Sword and shield tanking?

Sililos

Will try to keep this short and sweet, feeling a little frustrated and prone to getting ranty lol.

Im wanting to play a Magika Templar tank with pure heavy armor as well as a sword and shield.
Getting annoyed because all the guides i can find say to use mage staves and light+Medium armor, theres been not help whatsoever for my desired play style.

I have found with what im currently doing im incredibly durable in world content and dungeons but in a lot of cases my lack of damage results in me being chipped down over time then killed, all fights take ages.
Meanwhile im seeing people with staves taking out large groups in seconds, before they can even be touched by enemies and wondering just what the point of having other weapon types in the game is if staves are the only ones people use due to them appearing to be OP in all situations.

I gave PvP a try as well with less than desirable results. I couldn't kill a single person.
31k Physical resist, 32k Spell resist, 35k health with a 10k shield on top and i find myself continually taken down in single strikes like all that doesn't even matter, and when i come up against a player who cannot 1 shot me, while they are rolling around like idiots they chip my health down to nothing while my 1-2k per hit strikes down even phase them.

So i just dunno what im supposed to do short of switching to immersion ruining meta builds which leave me feeling like i need to take a shower they are so bad looking yet effective.

Anyone got any advice? Preferably how i can make heavy armor+Sword and shield work for tank Templar?

FrancisCrawford

It sounds like what you mean by "tank" is more than just "fulfils the tank role in a dungeon or trial group".

So what DO you mean by "tank"?

Gundug

The way this game is designed, the more damage mitigation you build for in your setup, the less damage output you will be capable of. For solo play with your templar, you can go a few different ways.

I can’t tell how much you have put into your character stats, but with 35k health in Cyrodiil, I assume you have put more than a few points into magicka, stamina, or both. Since you seem to want to be a durable damage dealer in heavy armor with the sword and shield, and not an actual group oriented tank, I suggest putting all your character points into stamina.

Then, I suggest getting a damage oriented heavy body set. There are a few dropped sets available, or you could craft, or have crafted for you something like Hunding’s Rage, for instance. You can pair that with weapons and jewelry from another damage oriented set, or a set geared a bit more toward sustain, since your stamina sustain will be lesser in heavy armor.

I don’t know of any good spammable damage ability you would run from the sword and shield line, but it does have a few utility abilities for gap closing and stuns. Sword and shield also offers no good passives for increasing your damage output, unlike other weapon lines. Your stamina jabs are probably best for spammable damage anyway.

I suggest using either a two hander or bow for the other bar. The bow gives you range and more damage, and a reliable way to proc your back bar weapon enchantment. The two hander gives you much more survivability, with the Brawler shield and Rally heal. Rally also gives you Major Brutality, saving you having to get that from potions, if you are looking to play cheaper.

Setting yourself up as you seem to want means you are going to be making compromises. It really results in kind of a “worst of both worlds” setup where you don’t get enough of what you want, high damage with high durability, and instead sort of end up doing ok damage with somewhat greater toughness, along with sustain struggles, but you can make it work well enough with sufficient effort put into your setup.

Now, if you want to stay high mitigation, low damage for PVP, you can make that work. You need to be with a group though, since you will do no damage. Focus on having very high self-sustain, including all three attributes, so plenty of stamina and magicka regen, with good self-healing. Then concentrate on skills that buff allies and debuff enemies. Crowd control skills, like stuns and a pull like you can get with the Fighter’s Guild crossbow are important to have.

If you go with that sort of play, understand you aren’t going to be doing any damage. Your usefulness is in the utility you provide for your group. Every enemy you shut down reduces pressure on your buddies. Every time you pull an enemy out from where they feel safe and into your team’s kill zone, they panic and go into survival mode, rather than hurting your friends.

BejaProphet

For PvE group content there is no reason you can’t wear 7 heavy and use sword and shield. You will miss out on giving your group full value crusher enchant. That is the only downside.

This of course says nothing about PvP or solo PvE.

Sililos

Thanks a lot Gundug, will take a look at those options.

Spartabunny08

It's actually easy. Also your heavy armor setup provides more resources per hit. I have a fun video for you. KristoferESO YouTube just made a really hard hitting heavy armor templar shield build. Very interesting and probably well above your pay grade but you will really enjoy what non meta can do.

Your S&B bar is your defensive side. Use your buffs and heals, block cast your heals. Now the fun part you are gonna want to pick stam or mag to do damage. I prefer mag myself. Rattlecage from cold harbor dungeon easy to get and you'll hit like truck in overland and questing. It has major sorcery built in seeing how templar doesn't buff it themselves. You can pair it with really whatever.

Fortified brass is another to put with it infused damage on jewelry all mag on enchants. You'll be really tanky a lot of damage and well it'll end up being so easy after all this lol.