[1.3] Templar Storm Herald

Hey everybody, I just wanted to share a fun, thematic build I’ve been playing and having a great time with. One of the things I love most about POE is being able to replicate the majority of the monsters in the game as a character build. With that in mind, I wanted to mimic one of the most difficult/panicking nemesis mods in my experience, Storm Herald. This was also a great opportunity to explore an interesting build based around the templar re-focus as well as the newest herald - Herald of Thunder.

Leveling was a breeze. Extremely cheap, effective, and most gear self-found or crafted. 1.3 took away some tankiness, but gained a lot of DPS. As a non-crit build, I grabbed every “+ chance to shock” node possible, which allows every lightning skill to shock, fueling Herald of Thunder. You play as a melee caster. Vaal Storm Call can be used nearly every other pack, and drop Vaal Spark + Vaal Storm Call on the boss.

Gems:


Bandits


Build:
HC leveling trees:

Level 30


Level 45


Level 66



Level 85


Final


Brief Video:
Level 71 proof of concept


Gear:

nice one, sadly im a main incinerator so i dont want to play LT...if i want to stay still and play close range mage id just get on my main char...id like somehting like SC for single and "Spark????" or "ball lightning???" for aoe but non crit build..meeh :/

Thanks - no worries, I get the repetition. This was a build meant to highlight Herald of Thunder by spreading shocks rapidly over AOE, which is why Lightning Tendrils is a superb choice. I already had a Crit Arc character, which was boring, and the mechanics of HoT meant Arc was unsuitable as a main skill. The problem with Storm Call as a main skill comes down to gem options and damage output vs other standard skills.

Like Ball Lightning (haven't seen many effective builds) and Spark (I know, it used to be popular), Storm Call seems to be better as a support to your main play style rather than primary build focus. In the video I posted, I have 5+ casts per second on Storm Call, and you can see even that doesn't always get the job done. The damage is just lacking.

If you'd like to run Storm Call, you will need to address its Duration tag, whether you increase or decrease it. My links are there to get as many casts off per second and hit the target as fast as possible. Given that I don't focus on increased cast speed on the tree, it seems to work well. The standard support gems will work well with SC, so depending on your tree, you might be able to drop Faster Casting and toss in one or two more damage supports. Either way, there are many documented frustrations with using SC as a primary skill in various forums and videos. It just happens to work well both thematically and in practice with this build and set up.