Path of Exile free to play in about six hours.

[shoju]

I'm sort of holding out hope on this new cyclone ability to be released this week. I saw that in the video they are using what looks to be a templar with a mace and shield.

Resolute Technique is probably my favorite Keystone right now. I could finish off this templar into merciless, and not see another keystone that I think is as vital to my gameplay as Res Tech.

At this point, I've been using Infernal Blow, Ice Nova, and Firestorm (trying to get the hang of it) as my damaging abilities. I like the idea of using Infernal Blow for single target (because it "can" have an AoE damage component), and Ice Nova for my AoE, as Large packs are when I feel the most vulnerable.

Thanks for the tip on Catalyse. I had overlooked it. Probably because I've been pretty focused on rounding out my defenses so much, after having such a debacle on the Marauder.

This is where I'm at now.
This is where I'd like to end up After considering your mention of Catalyse. Though I could be swayed to not go into Marauder Ground any further, and start picking up more offense.

I will need to get 5 respec points / Orbs to correct my bungling at the beginning of the tree, and then I figure 72 Skill Points will probably put me around 60-62, maybe a little higher. I'm guessing a little, as I'm 7 points ahead of level right now, and I'm assuming I can pick up 5 more skill points along the way.

I do have a question. When something says "X% Increased Elemental Damage" Is that Spell Damage as well?

Like... The tree that I have linked as my "Goal", The tampermonkey script I run says that it will increase my elemental damage by 41%, and my elemental damage with weapons by another 50%.

So will that first 41% get added to Ice Nova? What about the Sceptres... Do they get Ice Nova as well? ? I've been using the "10% increased Elemental Damage" Sceptres, because I've seen them with nice +%Physical Damage Modifiers, while the 20% Sceptres, I've not seen the Physical Damage Modifier. I picked up a rare 20% sceptre last night, that had tons of ele damage on it, and the 20% modifier, but looking at the DPS on the Char Sheet, The Lead Sceptre was almost double the DPS on Infernal Blow.

Am I right in using the Ele Sceptres for this build?

Thanks about the chest. When I rolled it, and it came up with +75 Life (which was more than double the other chest I was wearing), I decided it was a good enough upgrade to toss some stuff at. I'm trying like mad to get more life on my gear (even though I'm comfortable over 1600 HP right now).

So far, I've got:

Helm: 21 (would upgrade if I could find an already rare item, or a 4s with at least 3L to tinker with)
Ring 1: 54
Ring 2: 79
Chest: 75
Belt: 29 (but it's got Chaos Resist, so I keep it)
Boots: 70

Leaving my Weapon, Shield, and Neck, as the only pieces without it. The Neck has Chaos Resist, so until I can find one to upgrade from with CR, I'm here. I've been rolling all the Ceremonial Kite Shields (that's my shield of choice until I hit 55 and the Angelic Kites) that are Magic or Rare, to see if I can roll one that has life, as my current shield is "Ok", but a good shield one with Life, would be an upgrade.

And I've not seen any low level (less than map loot) weapons with life on them, but I keep looking.

And one last thought / question.

Should I save my Exalts? I have looted a pair of them, and I see people offering mountains of currency in trade for them from time to time, and I'm not going to lie, from a crafting perspective, at my level, the mountain of Currency is worth far more than the Exalts, as I wont be using them for..... 23 levels or so.

I figured I should solicit advice from those who have been in end game, and know the "rate" at which Exalts can be come by at that stage of things.