I tried a elementalist and its not bad, but i die a decent amount and im having a hard time finding the items i need i was following enki's guide. The rares are the hard part i check the trades a lot but a lot of it is expensive. Is there any tanky build that is pretty budget i should start with? or grind for currency with what i have and try and build a character or improve the current one that way? Played tons of d2 but havent played much poe.

Totem templar, no unique need

Melee is always good to start out with. I'd suggest going Marauder to Juggernaut and using Cleave -> Sunder -> Earthquake. From there you can get through maps and can consider stronger melee skills that scale well with crit later on.