1.3 Blitz Diarrhea | Static Strike | Feb 3. Major Update!

SKILL TREE: While still in Normal difficulty I'd suggest to take as many life nodes as possible, you should be able to get Bravery, Juggernaut, and Barbarism before entering the Scepter of God. I also recommend using evasion till Library, it's straight up superior to armor at that point as it's rather easy to get huge amounts of that source of defense. From Library on there's a lot of physical spells flying around which makes it a pain if you don't have any physical mitigation, so I'd recommend getting Iron Reflexes by then.

Then you should focus on getting Resolute Technique and even more life nodes, Unrelenting, Combat Staima and Constitution. And Warrior's Blood + Heart of the Warrior. Life is the best source of defense in this game, especially while leveling.

In Merciless you should first pick... yes, life nodes. There's three clusters left in the Templar tree. Add reduced mana nodes asap. And at that point you can invest all your points in damage. I'd start with the Bone Breaker - Skull Cracking cluster, then Bloody Blugeon and Blunt Instrument. At that point you should already have your Doryani's, so the Celestial cluster is should be the next thing to pick. My general endgame philosophy is to pick notable passives with longer routes first as it's easier to level up and then get all those massive nodes you have a direct access to. Why? You don't wanna spend your points on +10% physical damage while getting one level every 2-3 days.

GEARING: Early on, use whatever you can, you don't need to focus on specific items or skills, just go on with whatever gives you more defenses and damage. If you're less certain about your personal skills, you can invest some alterations/alchemies in a quick revamp at the end of Normal, and then at the end of Cruel, just make sure you got some life and capped resistances.

Getting Doryani's and BoR is gonna be much harder. You'll have to farm. A lot. Unless you have a leveled MF character. If you commit to farming and run countless 66-69 maps and run them properly, you'll farm up to 1ex/day. So, basically a week of nolife farming and you get your gear.