Templar - Finding this an extremely tough class to solo. (missions)

malais · April 2014

Something to remember even as a pure healer you will still need dps skills.

I took bow and the spear skill line then added resto staff and restoring skill lines at 15. My class heal line is at 30 and resto staff is at 18. While spear and bow are at 31 and 36 respectively.

This is at base lvl 21. I use the bow to level and since 15 when I could swap easier between them I'd swap to resto staff when Turning in a quest at random periods to keep it leveled.

To be honest I do not see any 'class' as difficult to level provided you have a decent skill deck.

thomas.manzellaub17_ESO · April 2014

When starting any class you should go dps until lvl 10ish, then start focusing on what you want to do. That way by 15 you're a tank or healer or dps or utility. Starting off full heals is a bad idea unless you have a friend to level with.

RustyBlades · April 2014

My templar will spec healing some at level 15 when he can swap weapons. Right now he is focusing on DPS.

thilog · April 2014

right, well, i've made it to 18.. with shield charge and my armour debuff on sword, plus my armour buff it's going ok. I'm more of a paladin that a healer.

One of the things that occured to me, is that alot of people are going for the "this is the only way" approach and the point of the game design is the claim that you could start off as one class and learn something else.. ie a sorc with a 2h axe and medium armour..

The point is.. without wildly varying a class, any construction of a given character should "within reason" be able to complete all the quests. Thus this idea that you must choose this, you must choose that or you'll fail.. i find this unacceptable.

But I understand, it is the reality of this class. Templar can heal.. that's their main weapon, the others focus on dps, the heavier the dps the worse the armour, thats the payoff. A templar isn't supposed to act as a main tank but more of a side kick. I realise that solar flare and the other prime attacks are op, but like others i expect they'll be nerfed.

I think my biggest mistake atm, it putting too many points into health.. and not enough into stamina. I am at something like 5,7,4 or 6,7,4.. can't remember. But I am noticing a severe stam drain in long solo fights.

Btw to those in the 40s+
Many of the quests you did at lv 1-20 are 10x harder than they were when you likely did them, in fact on release day, several locations went from 1-2 normal mobs to 2-3 mobs. Which made those areas significantly more difficult. I could kill 2 easy.. same level, maybe +1/2 levels.. but 3.. gets abit tougher then, esp when you're 18 and they're 21/22.

But I'll muckle on.. and overcome. I'm working on a 2h weapon, I just can't get the hang of bow at all. So I'm going with a 2h sword.

cn3wton · April 2014

I just posted a build that I have used that's quest soloing based. Only level 16 but I've had very little problems. http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/73791/hear-me-out-nord-cleric-with-2-handed-and-light-armor#latest

nlnj_a · April 2014

I'm a level 30 Templar bow+heals.
You should have a mix of light armor and med/heavy armor.
Try to have at least one stamina using damage spell and one magic so that you can do damage with both stamina and magic.

The bow skill has an ability that when morphed moves them back 6 and you back 6 to create distance.
The javelin skill by the temp is also nice since you can knock them back and down when morphed.

I recently found the first dawn's wrath skill to be quite useful when you have magic reducing items and stats so you can spam the cheat ability that hits up to 3 targets for a lot of damage with snares.

I honestly haven't put one point into health, I have 23 in magic and 5 in stamina.

The bigger bosses kind of suck to solo since they are immune to snares and knock backs so I have to have help sometimes, but that's what an mmo is for :P

You also want to buy a nice amount of soul gems to revive yourself and others helping and max out the "world" skill "soul summons". You get a free personal revive once every hour.

DurFea · May 2014

Infuriated Templar Here!

I just finished reading the community feature "BATTLEMASTER’S CORNER – THE RESTO WARRIOR" right after I read this entire thread. All I can do is shake my head.

I have a level 36 Templar that I set out to be our playing group's main healer. I have steadily fallen behind my entire group in both levels and quest lines and even with them on TeamSpeak offering live advice, I have had to log off and drop group repeatedly because I was just the runt of the group. The chat in the group dungeons is all about "Healer down" and "Somebody rez him, somebody rez him!" intermixed with other colorful expletives when the whole group wipes.

