ESO Templar Tank Introduction
Templar Tanks are one of the most difficult classes to play in The Elder Scrolls Online.
There are a lot of obstacles for Templar Tanks, the biggest one being the lack of self-healing. Templars are the only class in ESO that have no heal that is scaled on Max Health, this means you are left with heals that scales with Magicka or Stamina and they are not very effective on a Tank. This means that Templars rely heavily on Shields, this will often require the use of multiple skills for shielding such as Radiant Ward combined with Defensive Stance or Bone Shield. If you did want to heal on a Templar Tank your only options are Vigor which will heal for around 6k over 4 seconds, Honor the Dead which will give you an 6k Heal but it might also Heal someone else instead, or Radiant Aura which is a 6k Heal but its an AoE Burst Heal so it costs about 6k Magicka.
The next obstacle is the complete lack of Crowd Control, Templar Tanks are the only class with no AoE Crowd Control skill of some kind, Templar Tanks rely Heavily on using both an Ice Staff with Frost Blockade for the random Immobilizing of enemies and the extremely Magicka expensive Time Stop skill from the Psijic Order Skill Line or the Stamina expensive Turn Evil skill from the Fighters Guild Skill Line. For chaining they have to use Silver Leash which is a heavy Stamina Drain. Templar Tanks do have the benefit of Restoring Focus which returns Stamina every second even while blocking, the problem is that sustain is a big issue even with this really nice sustain skill because of the extremely expensive and weak abilities meaning you spend more resources for less effective benefits compared to every single other Tank class.
There are a few group buffs from the Templar Tank, you have Purify which is a synergy that becomes available to allies stood inside the Extended Ritual that helps them cleanse negative effects. Templar Tanks also have Radiant Aura which is an Area of Effect Minor Magickasteal which is great for add pulls meaning Magicka Damage Dealers can sustain better when dealing with add pulls.
Templar Tanks are not hugely common due to having so many obstacles and also, most groups tend to use Templar Healers negating the need for a Templar Tank. In the rare occasion you are in a Magicka group, with no other Templar then it would be useful to have a Templar Tank, most likely as an Off Tank to provide the Minor Sorcery and Minor Breach mainly.
Strengths
- Sustain can be decent with the reduced ability cost passive and Restoring Focus allowing you to gain Stamina back every second, even while blocking.
- Magicka cost, Health based, Class Damage Shield.
- Good group utility with Minor Sorcery, Purify Synergy and AoE Minor Magickasteal
- Good for an Off Tank/Support role if no other Templars in group.
- Built in Minor Protection passive.
Weaknesses
- No self heal based on Max Health, have to rely on Damage Shields to survive.
- No pull/chain or immobilise class skills, only expensive alternatives from the Psijic Order and Fighters Guide skill lines.
- Not usually needed in larger groups due to Templar Healers being popular.
- Magicka sustain can be a big problem as you need to use expensive Magicka skills.
- Not very good in solo situations due to lack of self healing.
Group Buffs
- Minor Sorcery via Illuminate Passive
- Minor Breach via Power of the Light
- AoE Minor Magickasteal via Radiant Aura
- Group Purge/Synergy via Extended Ritual
Skill Lines
Aedric Spear
(Situational)
This is a damage skill that provides a synergy to 1 person in your group and will also give back resources to anyone who uses it. This morph returns extra resources compared to Orbs and the other morph but can only be used by 1 person. Might be used by an Off Tank. Radiant Ward
(Vital)
A 6 second damage shield that scales from max health. The shield strength increases by 9% for every nearby enemy it hits so it can give quite a large shield. This morph also has a reduced cost and increased shield size compared with the other morph. This is a must have skill for Templar Tanks since there is a severe lack of available healing you will need to rely on shields.
(Optional)
Increased damage passive, not that useful for Tanks but you can use it if you occasionally play as a Hybrid Tank. Spear Wall
(Vital)
When using an Aedric Spear ability you gain Minor Protection which will work nicely alongside the use of Radiant Ward. Burning Light
(Optional)
Another damage passive that should proc automatically from Shards or Ward. If you never use Shards or Ward then you’ll never proc the damage but if you want to do some extra free damage then this passive will do that. Balanced Warrior
(Vital)
As a Tank we want to have resistances so this is worth having just for the Spell Resistance.
Dawn’s Wrath
(Situational)
This causes Major Maim to enemies inside the area and after they leave, it also gives a synergy for the group. You would only slot this if you are expecting a mechanic or fight that your group struggles with to help make it easier to deal with but usually you will just stick to using Warhorn.
