Help with Templar PVE/Maelstrom build

Sir_Lukyn · July 2019

Just got my toon Templar to 50..have spent the last two weeks trying to complete maelstrom with my dk and failed in a sensation manner. Have grinded more sets than I care to admit and at this point I'm ready to just copy/paste a build for those maelstrom weapons lmao.

-Nord templar, 380CP
-Destro/2h/1h are highest combat skills but I'll use anything I need to

Have several good sets but no trial/maelstrom gear, basically in the process of attempting to grind for those.

For those interested; currently using 5 Mother's sorrow/5 fortified brass/2 Skoria with sword board and lightning staff. 30k resistance but my dps is garbage and my sustain could be better even with 1700 mag regain.

I know mechanics matter a lot in the arena but o would be more confident knowing I have a build that has already accomplished the task. All help is very much appreciated.

BNOC · July 2019

Change your SNB for a resto and just spam healing ward when you're low instead.

I'd also swap out Fortified brass for a recovery or SD set if you feel you need more damage or sustain - It'll just make life easier - Look at Julianos, Seducer or something that's craftable and very easy to get like that.

The task has been accomplished with 0 CP builds, random gear builds, 1 bar builds etc; you shouldn't have serious issues after learning the mechanics in really any build.

Vyvrhel · July 2019

Test the build on PTS (test server). If you start the character there on the top level, you will have all skill points and all gear available to experiment with. 380 CP seems to be rather low for MA.

Sir_Lukyn · July 2019

I'm assuming PTS is PC exclusive? Should've added I'm on Xbone.

Hearing it's been done with 0cp is really encouraging but also really depressing hahaha. My dk tore through normal MA no problem but VMA just seems unnecessary in difficulty at times considering people change a 3 year build just to cater to it.

Mrsinister2 · July 2019

I'm sure this is not optimal at all but I just did it on magplar with skoria, Julianos and bright throats. Inferno front, sword and board back bar.

Good regen/damage, huge mag pool 19k health I was able to block cast HTD or keep total dark on some trash for constant heals.

I'm sure there are a million things wrong with this but it worked for me and got me my vma inferno with only a few deaths to posion flower rng.

tsaescishoeshiner · July 2019

I would swap out Valkyn with Iceheart (popular vMA learning set), and replace Fortified Brass with a damage/sustain set.

Here's why: Mother's Sorrow multiplies your skill damage via crit damage. But without using a set that amps your skill damage (via max magicka or spell damage), that critical chance isn't helping much.

That wud b sets like Bright-Throat, Crafty Alfiq, Spinner's, Burning Spellweave (if using reflective light) as far as easy-to-get sets go.

And that frees you up for a defensive monster set (Iceheart, Earthgore, Mighty Chudan) if you feel you want more room to breath

Disclosure: I've done vSS and vet dlc HM dungeons on my magplar (using MS + BSW & Zaan/Grothdarr) but not vMA on that char. I use harness magicka + sweeps for healing

GlorphNoldorin · July 2019

I dont play magicka, but have flawless on all stam classes (a few mag classes- the easy ones). Knowing the arena really helps...when to use sigils if u need them, which adds to target and when.

I recently got my flawless on mag templar on oceanic ping (330+).

Grothgar (swap to Illambris for rnd 7), false god on body, willpower jewelry, asylum staff front back vma fire.
channel accel back bar helps for mobility also

I have to counter lag and frame issues so I put jabs and BoL on front bar. Even for me who doesnt play magicka, the damage of magplars is pretty nice and was one of the easier classes I found for vma

edit Breton and witch mothers brew makes sustain really easy
edit edit, I would bee-line for false good, you can do it on normal...it really is a game changer like vicious offidian was for stam in vma.
without trial sets I would go julianos and mothers sorrow with Breton, shadow mundus

Destruent · July 2019

last time i did MSA i uses BSW, Mothers sorrow and iceheart (great for defense) with destro/destro setup. i would most likely swap burning spellweave for false god now because it does more damage and provides great sustain.
Skills used:
1st bar: sweeps, reflective light, ritual of retribution, radiant glory, magelight, spear ult
2nd bar: wall of elements, blazing spear, channeled acceleration, concentrated focus, harness magicka, destro ult

you could swap magelight for Honor of the Death if you want an instant heal, but shield + iceheart + ritual is a lot of healing when going defensively. when on offense sweeps/radiant glory heals a ton.

but as others already said...mechanics are the key to succes...

Sun7dance · July 2019

GlorphNoldorin wrote: »

[...]
Grothgar (swap to Illambris for rnd 7), false god on body, willpower jewelry, asylum staff front back vma fire.
channel accel back bar helps for mobility also

[...]

I would also recommend exactly this setup. Maybe iceheart for grothdarr!
If you don't have vmsa and asylum staff, then take julianos or mother's sorrow. High crit. chance is just great in this arena!
As long as I do not know the arena, I would slot a lightning staff on my backbar.

Sir_Lukyn · July 2019

So mixing a heavy set with a light set brgs another question; what to do with champ points?

Tanis-Stormbinder · July 2019

I used Breton, with False God, Seducer, Grothdarr or Slimecraw for monster set.

Gnortranermara · July 2019

One set of each:
Defense: Wear Iceheart. You don't need Brass or any other 5 pc defense set, just Iceheart.
Sustain: Wear False God's or Withered Hand. If you still run low on resources, use one Infused cost reduction glyph.
DPS: Any DPS set is fine. Your Mother's Sorrow will do.

And switch to Destro/Resto. Healing Ward is your friend.

