one hand and shield for magicka dps templar?

NirinShadows · July 2015

What do you guys think of using a shield on my magicka templar?
Currently, I'm using Aedric Spear abilities and dual wield for melee combat, and for ranged, I use a destruction staff with Dawn's Wrath abilities.
I wear light armor for the magicka bonuses. But I feel really squishy still, since I don't run any dual wield abilities, should I try out a shield? Looking for pros/cons, and input from people who are currently running with a shield.

Sandshark95 · July 2015

1h/Shield = Tank

If you don't want to be a Tank, then drop the shield. The DPS output just isn't impressive. You're much better off with DW or 2h if you want to go melee. As a DPS, there really are no benefits to using a shield. Think about it: a shield absorbs damage and occupies a hand that could instead be used to deal damage. It's almost counterintuitive to use a shield as a DPS; it's certainly counterproductive. If survivability is an issue, your Templar skills (wards, healing abilities) should be able to compensate.

Are you set on going magicka for your DPS build? Or is a stamina build an option? It's up to you and how you want to play. Going magicka opens up possibilities for you to be able to easily become a Healer later on, if you so wish. Choosing stamina as a Templar (currently, IMO) gives you more DPS options. Whatever you decide, here are two links to a decent magicka Templar DPS build and a good stamina Templar DPS build that you can check out:

http://tamrielfoundry.com/topic/aedrics-warrior-magicka-build-templar-dd/

http://tamrielfoundry.com/topic/jabsmania-templar-stamina-dd-build-for-update-1-6/

If you're not into Veteran ranks yet, then just ignore all the stuff about Champion Points, armor sets, and other endgame things that don't apply to you.

Hope that helps

NirinShadows · July 2015

Thanks for the advice, very useful. Instead I went Vampire, and those spells have helped with my survivabilty. I do have some healing Templar spells, but I do not like healing.

Lynx7386 · July 2015

If you're looking at doing pvp, it can work just fine. A shield offsets some of the defense lost by using light armor to boost the damage and resources of your class abilities. I do this with my dragonknight, running 5 light/2 heavy with a sword and shield, but relying on class abilities for just about everything. The shield is there for extra armor, damage mitigation, and bashing.

For PvE, you'd just be better served in most cases by using a proper weapon - a staff for magicka, or a physical weapon (dw/2h/bow) for stamina. It's either that or be a tank for pve.

However, there's a caveat. Using a sword and shield, you have an extra slot for set bonuses, 9 instead of 8. On my dragonknight, I use3 piece song of lamae, 4 piece magnus' gift, and 2 piece torug's pact (9 pieces total), each of which gives bonuses to spell damage. That's an extra spell damage bonus over someone using a weapon without an offhand slot. Granted, you could get even more spell damage by using dual wield instead of a sword and shield, but you're going to be losing a bit of survivability. It's all a balancing act.