I went heavy healer right off the bat and have stuck with it hoping that somewhere down the line this character will grow some balls.

My magicka pool and regen are almost always maxed or over-charged with the following specs: 33-Mag / 2-Health / 0-Stam

Stripped naked with The Atronach mundus stone and Warlock 3pc jewelry set, I have 1201 magicka pool and 58 regen

Aedric Spear - 32
Dawn's Wrath - 39
Restoring Light - 33

Two-Handed - 32
Destruction Staff - 25
Restoration Staff - 26

My Solo 2H Bar Standard Loadout is:
Dark Flare / Reflective Light / Carve / Breath of Life / Ring of Preservation
Ultimate - Radial Sweep

My Solo Destruction Bar Standard Loadout is:
Dark Flare / Reflective Light / Wall of Elements / Breath of Life / Ring of Preservation
Ultimate - Solar Disturbance

My Group Restoration Bar Standard Loadout is:
Dark Flare / Reflective Light / Rapid Regen / Breath of Life / Ring of Preservation
Ultimate - Solar Disturbance

I alter those loadouts as needed but those are always my starting points.
I carry two sets of armor with me, one heavy with health buffs/regen and the other medium-heavy with magicka pool. I carry a blue weapon at all times for every skill I have except for dual and bow (which I hardly ever use).

I like to be prepared for whatever I meet in the field or whatever the group might want to do for that session.

I am currently stuck on HALLS OF TORMENT, Level 30 Main Storyline trying to kill the Doppleganger in order to save Sai Sahan. Everyone in my playing group has completed this solo quest either in their late 20's or early level 30's.

Last night, I went through a stack of 25 soul gems and two sets of armor trying every possible combination I could think of to kill this mob. She's a single-dot ornate dungeon boss that I CANNOT KILL, yet I can solo single-dot ornate wilderness mobs all over Shadowfen and Eastmarch....even most double-dot ornate mobs that I have faced in the open, I have succeeded in killing solo or with a last-minute assist.

I've got 6 levels on this mob and that's still not enough. The quest is GREY to me and I still can't solo the mob. 2-handed sword, maul, axe, sword and board, dual swords, bow, destro staff and I even tried the restoration staff and tried to just buff my way through....

No success.

I have never been more frustrated with a paladin-style character than I am with this one. On top of that, the sheer number of lower-level bots I see running through the same dungeons I am in, power-driving through through the mob that just laid me out on the floor is insulting.

I shouldn't have to run quest lines 5-to-10 levels below my character just to check a quest off my list....especially the damn main quest line.

That is all. Flame on!

Darrett · May 2014

DurFea wrote: »

My Group Restoration Bar Standard Loadout is:
Dark Flare / Reflective Light / Rapid Regen / Breath of Life / Ring of Preservation
Ultimate - Solar Disturbance

Where is your heal for this bar? Rapid Regen is a reasonable HoT, but it doesn't help with spike damage. Breath of Life is a mana hog. You need Illustrious Healing or Lingering Ritual for your bread and butter heal. Ring of Preservation is nice because of Stamina use, but I'd probably drop Dark Flare or Reflective Light in exchange for a solid heal ability.

I am currently stuck on HALLS OF TORMENT, Level 30 Main Storyline trying to kill the Doppleganger in order to save Sai Sahan. Everyone in my playing group has completed this solo quest either in their late 20's or early level 30's.

Last night, I went through a stack of 25 soul gems and two sets of armor trying every possible combination I could think of to kill this mob. She's a single-dot ornate dungeon boss that I CANNOT KILL, yet I can solo single-dot ornate wilderness mobs all over Shadowfen and Eastmarch....even most double-dot ornate mobs that I have faced in the open, I have succeeded in killing solo or with a last-minute assist.

I've got 6 levels on this mob and that's still not enough. The quest is GREY to me and I still can't solo the mob. 2-handed sword, maul, axe, sword and board, dual swords, bow, destro staff and I even tried the restoration staff and tried to just buff my way through....

