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Temple Guardian Tank Build


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I'm making a tank TG build (ie, one that takes as little damage as possible), using the following skills/CAs:

 

Devout Guardian Focus (maxxed)

Tactics Lore (maxxed)

Armour Lore (damage reduction)

Concentration (to allow me to use 2 buffs)

Toughness (% damage reduction)

Combat Reflexes (% chance to evade & not be hit by weapon-based crits)

 

I intend to take the following other skills:

Speed Lore (+attack & defence, will both be boosted by Battle Aura)

Constitution (health & health regen, though the regen bonus doesn't appear to affect Battle Aura regen, probably a good thing, since it'd be sickeningly powerful combination if it did)

 

Not sure what to go for for the final two skills, possible any of: Blacksmithing, Source Warden Focus (so I can get more % chance stun from Untouchable Force), Warding Energy (more useful early game, as the shield only gives an absolute damage mitigation, not the % mitigation that Toughness gives), Sword Lore.

 

CAs:

Battle Aura (with the Defence, Healing & Permanent mods)

Battle Extension (probably with the two Double Attack mods & Impairment, to reduce the target's Evasion)

Dedicated Blow (with Transformation to increase the damage conversion, confident to increase chance to hit & Enforcement, increased damage)

Deathly Spears (Knockback, probably Occult for a change & Jab, +1 attack)

T-energy Shroud (for a while, with the Power, Recharge & Power mods, I'm also using the Wheel that gives a bonus to shield recharge)

 

Later on:

Untouchable Force (Mind Control, Calm for enemy attack speed reduction & Crumble to reduce the number of ranged attacks that hit)

Firey Ember/Icy Evanescence (not sure on the mods)

 

He's level 19 thus far & kills most things with 1-2 swings, champions take 2-4 & the GarCollossus goes down fairly easily as well (though I do have to run away before my shield get's depleted, 'cause I can't be arsed to recast it). Though I am using T-energy Shroud, that's probably only temporary, as the damage reduction is minimal & it's an absolute reduction, so will be less efficient later on.

 

I'm also wearing several items that give a bonus to Evasion, so I've got a total of ~32.5% Evasion from items (though it appears that the "real" Evasion chance is "only" ~24%, from items), plus whatever Combat Reflexes is giving me, and as much Block x as possible (if they can't hit me, I won't take damage). Currently he's got ~95%-100% chance to hit the average goblin (~80%+ for champions) & they only have ~25%-35% chance to hit me. Will kill the GarCollossus & see what the various to-hit chances are for that.

 

Edit: A level 21 GarCollossus has a 48% chance to hit me & I have a 43% chance to hit it.

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Sounds like a pretty solid tank !

 

Could you give status reports when it hits like level 50 -75 -100 and such. I am really interested in how this char will turn out. Haven't played the TG yet (well, 2 level's is hardy worth mentioning), and I got the feeling it has potential if you build it right, but it's more of a single target killer. And not so much the kind to go to goblins lawns. I could be wrong though, after all, he only made it to level 3 before I stopped playing him haah.

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Wow. That's seems to be a solid tank in the making Llama. I'm curious about your experience with Deathly Spears. Do you use it often? Are you rounding up large mobs, executing Deathly Spears and then finishing them off with Battle Extension?

 

Also wondering about your choice of Firey Ember/Icy Evanescence. Will you choose to focus on one damage type, fire or ice, and then choose to modify the corresponding Firey Ember/Icy Evanescence?

 

Inquiring minds want to know!

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I'm rarely using CAs at the moment, though I do use Deathly Spears to knockback/damage a surrounding mob, I don't usually use Battle Extension to finish them off (since it doesn't switch targets properly at the moment & hitting things with my sword is good enough atm).

 

I've chosen fire atm, so I'd probably go with Firey Ember, but at higher levels, I might as well take Icy Evanesence as well (though that slows monsters, rather than reducing their attack speed).

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Great guide, Llama, and very thorough. I wish I had more to offer, but just got my copy of the game last night, so slowly I'll be delving into the builds.

 

I have a question regarding your guide though... You're playing HC right? But I don't see any points being put into Vitality...whereas in Sacred, we always had to put points in constitution...is that build that solid, or the game that much easier? Is something about your build replacing us having to put hp into the toons manually? Is self-healing a part of this?

