Path of Exile: Templar Build – Starter Guide

In Path of Exile, the Templar class offers a compelling blend of physical strength and magical prowess, presenting a versatile approach to gameplay.

This guide aims to introduce players to a balanced Templar build, ideal for those seeking a character capable of both formidable melee engagement and effective spellcasting. Managing your PoE currency effectively is key to acquiring the essential gear and skills needed to maximize this build’s potential, ensuring you can invest in powerful equipment and gems that enhance both your physical attacks and magical abilities.

Templar Build Overview

The Templar, with its unique position between raw physical might and arcane power, offers an adaptable playstyle. This build focuses on leveraging the Templar’s strengths in both areas, ensuring you’re as effective taking down enemies up close as you are from a distance.

Building Your Templar

Ascendancy Options: Choosing the right Ascendancy class is crucial. The Inquisitor excels in elemental damage and critical strikes, making it suitable for spell-focused players. The Hierophant offers enhancements for totems and mana, ideal for those looking to employ a more strategic, summoning approach. Lastly, the Guardian is perfect for players who value support roles, enhancing the capabilities of allies while remaining tough in the fray.

Skill Selection: Balance your skill choices to reflect your combat strategy, mixing melee attacks with spells for diverse offensive tactics.

Gear and Equipment: Aim for gear that supports both your physical and magical endeavors. Look for items that increase your primary stats, spell damage, and offer resilience against attacks.

Passive Skill Tree: Strategically navigate through the Templar’s skill tree, targeting nodes that bolster your chosen playstyle. Whether enhancing spell efficiency, increasing melee damage, or improving survivability, a carefully plotted skill tree is essential.

Understanding Templar Fundamentals

Before diving into the specifics of the Templar build, it’s crucial to grasp the essentials of playing this class. The Templar thrives as a Strength-Intelligence hybrid, adept in both melee combat and ranged attacks. This dual capability renders them excellent protectors, able to don heavy armor through Strength and bolster their defenses with energy shields via Intelligence.

Like its counterparts in Path of Exile, with the exception of Scion, the Templar can branch into one of three Ascendancy classes, each steering the character toward a distinct style of play:

Inquisitor: The offensive powerhouse of the Templar class. Specializes in unleashing massive critical strikes that bypass enemy resistances.

Hierophant: Balances attack and defense. Ideal for players favoring Brands and spell-centric Totem builds.

Guardian: The Templar’s shield, offering robust tank and support capabilities, including the provision of energy shields to allies.

For those embarking on this Templar journey, the Hierophant Ascendancy emerges as the prime choice. Though it may start more gradually than its counterparts, it swiftly gains momentum with progression, offering a solid foundation in both offensive and defensive mechanics. This makes the Hierophant an exemplary selection for newcomers, offering a harmonious balance between potency and resilience.

With the groundwork laid, let’s proceed to develop a Hierophant build that will adeptly guide your Templar through to the late game.

Hierophant Build Selections

Within the realm of Hierophant builds, players have a myriad to choose from, each tailoring to specific gameplay styles. Although Hierophant builds appear diverse at first glance, certain ones excel in distinct areas. Our selected build, the Storm Brand Hierophant, leverages the potent Storm Brand skill, making it exceptionally effective for mapping activities.

The Storm Brand skill offers a dynamic and engaging playstyle. Upon casting, it affixes a brand to the target, unleashing electrical discharges that wreak havoc on nearby enemies. This ability to cause widespread damage makes it one of the more visually satisfying and effective skills for clearing areas. However, it’s worth noting that the Storm Brand dissipates with the demise of its host.

The inherent power of Storm Brand means that players don’t require high-tier, expensive gear to maximize the build’s potential. While this may suggest a ceiling on its endgame capabilities compared to other Templar builds, it compensates with its rapid progression speed towards endgame content.

Initiating Your Build

Embarking on the Hierophant journey begins with the Ascension of your Templar into a Hierophant, achievable through the completion of The Labyrinth. Upon your initial victory in The Labyrinth, you’ll be presented with all three Ascendancy options for the Templar. Opt for the Hierophant to set this build into motion.

