Templar FAQ

[Evanduril]

Hello again. As a Templar fan i would like to propose making Templar class FAQ, so most common questions and problems would be put here, instead spreading through whole forum section. Please, help building this thread by suggesting new content.
I'm putting some basic questions now, and will update them with answers ASAP.

1. What is Templar class? What is its main role?
   
   Templars are THE tanks of Aion, using the shield for both defense and offense while protecting its party members. You can compare Templar to WoW's Prot Warrior, L2 TK/SK.
   
   
2. Are Templars easy to play?
   
   Templars are one of the easiest to level, though definitely not the fastest. Especially after mid levels you can kill 3-4 mobs one after another (or 2-3 at once) without having to heal yourself between fights. If you won't aggro too many mobs, every fight should be relatively easy.
   
   Until endgame, Templars are not easy to play in PVP. Although they take longer to kill, their dps is lower than average (if not specced for pure damage) and they lack of serious crowd control skills. You will find yourself loosing to almost all classes that can keep you away and have very hard job to kill Clerics.
   
   Templar are the easiest class to Tank Elite mobs. It doesn't mean that PVE Tanking is easy. Templar just have more skills and abilities to do the job right.
   
   So - yes, and no. Yes, if you plan to do PVE mainly. No if you are hardcore PVP fan.
   
   
   
3. Why would I choose Templar over other classes?
   
   Because Templar is the best class in Aion, period.
   Seriously? Depends on what do you want to do. If your soul screams to defend others, to protect fellowship Daevas, to play one of the most important role in PvE, to be needed by almost all groups going for dungeon/raid runs - that's Templar.
   
   You must know that Templars are average damage dealers, so you will not be leveling as quickly as Assassins or Sorcerers, but you won't die so often as them. You will be able to take 2-3 enemies at once, and continue fight after several kills without much delay. You will be average in PvP at start, but get much better when closing to endgame.
   
   You will get the best possible armor, fight with sword and shield and use your abilities to taunt, stun and redirect damage to yourself from your allies. You will have some DOT healing abilities, but not much. You will be a fortress to penetrate and the last enemy to target in PvP combat.
   
   Gladiator or Templar? Depends on what do you want more - to be good damage dealer with good defense, or be the best defense with decent damage.
   
   Sorcerer/Assasin or Templar? Similiar to above. Sorcs and Sins are the best damage dealers here, but have poor to average defenses, so it's harder to play them. If you don't know how to play them, you die often.
   
   Cleric or Templar? Well, that's a tough choice, cause they both have very good defenses (active or passive) and are not the fastest levelers. Cleric role is more a support class, also very important, but also quite fragile when dealing with Elite mobs. Cleric vs Templar PvP fights more often end up with Templar dead, but after very long fights. In PvE, Clerics stay back and heal Templars, while Templars stay at front and prevent enemies getting to Clerics.
   
   
4. What weapons can Templar use and what should?
   
   Templar class can use 1H Swords, Great Swords (2H), Maces.
   Definitely, you should stick with 1H Sword and a Shield to get the best of Templar. But you shouldn't underestimate Greatswords, as there are situations when switching to GS before/while fighting can be your advantage.
   
   
5. What armor can Templar wear?
   
   Templar can wear all types of Armor. Cloth, Leather, Chain till level 10, and Plate after becoming Daeva.
   
   
6. What's the best manastones combination for PvE Tanking, PvE Fast Leveling, PvP roles?
   • PvE Tanking:
     75-25 to 50-50 Shield defense:HP
   • PvE Fast Leveling:
     100% Crit
   • PvP roles
     Depends on play style and situation, but usually your defense is enough, so you want more firepower - stick with Crit Manastones, and maybe some HP.
     
     UPDATE: According to THIS THREAD Crit may be no longer good choice to increase your damage. Combining +crit with +attack or putting 100% attack may be better.
     
7. What are the best skills for certain Templar roles?
   
   
8. How can you compare Templar to other classes in PvE?
   
   Templars are THE tanks for the game, especially when closing to endgame levels. Although Gladiators can tank nicely at start, you better choose Templar for most formidable enemies. We are the steel wall that's hard to kill, but - especially at low levels - we lack skills to do substantial damage.
   
   Leveling Templar may be slower than Sorcerer, Gladiator or Assassin, but usually we can kill several mobs without need to use Herbs/Bandages, which can be our advantage. If you manastone your gear with +crit bonuses, you will kill and level much faster, still having very good defense. Yet, we are not damage dealers so leveling can be slower than others, but not that much. It's best to team up with other DD class like Sorcerer or Assassin, you don't have to worry about damage and kill mobs very fast, still getting decent amount of XP.
   
   Templar is an average solo leveler, but is very usefull in group leveling and group dungeon runs. Typical response from group members after getting you is "Yay! We got a Templar!".
   