 

:cow_white:

 

gogo

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:cow_white: Sorry Gogo, I'm putting all my stat points into Vitality for the Health boost, the way I see it, health regen is great, but if you don't have enough health to take a lot of hits at the same time, you'll not get any benefit from a high health regen. I'm trying to build this character to be able to tank mobs, as well as bosses, so I need to be able to take lots of small hits (energy shield more effective) as well as fewer big hits (Toughness more effective). Most normal monsters have ~25% chance to hit me (due to them being ~2-3 levels above me, due to my SB), and apart from champions (mainly Boar/Tusker champions) I've got ~100% chance to hit them (Battle Aura FTW! Though this is only at level ~22 or something). And on top of that I'm currently getting ~8 points of damage mitigation per hit (from T-energy Shroud) & ~1% damage mitigation from Toughness.

 

Longer term, I assume that I'd be pumping Toughness to get the % damage mitigation as high as possible (as this would reduce the damage more over all than the damage mitigation from T-energy Shroud, though I don't know how high the energy shield goes), ditto for Armour, Battle Aura (defence & healing) & Combat Reflexes (% chance to evade hits, may be more effective than defence, depending on how much evasion reduction monsters get late-game).

 

I'm also looking to use "other" methods to reduce the amount of damage I take, such as the Knockback mod from Deathly Spears (if they're not in melee range, they can't damage you), stun & attack speed reduction from Untouchable Force (if they're stunned, they can't hit you & this does work on bosses, though I'll either have to get Concentration up to level 75 or swap it for the energy shield) & maybe some other mods such as elemental damage reduction (from Firey Ember/Icy Evanesence), and any new mods that pop up later on (though I like Evade atm, but that might change later on as my Combat Reflexes get's to a higher level).

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  • 3 weeks later...

All was going well till (at level 38, my highest yet) he moved into the Wastelands to try & get the last few portals & take on the bosses over there. I was doing fine with the normal monsters until I got into the Great Machine & was swamped by ~10 TGs, 5 engaged in melee (doing reasonable damage) & the other 5 threw their fire grenades/traps & it was just too much to regen from. I would have been fine if it had just been the melee, or if I had been able to move away from the grenade/traps.

:P

 

Not quite sure how to improve him or what to try with the TG next.

 

I wonder whether he was too defensive (& wasn't able to kill quickly enough). I think next time I might try:

 

Tactics Lore

Devout Guardian Focus

Armour Lore

Toughness

Combat Reflexes

Sword/Axe Lore (probably Sword)

Spell Resistance ?

Source Warden Focus ?

Concentration (possibly, if so, I'd take it late game to concentrate on the other skills first)

 

CAs, I'd like to give Dedicated Blow more of a try, since I think that will be more useful against high resist monsters (and for DB to be msot effective, it needs pure physical damage) & use Battle Extension for normal mobs.

 

One thing I did learn is that mods that reduce a target's chance to evade are stupidly useful against bosses.

 

I think I'll try pumping Armour/Toughness more to get higher resists & probably Combat Reflexes/Spell Resist to avoid damage in the first place.

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Llama, I actually took in my SP Dryad into the Temple Guardian area...and you're right, they're tuff as nails...their damage is scary. Question... did you find that the def you built into your toon up to that one time you were taken out was enough? I mean against bosses and all, did you feel it was lacking, or did your red flash come often?

 

I'm just wondering whether what happened to you was simply a singular event. Sacred's like that...sometimes luck really runs bad, and if you have a series of crit hits, a tiny touch of lag, and bad luck, the toon will die.

 

How about your resists... when you died did you have on the resist necessary in your relics thingamajigiee to hold off the TG's attack element? In my experience, that can help with at least 15 percent if not more. Also, were you hitting with the right elements against them to aid with the killing speed?

 

And how about your mount..were you on it or of? If you were on your mount, you'd get those extra hp...but if you step off it, I think your ca regens could improve plus your AS, no?

 

 

Spell resistance will help with the crit hits, and there's another that I don't remember now that will help out as well. I'm sorry about the loss.

 

Rip l'il llama TG

 

:P

 

gogo

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Question... did you find that the def you built into your toon up to that one time you were taken out was enough? I mean against bosses and all, did you feel it was lacking, or did your red flash come often?

My defence was fine. the TG's had ~20% chance to hit in melee & weren't doing too much damage to me, it was the traps (~5 at once) that finished me off.

 

I'm just wondering whether what happened to you was simply a singular event. Sacred's like that...sometimes luck really runs bad, and if you have a series of crit hits, a tiny touch of lag, and bad luck, the toon will die.

