The first 15 levels you should concentrate on combat skills. A Templar has nice Healing spells as part of it's skill line so you don't need a Restoration Staff to heal, but it will help. In fact I just hit L40 this morning and I still don't have a second weapon built up. I may not build one up either for this character. The Class Skills are doing quite well in combat for me, so the weapon is just a support at this point. For the record I am using a Destruction Staff as my Templar is magic based, not Stamina based.

I am leveling a Templar as a DPS focus and doing quite well with it. I don't always have a healing skill slotted, but I am trying to keep it leveling with the other skills. However that one skill seems to keep those around me healed up so it's all good.

One thing you need to keep in mind, come 1.6, you will have to go Stamina or Magic on most of your skill morphs, so that will affect how you approach things. Stamina helps other non staff weapon lines, so you may want to put your points and morphs into Stamina to help your 2H. However you will be able to resec your attributes to work with your choices once that goes live. In the mean time, I have focused on Magic and have split my attributes points 50/50 Health and Magic and then use Magic Glyphs on all my armor. Nothing survives for long in front of me, even at L12. This means of course that I suck at Stamina Abilities so I don't see me using a bladed weapon anytime soon. Maybe once 1.6 hits I will.

Wear all armor types at once to level them up as you're leveling. For instance wear three heavy, two light, two medium, and you'll raise em all and be effective while playing/using them.

Second, if you're going the healer route, equip a resto staff to heal in both with your restoring light skills and restoration staff skills, and you can even use the staff for DPS via using your class skills and enchanting and speccing for Magicka, but if you want to level using a sword, that's also viable, just switch to staff when you go to heal

@divago - you will not be an "effective" long term healer in all heavy. The drain to your magicka pool will leave the group wanting. You may be able to balance some of it with glyphs and potions, but doubtful it will be enough. I too play a Temp, and I use all the skills lines, just not all the skills. With the route you are taking, you will end up with a tank who can throw a few heals, but you will not be a tank/healer. You do not need to "specialize" so much in either or, as the Temp is the jack of all trades so to speak. You can be really good at any role, but you cannot do them all at once. Right now, you can tank fairly well in light armor, which makes the healing good too, but that will change with 1.6. You have already gotten some good advice. What I would add, is to unlock as much as possible, play each style (healer/tank/dps) then figure what you like and mix them. Say go tank for 25 levels on your main bar, then go 25 levels dps on the main bar, and always have the second bar leveling your healing skills. Remember, to be a good healer, you will want skills from Restoring Light and Restro Staff skill lines. Just like tanking goes with Aedric & 1H/Sh, so too works the same for healing. You are going to need to level out the skill trees if you want to be truly effective at anything.

You can easily use 5 heavy/1 med/1 light to level all armor types and you get a lot of passives this way. And if you are not using the healing as much during leveling, use that second bar for all the skills you might want. Every time you turn in a quest, swap to the second bar, it will level. When the skills are maxed out, change them for others. I promise, the more you go forward in the game, the more you will want choices.

divago wrote: »

a) i'm just level 12, and this is so far what i got at the moment (more or less, i honestly don't remember how much level i got on this or that skill... but i'm pretty sure about what are my abilities)
b) while looking for group i dunno if i should apply as a dps, as a tank, as an healer... i honestly dunno if "the triad" is the same of other games or if has different meaning on ESO
c) dunno if i should invest more on restoring light and/or resto staff, or i should concentrate on 2 hand and aedric spear/dawn's wrath. Also i use mainly heavy armor (honestly i'm too lazy to level up light or medium armor too...)
d) i read there are many change incoming for Templar, or at least there are 1+ post where people are complaining about (i'm too noob to understand what all of that's meaning, sorry... )

a) It's the level of the skill line rather than your level that unlocks your abilities, which is why you should have one skill from each line in your skill bar.
b) Well if you haven't created a healer or tank, then it's DPS.
If you want to create a healer, then invest skill points in your healing skill, you can equip and add restoration staff skills too, but the healer skill line would be your main focus.
If you want a Tank equip a One-handed weapon and shield, and invest in the one-hand and shield passives, also get a taunt. The passives for one-hand and shield are essential for a good tank (you can tank with other weapons just not as well).
The Triad is the same, just needs a bit of investing into to make work the same.
c) Restoring Light is a Templar healer's bread and butter, you can heal more and faster with it, but don't ignore the Restoration staff either, it has some good heals too.

