Basic guide to dedicated templar healing in veteran group dungeons. (work in progress: updating)

failkiwib16_ESO · March 2016

Healing is complicated, because you will have to reslot skills depend on what group you're dealing with. There more skills and buffs you can use in this game, however this is a simple guide so I don't want to include Mage Guild and Alliance War skills.

All you need as a templar healer for all content in the game:
Breath of Life - good burst heal, if your team has taken a lot of damage from a boss, cast 2-3 of this skill to heal everybody up.
Healing Springs - good for mob fights or situations where the team stacks, it is spamable and cost efficient.

Now on to the the more advanced healing, below is a list of some good skills and a short explenation to why they are good.

TEMPLAR SKILLS
Aedric Spear:

Puncturing Sweep it's a good skill for damage and survival. It's an AoE cone that heals you, but gives bad AoE damage however high single target. In case stuff goes wrong or you wish to contribute to damage in bossfights, this is a great skill, because it keeps you alive.
Blazing Spears is a decent DoT AoE skill. It's good to spam on mobs for damage, and specially during bossfights. Because when an ally picks up a shard, they gain 25% stamina and stamina regen, so tanks love getting a shard during long bossfights.... The other morph Luminous Shards is an AoE that snares enemies, and gives 25% stamina return + stamina and magicka regen - however does not give a DoT, so it's not that recomended compared to this one. There are other and better skills for mana-management of your team mages than Luminous Shards. Blazing Spear is the supperior morph.

Dawns Wrath:

Solar Disturbance is a great ultimate. It gives high damage and snares enemies in the area - casting it on a target makes them give less damage, so it's great for hard bossfights.
Dark Flare great single target damage skill, but it has a casting time - so you can not always make use of this skill. It really depends on what teams you are with. Debuffs your enemies healing taken for a few seconds, so you can use it on bosses like Bogdan (endboss in Elden Hollow 2) so he doesn't heal much up, while your team continues to deal damage, it makes it possible for low-dps-groups to ignore the white adds that heal the boss.
Power of The Light placed on an enemy gives them Minor Fracture and Minor Breach, reduces their spell and physical resistance by 1320 for 6 seconds, and buffs your team mates with Minor Sorcery and increases their spell damage by 5%.
Radiant Glory/ Radiant Oppression << our glorious Jesus Beam. If your magicka regen is high, Radiant Oppression is the best morph and gives most damage. Choose Radiant Glory if your regen is so bad, that you're almost out of magicka when bosses get down to execution phase ...it heals you and gives good damage.

Restoring Light:

Breath of Life is a great burst heal, always have this one slotted.
Repentance is an extremely underestimated skill. It gives you 10% regen in all stats just by having it slotted, and it is cost free to cast. It provides stamina to every nearby ally that is within 12 meters radius of you. This skill is great to cast during and after mob fights, both for stamina and magicka users. Stamina users get more resources back to deal damage, magicka users who block-cast AoE skills in mob fights also benefit greatly from this.
Purifying Ritual Is good for trial healing really, it's not needed but a good HoT to have. Level this skill up, in case you haven't already, even if you don't use it.
Channeled Focus ever since Blazing Shield (morph of Sun Shield) got nerfed into uselessness, this is the best shield-like skill we have.

WEAPON SKILLS
Restoration staff:

Healing Springs is the best spamable skill for stacked groups, and for when you run low on magicka.
Rapid Regeneration is a great HoT in 4mans dungeons, it just gives that little extra healing and spares you for a lot of trouble, in case you get CC'ed by mobs or bosses.
Combat Prayer is way better than the alternative morph, because it gives those allies you hit with it a good damage bonus. In good groups you can replace Healing Springs with this skill, but don't ever do that with inexperienced and low dps groups, because it will run you out of magicka. If the teams dps is low, buffing them with a percentage is nothing compared to if you just deal damage to progress faster through a dungeon.
Siphon Spirit is my favorite skill, you see ... it is extremely useful both for magicka dps'ers and stamina users on your team, and you. It provides health + 1% magicka to anyone that hits a target with this on. It allows you to deal some damage or cast buffs and other skills, while the dps'ers and tank can heal themselves by dealing damage to the target. In case you are about to run out of magicka, cast this skill and then do heavy attacks with restoration staff. It does have a casting time, so you have to time it right when you cast it.