No success.

I have never been more frustrated with a paladin-style character than I am with this one. On top of that, the sheer number of lower-level bots I see running through the same dungeons I am in, power-driving through through the mob that just laid me out on the floor is insulting.

I shouldn't have to run quest lines 5-to-10 levels below my character just to check a quest off my list....especially the damn main quest line.

That is all. Flame on!

Don't feel bad. Halls of Torment (Lyris Doppleganger in particular) is ridiculous for certain setups. I ended up just using a bow and circle strafing the whole fight. Was really tedious and annoying, and a poorly crafted fight. It's the same setup as we've seen in many other fights, but if you don't have a ranged weapon with the ability to one-shot the incoming orbs (and you need to be fast and not get caught on the many items on the floor), it becomes an exercise in frustration.

I wish I could comment more on what you're doing, but it's so dissimilar to what my setup is that I'd essentially just be telling you to change your playstyle to what works for me. Not really fair. The main thing I can put out there is you want to set up each bar to one job very well; Destruction Staff as AE damage, Two-Handed as single target perhaps, with a survivability skill (or two) on each.

Bullgar · May 2014

The great thing about skills as that you can put points into everything. Vet2 Templar here. I use Sword and Board, Bow, and Resto Staff interchangeably. Don't restrict yourself to just light armor or just heavy armor for the passives. Do both. Switch weapons. Templars are SUPER versatile. We can do it ALL. I have Aedric Spear, Dawn's Wrath, and the healing skills all maxed. Use them all! Sometimes I have a skill from each tree on my bar, trying different things. Solar Flare hits hard and is your big nuke if you're in caster mode. Biting Jabs and its morphs & Shield Bash/Deadly Bash are your bread and butter melee skills. Healing is easy, in groups/dungeons, at dolmens, public dungeons...we have a plethora of healing skills. The heavy attack on resto staff is your friend. Use it.

Do NOT limit yourself to a certain type of armor or weapon. Use whatever you need for the situation. That's the beauty of this game and the templar class. We can almost do anything.

vyndral13preub18_ESO · May 2014

I've found leveling as a healer fairly easy on bosses. It is the group of mobs that tripped me up. With 1 dps skill, restrostaff heavy attack, 3 heals, and a utility most boss mobs are fairly cake. The second class skill in the spear line ( I know I'm horrible I don't know the name and I'm not on to look) is a pushback. Morphed it knocks down. Both those things are fairly easy to do at a lower level. Using that, and the heavy attack from a restro staff if have killed like 90% of the open world bosses and story bosses. Since you can lock them down and just heavy attack away, never running out of mana. Didn't really have much of an issue. Until around 30 when bosses started coming in groups or pairs, or worse yet immune to knockdown. ( stupid gargoyles.). Yeah it is slow, boring, and pretty cheap but it works.

Of course it doesn't work well in groups since you can't keep them all down.

Koensol · May 2014

@Thilog If you are already struggling at low levels already, you are gonna have such a bad time in vr.

thilog · May 2014

Koensol wrote: »

@Thilog If you are already struggling at low levels already, you are gonna have such a bad time in vr.

I do have issues in vr, I've pretty much stopped playing the game because of these issues. I think if I were motivated to play in a different way, one that was more interested in self interested play, that I would reroll a new templar, and level that up using only specific weapons, thus i'd have skills in the areas needed at max rather than at almost max in same and simply not even close in others.

The whole idea of choice to switch weapon styles and class specifics is only actually viable in the first 15-20 levels, after that, you really need to stick to exact skills.

As it is, I am effective in solo v mobs, in general play. Ineffective in pvp. Totally ineffective v elite mobs. I can't even get past the lvl 40 part of the main quest.. so I won't ever get into any of the actual VR content.

What also gets me, its posts, previous, from people who play in a boring manner, to exploit a game mechanic, most boss elites are immune to knockdown, simply because knockdown is massively overpowering in a fight. Any kind of stun effect is op. Giving a huge disadvantage to the receiver.

but the thing is, most people play to have fun, doing things the boring way, isn't fun therefore, not generally done.