A good armour set for a Templar (any templar) is Heavy Armour Cuirass and Greaves, and all the rest should be Light Armour. The Cuirass and Greaves gives the most Armour Value for two pieces, and the Light armour allows you to have excellent magicka regen and reduced Spell cost. This does mean a reduction in Armour from all heavy armour, but the extra magicka is worth it.

d) there will be changes, but we can't deal with that until they arrive, unless you are on PTS.

divago wrote: »

AlexDougherty wrote: »

A good armour set for a Templar (any templar) is Heavy Armour Cuirass and Greaves, and all the rest should be Light Armour.

Oh. Cool
i need to build a couple of light armor item then...
[biggest problem is i don't have "of magick" enchantment to put on them so i will need to farm...]

this proportion is only if i have the light armor passives, or it's valid even without?
and breton racial passive (Gift of Magnus/Magicka Mastery) is useful for more magick or just a waste of points?

You do need the light armour passives, but they include both magicka regen and a reduction in cost of spells, which are both useful in managing you magicka, something all Templars need.
You can just have a piece or two of light armour with training trait and let that level up light armour so you can invest skill points. That way you have some of the passives so when you equip light armour it will work for you.

Racial passives as a rule are more useful, since they stay with you even if you change your gear.
I nearly always invest in the Racials as soon as possible (I didn't bother with my Templar Khajiit's stealth boost though), and they are worth it.

newtinmpls wrote: »

The long term more successful templars I've seen either go the all points in magicka / full light armor / passives for magicka / work all the skills up or a more heavy armor/ tank / points in health/ glyphs in armor type of build.

Yeah, at the minute I'm still bridging the two, but the changes with 1.6 will mean we will all have to make changes anyhow. Will probably go for a healer with max magicka myself.

newtinmpls wrote: »

Right now I've just rolled up my first Templar; my personal take on her is I'm going for a light armor/healer angle because she has serious anger/violence issues and is trying to compensate for them.

Don't we all....

So I ran my Temp to VR5 as full heavy tank skills. Then decided to try the healer for VR6-11 (now). Obviously I did the full respect at change. My point was to try and find a way that I could enter the dungeon and aid the group as either or. So the change to HA may make this more difficult (I stopped trying on PTS, to much to take in at once). Realizing that I would not be a full tank or healer, but I could be very effect at off- either.

Do not underestimate the Temps abilities as they stand on live. I went to Crag (VR11 mobs), round up a hefty amount and burn them with little loss of health due to heals and shields. All in LA (Heck did it with nothing but 1H&SH, but ran out of magicka). I found that if you keep say 2-3 skills on bar one that you know work for you...then use 4-5 as skills to try, you will find that your Temp will grow and you will be surprised at what you get. Just make sure to unlock as many skills as possible on Bar 2 so you have those options later.

newtinmpls wrote: »

Do you get ... experience or credit or whatever if you have a 2nd weapon & skills on the "other" bar but never actually use them?

I think its minimal. You can always switch to the other bar right when you hand a quest in and you'll get good XP on those skills that way...

divago wrote: »

1)what's the level requirement to get second skill bar? i'm almost 15 at the moment...

do you know? i started as a dps wearing 2-h weapon but at the moment i'm having a lot of fun using resto staff and casting sunfire/piercing javelin from distance (using resto staff to recover magicka and puncturing strikes when many mobs came closer) so i'm thinking about starting wearing light and going destro staff...
2) however, i would need to re-invest some skillpoint... there is a way to respec some points?
3) (i also read about what crafting is most important for templar, and assuming i'll gonna be a light+staff one, then blacksmith is less useful than clothing and/or wood )
4)follow-up question: before i waste more skillpoint, is Silver Bolt (fighter guild) useful, 'cause it cost stamina and not magicka, or useless?


btw, it's not really bad at the moment, i'm just low level, i can change something in the higher level, but i feel like i screwed up something up to this way...