I think it was, or a situation that evolved & I didn't see it in time (being surrounded & then bombed).

 

How about your resists... when you died did you have on the resist necessary in your relics thingamajigiee to hold off the TG's attack element? In my experience, that can help with at least 15 percent if not more. Also, were you hitting with the right elements against them to aid with the killing speed?

I think I had my fire resists from the relics at the time. At that point, I had a convert to fire & convert to poison things socketted.

 

And how about your mount..were you on it or of? If you were on your mount, you'd get those extra hp...but if you step off it, I think your ca regens could improve plus your AS, no?

I think that part was indoors.

 

Spell resistance will help with the crit hits, and there's another that I don't remember now that will help out as well. I'm sorry about the loss.

Yeah, next time I think I'll boost Armour & Toughness earlier & then take Spell Resist & Combat Reflexes, though they wouldn't help with the base damage. I think I might try using Firey Ember as well to help out with the fire resists.

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He's up to level 19 now, with Devout Guardian Focus & Tactics Lore maxxed (and also keeping Battle Aura "maxxed" based on Devout Duardian Focus). I'm trying to get Armour Lore & Toughness up at the moment, as well as Sword Lore (for the attack speed).

 

I've managed to find several -% enemy evade chance rings (for a total of -26%), which I've socketted & should help against bosses. Unfortunately I've not managed to find as much +% chance to evade as I had on my last one (~30% or so last time), so I'm getting hit more (though it's not really an issue at the moment). While the damage I'm getting from Icy Evanesence/Firey Ember is minimal, they look nice, :P and when I can take Source Warden Lore, I'll be able to mod them to be more effective/useful (ie, attack speed reduction on Firey Ember).

 

Edit: I'll also take & mod Untouchable Force (for increased stun, reduced attack speed & % chance to block projectiles) asap, though that'll mean taking both Concentration & Source Warden Lore.

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Sorry to read about your level 38'er Llama. That's never a good feeling. I'm curious about something. You said you might have survived had all the incoming attacks been melee. SInce the fire traps were likely the result of your TG's demise then could it have been that your fire resists were too low? Could it have been just a matter of tweaking resists with relics or had you already set up your relics for best fire protection?

 

As for tanking what about throwing reflect damage into the mix. I've seen it work quite effectively. If your spending a great deal of points on defense and finding that you don't have enough for offense then Reflect Damage could be a great way to get around the problem. Let thine enemies do the work for you! :P

 

 

P.s.

In fact. I could see a Tank/Debuffer working very well with Reflect Damage.

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It's entirely possible that I didn't have enough resists, I have a feeling that I was ignoring my relics.

 

Not sure about Reflected damage, I can't think of any TG CAs that give that.

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Llama what what were your buff levels at? Rooster's been saying on the SIF that buffs are supposed to be pretty high in this game. I took Putrescine's advice and put a lot of points into my my focus for Nature Weaver and stepped it up with concentration and CD.

Results?

 

An almost impregnable dryad with no shield and with resistances that are five times more when the buff's in use. I think when my level 47/48 toon died, BOTH my buffs were running at level 20 each.

 

One for Super high Attack Rate and Speed, the other one for almost ungodly protection.

 

I'm curious as to what your buff levels were at for a toon of level 37.

 

:(

 

gogo

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I usually keep my buffs (Battle Aura at least) at or slightly higher than the "no penalties" limit. So on my level 24 TG, I've read 22 Combat Alert runes & with a level 31 Devout Guardian Focus I've got a level 21 Battle Aura (+125% attack/defence, +32% damage, +101 health regen).

 

Devout Guardian Focus 31

Tactics Lore 25

Sword Lore 9 (+7.6% AS)

Armour Lore 5

Toughness 4

Combat Reflexes 2

 

To take:

Spell Resist

Concentration

Source Warden Focus (to mod Firey Ember/Icy Evanesence & Untouchable Force)

Riding (possibly, since I spend a lot of time outside)

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My TG's level 41 now & doing fine. I'm continuing to max Devout Guardian Focus & Tactics lore, while putting 1 point per level into Armour/Toughness. As above, I've taken Spell Resistance & Concentration (but not put any points into them yet).

 

For CAs, I'm using Battle Extension as a passive when mounted (for the double hits) & Dedicated Blow (as an active CA) to do ~2-3 times my "normal hit" damage (with a regen of ~3 secs). I've killed a few dragons (desert, human & marsh) & a few bosses (GarCollossus, OctoGollamus & Carnach) with decent chance to hit (~70%+).