Ascending grants access to the Hierophant’s unique Ascendancy skill tree, endowed with both minor and major passives. The initial Ascension awards two skill points for these passives, pivotal for shaping the build’s early capabilities. For this build, priority is given to passives that bolster mana regeneration and enhance Brand damage, essential for sustaining Storm Brand’s offensive onslaught.

Key Passive Skills

Choosing the correct passives from Path of Exile’s extensive skill tree is crucial for any build. These selections form the foundation of the build, influencing its effectiveness in combat and resource management. For the Storm Brand Hierophant build, the focus lies on passives that amplify damage output and improve mana sustainability, ensuring your Templar remains a formidable force on the battlefield.

As you progress, integrating PoE trade into your strategy becomes essential for acquiring specific gear and items that enhance your build’s performance. By leveraging PoE trade, you can pinpoint the ideal components to elevate your Hierophant, ensuring your ascendancy through Wraeclast’s challenges.

Hierophant’s Passive Skill Path

For Hierophants, your journey through Path of Exile’s extensive passive skill tree begins from the Templar’s starting node, nestled in the western sector. Your initial strategy should involve advancing northeast, collecting a series of critical passives that bolster both your offensive and defensive capabilities.

Embark by enhancing Damage and Mana through Intelligence-focused nodes, then veer west to acquire Light of Divinity and Holy Dominion. Continue westward to secure Runebinder, a pivotal passive, before diving into Brand Mastery and its adjacent nodes. Afterwards, retrace your steps slightly and head east to explore additional passives.

Progressing east, at the first divergence, opt for a northern route to embrace Mind Over Matter and further Brand Mastery. Ascend to the summit, then pivot southwest for Critical Mastery and Reservation Mastery, not forgetting Purity of Flesh. Descend southward, embracing Armour and Energy Shield Mastery, culminating at Overcharge.

Returning to the initial fork (close to Mind Over Matter), venture east to discover the remainder of the passive skills. The path splits again: heading east post-Arcanist’s Dominion leads to Heart and Soul and Deep Wisdom, culminating at Pain Attunement. Alternatively, pursuing northeast from Arcanist’s Dominion introduces Lightning Walker.

Continuing north until another bifurcation, head west for Recovery Mastery, Charge Mastery, Mana Mastery, and Life Mastery. Return to this junction and proceed east, capturing Breath of Rime and Presage, and finalize with Energy Shield Leech and Eldritch Battery for a comprehensive mastery over your Hierophant’s capabilities.

For an in-depth exploration of this build’s passive tree, the main Path of Exile website offers a detailed view.

Optimal Gear Selection

Achieving the Hierophant’s full potential necessitates precise gear choices that enhance both the Storm Brand’s efficacy and your defensive mechanisms, particularly through energy shields.

Weapon: Tulfall for its bonus Cold damage.

Shield: Malachai’s Loop enhances defense when Power Charges are balanced.

Helmet: Willclash boosts evasion and energy shields.

Body Armor: Inpulsa’s Broken Heart enhances life and damage against shocked enemies.

Gloves: Opt for Life/Resistance gloves for a balanced defense.

Boots: Replica Inya’s Epiphany increases life and damage per Power Charge.

Amulet: Badge of the Brotherhood complements this build’s synergy.

Rings: Call of the Brotherhood rings fortify the build’s core strategy.

Belt: Darkness Enthroned solidifies your Hierophant’s power.

Ascendancy Choices

Finalizing your build involves selecting impactful major Ascendancy passives, prioritized for their synergy with the Storm Brand setup:

Conviction of Power: Enhances both offensive and defensive stats through Charge management.

Divine Guidance: Increases mana capacity and mitigates damage by diverting it to mana.

Sanctuary of Thought: Bolsters energy shield based on your mana pool while reducing mana costs.

Arcane Blessing: Amplifies spell damage significantly when Arcane Surge is active.

This guide equips you with the knowledge to construct a formidable Hierophant, steering your Path of Exile journey towards ultimate mastery.