Don't worry about the questions....heck I still ask all the time. So feel free to ask for advice.

1) You get a second weapon at lvl 15. You will notice that you may try 3-4 or more weapons before you find the one you want. Respecs will help if you need more skill points, or hunt some skyshards. I use the 1H&SH + Restro.

2) There are respec places in Tamriel. The one I know of is in the Elden Root in AD. I am sure there are others in all the areas. It cost like 50g per skill point. (Not sure if that is based on level, if so it may be cheaper for you) You can do your (Health/Magicka/Stamina) for one price, you can just change the Morphs for a price, or you can redistribute all your skills for a price. So never worry about trying skills. You will only be limited by the gold you have.

3) As for crafting. Since you are mainly leveling at the moment, I found that if I invested in just the Hirelings (you get more free stuff) and the one that makes resources easier to spot in the wild, you are good. Break down anything and everything you can, this will level all the skills. Then, you can pick and choose what to build and spend points accordingly. Personally, I have blacksmith, woodworker, enchanting, clothing, and provisioning going, but I have no skills in the crafting part of it, just resource collection points.

4) In my opinion, Silver Bolts is a must have. I use it all the time when I am running where there are undead or Daedra (and that is often). In a fight, when magicka is down or I need to regroup, blast that, knocks all of them down (may take a few shots) but I get a rest. And lets be honest, having them instantly burst into flames 5% of the time is just nice.

Don't worry about trying new things with your character. Your play style will change as you progress. With respecs, this game is forgiving. And the nice part, even if you level a skill, then take the point and use it elsewhere, you don't lose the XP you gained. So say you realize you made a mistake and you cannot do with X skills, just reinvest a point and it will be at the same level that you left it at.

Lastly, I believe that there are 300 skills points available in the game. You will get plenty. Just might not get them right away.

Good read for you and will help you get off to a good start;
http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/148206/eso-exploration-power-levelling-guide#latest

Hope this helps.

ty for your advices and helps!
i'm lvl 15 now and equipping resto and destro staff; i'm using 2x heavy and 5x light armor (well, at the moment just 4 because iron paudlron i got has the +15 magicka point and i'm hunting for runes to make magicka enchantment on the cloth shoulderpiece i made...)
i keep also a light armor chest and pants (hopefully with +magicka) in the backpack so i could switch if i will need to go full healer. However i never been in a group and never tried healer skill so i dunno if i could heal (for instance: i dunno if restoring light actually heal allies, and how much i need to stay close to them to heal them)

I also traveled to wayrest to respec my skills (and this was a very long journey, yet funny to avoid lvl 20 mobs...)
This should be something pretty similar to my actual build:
http://goo.gl/gv5X9y
i'm not really sure about what's my point in a given skill, i remember only special abilities slotted (and not really sure about them); also, as i speak i got 1 spare point from a skyshard i found while traveling and dunno what's i need more, if an healing spell (like Regeneration or Blessing of Protection from resto staff) or guild's Silver Bolts, or use them for more hireling/clothing crafting skills...

