VMA makes me want to delete my Templar

Electrone_Magnus

Templar was the hardest class for me too, but mine was a magplar. They have the worst mobility, very bad sustain,heals are too costly, bad spammable and no reflect. Puncturing sweeps has a good heal but it costs too much magicka and the range is too short. What I did was use degeneration and just heavy attack after using dots. As a stamplar you could try only heavy attacking and using dots and if you get into trouble try the barrier skill from alliance war skill line it helps a lot. If you find the ccs too hard to dodge you can block it too its easier. Also you need VO if you don't have it already, without it vma on stamina is really hard.

Cage_Lizardman

Jurand80 wrote: »

I tried it today on a magden and folded on the 2nd round. F magden... F templar. Magblade is life this patch

I'd say magden is relatively easy though. They have sustain, heals and shields. And you don't need top dps for vma.

Raudgrani

I do it on stamplar, but in werewolf form. As soon as I'm falling out of werewolf form, I'm struggling though.
Now, as I've done it a number of times, I only die some 4-5 times on "Rink of Frozen Blood", and once or so on "Vault of Umbrage" if I'm unlucky (those ugly plants appearing under the mender shield, or whatever). Rink of frozen blood is really hard in werewolf form, everything else is a breeze. I do Theater of Despair as easy on normal as on veteran, die zero times. It just takes a while longer - of course - as everything has more health. But it's easy peazy, once you know the mechanics.

I simply: Made sure to bash the boss once he's charging up for a heavy attack. The Crematorial Guard deadroths, I simply run around them like a xmas tree, light attacking them to death. Their fire won't touch me. Pick of the archers and the healers as they appear, and pick the golden ghosts.
Pop an immovable pot as you move to the upper level, put dot's on the crystals, and pounce/gap fill between them and do some direct damage; make sure to take advantage of shield that revolves around the upper level thing, so you don't get knocked down.
When he goes down again, pick ALL the power sigils - that you haven't touched until now - put dot's on the boss, handle the adds and collect the golden ghosts; once you can use spectral explosion - do it, pop some pot for all buffs you can have (or more stamina/magicka), and give him hell. I usually take him down after the first spectral explosion.

That's my two cents. Or rather how I do it on stamplar werewolf. I wear heavy shackle, vengenace leech, troll king and two random gold daggers, - Morag Tong I think (nirnhoned with wpn damage, and infused with Prismatic Onslaught).

dodgehopper_ESO

MaleAmazon wrote: »

Stamplar was my first clear on vMA IIRC. Yeah it´s hard. But vMA is *still* so much about mechanics. I play only stamina characters ATM, never no-death (not that interested in it TBH) but I has a somewhat comfortable run yesterday on my DW melee warden. My strategy on the last boss was;

(Switch ultimates to rend and healing forest)

1. Lightweight beast trap where boss spawns, initial rotation on boss (heavy attack, blood craze, asylum steel tornado, shrouded daggers blockcast in my case), roll back and get heal sigil.

2. Interrupt boss, kite crematorial guard, roll when I know boss attack comes, maybe pop potion but I can do it with blood craze / bloddthirst now.

3. Go up. Lightweight beast trap on crystal to the left, go right, roll on the one attack boss does, DPS crystal, keep DPSing crystal for a while when wall comes, run behind wall, DPS crystals with blood craze / rend with asylum spin for self heal, if I have too little DPS I jump down with healing ultimate saved up and kite the Crematorial Guard after or when wall #2 comes.

4. Go down, interrupt boss, take sigils, prioritize ghosts, win.

My build is anything but optimal, but I guess my point is once I´ve gotten to know it, I was able to make use of what I had. The fight is quite predictable and you want to take advantage of that.

What skills / equipment are you using though? I switched to Mighty Chudan for this, since I needed a bit more health and not having to recast resolve / ward is useful, also it frees up a skill slot. I have Sunderflame + Viper with asylum backbar otherwise, all DW. I know it´s not BiS, I just like the sets ... Sunderflame might have been nerfed for group content, but it was basically boosted for solo.