I tried restostaff, light armour on a different toon, at lv 15 I'd died more times in those 15 levels than I had using a same class toon using heavy armour and fighting skills, to 5 levels higher.. but it was infinately boring. I don't play games to be bored and there's no point imho to play boring to 50 to exploit an op mechanic to get fun.

I just don't play in a self interest only way, selfishness just isn't me, unless everyone is having fun, there is no point to playing at all.

thilog · May 2014

Darrett wrote: »

DurFea wrote: »

My Group Restoration Bar Standard Loadout is:
Dark Flare / Reflective Light / Rapid Regen / Breath of Life / Ring of Preservation
Ultimate - Solar Disturbance

Where is your heal for this bar? Rapid Regen is a reasonable HoT, but it doesn't help with spike damage. Breath of Life is a mana hog. You need Illustrious Healing or Lingering Ritual for your bread and butter heal. Ring of Preservation is nice because of Stamina use, but I'd probably drop Dark Flare or Reflective Light in exchange for a solid heal ability.

I am currently stuck on HALLS OF TORMENT, Level 30 Main Storyline trying to kill the Doppleganger in order to save Sai Sahan. Everyone in my playing group has completed this solo quest either in their late 20's or early level 30's.

Last night, I went through a stack of 25 soul gems and two sets of armor trying every possible combination I could think of to kill this mob. She's a single-dot ornate dungeon boss that I CANNOT KILL, yet I can solo single-dot ornate wilderness mobs all over Shadowfen and Eastmarch....even most double-dot ornate mobs that I have faced in the open, I have succeeded in killing solo or with a last-minute assist.

I've got 6 levels on this mob and that's still not enough. The quest is GREY to me and I still can't solo the mob. 2-handed sword, maul, axe, sword and board, dual swords, bow, destro staff and I even tried the restoration staff and tried to just buff my way through....

No success.

I have never been more frustrated with a paladin-style character than I am with this one. On top of that, the sheer number of lower-level bots I see running through the same dungeons I am in, power-driving through through the mob that just laid me out on the floor is insulting.

I shouldn't have to run quest lines 5-to-10 levels below my character just to check a quest off my list....especially the damn main quest line.

That is all. Flame on!

Don't feel bad. Halls of Torment (Lyris Doppleganger in particular) is ridiculous for certain setups. I ended up just using a bow and circle strafing the whole fight. Was really tedious and annoying, and a poorly crafted fight. It's the same setup as we've seen in many other fights, but if you don't have a ranged weapon with the ability to one-shot the incoming orbs (and you need to be fast and not get caught on the many items on the floor), it becomes an exercise in frustration.

I wish I could comment more on what you're doing, but it's so dissimilar to what my setup is that I'd essentially just be telling you to change your playstyle to what works for me. Not really fair. The main thing I can put out there is you want to set up each bar to one job very well; Destruction Staff as AE damage, Two-Handed as single target perhaps, with a survivability skill (or two) on each.

Sparks. Part of Dual Wield.. reduces damage of mob to almost nothing. In conjunction with aedric jabs. I used this to kill her. And if you find this part hard, wait for the next mission or worse the one after.. they simply were never tested properly. Ever.

It is these missions that clearly show that Zos is a cowboy company that totally lacks the skill and capability to make games professionally.

thilog · May 2014

Bullgar wrote: »

The great thing about skills as that you can put points into everything. Vet2 Templar here. I use Sword and Board, Bow, and Resto Staff interchangeably. Don't restrict yourself to just light armor or just heavy armor for the passives. Do both. Switch weapons. Templars are SUPER versatile. We can do it ALL. I have Aedric Spear, Dawn's Wrath, and the healing skills all maxed. Use them all! Sometimes I have a skill from each tree on my bar, trying different things. Solar Flare hits hard and is your big nuke if you're in caster mode. Biting Jabs and its morphs & Shield Bash/Deadly Bash are your bread and butter melee skills. Healing is easy, in groups/dungeons, at dolmens, public dungeons...we have a plethora of healing skills. The heavy attack on resto staff is your friend. Use it.

