[3.10] Sovyn's Lazy Pally - Tanky Templar with Max Block

Made level 60. Spent some time farming the ledge to eliminate risk of death. I apparently need to upgrade my gear, judging by the severe life globe see saw I'm seeing in mid act 2 Merciless. Makes since as my gear is mostly very low level stuff. I also have 5 remaining skill points to spend. I'm still debating the best placement for a 80 point build and will update the thread when I decide on the correct allocation.

I did find a few meager prizes while farming the ledge a few times:



I also tried crafting a Siege Axe to upgrade my tomahawk.

I found an item level 60 Siege Axe to try. I first used Blacksmith's Whetstone (4) to upgrade quality to 20%, then an Orb of Alchemy. Here was the result:



Wow, that's bad.

Not an upgrade from my old weapon:



I think I'll just wait for more Siege Axes to drop and repeat this process rather than using scouring or chaos on it.

I've been waiting for an Astral Plate to drop before investing too many orbs - but not sure if it will ever drop in Act2 Merciless. I think it's possible in theory for Astral to drop in The Cave or Church Dungeon Level 2, but I have yet to see one.

So, I may go ahead and try spending an orb or two on one of these to get by for now:



Still thinking on it.

Found another Siege Axe today (item level 60) and used a few Blacksmith Whetstones and then an Orb of Alchemy, same as last try. This time, I got a bit luckier and I have an upgrade.

Here it is:



My character sheet DPS rose by about 200, to over 500 total now, which is very noticeable. Infernal Blow tooltip DPS is now over 1600. The increase helps a lot as things were starting to get slower to kill.

Level 61! The new weapon is working out well, I'm back to killing white monsters in 3-4 fast hits. It had gotten a bit slower in mid act 2 Merciless (chamber of sins, church dungeon, etc.).

80 point progression build added to the OP. Link to tree

Stats:

Stats & Buffs

Stats
+272 to Strength
+114 to Dexterity
+82 to Intelligence

Buffs
30% increased Effect of Buffs on You

Defense

Life
+30 to maximum Life
124% increased maximum Life
2.5% of Life Regenerated per Second
2% of Physical Attack Damage Leeched back as Life

Mana

Resistances
+60% to Fire Resistance
+30% to Cold Resistance
+30% to Lightning Resistance

Evasion

Block and Stun
35% additional Shield Block Chance
12% of Block Chance applied to Spells
90% increased Defences from equipped Shield
+30% Elemental Resistances while holding a Shield

Offense

Accuracy
10% increased Accuracy Rating
Your hits can't be Evaded

Attack and Cast Speed
15% increased Attack Speed
3% increased Attack Speed with One Handed Melee Weapons

Critical
Never deal Critical Strikes

Elemental Damage
20% increased Elemental Damage with Weapons

Physical Damage
22% increased Melee Physical Damage
36% increased Physical Damage with One Handed Melee Weapons

As you can see, this progression build is pretty much maxed out on resists and blocking. If you can see a way to squeeze more out of the 80 points while still maintaining max block, please let me know.

Made level 62 today. Killed Alira and Kraityn in Merciless without dying. Now heading toward Oak and then Vaal. If it seems I'm leveling slowly, that's because I only play 60-90 minutes per day. Most gamers can play 3-5 hours per day so, in that case, this build could be leveled a lot faster than I am. Melee builds are slower in general, of course.

Topic: Auras / Buffs

Found an Elemental Proliferation and Reduced Mana support gems today and linked those to the Tempest Shield gem. Not sure how helpful it is yet, but the combination comes recommended. The reduced mana gem has to be leveled a little bit (5 or 6) to cram this combo + Determination + Purity all on the mana globe without a third Reduced Mana gem.

I don't have decent linked gear yet, but if you do, it would go something like this with easy to get 3-links:

(The chest is out, we will use that for our main attack skill as it will be our only 5 link)

Three of head, gloves, boots, weapon or shield linked as follows:

Determination (red) - Purity (blue) - Reduced Mana (red)

Grace (green) - Blood Magic (red) - Reduced Mana (red)

Tempest Shield (blue) - Elemental Proliferation (blue) - Reduced Mana (red)

As mentioned, the Reduced Mana gems will need to be leveled up a bit. Put your highest two on the Determination and Tempest combos if you have trouble fitting all that onto your mana globe. If not, put your best or second best on the Grace combo to save life.

Alternatively, the following *might* work, depending on your mana pool:

Determination (red) - Purity (Blue) - Reduced Mana (red)

Tempest Shield (blue) - low level Grace (green) - Reduced Mana (red)

Made level 63 today. I finished the remaining half level by clearing Pools and Streams in Merciless, then went back and cleared River Crossings again as it is slightly less risky (I hate dying when I'm like 98% experience toward the level.... yes it happened one time.) :) Now that I've leveled, I'll kill Oak and clear Dread Thicket (perhaps a few times for drops). I went for passive skill points from the Bandits quests in all three difficulties. I think that's the best choice for this build.

Is there a reason to use an accuracy gem when you have resolute technique?
Also why didn't you take Catalyse (+30% elemental damage)from the passive skill tree?

Sorry if this has been answered already, your build got me interested in 1h/shield builds.

"

ShadowNetBG wrote:

Is there a reason to use an accuracy gem when you have resolute technique?
Also why didn't you take Catalyse (+30% elemental damage)from the passive skill tree?

Sorry if this has been answered already, your build got me interested in 1h/shield builds.

Thanks for your comments. I'd be happy to answer in detail.

1) The accuracy gem is there just to level it up - it is of no use currently. However, I do plan to respec out of Resolute on the final build when I have over 200 dex. My chance to hit without RT is already over 80% and I don't have anything like 200 dex as yet. So, not having RT is quite viable end game and you can pick up some nice status ailment effects from occasional crits and use the saved two passive skill points for 16% more health which is invaluable. It's looking like I won't need much in the way of elemental resists from gear, as the passive tree is strong in the elemental resistance department, so I can focus on crits and dex and accuracy and things of this nature late game.

2) The 30% Elemental Damage node is fine, but it is only a modest DPS increase. The 10% nodes were taken simply because it's the most efficient route to reach the things we need. The 30% will be taken in the final build, but it is much lower priority than defensive nodes.