Vet Templar Tanking

Kcttocs · August 2014

I am looking for different ideas from my fellow Templar Tanks. At VR9, I used try and be the healer, but it's so hard getting a group to finish all the VR instanced dungeons. Seems like I would be waiting for ever on group finder and I hate spamming zone chats. So yesterday I switched to tank, and easily found a group. I think I did alright, we wiped a few times not being familiar with the dungeon and I had to heal my self quite often. But I am curious what setups are successful and what I can do to help myself without buying new armor because I am kind of broke. I am an Imperial with sword and board now up to level 50, I respec'd to all health, 7/7 light armor glyphed all armor with majika, and all jewelry with spell power.Shield has stamina glyph. Seducer 5 set, with Willow 3 set
With sword and board:
-My taunt was ransack, but I am thinking to switch it over to the undaunted inner fire that way I don't have to chase the boss down to get aggro again.
-DPS is puncturing sweeps, it keeps me healed pretty good, specially with the Imperial red diamond passive, but I don't spam it too often as I want to keep some majika for heals when needed and some bosses hit really hard and blocking don't work when spamming.
-Radiant Aura, to keep my health and stamina regen up, and spam it every 10 seconds or so, while watching my majik.
- Breath of Life to heal when I need to.
- Last slot, I am up in the air, I was using Dark Flare as an opener, but don't know.

I had to drink quite a few stamina pots to keep my blocks going too, so I am curious what some other Templar Tanks near my level are using, and open to advise.

My second bar is my resto which I didn't have to break out except when doing trash pulls or when I needed to use ranged.

Koensol · August 2014

I use the following set-up for tanking trash/boss on my templar tank:

Trash:
- Turn Undead/Blinding Flashes
- Carve
- Puncturing Sweep
- Solar Barrage
- Repentance
U: Empowering Sweep

Boss:
- Purifying Light
- Ransack
- Extended Ritual
- Restoring Focus
- Blazing Shield
U: Empowering Sweep

Build:
http://esohead.com/calculator/skills#mozz9s8Lxkn8wAvz8bznQ8rFTd8ffkr8b0p18rHnY8fXGM8ffqC8frav8bzvj8b0p18N7JrDm6LDG6LDT8j7GLU06rUR8n7JLWF6LWU6LWZ6LW38y7MrR3r8x7Mrsfd8P7mrdYf8zc7zzgeXm8zf7zzNbo8zu7zzHfYE6zHfZd8zG7zzHQ3F8zI7zzJIoX6zJIkL8zN7zzJZcY8zA7zzKpUN8zL7zzK4EX

With this build I can effectively AoE trash quickly. This is due to Carve and Solar Barrage (with passive) getting me ultimate really fast on AoE trash and being able to use Empowering Sweep every couple seconds. In combination with Solar Barrage it deals massive damage. Then I also get health back from both Puncturing Sweep and Repentance. Puncturing Sweep is awsome! Even on lower amounts, because you also damage the mobs and stagger one of them. Turn Undead for group survivability and the occasional fear on undead mobs. This can also be substituted for blinding flashes.

On bosses I use Purifying Light for a grp damage boost, and more importantly a steady pool of healing that heals me and others for a moderate amount. This is a cheap skill and should be kept up at all time. Extended ritual can be used from time to time for a nice AoE HoT and a cleanse if needed. Then I try to keep up Restoring Focus as much as possible for the 15% healing bonuss (goes well with the healing mentioned before) and the extra armor/spell resist. Blazing Shield is only for emergencies.

timidobserver · August 2014

Nice build. I run something similar. I wish we had a better option, like DK talons, for area control than blinding light or turn undead.

Just curious, what gear and sets did you decide to go with after the big patch?

Troponin · August 2014

Every time I read Blazing shield, I think of Blazing Saddles.

I want to give that build a shot too. I parked the DK until Zmax can figure out WTF they are doing with that class and with the changes being made, the Templar is starting (just starting) to look a bit better.

timidobserver · August 2014

Troponin wrote: »

Every time I read Blazing shield, I think of Blazing Saddles.

I want to give that build a shot too. I parked the DK until Zmax can figure out WTF they are doing with that class and with the changes being made, the Templar is starting (just starting) to look a bit better.

You probably want to just keep tanking on your DK lol. Turn Undead/Blinding light works well enough but it doesn't work nearly as well as Talons.