Do NOT limit yourself to a certain type of armor or weapon. Use whatever you need for the situation. That's the beauty of this game and the templar class. We can almost do anything.

You've taken the time to max out each skill.. not many have. and trying to do this at vr level is extremely boring you're talking about a weeks grinding.. I can't grind for more than an hour before being utterly bored.

Jeremy · May 2014

thilog wrote: »

I'm level 10 now, I am using cloth armour, enchanted with 2 parts health, 5 parts magika.. fine resto staff with fire enchant. lvl 8 - It's better than making a lv 10 one basic.

I cannot do solo dungeons, end of line missions etc, it's just impossible. It isn't that it's hard work, I am outright slaughtered. I do maybe 15-20% damage before dying and it resets.

With the same level templar, but specced with Heavy armour and sword/shield I can win many of these solo missions, but with resto staff, specced for healing groups, it's just not possible. I've spent thousands now on repairs, dying to almost every miniboss 2-4 times before giving up. I've abandoned 20 odd quests because I just can't win. In many other cases, I need to wait for another player to arrive, so I can heal them whilst "they" kill the boss for the end of line mission (if it isn't a solo only)

Besides players ninjaing mobs and quest items... I see alot of "need healer for XXX dungeon" and it's small wonder they're always asking, I'm getting to the point now that I get honestly surprised everytime I meet another templar.. because we are a rare class.

I can solo things with a restoration staff equipped on my Templar. I just use heavy armor and keep regeneration up. That is usually enough to handle most solo content.

If I had to guess, I would say your issue is probably that your health isn't high enough. I would try eating some health food. Or even better - try putting some points into provisioning and eat a food that boosts both your magicka and health. This helps a lot.

FrauPerchta · May 2014

I have no trouble with my Templar solo but he only wears two light with the rest heavy for armor. Weapon is 2H melee with type depending on the effect I want i.e. bleed.

Guess it's more traditional in my view as every game I have played that had Temps they always wore heavy armor not to mention when I gave all light a try since so many builds i see for eso uses light I was getting my butt beat. Mostly heavy with a 1/3/1 attribute spread and decent build and my dying days all but dried up.

Don't play what looks good on a spread sheet, play what works.

jesterstear · May 2014

My level 39 Temp is a tank/offhealer, 5 heavy 2 light.

Primarily i run around with sword and shield, with the following skills -

1) Ransack (sword and shield weapon skill) buffs my armour debuffs enemy, force taunt, uses Stamina

2) Honour the dead, insta cast heal, uses Magika

3) Vampire's Bane, a long lasting DoT , uses Magika (sun fire line)

4) Absorb Magic, sword and shield skill, uses stamina - the next spell attack to occur in the next 30 seconds is absorbed and you are healed for the spell damage amount

5) Remembrance - heal for 25-50% Stamina and Health upon defeating an enemy

I spend as much time at the guild store and crafting as I do levelling , I think her gear is quite good, health, armour and all 3 regens being at or near the softcap. Health about 1800 , Stamina and Magika 1000.

Seems to do ok against most mobs but I think the lack of knockdown / burst damage ability is what gets me into trouble against certain mobs. On the other hand I can turtle pretty well.

Secondary weapon is the restoration staff, for solo I've replaced one of the heals with Vampire's bane so I can self heal, regen magika and DoT my opponent from range. Looking forward to see how this fares against the next solo boss encounter I hit in the main story.

Today I installed a combat analyser and decided to pick on a random, one diamond elite troll in Reaper's March, level 37. The fight took 7 minutes. I was shocked at how much health the troll had - 32k or something like that... but even more in the amount of damage that i'd taken... which was the same. I was basically trading hit points with the troll on a one for one basis, my regen, self heals, and a bit of kiting, are what enabled me to beat a mob with 15 times my health.

