So after 4 different characters, this is my first one to make it past Act 2. All my other builds that I tried to make got stuck on certain bosses, like the Act 1 boss. So here's what I did so far in order to get to Act 3, and the reasoning behind my choices. I'll start with the tldr bullet points and then go into my reasoning for everything. Hope this helps!

TLDR

1) Every stat point into toughness.
2) Use a shield and pistol.
3) Your most important stats on gear (in order of importance) are All Resistance, +# damage added to attacks, Toughness, Block Chance, and then anything else that might help you. See below for a longer description of what that might be.
4) Skills: Use the "Avenger" Autoturret (it's pretty bad until you get the Flak Launcher rune, usually around the end of act 1) and Wailing Arrows (with damage runes, crit is worthless for us). All your other skills can be whatever you want. Utility, rage generation, movement, etc. Sovereign Shout with rage generation, block, and resistance runes has been good for me.
5) Passive Tree: Rush straight through the Soldier tree (1st tier red), grabbing the health and all resistance nodes. Grab Retaliator, Selfless Courage, and the 18% all resistance nodes in the Praetorian tree. Go into the Siegebreaker tree and get Bane of Tyranny (it's a small node) and Belligerent Banner.

Some Starting Thoughts

First off, I wanted to be tanky. I was tired of dying, so I wanted a character that didn't need to crit or apply ailments, and wasn't very dependent on attack speed or dodge. That way, I can put every single stat point into toughness. Putting all our points into one stat will be the most efficient means of increasing our base damage modifier through stats.

Second, I wanted to use a shield. It is VERY important to know how block works in Wolcen for this build. It's simple, but should be mentioned. Block chance is your chance when hit to block the attack. Block Efficiency is the percentage of that damage that the block will absorb. So if you don't get any efficiency, your block chance is pretty worthless. These two stats work best when you raise both of them together.

Passives

Next, I looked through the passive tree at all the tanky nodes, and all the nodes that turn our defense into offense. These are going to impact what gear choices we make. Here are some of the most important nodes that you should rush for, along with why they are good:

Retaliator (Praetorian tree) - This along with the two nodes attached to it will convert your Physical Resistance to damage. My current character's physical resist is around 45-50%, so these nodes give us a 50-60% damage increase for three points. And this damage is increased by every piece of resistance gear or resistance nodes we take on the passive tree. Turning our defense into damage is fantastic. The three stats that impact your physical resistance are: All Resistance, Material Resistance, and Physical Resistance. Along with this node, grab the three "Iron Skin" all resistance nodes that are nearby. Keep in mind that +% All Resistance multiplies the flat All resistance numbers that we get from our gear. This means that heavy gear is usually going to be best for us, as it typically has the highest flat physical resistance numbers.

Bane of Tyranny (Siegebreaker) - This might be the best node on the tree for a shield user. I have no idea why it is a minor node and think that maybe it is a typo or bug that this node adds so much damage. If you are using shield with 15% block chance (which is low), this node adds a whopping 750 flat damage. At low levels, this is a CRAZY amount of damage. When I grabbed this node around level 25, my damage output tripled. I wished I had grabbed it sooner.

Those are the two most important nodes, but here are some other good ones to work towards:

Selfless Courage (Praetorian) - Since we are using a shield, we are going to be blocking. This node is going to give us a damage buff whenever we block, and the nodes leading to it are good as well.

Belligerent Banner (Siegebreaker) - This basically makes it so that the longer you have gone without blocking, the higher your block chance is. Great for bosses where you are actively dodging attacks and getting hit hard, but infrequently.

Salvatory Anchor (Siegebreaker) - Along with Elevated Gain right behind it, these two nodes will double the base All Resist from your chest and helmet, which then gets multiplied by the other +% All Resist nodes you are taking.

Sacred Oath (Praetorian) - Applies weakness to everything around you when you block. This gets better and better with higher block chance.

Any node with +All Resistances, Block Chance, Block Efficiency, and Health are good.

After that, the world is your oyster. Look around the passive tree for things that support what you are doing. Look for nodes that add to the damage type you are using, or branch off into ailments if you want to. Health steal and health regen can make you even tankier. Remember that Retaliator reduces your critical strike chance, so going into critical strike and critical damage might be tough. Also notice that some of the block nodes in the Siegebreaker tree will reduce your dodge chance, so you won't want to go for that either.

Skills

The two most important skills I used are Wailing Arrows and Avenger Autoturret. The reason I really like these skills is that you can use them, and then dodge enemy attacks while the skills keep damaging things. This is great for bosses and other tough fights. Autoturret will feel pretty worthless until you get the Flak Launcher rune.

Your other skills should be whatever you want. Wings of Ishmir and Sovereign Shout can help out with rage generation. Phantom blades gives another attack that is free to use. Mark of impurity increases the damage you do against big targets like bosses. Play around and decide what you like best.

Gear

Wear Heavy gear. The flat All Resistance values not only make you tanky, they increase your damage too! Life on gear isn't all that important since you are stacking toughness, which adds flat HP.

On your shield, Block Chance is super important because of the Siegebreaker nodes that add damage based off your block chance.

Here are stats on gear that are helpful, in my order of priority:

All Resist, Material Resist, Physical Resist, Block Chance and Efficiency, Flat damage, %damage, Toughness, Health, Health Regen, Cooldown Reduction, Attack Speed, Other Resists, Agility

Stats that really don't help us at all would be: Force Shield modifiers, Ferocity, Crit Chance and Multiplier, and damage modifiers that don't impact the skills you are using.

Conclusion

I hope this was helpful to anyone who has been struggling like I was.