I've tried a lot of helms. Blood Spawn, Slimecraw, Chudan, etc. Chudan is what I came upon as well because it affords a very solid and reliable resistance and health, and it means I don't have to try to fit Rune in my rotation at all.

dodgehopper_ESO

Raudgrani wrote: »

I do it on stamplar, but in werewolf form. As soon as I'm falling out of werewolf form, I'm struggling though.
Now, as I've done it a number of times, I only die some 4-5 times on "Rink of Frozen Blood", and once or so on "Vault of Umbrage" if I'm unlucky (those ugly plants appearing under the mender shield, or whatever). Rink of frozen blood is really hard in werewolf form, everything else is a breeze. I do Theater of Despair as easy on normal as on veteran, die zero times. It just takes a while longer - of course - as everything has more health. But it's easy peazy, once you know the mechanics.

I simply: Made sure to bash the boss once he's charging up for a heavy attack. The Crematorial Guard deadroths, I simply run around them like a xmas tree, light attacking them to death. Their fire won't touch me. Pick of the archers and the healers as they appear, and pick the golden ghosts.
Pop an immovable pot as you move to the upper level, put dot's on the crystals, and pounce/gap fill between them and do some direct damage; make sure to take advantage of shield that revolves around the upper level thing, so you don't get knocked down.
When he goes down again, pick ALL the power sigils - that you haven't touched until now - put dot's on the boss, handle the adds and collect the golden ghosts; once you can use spectral explosion - do it, pop some pot for all buffs you can have (or more stamina/magicka), and give him hell. I usually take him down after the first spectral explosion.

That's my two cents. Or rather how I do it on stamplar werewolf. I wear heavy shackle, vengenace leech, troll king and two random gold daggers, - Morag Tong I think (nirnhoned with wpn damage, and infused with Prismatic Onslaught).

I had actually thought of turning to Werewolf for it. Of course once WW drops its not such a huge benefit.

LioraValkyrie

dodgehopper_ESO wrote: »

templesus wrote: »

Im flawless on my stamplar. Its actually very easy with repetition. Practice. Makes. Perfect.

Practice doesn't make your abilities fire when they won't fire.

I'm getting very upset the way I click a potion 5 times and nothing happens. I know I'm not cc'd because I'm literally dodge rolling, walking, etc away from enemies and yet click click click click nothing happens. I get that beautiful message on my screen though that says 'potion ready'.

Then there's the break frees that won't break free. There's the interrupts that don't interrupt.

As for practice making perfect, I'm finding I'm actually getting worse as I go on, using up potions and repair kits like a mad fool. I can see why people on the forums talk about breaking their computers. This mission is infuriating.

The quality of your computer and hardware can really make a difference. When I upgraded my PC, I increased my vMA score by 20k overnight. My wife used to get stuck buttons on her old laptop, where her character would just run off in one direction and she'd have to mash the keyboard to get it back under her control. I tried some dps parses on her computer, logged into my own account, and was losing up to 5k dps because I couldn't weave properly and heavy attacks would get stuck.

High ping is also particularly troublesome if you are using the standard right click / left click keybinding to break free. If your ping spikes higher than the latency between your clicks, the game can register both clicks as simultaneous resulting in no action. Potions not taking may be the same thing, or a faulty hardware button, or the fact that you cannot drink a potion while channelling an ability, e.g. Bloodthirst, Heavy Attack.

Just a thought that your problems might be as much to do with the limitations of your rig as the class...

Inarre

I might recommend swapping to mag. If you do can give you a few tips as completing is fairly easy as magplar with the right setup. Unfortunately I have yet to do as stamina. Seems like a challenge for much later when I get bored in the game xD

GrigorijMalahevich

What are you talking about????

I did flawless on my magplar on second attempt with running only field as a heal... you obviously need to git gud. L2P issue.

MJallday

I don’t think anyone is saying it’s not doable, it’s just one of the hardest

GrigorijMalahevich

MJallday wrote: »

I don’t think anyone is saying it’s not doable, it’s just one of the hardest

One of the easiest.

generalmyrick

dodgehopper_ESO wrote: »

Every weakness of the Templar class is beautifully showcased in doing VMA. When maelstrom originally came out I was not able to play the game for almost a year. Since coming back I never really had the time or inclination to do a solo mission of this nature until this event. I have to say that doing VMA and sitting at the final boss right now makes me realize just how much I wish I could change classes. Stamina Templar is awful. I'd rather be Stamina or Mag anything but this. Does anyone else feel the same way? Does anyone have suggestions that would make this feel less like pulling out your teeth with a hammer and pliers (no painkiller of course)?

me too, i main a magplar and i gave up.

picked up a sorc and was like, "wow, its like 30x easier on this class!!!"