Troponin · August 2014

Talons is buggy as hell. Sometimes it doesn't catch the mobs as they run by, sometimes it does. It has a small range as well, so when you have adds scattered around the room, then they charge your group, You might only grab a couple. Only time it's truly effective is when you're in tight quarters.

dylanjaygrobbelaarb16_ESO · August 2014

Your tanking with 0 stam attribute or glyph and less then 1000 armor? Do you constantly die from not being able to dodge, block and interrupt? u know the tanks main job. Not trolling just seems unfair on the healer if you constantly are out of stam. Blazing shield is sic but I find its underpowered vs pve bosses who hit for 1-4 k, dodge is always better on that kind of damage.

Koensol · August 2014

timidobserver wrote: »

Nice build. I run something similar. I wish we had a better option, like DK talons, for area control than blinding light or turn undead.

Just curious, what gear and sets did you decide to go with after the big patch?

@timidobserver Im not yet using one of the special set bonusses on my Templar tank. Im V5 atm and on my next piece of gear Im gonna look into that.

I do have a high focus on magicka, because I use lots of magicka abilities. Still have loads if stamina left for dodge and block. All points into health, glyph untill softcapped and then the rest of glyphs for magicka. The food I use is the V5 food that increases magicka and stamina. This seems to me a decent set-up for borh pve and pvp.

And yes I feel your pain on the CC department. Imo templar just needs 2 things. AoE cc and magicka regen mechanic. Luckily there's mostly a DK or Sorc around to fix it and I do good enough AoE to burst packs down quickly with my combo.

@dylanjaygrobbelaarb16_ESO‌ Blazing shield doesn't last long on pve bosses indeed, but its still awsome to use when low on stamina and you need to absorb that one heavy hitting ability, or an ability that cannot be blocked at all.

Kcttocs · August 2014

First off thanks for all the replies...

dylanjaygrobbelaarb16_ESO wrote: »

Your tanking with 0 stam attribute or glyph and less then 1000 armor? Do you constantly die from not being able to dodge, block and interrupt? u know the tanks main job. Not trolling just seems unfair on the healer if you constantly are out of stam. Blazing shield is sic but I find its underpowered vs pve bosses who hit for 1-4 k, dodge is always better on that kind of damage.

I've successfully tanked the 3 lower tiered dungeons, and one of the mid tiered Wayrest, with out any extra stam glyphs, only wiping a few times but it wasn't my fault, I was usually the last one alive and still had agro on the boss. Maybe I've been lucky with a good PUG and my dps output of puncturing sweep, droping my Nova at the correct time helps too. When I get about halfway through my stam, I would pop a stam potion, to stay on top. I've found that I don't need to dodge much as long as I circle the boss constantly and miss most of their power moves, dodging cost a lot of stam so I try not to use it unless necessary. I recently hit VR12 and am upgrading my armor, I will put stam glyphs on them all this time before I finish the rest of the dungeons. My PUG tried elden and Darkshade, but we died because none of us were familiar with the dungeons so we decided to quit and try another time. I think we could have finished Darkshade, but we lost one member on the last boss, so we just gave up. I plan on reading up extensively on the rest of the dungeons before I do them, and will have more stam going forward but need another 15K to complete my armor, going with all light again, Seducer 5 and the rest Magnus, I focus on majika, because once I am finished with the group dungeons I am focusing on PvP for my end game and don't have the money to spend on a second set of armor. Everything I've ready anyways points out the Light armor with all passives outweigh the benefits of Heavy armor.
@ Koensol
Interesting build. One of skills I don't agree with
Restoring Focus IV- Keeps you rooted to a small circle to reap any of the benifits, I constantly move, so wouldn't work with me.

Ransack- Uses Stam, and I am torn between undaunted inner fire uses majika, and when I used it the last few times it was awesome when the boss would start attacking someone else because of the range I wouldn't have to run towards it to hit it with a taunt again. but Ransack sure has it's benefits with lowering armor and buffing self I might revisit this idea.

I also like the idea of using blazing shield for some of the power moves that I can't block, think I will incorporate that into one of my slots. But I also really like using radiant aura 15% increase regen to stam and health and when activated gives 80% regen to stamina and health for the group, that's just too good to pass up.

Koensol · August 2014

Kcttocs wrote: »

@ Koensol
Interesting build. One of skills I don't agree with
Restoring Focus IV- Keeps you rooted to a small circle to reap any of the benifits, I constantly move, so wouldn't work with me.