Destruction Staff:

Crushing Shock is good as a general single target skill if you can do medium attack weaving. Any enemy mobs that is channeling a skill will be interrupted and stunned. It's specially useful against mob healers in veteran White Gold Tower and Imperial City Prison where enemies have very high health, so they're slow to take down.
Elemental Drain is skooma for magicka based sorcerers and dragonknights. They tend to run out of resources fast, and many of them depend on the magicka return from this skill.

GUILD SKILLS
Undaunted:

Mystic Orb is the only skill in the game, that gives instant gratification of magicka + some magicka regen. It also gives more instant magicka the more enemies it hits, so if you cast it in a mob fight, and your team mates use the synergy - they will not run out of magicka.

Gear:

3 willpower jewelry with reduced cost enchants.
5 Kagrenacs Hope
3-4 Torugs Pact (2 armor pieces with weapons: resto, destro and in case of dual wield)

(I haven't mentioned any lootable armor sets, because it is not needed to start with. I recomend that you start with 5 Kagrenacs Hope instead of Julianos because it gives better sustain untill you are more experienced.)

Mundus stone: The Atronach for magicka regen, when you gain more experience exchange it for The Thief for higher crit chance.

Attributes: start with 10 points in health, and the rest in magicka. When you gain more experience, you can put it all into magicka, however if you do not block in time, some boss attacks will one shot you.

Weapon trait:

get precise on everything. Sharpened is not bad for destro staff and Nirnhoned/Sharpened for dual wield, because it gives higher dps, but it is not needed if you only off-dps and main-heal.

Armor traits:

All pieces with Divine trait

Armor type:

5 light, 1 heavy, 1 medium for the total 6% extra health, magicka and stamina bonus from the Undaunted Mettle passive skill. If you do not have that passive unlocked yet, you can wear 5 light and 2 heavy for better protection.

Weapons:

Restoration Staff good for skills and magicka return from heavy attacks.
Destruction Staff good if you play with players who use elemental damage type of skills.
Dual Wield is only good for the passive skill, that boosts your spell damage. It's not a needed weapon type, but it is a good alternative to destro staff if you run with team that does not need Elemental Drain casted on bosses.

A general good setup for a mixed group would be:
Resto staff:

Siphon Spirit
Blazing Spear
Rapid Regeneration
Healing Springs
Breath of Life
Ultimate: Solar Disturbance

Destro staff:

Mystic Orb
Repentance
Dark Flare
Elemental Drain
Breath of Life
Ultimate: Solar Disturbance

Bossfight >> start with casting Rapid Regeneration 2 times to cover all 4 of you, when tank reaches the boss cast Siphon Spirit on the boss. Weaponswap to destro staff and cast Elemental Drain, then do some damage and heal when it is needed, untill one of your skills run out, then recast it.
Long bossfight >> cast a Blazing Spear to the tank, so he regains stamina, and cast a few Mystic Orbs to your team mates, in case they are low on magicka, recast Siphon Spirit and Elemental Drain.
Mobfight >> start with casting Rapid Regeneration 2 times to cover all 4 of you, then when your damage dealers reach the middle of the mobs, spam Healing Springs 2 times, Blazing Spear 2 times, Healing Springs 2 times >> weaponswap and cast 2 Mystic Orbs and use repentance.
Ultimates >> use these on hard bosses, or in situations where you are about to run out of magicka and you need your teem to take a bit less damage. If your team is good, then cast them for the purpose of damage on bosses.

BEST IN SLOT GEAR IS NOT RELEVANT IF YOU ARE BELOW CP160/GEAR CAP LEVEL - SO DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME FARMING GEAR YOU WILL GROW OUT OF.

BiS gear is currently:
5 Spell Power Cure (with resto staff included)
5 Infallible Aether or Twilight Remedy set (with destro staff included)
2 monster set of your liking

The list above is useless for non templars, as if you intend to provide stamina to your team, you have to compensate with Masters Restoration Staff.
5 Spell Power Cure
5 Infallible Aether or Twilight Remedy set
1 Molag Kena helmet or shoulder
1 Masters Restoration Staff
1 preferably Masters Destruction Staff

......................Working on the sorc/non-templar part, give me a little more time

crazmadsci · March 2016

Very detailed job. However i am constantly confused when people argue to use Kags as a PvE Healer. Honestly if you are a good healer the 5 piece bonus is a waste since you wont respawn people. If you are not a good healer then the 5 piece bonus is a waste since normally the DPS should be doing the Rezzing.