Destruent

Valera Progib wrote: »

MJallday wrote: »

I don’t think anyone is saying it’s not doable, it’s just one of the hardest

One of the easiest.

It's always easiest on the character, you are most comfortable with....

Sergykid

Destruent wrote: »

Valera Progib wrote: »

MJallday wrote: »

I don’t think anyone is saying it’s not doable, it’s just one of the hardest

One of the easiest.

It's always easiest on the character, you are most comfortable with....

it's actually easier for some builds/classes than for others. A pro stamplar will struggle more than a newbie magsorc

Destruent

Sergykid wrote: »

Destruent wrote: »

Valera Progib wrote: »

MJallday wrote: »

I don’t think anyone is saying it’s not doable, it’s just one of the hardest

One of the easiest.

It's always easiest on the character, you are most comfortable with....

it's actually easier for some builds/classes than for others. A pro stamplar will struggle more than a newbie magsorc

definetely not...vMSA is easy as soon as you mastered your character.
But anyway...what i wanted to say: Most important is knowledge about class/playstyle/mechanics....not the class/build you use...

edit: but i agree: vMSA has not the same difficulty for all builds, when you are equally good with them.

Dagoth_Rac

dodgehopper_ESO wrote: »

The_Outsider wrote: »

@dodgehopper_ESO

If you make some changes based on that guide and try some new strats I bet you get it in no time if you haven't already.

For my early clears on stamblade I used to use 2 sigils for the final boss fight:

• Drop all group dots and grab the power sigil as the boss spawns. This allows you to easy push him under 70% before the first daedroth spawns.
• Once you knock out the crystals up top, run straight for the shield sigil and take it. The first thing the boss always does after coming down is to channel the interruptable, global AOE attack. DON'T interrupt it. The shield sigil will reflect all it's damage back onto the boss and you won't take any at all.
• By the time he finishes channeling you should have him close if not into execute range

LMK how it goes

Getting him to 70 isn't generally a problem for me unless I straight screw it up. The problem is the damage/snare/cc avoidance. I appreciate the cheers. Went ahead and ate dinner and the thing timed out. So I'll have to do portion 1-5 again. Going to use this opportunity to make a fat stack of potions, repairs, and maybe a few adjustments at the crafting station. I'll try the shield trick.

I like to use Healing sigil at start to help survive through Crematorial Guard. I prefer to save Power sigil for final boss burn. If you can consistently get upstairs without using Power sigil, I think it is best to save it. You will die a lot before you even get to use Power sigil, so it may seem like a waste. But if you do get to final boss burn phase, you will be very happy to have that Power sigil!

You want to keep moving while attacking crystals to avoid his AoE stun. I try to do a half circle on inner edge of upper platform. If you accidentally get hit by a skull, you can avoid getting knocked off platform if you are close enough to inner edge. That is still a bad thing and rarely ends well, but it is better than unexpectedly getting knocked downstairs into lava. But the giant explosion that he channels will always knock you down if you are not behind rotating wall. You'll just need experience of timing to know when you need to disengage from crystal and get behind wall. There is a constant DoT on you upstairs that keeps getting stronger and the wall starts moving faster and faster. You can voluntarily drop downstairs (go through middle to avoid lava or lava geysers along outer edge of downstairs) to reset that, but you will likely need to kill a Crematorial Guard downstairs. If you are finding it hard to heal through DoT upstairs or hard to keep up with fast-moving wall, dropping downstairs is a viable strategy.