 

I'll post his stats when I get home.

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NIce work Llama. I'm jealous. I'm still seeming to get the hang of my little girl, and feel lucky everytime she manages another level on her. You've taken out drags, and bosses already? :) Nice work on the tank, I'd love to see the stats on it.

 

:)

 

gogo

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NIce work Llama. I'm jealous. I'm still seeming to get the hang of my little girl, and feel lucky everytime she manages another level on her. You've taken out drags, and bosses already? :) Nice work on the tank, I'd love to see the stats on it.

 

Yup, one dragon on my own (the human one), two with company. The bosses aren't too bad really, other than Kral.

 

Edit: Can't wait till I hit 50 & get 2 stat points & 5 skill points per level...

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level 43 TG.

 

Devout Guardian Focus 48

Tactics Lore 45

Sword Lore 13 (+10.1% AS)

Armour Lore 22

Toughness 18

Combat Reflexes 1

Spell Resist 1

Concentration 1

 

Damage with my level 49 rare sword (level 30.5 Battle Aura active) 508-610, 901 attack, 645 defence, 28% chance to evade, 39% deathblow, +179.8 health regen from Battle Aura.

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level 48, finally hit >200hp/s with Battle Aura, which is currently giving ~+190% attack/defence, also, I've finally got >1k physical resists, need to go shopping in Niobium to get some decent resist orbs to get the other resists up. Will give the stats tonight.

 

Once he hit's level 50, I'm going to take Source Warden Focus, dump enough points in it to fully mod Untouchable Force (for the stun, reduced attack speed & avoid arrows), then put points in Sword Lore, as I'm not getting the >100% chance to hit anymore.

 

Devout Guardian Focus 61

Tactics Lore 52

Sword Lore 15 (+11.3% AS)

Armour Lore 27

Toughness 23

Combat Reflexes 1

Spell Resist 7

Concentration 1

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He's level 50 now & doing fine (having bought resist relics from Niobium has certainly helped, though they weren't cheap, each relic was giving ~80-100 resist, with Armour giving a further ~95% bonus & Toughness giving +25 resist all or so).

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He's level 50 now & doing fine (having bought resist relics from Niobium has certainly helped, though they weren't cheap, each relic was giving ~80-100 resist, with Armour giving a further ~95% bonus & Toughness giving +25 resist all or so).

 

Relics/Orbs at level 45-55 give about 80-100 resistance, I mean the ones that drop.

If I'm not mistaken, the resistance is capped at 200/orb.

 

Edit: At Silver at lv 42, I was getting 65 resistance ones. At Gold at lv 45, I found a 85 resistance one.

Edited by Little Sara
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Edit: At Silver at lv 42, I was getting 65 resistance ones. At Gold at lv 45, I found a 85 resistance one.

 

And in Niobium at level 50 it's up to 100 or so (depending on element, Magic seems to be higher than the others, I think Fire tends to be the lowest).

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Edit: At Silver at lv 42, I was getting 65 resistance ones. At Gold at lv 45, I found a 85 resistance one.

 

And in Niobium at level 50 it's up to 100 or so (depending on element, Magic seems to be higher than the others, I think Fire tends to be the lowest).

 

I know if I spawn a very rare orb in Bronze, orb level 200, it will have 200 resistance. I haven't tried in other difficulties. I'm not sure 200 is the cap, but I wouldn't count on more than 600 for 3 orbs (which is decent with +200% armor, making 1800 non-physical armor).

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"Warding Energy (more useful early game, as the shield only gives an absolute damage mitigation, not the % mitigation that Toughness gives)"

 

I think sigma shows differently.

 

Sigma shows it as 50% shield energy absorption, and calculates the efficiency as "shield energy". It might *also* blck an absolute (but low) amount of damage. From what I know, even at 30 vs 33 mobs, having my shield on versus it being depleated makes a visible difference. When I get hit 100 dmg, I wouldn't expect a Damage Mitigation of "7" to reduce it significantly.

 

Same for getting the skill Warding Energy Lore. It will show in sigma as additional shield energy absorption (listed separately) and shield energy max.

 

For example of how powerful it can be, see Gar'Colossus's shield, if you don't hit the rocks he throws at you...and his HP doesn't even get lower until the shield is gone.

 

Their shield might have different stats, but it's probably the same game mechanics, or the shield for Seraphim and Temple Guardian would be useless. I don't see the point of including a skill that is only good for the first 2 hours of play.

Edited by Little Sara
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