If you are looking for sustain try 5 pieces of Seducer or 5 pieces of Twice Born Star. Seducer reduces cost, has recovery and max magicka. Twice Born star will allow you to use 2 mundus stones 1 for the Mage and 1 for Atronach.

Large Scale PvP is another story since the more people alive leads to a better group however Kags in my opinion is a waste of slots if you go to the 5 piece in PvE.

failkiwib16_ESO · March 2016

@crazmadsci I recomended Kagrenacs for the extra health, magicka regen + spell damage. It's a tiny bit comforting for a starter healer, since Julianos means bad sustain and the seducer gives very weak HoTs due to no spell damage bonus.

Spell damage also affects Elemental Drain, Siphon Spirit, Mystic Orb and damage output.

I haven't tested TBS, I have actually never met a healer that used that set. I'm not saying it is bad though, but I have really 0 experience with it as a healer ...so it didn't even cross my mind. I guess I could test it out one of these nights if I get the time. I will post my experience with it afterwards.

Master_Fluff · March 2016

You can also go with 5 warlock + 5 seducer for infinte magicka regen or 5 warlock + 5 julianos for slighlty less magicka regen but more spell crit which is good for heals too. I know warlock isn't availabe beyond VR 12 and the jewellery next to impossible to find for sale anywhere, but it's still a good set.

puffy99 · March 2016

Yeah Juliannos certainly isn't the one, I think Kags or Seducer are the ones to go with especially if you are running monster sets. Lich or SPC set is probably the best but that is 5 piece for lich and I haven't seen any sash or gloves in the stores. Although with the TG changes I noticed the prices are coming down fast so if you are not concerned with the monster set and are a pure healer and are tired of the WGt grind then I would farm/buy that. Plus it is way cool looking.

Warlock at 12 not sure what you would give up 4 levels lower with that at Gold.

heystreethawk · March 2016

ulrik.igerupb16_ESO wrote: »

You can also go with 5 warlock + 5 seducer for infinte magicka regen or 5 warlock + 5 julianos for slighlty less magicka regen but more spell crit which is good for heals too. I know warlock isn't availabe beyond VR 12 and the jewellery next to impossible to find for sale anywhere, but it's still a good set.

Just quoting you because I always get a huge kick out of your signature.

Thanks for the post OP! Great starter guide.

thomas1970b16_ESO · March 2016

This inspired me to try out healing with my Templar. Only healing in normalk dungeons so far, while being DD in veteran dungeons. It is working out nicely so far. Thanks for the guide!

Brutusmax1mus · March 2016

Any reason not to use lingering ritual? I've found a springs (4 second morph) followed by a lingering ritual, springs, 2x rapid regen is incredibly cost effective and very strong healing over time with burst.

Spamming ritual isn't great even though with animation cancel each cast after the first come quicker than casting it just once. I don't like it because if your timing is off you'll heal prior to the damage occurring. But that's a problem with any burst heal like BOL.

failkiwib16_ESO · March 2016

@ulrik.igerupb16_ESO
The ultimate mana engine combo is actually 5 Warlock and 5 Lich set, you'll never run out of magicka lol but it's not needed... and in case you want to do vWhite Gold Tower, then the healer will struggle a lot at killing portals at the Planar Boss, because of the lack of spell damage.
Damage skills, buffs, HoT's and resource sustain skills will be weak too.

@puffy99 Julianos is actually the best craftable healing set, however it's a sustain nightmare, and maybe not the best for a start-up healer who could benefit from decent spell dmg and some sustain, untill they are more comfortable with healing role. For a starter I would recomend Kagrenacs, if experienced v16 then I only recomend Julianos - due to the tiny bit improvement it does on buffs and resource management skills.

Nothing beats Spell Power Cure, but I can't bring myself to recomend that in a guide for start-up healers xD

@thomas1970b16_ESO thank you, I take it as a compliment ^^

@Brutusmax1mus because in stacked situations Healing Springs is enough, and for when a team is spread out it is useless because of its short 10-15 meter radius. It can't replace Healing Springs in stacked situations either, because of it's casting time.