Once all crystals are destroyed, proactively use a heal because you are getting knocked downstairs. Now that you are downstairs for good, Shield sigil is priority to reflect his channel. After that, I also take Haste sigil because getting the golden ghosts is crucial and having the speed from that sigil is very helpful to get to ghost before they reach an enemy. Keep dots on boss while running after gold ghosts. Use sweeps on summoner adds to burn them quickly, but always disengage if you see a gold ghost. There are always 3 gold ghosts before Crematorial Guard appears. So if you get all 3 gold ghosts, grab Power sigil, Spectral Explode as soon as Crematorial Guard appears, then go nuts with DPS on boss. Crematorial Guard should spawn near boss, so as long as you get them both in your AoE/Ultimate, Crematorial Guard will usually die before stun ends. But keep single target skills on boss.

If boss is still alive after Spectral Explosion (he likely will be if you are new to do this), he should be low health and now you can get executes going to finish him off.

It is a giant pain in the neck, but one thing that just about everybody agrees on: final boss is a well-constructed fight. Once you know mechanics like the back of your hand, everything happens in the same way, at the same time, every run. So practice really is the key to this final arena.

ganj1234

@shaielzafine lol

kadar

Destruent wrote: »

Sergykid wrote: »

Destruent wrote: »

Valera Progib wrote: »

MJallday wrote: »

I don’t think anyone is saying it’s not doable, it’s just one of the hardest

One of the easiest.

It's always easiest on the character, you are most comfortable with....

it's actually easier for some builds/classes than for others. A pro stamplar will struggle more than a newbie magsorc

definetely not...vMSA is easy as soon as you mastered your character.
But anyway...what i wanted to say: Most important is knowledge about class/playstyle/mechanics....not the class/build you use...

edit: but i agree: vMSA has not the same difficulty for all builds, when you are equally good with them.

Yea, I absolutely would not respec to Mag from Stam just to try and make vMA a bit easier. Especially if this is your main, you're going to perform best on what you're most comfortable playing. Stam to Mag is a very huge change if you haven't done it much before.

Raudgrani

dodgehopper_ESO wrote: »

Raudgrani wrote: »

I do it on stamplar, but in werewolf form. As soon as I'm falling out of werewolf form, I'm struggling though.
Now, as I've done it a number of times, I only die some 4-5 times on "Rink of Frozen Blood", and once or so on "Vault of Umbrage" if I'm unlucky (those ugly plants appearing under the mender shield, or whatever). Rink of frozen blood is really hard in werewolf form, everything else is a breeze. I do Theater of Despair as easy on normal as on veteran, die zero times. It just takes a while longer - of course - as everything has more health. But it's easy peazy, once you know the mechanics.

I simply: Made sure to bash the boss once he's charging up for a heavy attack. The Crematorial Guard deadroths, I simply run around them like a xmas tree, light attacking them to death. Their fire won't touch me. Pick of the archers and the healers as they appear, and pick the golden ghosts.
Pop an immovable pot as you move to the upper level, put dot's on the crystals, and pounce/gap fill between them and do some direct damage; make sure to take advantage of shield that revolves around the upper level thing, so you don't get knocked down.
When he goes down again, pick ALL the power sigils - that you haven't touched until now - put dot's on the boss, handle the adds and collect the golden ghosts; once you can use spectral explosion - do it, pop some pot for all buffs you can have (or more stamina/magicka), and give him hell. I usually take him down after the first spectral explosion.

That's my two cents. Or rather how I do it on stamplar werewolf. I wear heavy shackle, vengenace leech, troll king and two random gold daggers, - Morag Tong I think (nirnhoned with wpn damage, and infused with Prismatic Onslaught).

I had actually thought of turning to Werewolf for it. Of course once WW drops its not such a huge benefit.

It's among the most predictable stages, honestly. You can expect some high damage now and then (from the boss if you are unable to interrupt him, or the archers, or if the daedroths sneak up on you), that's among the few things to worry about. In WW form, your resistances are like 10k higher, and if you are in heavy armor at that, they won't get you that easily.

ItsNebula

Sounds like a L2P issue to me.

Qbiken

While some classes have it easier in vMA it´s fully possible to achieve really good scores in there with any class. If you´re not that experienced with vMA yet, use the sigils scattered around the different stages.

Here´s the worlds first 600k score in vMA on stamina templar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jabAqYX1o08

swippy

Valera Progib wrote: »

What are you talking about????

I did flawless on my magplar on second attempt with running only field as a heal... you obviously need to git gud. L2P issue.

sound like a L2R issue, here.