DurFea · May 2014

DurFea wrote: »

Infuriated Templar Here!
My magicka pool and regen are almost always maxed or over-charged with the following specs: 33-Mag / 2-Health / 0-Stam

Stripped naked with The Atronach mundus stone and Warlock 3pc jewelry set, I have 1201 magicka pool and 58 regen

Aedric Spear - 32
Dawn's Wrath - 39
Restoring Light - 33

Two-Handed - 32
Destruction Staff - 25
Restoration Staff - 26

FOLLOW-UP:
I'm up to Level 40 now.

I've been listening to what others are saying about being more flexible and I've started investing Attribute Points in Health & Stamina. You only get 49 Attribute Points to work with so I figured I better use the last ones to get more balanced.

At Level 40, my Attributes are: 33-Mag / 5-Health / 1-Stam

Aedric Spear - 35
Dawn's Wrath - 43
Restoring Light - 37

I've started using Sword & Board more after I read one of the posts talking about the extra enchantment item on the shield. Good idea! It's working well for me when I need the extra armor and more health/magicka or an extra regen stat.

I've also picked up a nice bow and even though my Bow Skill is only 15 and I only have one skill point in Bow > Long Shots, the payoff of using a bow with Binding Javelin is like a hack against single and paired mobs! Knock them back, and keep them on the ground while plinking away with the arrows! Unless the mob is immune to knockback it will never lay hands on me!

I have not yet gone back to visit HALLS OF TORMENT...I think I will actually hold off until next weekend before I attempt it again.

That's it for now....thanks for all the feedback and constructive criticism. As for the one guy who sent me a private message advising me to go back to WOW....all I can say is that I was playing roleplaying games before your momma met your daddy so don't try to insult me because you assume WOW is my standard benchmark experience for online roleplaying games. It's not and never has been.

Safe travels, friends.

kalilkareem · May 2014

Great job DurFea! This game presents a challenge and you have stepped up to face it! I just finished halls of torment with a caster templar. My tactic against the melee clone was basically biting jabs spam paired with vampires bane plus resto heavy to regsin mana. I also used two or three potions (proper potions, not the vendor trash you find as drops...)

kalilkareem · May 2014

Also ; dont use soul shards at melee clone. You spawn right at the door...

dylanjaygrobbelaarb16_ESO · May 2014

thilog wrote: »

I'm level 10 now, I am using cloth armour, enchanted with 2 parts health, 5 parts magika.. fine resto staff with fire enchant. lvl 8 - It's better than making a lv 10 one basic.

I cannot do solo dungeons, end of line missions etc, it's just impossible. It isn't that it's hard work, I am outright slaughtered. I do maybe 15-20% damage before dying and it resets.

With the same level templar, but specced with Heavy armour and sword/shield I can win many of these solo missions, but with resto staff, specced for healing groups, it's just not possible. I've spent thousands now on repairs, dying to almost every miniboss 2-4 times before giving up. I've abandoned 20 odd quests because I just can't win. In many other cases, I need to wait for another player to arrive, so I can heal them whilst "they" kill the boss for the end of line mission (if it isn't a solo only)

Besides players ninjaing mobs and quest items... I see alot of "need healer for XXX dungeon" and it's small wonder they're always asking, I'm getting to the point now that I get honestly surprised everytime I meet another templar.. because we are a rare class.

Im templar vet 3. there is no reason to level resto staff at the start of the game. pre vet is very easy if you have damage moves. you can be healer for dungeons with just the templar abilities. I didnt level resto staff until after level 40 or so when I had a strong character with lots of abilities morphed for lots of options. only took 2 days to level training resto staff high enough for all activated at high levels. this game is diverse and there is no reason to be a dedicated healer before later content. Basically everyone should be multiclass. I played 5 heavy 2 light sword and board with dps, but always slotted healing to level my healer abilites and the pre vet was for the most part very easy. once I got to vet I needed to focus on staff as well to be the best dedicated healer. templar is awesome and diverse class give it a chance and focus on survivability first with neiches second.