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

Killed Oak without dying. Had to kite a little while I regenned (just to make the potions last), but no deaths.

Next, I cleared Dread Thicket four times with no deaths. Found one large chest (nothing interesting out of there). Finds of note (not really) would be one low level unique item, one level 66 map, and one pair of level 62 evasion gloves. I was hoping for an Astral Plate drop. I saw a ton of golden and crusader plates, but no astral. It would not surprise me if they have it hard coded to not drop Astral in act 2 even if the area level is high enough (Dread Thicket is a level 62 area and the named are level 64). If a reader has ever seen Astral drop in Act2 please let me know!

As an aside, the high blocking build works pretty well in Dread Thicket even with -60 Chaos resist as most of the snake's projectiles do not hit me. I still find it prudent with my low quality self-found gear to circle and time my strikes in between projectile salvos.

Made level 64 and immediately rushed up to Vaal in Merciless difficulty. I did kill him solo and advanced to act 3 Merciless. However, Wow, this encounter really steps up the game. I'd say I do not recommend trying this until you have at least 4000 life and maximum resistances. That means, if you are a self-found person like me, you have your farming cut out for you. :) I think it would be best for most builds, including mine, to meet the above requirements and also to do this encounter in a full group and get into trading for gear as a hobby, especially in hardcore, before attempting Vaal in Merciless.

Pro tip - circle and snipe, never stand still, and be sure to be circling to the other side of him when you see his tentacle come back and over his head for the smash.....

Found my first Astral Plate in City of Sarn - still wondering (curious) if Astral can drop in act 2 (doubtful, it had plenty of chances to do so).

Anyway, I re-rolled it with four or so Chaos to get a decent life roll. The others had 12-30ish life, so I'll have to be satisfied with 70ish for now because I have not found many Chaos orbs. Maybe 15 in all my playing.

I had 77 elemental resists with Purity running, but decided to trade out a ring for life, so lightning dropped down to 65ish. Still doing fine, and I gained around 200 life from swapping the rings - a good trade so far. Obviously I will eventually have both maxed resists and more life too. :)

I have updated the second post in this thread with the current gear. All self found so nothing amazing but it's letting me get by in Act 3 Merciless. That's just how good max blocking is - you could never get by with this gear with any other melee build.

Thanks for your thread and the sharing of your experiences. Keeping an eye on this one closely, liking the style.

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Oldfella wrote:

Thanks for your thread and the sharing of your experiences. Keeping an eye on this one closely, liking the style.

Thanks for the compliment. :)

Status update for today......

I made level 65 today and ran down to Piety in the Catacombs and quickly completed that encounter without even coming close to dying. I did go to town once to recharge the potions.

I spent the skill point on Inner Force - nice improvement, highly recommended.

I'm currently clearing the sewers in Act 3 Merciless.

I tried rolling a pair of gloves with 80+ life and another useful mod. It was a pair of item level 64 gloves. Well, I probably used 160 Orbs of Alteration or some crazy number, and pretty much struck out. I think it rolled an 85 life once, I should have stuck with that! :)

I then used 20 some odd Jeweler's orbs and did not see a combo I needed.

I ended up with these....



Just a heads up that it may be harder than one thinks to get something nice from this crafting method.

*insert flushing sound here*

Failed boot attempt with one Alchemy:



Failed boot attempt with Alchemy + a bunch of Chaos (ouch):



Failed boot attempt with one Alchemy:



As you can see, it is fairly hard to craft run speed + life which is a requirement as far as I'm concerned. :)

I just started using your build in HC and I have to say I'm having a blast with it! :)
Do you have to recast Tempest Shield each time you enter a new area? I'm pretty sure it's a bug...

How do you deal with mobs that reflect Physical/Elemental Damage?
Do you have any tips for Hardcore?

Don't you get stunned each time you block?