It's a very powerful healing skill though.

kewl · March 2016

ulrik.igerupb16_ESO wrote: »

You can also go with 5 warlock + 5 seducer for infinte magicka regen or 5 warlock + 5 julianos for slighlty less magicka regen but more spell crit which is good for heals too. I know warlock isn't availabe beyond VR 12 and the jewellery next to impossible to find for sale anywhere, but it's still a good set.

5 warlock + 5 seducer is what I use and never run out of magicka.

kewl · March 2016

Surprised to see Rapid Regeneration over Combat Prayer. I'm always sprinkling DPS dust over the group.

I prefer Luminous Shards vs Blazing Spears because of higher stam return for the tank.

puffy99 · March 2016

It seems to me blazing spears is hitting a lot harder than it use to with TG or maybe it is just the damage indicators but with high regen you can spam that for at least 4-5 casts and it tears up mobs, prior to any healing.

Caroloces · March 2016

I'm curious as to how the nerf to BOL in the last update has affected your healing strategies. I haven't been playing my templar healer since the update, but I've thought about the BOL healing reduction and how I might have to supplement it. Prior to the update, BOL was my mainstay in healing, and I'm a bit anxious in how effective it will be with the nerf. Do you find yourself using a greater multitude of healing abilities as opposed to BOL spams?

kylewwefan · March 2016

Thanks for the tips! I'm still new to healing and have been using all Juliano, Resto and DW. Breath of life is still great. I cast rune focus to help regen and magic pots and Resto heavy attack to sustain. Blazing spear is great. It disorients large mobs.
I will definitely add combat prayer on my bar. Didn't realize it helped the group out so much.

You should definitely have radiant destruction on there, though it takes awhile leveling up to get it. The most helpful best execute there is IMO. Many like the Mage light.....it doesn't do much for me.

I may look into the Kags armor as sustaining longer fights can be problematic. I have been running a few randoms daily for the XP and most time my healing is not as much an issue as low group DPS.

failkiwib16_ESO · March 2016

@kewl Luminous Shards is a good skill, but it doesn't apply dots so it rarely proc Burning Light. Blazing Spear is the better skill of the two, but the other morph is not bad either.

Combat prayer is a great skill, but a total waste if the groups DD's deal 12k or less dps, then rather slot a damage skill and contribute to the damage.
-I usually replace Healing Springs with Combat Prayer if the groups DD's are good. Rapid Regeneration gets to stay.

@puffy99 I have bad regens, and I can still spam it in mobfights. Its not an expensive skill.

@Caroloces Breath of Life is still good to use, the nerf can be felt but the skill is still good for burst healing. If you cast Rapid Regeneration or Extended Ritual and Siphon Spirit, then you get a little time to contribute to dps, cast buffs etc. and use Breath of Life when it's really needed.

@kylewwefan I really like Combat Prayer, but in teams that have low dps I use Healing Springs instead, so I don't run out of resources and I try to contribute with dps.

Kagrenacs is not as good as Julianos, but it is viable. In pvp it is better than Julianos though ...

Radiant Destruction is an execute, and yes it deals a lot of damage, but if you intend to heal and deal support dps, it's best to use Puncturing Sweep, Crushing Shock or Dark Flare, because the beam only deals heavy damage when the enemy is down below 50% health .... of course if you have room on your bar to slot it, then it is great

..I just rarely get that pleasure Q.Q

I may get time to test TBS vs Julianos/Kagrenacs out later tonight. If I do, then I will post my opinion of it tomorrow.

The_Lex · March 2016

Great post. I'm going to follow this closely since I plan to roll a templar healer during double xp week. What do you suggest for race, Breton or Altmer?

puffy99 · March 2016

Yep BoL still very much needed. I ran VCoA last night on 16 with a sub optimal DPS group and the King Kong boss put a lot of pressure on me to keep people alive. Since everyone is running around helter skelter in this PuG having enough sustain for the Ground and pound moments was very tough. One moment Springs was doing it's job then the adds come out and I am trying to keep the tank full, while dodging Ads, while searching for the DPS that is running around. BoL is very much needed and you are going to run into situations where people are almost dead and you get the BoL spam and you are good to go.