Drako_Ei · July 2019

Dont use heavy armor, and use Sustain set + DPS Set, drop fortified brass

UrbanMonk · July 2019

@Sir_Lukyn - visit this. You should find all the info that you seek. from gear to CP to stage guide and how to clear them.

https://alcasthq.com/eso-maelstrom-guide/

IMO you shd use seducer+ Julianos. One set for offence and one for sustain. Using mother sorrow is not a good idea since your CP is low and you won't benefit much from the CP passives which boost crit damage. I'd rather have raw damage compared to crit. Also both sets are craftable sets, so only farming you need to do is Mats to craft these. I'm sure someone in your guild or friend can make them for free or a small fee.

I've got an alt account and recently finished vMA on 400 CP. I was using shadow Mundus stone but then later switched to Warrior and results were much better for me, so boost your raw damage.

For monster set- I'd recommend using Skoria as it gives a health damage bonus too. The next option IMO is Slimecraw with 8% perma extra damage. If you have already levelled up your undaunted then go 5L/ 1 M/ 1 H for better resource values.

Hope this helps.

Oh and yes, drop Nord and become a Breton/ Highelve or Dunmer. I'd rather choose dunmer because of extra stam and more damage, but Bretons are good too with sustain. so Choose Wisely Youngone.

Joy_Division · July 2019

Sir_Lukyn wrote: »

I'm assuming PTS is PC exclusive? Should've added I'm on Xbone.

Hearing it's been done with 0cp is really encouraging but also really depressing hahaha. My dk tore through normal MA no problem but VMA just seems unnecessary in difficulty at times considering people change a 3 year build just to cater to it.

It's been done with 0 CP or 0 skills by people who have the arena memorized.

Mother's Sorrow is a good damage set. I like Bright Throat (use a drink with this) as a secondary set as it is both decent damage and sustain.

Either sword and board or resto works, go with what you are more comfortable with.

If you feel you need more defense wear Ice Heart monster helm; it's actually quite convenient for this content. Once you get it on farm mode, I'd switch to Skoria or Grothdar.

jlb1705 · July 2019

Iceheart/Mother's Sorrow/Julianos

Lightning Staves for increased AOE/splash/heavy attack damage

You don't necessarily need a sustain set if you're a Breton and you run Channeled Focus. If you heavy attack when you're not under pressure or if you see that your main target if off balance you'll be in good shape. Heavy attack damage is pretty strong with lightning staves, and doing them on off balance enemies returns double resources. Heavy attacks have a bad rep because you can't really do a rotation with them in the sense that we think of how you'd play most other PVE content, but in VMA you're not really doing a rotation most of the time anyway - you're constantly moving and changing targets as stuff dies and new priority enemies appear.

Crit chance is still important even if you're at lower CP. It's what procs your shield from Iceheart.

zvavi · July 2019

I will say what others said and i completely agree, for learning vMA, iceheart.

fred4 · July 2019

For what it's worth, I run vMA with something close to my PvP build, which is here:

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Special:EsoBuildData?id=95564

Please read on. I modify the build slightly for vMA. It is not important to follow someone else's exact build, but let me say what the important aspects of my build are:

(1) Lightning staff is the optimal templar weapon. Buffs both single target and AOE damage from Sweeps and has better light attack damage than swords.

(2) I much prefer the resto over running a 1H+S back bar. If you did the latter you might be tempted to block-cast Honor the Dead. That's a sure-fire way to run out of both magicka and stamina in short order. Don't do it. Casting Honor the Dead while standing in a Crematorial Guard's fire only prolongs your agony by 1 second. You need to do damage on that Daedroth instead.

(3) Honor the Dead is for emergencies only. You must aim to stay on attack at all times. Sweeps heals you after all. To facilitate this, I added as much healing over time into the build as I could. Sweeps, Radiant Glory, front bar return health enchant, Clockwork Citrus Fillet, Mutagen, Steed Mundus.

(4) The skill changes I make for PvE are: Degeneration is replaced by Blazing Spear and Total Dark by Elemental Blockade.

(5) You have to run light armor. Templar damage really suffers in heavy.

(6) Protective jewelry is your friend, at least this patch. Pirate Skeleton will make you tanky, but with greater experience I have switched to Skoria.

(7) I know the vMA resto is a Catch-22, however you won't need it. This build was made before Breton got it's sustain buffs. The build will sustain just fine without the vMA resto now, at least on Breton. Channeled Focus and Ele Drain are important, though, the latter for the bosses.

(8) The exact armor sets are unimportant, what's important is the build pattern. 1x defensive set (Pirate Skeleton), 1x damage / sustain set (Amber Plasm), 1x damage set (Overwhelming Surge), Protective jewelry, light armor. It's balanced. Mother's Sorrow is good on templar, as the class has a crit damage buff. I typically use Spell Strategist in place of Overwhelming Surge in PvE. I like Amber Plasm for some break free / dodge roll sustain, which I find somewhat less relevant in vMA than it is in PvP, but it's still a factor. Some sprint sustain is also nice in vMA. Shacklebreaker can substitute for Amber Plasm, or Bright Throat, if you're less fussed about stamina.

(9) Round 3 will heavily snare you and some of the other rounds require you to avoid mechanics or pick up the ghosts in round 9. I recommend retaining Race Against Time on that account. Speed is actually really OP in some vMA rounds, particularly when it comes to picking up the golden ghosts in the last one. This is also why retaining the Steed mundus is nice, even though it's more of a PvP-centric mundus stone to use.

(10) If you want to make things easier in the rounds that involve daedra, use a weapon with an Infused Prismatic enchant. You will hit them significantly harder.