I thought I’d be starting over on GOG but it picked up my old characters and all from somewhere.
Thing is, I can’t remember much about the game so I don’t know how to progress. I would have followed a guide for each character, but when I look at the guides now, I can’t see one that fits my character.
My best was/is a level 94 Vindicator. It has a mace and shield - it uses Mogs Pact, Stormcaller Pact and Aura (from item) Savagery, Storm Box of Elgoloth, Wendigo, Wind Devil, Word of Renewal, Storm Totem, Inquisitor Seal, Horn of Gandarr…
So I went to the build compendium to see if I could find the build - nearly all are 2H, one has guns, one is all-greens. None seem to match the skills. I guess it’s all changed since my build. Where to start?
I can’t even remember how to refund points or reset skills? Is it expensive to do a full reset?
Welcome back. Note that the builds in the compendium are mostly endgame builds for running Crucible and the Shattered Realm endless dungeon. If your build is working for you, there’s no need to change it.
Skill and Devotion points can be bought back at the Spirit Guides scattered throughout the game and yes, if you do it often enough it can get expensive. The alternative is doing quests in the Ashes of Malmouth expansion and then some of those give you a potion to reset your devotion points for free.
Check out the beginner’s guides in the builds section, they have lots of budget guides for builds that can take end-game gear (i.e. 94 like yours). You might have to re-spec which is via the dudes at the settlements with the little book icon. Prepare for some crafting too. Also, check RektbyProtoss out here and on YouTube he has lots of builds and as he only plays Hardcore, they are all pretty safe end-game characters.
As tqFan said, it looks like you are building a Light’s Guardian Vindicator. He already linked three endgame setups for that build. However, he forgot to link you to the budget version of the build by Nery: [1.1.2.5-1.1.9.1] Beginner's Lightning Vindicator caster. This is, imo, the most important guide for you to look at since it builds a very strong storm totem vindicator without the need of any endgame gear - so it is a beginner-friendly build. It is also a very good starting point for Nery’s endgame Light’s Defender Vindicator, which tqFan linked in his response.
Regarding the strength of the build, Light’s Defender is one of the strongest Vindicator builds in the game. With the more tanky version from Retal_Abuser, you can probably do all content available in the game. I would say this is a very strong build for your first character.
Yes, you understood it correctly and the link works fine. Look at Nery’s beginner’s guide to upgrade your build accordingly. The most obvious upgrade suggestions I noticed would be: getting a Fettan Mask (Ultimate version if you have access to it, but Elite version would also work until you reach Korvan Sands on Ultimate), a Ugdenbog Stormstrife, and a Groble Sky Effigy. The most important of the three is the Groble Sky Effigy imo since it greatly boosts your Storm Totem. You should also hardcap Storm Totem since it will be your main damage ability.
The issue with Fettan Mask is that you would lose the 15% phys res bonus from your Praetorian Set, and your phys res without it is zero. You could fix this by resetting your Devotion Points and copying Nery’s Devotions three (which has more phys res nodes) and getting phys res on other gear pieces (like pants, chest, or boots). Another easy fix would be to just transmute your Praetorian Helm into a Praetorian Chestguard and use it instead to keep the 15% phys res bonus.
I agree with mentioning beginner guide here, since it can help the OP with ideas how to gear the character irregardless of their stash.
Physical resistance tends to be really important for casters and have to be covered. Luckily common devotion like Sailor’s Guide, with Ghoul on cooldown are quite helpful. Since Groble off-hand can drop from guaranteed opponent in Burrwitch Outskirts you can do few quick runs and get one with physical resistance prefix - Thunderstruck or Sandstorm (nerfed values recently). And of course crafted Stoneplate boots have physical resistance by default.