I am not a Pro healer and prefer heal/dps role but I don't see anyway around BoL in those quick turning situations that last 7-8 seconds and everyone is spread out.

failkiwib16_ESO · March 2016

@The_Patriarch that's a tricky question

Altmer is on paper the best for templars, however the Breton spell resistance is not to be ignored. My healer is an Altmer and I'm considering to level up a Breton.

Bretons are really OP in pvp and trials, due to the high spell resistance.
Altmers have 4% bonus to elemental type of damage.

The only templar skill that gives elemental damage is Reflective Light/ Vampires Bane, however it has become more popular to use a destruction staff now, due to the recent changes to Champion Points. DPS wise Altmers beat Bretons, but in all other situations they are either equal or Bretons are better.

failkiwib16_ESO · March 2016

@puffy99 that sounds like a sustain nightmare situation.

I usually cast Barrier to get time to make 1 or 2 restoration staff heavy attacks to regain magicka there. I have ~850 magicka regen and 43k max magicka... otherwise Healing Springs spam, a few BoL and Blazing Spear to stun a few enemies do the job for me.

If that goes wrong, I have two options:

Cast minimum healing and deal damage instead, and sacrefice my team mates during execute phase.
Respec all CP from Elemental Expert and put them into Blessed, so my Rapid Regeneration can crit for 3.7k and I don't have to spam Breath of Life that much...

<< if it gets that far I repentance my team mates corpses when they die.

Repentance

puffy99 · March 2016

Lol, yep and it got that far a few times. As you know repentance is great but I noticed a lot of the Ads were at 25% health so that is a no go and I have to try and DPS a bit to get them down or guess what everyone dies- it is at those moments someone is usually shouting "heal me" or something to that effect, lol and i just chuckle as I hope I have a few BoL left in the tank while dodge rolling and sweeping..

On a side note I love the dudes that get one shotted or one shotted to 10% health and then say "where are my heals??" Usually some bow user off in the corner that can't dodge and is not in range..

lol

failkiwib16_ESO · March 2016

@puffy99 I repentance my team mates when they die, not the corpses of enemies

People don't shout heal me in dungeons, but I used to be a lot on teamspeak with a sorcerer friend of mine, and he always shouted DRAAAAAAAAINS. I usually keep up Elemental Drain and Siphon Spirit, I don't know what the heck he was doing since he ran out of magicka so fast lol and he didn't believe me untill he did a vWGT run with another healer who refused to cast drains.
...beside him, I know 2 other players who run out of magicka, despite me reapplying Elemental Drain + Siphon Spirit and casting orbs. lol

The_Lex · April 2016

Thanks for this guide. As I mentioned previously, I planned to roll a temp healer. Well, I did and got him to V1. You mentioned wearing two heavy pieces (instead of 1M/1H) if we don't have the Undaunted Mettle passive yet. Do you still recommend this? If so, which pieces should be heavy?

Mcwoods55 · April 2016

I'm vr7 templar (started new char with cake

)

I have been looking into gear set ups. What are the thoughts of mixing in the following:

3 spell power, 4 seducer, and then 2 mara (for recovery) or 2 magnus (for max mag) depending on your needs.

If you don't get the spell power drops you can do the magnus or the mara in the 3 piece.

Mcwoods55 · April 2016

The_Patriarch wrote: »

Thanks for this guide. As I mentioned previously, I planned to roll a temp healer. Well, I did and got him to V1. You mentioned wearing two heavy pieces (instead of 1M/1H) if we don't have the Undaunted Mettle passive yet. Do you still recommend this? If so, which pieces should be heavy?

Typically 2 of the 3 big pieces (chest, hat, legs) should be in heavy and or medium to boost the hp.

The_Lex · April 2016

Mcwoods55 wrote: »

The_Patriarch wrote: »

Thanks for this guide. As I mentioned previously, I planned to roll a temp healer. Well, I did and got him to V1. You mentioned wearing two heavy pieces (instead of 1M/1H) if we don't have the Undaunted Mettle passive yet. Do you still recommend this? If so, which pieces should be heavy?

Typically 2 of the 3 big pieces (chest, hat, legs) should be in heavy and or medium to boost the hp.

