid build man! I had a mid-level templar with a stack of free points from the most recent skill reset, and I decided to follow your spec. So far I'm crushing through merciless solo, level 54, and loving it.

What I like:
The life leech from LS is incredible.
Using a staff. What a pimp.
Simplicity: One attack. Lots of auras, A couple curses. Room for creativity/personalization.
Reflect ele doesn't seem to hurt too much. At least not yet. Do you notice any issues with reflect in maps?
Cheap gear: I'm poor, but I can afford this build.

A couple thoughts:
In your 6-link, why not lightning penetration instead of added fire damage? I haven't done the calcs, but it seems like that would probably help cut resistances, esp. if you are using projectile weakness instead of elemental weakness.
A random idea: I've been playing a lot with supports like blind and flee. These skills stack really well with fast/multiple hits, and could significantly improve survivability in tough maps. Might drop your damage a couple points, but would allow you to stand in a crowd and never stop swinging if everything was blinded (75% lesser chance to hit you).

"

pangolin1247 wrote:

@Tyronis3:
As far as I can tell, this is a pretty solid build man! I had a mid-level templar with a stack of free points from the most recent skill reset, and I decided to follow your spec. So far I'm crushing through merciless solo, level 54, and loving it.

What I like:
The life leech from LS is incredible.
Using a staff. What a pimp.
Simplicity: One attack. Lots of auras, A couple curses. Room for creativity/personalization.
Reflect ele doesn't seem to hurt too much. At least not yet. Do you notice any issues with reflect in maps?
Cheap gear: I'm poor, but I can afford this build.

A couple thoughts:
In your 6-link, why not lightning penetration instead of added fire damage? I haven't done the calcs, but it seems like that would probably help cut resistances, esp. if you are using projectile weakness instead of elemental weakness.
A random idea: I've been playing a lot with supports like blind and flee. These skills stack really well with fast/multiple hits, and could significantly improve survivability in tough maps. Might drop your damage a couple points, but would allow you to stand in a crowd and never stop swinging if everything was blinded (75% lesser chance to hit you).

Ele reflect hurts a lot when you get high dmg, especially if you are doing an Ele reflect map. When dealing with reflect I enfeeble everything and then try to only attack a few mobs at once rather than the whole pack. Also, for reflect maps I replace added fire with reduced mana just to cut my DPS a bit. Multistrike is a bit dangerous against reflect since you commit 3 attacks, which can end up killing you since you can't interrupt the 3 attacks.

You could run lightning pen and it might be better, I did some calculations and Added Fire gives ~2600 dps as fire and Lightning pen would give me ~2k dps as lightning. You could really use either one.

Also, I've respecced a bit and put 5 points into getting dual curse. Now in groups I run Ele weakness + Crit Weakness. In solo I run Ele Weakness + Proj Weakness. For tough bosses I do Enfeeble + Temp Chains. Dual curse is actually way better than I thought it would be.

Blind probably would add some survivability, but remember spells can't miss, and neither can things like Roah/Blackguard charges. Those are usually what hurt the most. Also you're only going to blind on average once per 8 hits, which would be once every 2 seconds. Most things are dead in less than 2 seconds.

Thanks for the feedback :)

Sweet, thanks Tyronis.

Any chance you could post your current skill tree for reference? Hunting through your youtube vid can be a bit tedious.

So let's say I have a 5L chest and a 5L staff. What would be the second 5L skill?
Some thoughts:
1. Totem (for defense, distraction)
2. Infernal Blow (for higher single-target damage)
3. Heavy Strike (for ele reflect mobs)
What would you do?

"

pangolin1247 wrote:

Sweet, thanks Tyronis.

Any chance you could post your current skill tree for reference? Hunting through your youtube vid can be a bit tedious.

Current


Plan

Pretty good guide I'd say and gives a good rundown for aspiring LS templars. After playing LS since day one of OB it took me until now to think about proj weakness as a curse - gonna try that one out today!

But what's your main point of going 2h? I can see a massive benefit if you'd be wearing kaoms but right now all you're really gaining is a few extra gem slots for backup curses.

Also being a crit based LS templar myself I have yet to find a situation where added fire dmg beats increased critical dmg as the last support - especially a quality one. If you havent run the numbers or tried it out yet you really should.