Against vets, random shield jab lag + shield jab damage is clutch. Against vets, not being vuln_permabash is also very important. Temperance of course changes things.
Against newbies, wrath spam + shield jab damage/lag is also very effective. Not to mention call lightning. Wrath + shield jab + third attack melee should just about equal the damage done by strike of faith + third attack melee.
The exception is if you go 2h, have >70 damroll with a very high dam weapon, and have a pet storm giant perma-lagging for you. Arguably having a cranial / lash / trip lagger allows you to use Templars Defense to lag, but it's not reliable enough compared to cranial / lash / trip.