@divago - Alright, good questions. So let me first break down my set ups for the different play styles:
-
HEALS:

#1
Breath of Life - This is a no brainer and is good anytime
Healing Springs - Restro Line - I rely on this for heals. You can stack the HOTS
Combat Prayer - Gives allies an armor buff and Spell Resist
Purifying Ritual - Removes negative effects from allies
Inner Light - Get the spell crit which makes heal worth more and cost less

ULTI - Solar Prism

#2
Breath Of Life
Healing Springs
Luminous Shards - I use for the tank to regen Stam
Spell Symetry - Trade health for Magicka if you are in a pinch
Inner Light

ULTI - Solar Prism

That is what I run for heals in group. PVE stuff right, PVP is another animal all together. Now for what I play with. And mind you, I keep this really simple for leveling:

#1
Puncturing Strikes - Heals based on damage done
Silver Bolts - Mainly keep this, but will change to another offense if no Dadrea or undead in combat
Repentance - heals and regen stam from dead bodies.
#4 and #5 are mainly skills I want to level but not necessarily use

#2
BOL - to save my arse if I need it
#2-#5 leveling skills. Keep them slotted till they max out, then change them.

For simply leveling characters, you don't need much else. Simple. And this way you do not eat up a lot of skill points early on. For crafting, I only use skills in the passives that allow for more research slots and material breakdown. That is all. Any other points I use in crafting is if I need to make something, but I try and take them out when I am not. Of course, I am done leveling, so my gear doesn't need to be crafted again right? And Inner Light (Mage Light) is a must on both bars or you lose it when you swap and have to trigger it again when you swap back. Best way to level all crafting is to break down everything you get. You can level to 50 without spending any points, or crafting anything from said line, if you just break down everything you find.

Silver Bolts is almost a must have for solo play. You will find it saves your arse enough to justify the point really quickly. Hope this helps. Also, if you are on the NA server, @Morshire is me. I will help with the crafting gear so you can spend points in skills. And, we can grab a TS channel for more help. Happy Hunting.

@divago - Silver Bolts morphs to Silver Shards (it now affects 3 targets) or Silver Leash (which will pull the target to you). Personally, the way I use this skill, Silver Shards is best, 3 shots and I knock down up to 9 Dadrea/undead. This allows my magicka to regen or I can pop a potion. If you were going to be a tank, I can see the benefits to the Leash. But truthfully, since you have to hit the skill 2x's to activate the leash, I find it a waste.

Also, if you are not fighting Dadrea, then you can use some other Stamina based attack in its place. But for purely leveling purposes in PVE, Puncturing strike till my magicka runs out, I switch to the Stamina skill in slot 2 (Silver Shards or ????), then back to Puncturing Strikes (Morph I use for Puncturing Strikes is Puncturing Sweep). When everything is dead, Repentance (Restoring Aura morph) for the quick Heal and Stamina regen and onto the next thing.

For PVE leveling (have to keep saying that because this set up won't work if grouping or PVP) this gives me 2 slots on bar #1 to level skills through exploration XP or kill XP. Bar #2 has 5 skills I am leveling, every time I turn in quests, I swap to bar #2, turn in the quest to get the XP on those skills. This will spread the XP around and allow you to level up a lot of your skills without much effort.

Ultimate's, I have Rite of Passage morphed to Remembrance (Restoring Light skill line) and Radial Sweep morphed to Empowering Sweep (Aedric Spear skill line). Just to have options. They are both good and I use them all. It is just that Nova morphed to Solar Prism (Dawn's Wrath skill line) works the best in groups.

Skills I am leveling that I may/may not use, I level them to their morph point, then change for something else. This will give you a lot of skill options for end game without having to spend a ton of skill points on things that you may never use.

I also had one of each armor, 5HA, 1MA, 1LA up to VR5, then I switched to 5 LA, 1MA, and 1HA. So by VR14, I have all of the armor lines maxed to 50. Don't ignore this, you never know when you may change things.

As soon as you can get to PVP, unlock Purge in the support line, then morph to Efficient Purge. This skill is the same as Purifying Ritual, just a bit stronger.

Also, I did not waste skill points into passives of any skill line till later into the game. They are great, but costly if you are short on skill points. Of course if you get the Skyshard add on, then you can always go rally more up quickly.

And glad to help. Templars are really versatile and are a lot of fun to play. Things will be changing for Temps in 1.6 though. I have experimented some on the PTS, but not enough to really give advice yet. I will keep you posted on any changes I have to make after it goes live. Good luck with the levels.