(Vital)
This is one of the few reasons why you would use a Templar Tank. Using this skill applies Minor Breech and Fracture to a target and there are very limited ways to do this without using this skill. Minor Breech and Fracture is important to help your Damage Dealers reach the penetration cap on a boss so they can do the maximum amount of damage. By using this you also proc the Illuminate passives which gives the group buff. Living Dark
(Optional)
This is a small Heal over Time that can tick every half a second, when you have it active it will give you a heal when you are hit every half a second so would be an additional way to maintain healing while being attacked by multiple targets.
(Optional)
Only worth using if you have Living Dark or Solar Disturbance, it will increase the duration of these. If you don’t use these skills then its a bit pointless. Prism
(Vital)
A good passive to increase Ultimate gain. It will give you Ultimate every 6 seconds so it works well with keeping up Power of the Light when casting that skill it will return the Ultimate from this passive. Illuminate
(Vital)
This is the main Templar group buff. It adds around 2k DPS to each of your Magicka DD’s, won’t help Stamina DDs. It’s easily maintained while you keep the uptime of Power of the Light. Restoring Spirit
(Vital)
Important passive to help the sustain on a Templar, very vital passive.
Restoring Light
(Optional)
So this is the cheapest potential self heal since you restore 60% of the ability cost. The issue is if you try to heal yourself it can heal someone else who is lower Health. The other issue is that this does not scale with Max Health so the heal is going to be a small heal, so this is not a good way for a Tank to heal. Breath of Life
(Unnecessary)
This will give more chance to give yourself a heal since it heals the most injured person in front of you and then heals another person for less. You won’t get the resources back for casting but you’ll increase the chance to heal yourself. This is the same as the other morph, it wont scale with Max Health so the heal is really small, expensive and not good for a Tank. Ritual of Rebirth
(Optional)
This is the only way to guarantee yourself a burst self heal – Heals a similar value to Honor the Dead but is around 2k more Magicka to use since its an AoE Heal and will heal nearby people. You also gain Ultimate for using this via the Light Weaver passive if you heal anyone under 60% health. It’s an extremely expensive heal but its the best Magicka based heal available to a Templar Tank. This doesn’t scale with Max Health either so again its a fairly weak heal. Radiant Aura
(Situational)
Applies Minor Magickasteal as an Area of Effect to all enemies that it hits, so its a good way to help group sustain during add pulls. While slotted gain Minor Fortitude/Endurance/Intellect increasing Health/Stamina/Magicka recovery, 10% Magicka recovery is nice, the others aren’t really necessary. This would likely be the better morph for Trials as you help your group sustain and you don’t really need the heal from Repentance, the Stamina from the other morph is nice but hard to benefit from in Trials. Repentance
(Optional)
Give the same recovery passive as Radiant Aura but will give you 3000 Stamina and you and your group 3000 health for each nearby corpse. This would be a good way to sustain but the issue is that it’s usually boss fights where sustain becomes more difficult and you are unlikely to have any corpses available to repent on a boss fight. This morph would be good for 4-Man content as you’ll get a group heal plus Stamina for yourself. Extended Ritual
(Vital)
This is a good skill as it provides a group synergy and cleanses negative effects. The heal will be a small heal over time but it will be quite a necessary heal since the Templar lacks a good Tank heal so you will rely on Heals over Time to assist in surviving. Restoring Focus
(Vital)
This is your main tool for Stamina sustain. You gain Stamina even while blocking which is nice. You also gain Major Resolve and extra resistances meaning you don’t need to run another Resolve skill, if you need the Magicka Sustain you can use the Mage Guild skill Spell Symmetry which is the other morph of Balance. Standing inside the run gives you 50% more resistances and it procs the Sacred Ground passives if you didn’t already have it from Extended Ritual.
(Optional)
Quite a vital passive, since the healing is low from the Templar class heals an extra 12% healing from those is going to be important if you are using them. Sacred Ground
(Vital)
Another good Tank passive increases the amount of damage you can block plus increases the healing you do with all healing abilities by 8%. You need to be stood inside one of your Restoring Light abilities which should be easy since you’ll usually be inside both your Ritual and Rune for the Healing and the Resources/Resistances. Light Weaver
(Vital)
Will give Ultimate to all allies, a small boost that you will likely proc from your Extended Ritual. Master Ritualist
(Optional)
Allows you to resurrect people quicker and with full Health, might as well have this passive but you should almost never be resurrecting people as a Tank.
Find out about the other Tank Classes in ESO and more Templar information on our YouTube channel.