Restoring focus is incredibly cheap to cast. And it lasts for a good 18 seconds. Every second you are in it=win.You shouldn't be moving all the time around the boss in all fights anyway, because some bosses have a large conal AoE that you don't want going towards your group. Block/move in and out in stead. Plus the 15% additional healing is too good to pass up for me. My build is focussed on lots of self/support healing because I like to remove aome pressure of the healer while being reassured to allways get some healing. But I suppose you could also use immovable from the heavy armor tree, although that costs quite some stamina. I do think you should at least have 1 armor+spell resist buff going on yourself.

Kcttocs wrote: »

Ransack- Uses Stam, and I am torn between undaunted inner fire uses majika, and when I used it the last few times it was awesome when the boss would start attacking someone else because of the range I wouldn't have to run towards it to hit it with a taunt again. but Ransack sure has it's benefits with lowering armor and buffing self I might revisit this idea.

Yea I use ransack because I already have so much magicka abilities. Ransack is my stamina dump and taunt/buff at the same time. The undaunted taunt is probably even better because bosses don't have much armor, if any at all. My immobility is my build's weakness. For ranged boss tanking I usually switch it up but for stationary bosses I prefer Ransack.

Kcttocs wrote: »

I also like the idea of using blazing shield for some of the power moves that I can't block, think I will incorporate that into one of my slots. But I also really like using radiant aura 15% increase regen to stam and health and when activated gives 80% regen to stamina and health for the group, that's just too good to pass up.

Radiant aura was worthless IMO because softcaps on regen were so easily reached, making "50%" of the skill's benefits redundant. Now that the softcaps have been increased it has become more effective and viable to alot of people. Personally I still love my repentance, because it has saved me and my group so many times when the healer died on trash pulls. Like 6 dead bodies around and you will get a massive health+stamina restore. Its just awsome on trash. And it also still gives the passive 15% regen bonus to stamina and health. But either is fine. A matter of personal taste

Kcttocs · August 2014

Koensol wrote: »

Kcttocs wrote: »

@ Koensol
Interesting build. One of skills I don't agree with
Restoring Focus IV- Keeps you rooted to a small circle to reap any of the benifits, I constantly move, so wouldn't work with me.

Restoring focus is incredibly cheap to cast. And it lasts for a good 18 seconds. Every second you are in it=win.You shouldn't be moving all the time around the boss in all fights anyway, because some bosses have a large conal AoE that you don't want going towards your group. Block/move in and out in stead. Plus the 15% additional healing is too good to pass up for me. My build is focussed on lots of self/support healing because I like to remove aome pressure of the healer while being reassured to allways get some healing. But I suppose you could also use immovable from the heavy armor tree, although that costs quite some stamina. I do think you should at least have 1 armor+spell resist buff going on yourself.

Very good point. I'll revisit this idea. I can think right off the bat where using that one in Wayrest on the third boss (I think) where I would tank in that tunnel, so not much moving around there and it would be pretty handy. Good points overall. Now to just study the rest of the Vet instanced dungeons and finish em up.

Apokh · August 2014

Kcttocs wrote: »

7/7 light armor

woot? I use 4 heavy and 3 light armor and was tanking up to VR11 VET Dungeons as VR6 (now VR8) Templar. I cannot imagine how a TANK with full light armor would be an advantage or be at least on par with a DK.
I also use ransack cause for tanking it is my only STAM Skill in my slotbar except the "immovable" skill and never had any STAM Probs.

Pmarsico9 · August 2014

I have extensive experience tanking and the best thing I can recommend is to adapt based on what you are doing.

Tanklar's have extreme stamina regeneration without really gearing for it whatsoever and can almost block indefinitely via Radiant Aura, which also acts as a nice health regen boost to the group.

Channeled Focus provides you an ability to attain hard armor and spell resistance caps with relative ease as well as better-than-you-think magicka recovery.

I tend to only have two constants on my bars as I run S&B/S&B on my loadouts:

Bar 1 always consists of Ransack and Blazing Shield
Bar 2 always consists of Inner Beast and Blazing Shield

I have found that Blazing Shield tends to be the absolute best use of Magicka for both Damage Reduction and AoE DPS.

Besides that your armor choices and abilities beyond those two should vary from boss encounter to boss encounter.

It's actually not a bad move to go Destro Staff and full AoE with Inner Rage on your bars during trash either. You can do a ton of damage Emp. Sweep, Puncturing Strikes, and Unstable Wall of Elements with a Fire staff while throwing out Taunts from Range to keep the mobs off your heals.