Thanks, that was I was thinking. It will feel weird running around in PvE with 2 heavy like that. I'm used to full light.

Mcwoods55 · April 2016

The_Patriarch wrote: »

Mcwoods55 wrote: »

The_Patriarch wrote: »

Thanks for this guide. As I mentioned previously, I planned to roll a temp healer. Well, I did and got him to V1. You mentioned wearing two heavy pieces (instead of 1M/1H) if we don't have the Undaunted Mettle passive yet. Do you still recommend this? If so, which pieces should be heavy?

Typically 2 of the 3 big pieces (chest, hat, legs) should be in heavy and or medium to boost the hp.

Thanks, that was I was thinking. It will feel weird running around in PvE with 2 heavy like that. I'm used to full light.

I agree. Right now I am in 1 heavy and 1 med and have them at lvl 49. As soon as they hit 50 they are coming off until I get undaunted 7 for the6% passive

failkiwib16_ESO · April 2016

@The_Patriarch what > Mcwoods55 said.
Also those big armor pieces also give full enchantment effect, so a lot of players run with infused on those pieces, to gain more from the enchantment.

@Mcwoods55 then you might as well go for 5 Seducer and 2/3 Torugs Pact in that case, get the cost reduction + spell power.

Still doesn't beat 5 Julianos/ Twice-Born Star/ Kagrenac's Hope and 3 Torugs Pact, because your HoT's and buffs will benefit much more from this. You will also have to spam less heals, because the HoTs will cover a lot of the small healing you do in dungeons.

Mcwoods55 · April 2016

failkiwib16_ESO wrote: »

@The_Patriarch what > Mcwoods55 said.
Also those big armor pieces also give full enchantment effect, so a lot of players run with infused on those pieces, to gain more from the enchantment.

@Mcwoods55 then you might as well go for 5 Seducer and 2/3 Torugs Pact in that case, get the cost reduction + spell power.

Still doesn't beat 5 Julianos/ Twice-Born Star/ Kagrenac's Hope and 3 Torugs Pact, because your HoT's and buffs will benefit much more from this. You will also have to spam less heals, because the HoTs will cover a lot of the small healing you do in dungeons.

I thought julianos was dps. I run TBS on my sorc gold v16 but I figured mixing the 3 I listed would net me the most magica and regen which would increase my dmg and HoT's.

I thought about the full seducer set but I was wondering mathematically the trade off if I ran the 3 mix and gained more max magicka if it would out weigh the 8% decrease (because my heals would be stronger) and I'd get a higher regen.

failkiwib16_ESO · April 2016

@Mcwoods55 most damage, buff and healing skills benefit more from spell damage than max magicka. So if you focus on high regen and max magicka you trade quality for quantity of skills.

~10.5 magicka = 1 spell damage

Mcwoods55 · April 2016

failkiwib16_ESO wrote: »

@Mcwoods55 most damage, buff and healing skills benefit more from spell damage than max magicka. So if you focus on high regen and max magicka you trade quality for quantity of skills.

~10.5 magicka = 1 spell damage

I am aware of that. I guess I am more concerned with having higher magicka pool to heal from them bigger heals. I already heal like a mofo with 100 CPs in Blessed. I mean that with a proc from heavy attack if I gather it right allows me to heal for 50% more on top of other passive I think I'm in ball park of like 65% extra on my heal.

By all means please correct me if I'm wrong.

failkiwib16_ESO · April 2016

@Mcwoods55 well in that case I would like to apologize, because what I gave you was a general answer. In general it's best to focus on spell damage rather than max magicka. But that's just in general... some skills do benefit heavily more from resource pool than spell damage.

I have noticed my output changes depending on what skills I use, some skills like Dark Flare seems to benefit more from max magicka, while Elemental Drain depends heavily on spell damage.. to the point where just changing my jewelry enchants to spell damage works wonders for the magicka gain from it.

I would like to test skills if I had more time to play, but unfortunately I log in a few hours a week, usually 1-2 nights if that can even do it

so testing stuff is not optimal, as I also have to show some attention to my guilds.

Btw. I spent 0 champion points in blessed, I pile mine up in Elemental Damage and Elfborn. I only respec for Blessed when I heal in trials, so my heals are bad.. but people don't take me into dungeons for healing, they do it for buffs and support

so I get away with it..