HiImRex wrote: »

I found both to be viable, light gives you more damage and heavy keeps you alive longer.

IMO you should try both. I run light from time to time just for the fast-paced gameplay, but usually run heavy so I don't blow up at random times.

I ran a duelling test between comparable non-proc builds.

Build one was Eternal Vigor, Amber Plasm, 1x Skoria, Wild Hunt, light armor.
Build two was Eternal Vigor, War Maiden front bar, 1x Skoria, Malacath and Master 1H+S back bar as far as I recall.

Both lightning front bar, 1H+S back bar.

The light armor setup did more damage and worked better defensively in the duel for my playstyle. It was a win all round. It also works well in CP open world. The heavy armor setup felt like it had bad heals, was slow, was lower damage and it felt squishier, hard as that may be to believe. Dodge rolls and speed win for me and it wasn't even close. Not to mention the more frequent crit heals and the penetration from light armor.

There was one factor that may have skewed my results a little. I was trying Pierce Armor with the heavy build, which I found hard to land. You have to be in a good position with no lag, since Pierce Armor is naturally followed by you going on the offensive and bar swapping. If you bar swap without Pierce Armor landing, you tend to waste time as you fumble to do it again. Towards the end of the duels I switched in Living Dark. The snare from that skill is possibly underrated. It's the last hard snare templar has - Sweeps used to snare harder in the past - and it makes a difference. So there were some other things changing in my duels, but heavy just felt so lacklustre. I suppose I should mention that my duelling partner was first a stamsorc, later a magsorc. Speed just helps for going after those.

Syiccal wrote: »

You can't compare dueling builds to open world builds, not even in the same ball park

I don't play duelling builds. Look at what I actually run! Do those look like duelling builds to you?? I duel, because it's more consistent than going into open world. I duelled against a friend who is actually slightly better than me and who puts out a lot of pressure. He also plays open world builds. Just about the best person I could face.

You have to spend a lot more time in open world to get a feel for a build, due to the variety of engagements. However I actually did go into open world before I ever duelled with the light armor build. I had thrown it together in exasperation and was inpressed at how well it worked - at least for my playstyle. Then I tried to improve it and couldn't. I already knew 1H+S works well on templar and is probably responsible for more tankiness than heavy armor in any build. I knew stamina sustain is a weakness on magicka classes, but I had never gone all out, stacking that much stamina recovery plus the stamina rune. That seemed crazy overkill and the wrong way to go, but it works for me.

I had thought (somewhat) tanky was the way for magplar. Give yourself more time while your health runs down, before you block cast Honor the Dead. The last time that worked for me was maybe 2 years ago, when Pirate Skeleton gave you 30% damage reduction, had very little cooldown and overall healing was stronger. Tanky magplar options have felt lacklustre to me since then.

Bear in mind I don't use Mist Form. My character is not a vamp. I've also never liked or perhaps never come to grips with how heavy armor sustains. The Constitution passive should improve your stamina sustain. That has never felt all that good to me, always inconsistent. Light armor with more stamina sustain and Relentless Focus feels better.

Look, this is personal. It really depends on your playstyle. I play a medium armor stam DK and a stamsorc. I like how those classes play. Magplar being melee IMO comes closest to how stamina classes play (I don't play mag DK). I don't mean to say you have to build templar as I do. Particularly when you use Mist Form or when you do the Cyrodiil's Light thing with Mist Form and Meditate, then your stamina pool gets a reprieve and you deal with incoming damage and CCs differently. However for me there is also a straight up fun factor to high stamina sustain. I am here to add that it works and, if your playstyle is similar to mine, it may actually be the best option for you too. As ever: I am a CP open world player. No BGs. Your mileage may vary. That is all.