   
9. Why Templars are so weak in PVP at low levels comparing to other classes?
   
   First of all you need to know that all classes are balanced for endgame. This means - the lower level you have, the more imbalance exists comparing to other classes. Second - Templar is a tanking class, not damage dealer, so its base attack is lower or even much lower than others. You get your first serious skills at levels 16-19, and much more after 25. Therefore there is no much sense in going PVP with Templar until lvl 20, as you don't really have any critical skills yet.
   
   You'll get them later in game and trust me, you will kick *** (if you're a good PvP player anyway).
   
   
10. How can you compare Templar to other classes in PvP?
    
    Templar can be very dangerous opponent in PVP, especially when teamed up with ranged or CC class. With +crit manastones we still have very good defense and our damage increase enough to kill quite fast. Templar may have problems with ranged classes though, being unable to get to enemy and hit. Pull skill often fails, so its not that big advantage.
    
    There are reports that Templars may have problems with Sorceres and Clerics, but are quite good against other classes. A Templar won the Chosun tournament against all other high level players, so expect to be one of the best at PvP at endgame.
    
    Templars at end-game have:
    
    -a couple pull skills that slow the targets
    -they can get an AoE fear that slows targets
    -they have massive defense and good magic defense with high health
    -they can absorb damage for their party members
    -they can paralyze targets on chance on hit with an enchant
    -they get a run speed buff
    -they can reduce damage they take from players specifically
    -they get a skill that does massive damage on fortress doors specifically
    -they can get skills that remove and/or reduce the chances of being crowd controlled
    -they get debuffs and one that can knock people out of stealth if they're too close when it's used
    -they get some heals that have long cool downs
    
    
11. What defense attributes are most important for Templar?
    
    The most important attributes for Templar are Physical defense, Shield defense (giving you better Shield block chance and increasing amount of blocked damage), HP and Physical Attack/Crit Rate. PD, SD and HP makes you better tank, while PA/Crit allows you to level faster and keep aggro on mobs (the harder you hit, the more aggro you get).
    
    Notice that Evasion and Parry aren't that important, because Templars count on their shield abilities.
    
    
12. What are the main roles and behaviors of Templar in group PVP?
    
    In normal group PVP we are the last targetted class, so our main purpose is to protect fellow sorcerers and clerics. Either by chasing enemies who attack them, or by pull/CC skills, or by using our abilities to take damage from group members. We want to enemies couldn't focus their fire on our support classes.

    
    "The best thing we can do in group pvp is pull people to us so our team can burn them down. Pull runners who are trying to get away. Smack assassins who sneak behind and attack our sorc's/clerics. Basically, we play crowd control. They yell out "assassin's on me" on vent, you go smack it. You pull targets to be focused, and you can sometimes harass there sorc's if there side is unorganized." ~AlexMeister
    

    In castle sieges, our role depends on situation. If our team is defending castle, our main job is to keep enemies from getting inside, trying to pull ranged and healing classes inside our control zone so DD can rip them off. We stay on ground, flying is unwise. So that's the boring and not that effective part of job. If the battle comes inside the castle, situation is different. With narrow corridors, there's less running, less damage avoiding. Enemies send they melee forward, so do we. Sorcerers nukes the middle. So whoever wins this middle battle then pushes onto there back row of sorcs, rangers and clerics. At this point they are finished. Now a great thing to do is save your AoE pull for this battle, pull there backrow to the middle and obliterate.
    
    Now for castle offense, templars and glads lead the charge. We beat on the doors to bring them down, we push down the middle once we're in, we tank the mobs and castle defenders. So a lot more to do on offense. Also, we get eaten by the dozens and dozens of sorcs sitting on the castle walls raining down holy hell on top of our heads while we beat on the doors.
    
    
13. What are Templar's CC/Taunt abilities and what are the best ways to use them?
    
    
14. Can Templar heal himself or/and others?
    
    Templar have some spells that boosts his HP regeneration and provides additional protection, such as damage mitigation or greater defense and resistances. Also, there are some healing spells that use DP (Hand of Healing I); other like Empyrean Armor, which gives you some instant HP recovery and HoT effect; new Stigma, "Great Resuscitation", added in patch 1.5, which will recover almost 2200 of your HP.
    
    You can alse redirect some of damage done to friends to yourself (Bodyguard).
    
    
15. What are the best professions for Templar?
    
    The main Templar's role is to defend, to tank. Therefore your professions should ease you that. Your main defense is your plate and your shield. So natural choice here is Armorsmithing.
    Then, if you have time and money, you can choose one, or both of following: Alchemy and Cooking. Alchemy gives you cheap access to best healing and support potions, and you will need them often (you're tough but you put yourself in most dangerous role out there). Cooking gives you access to food, that also provides more hp, protection, etc. It's always better to make all needed items by yourself, than pay for them a lot.
    
    
16. What are the most important Stigma Skills for Templar?
    
    You probably would want to stick with these ones:
    • Unwavering Devotion
    • Inescapable Judgement
    • Bodyguard
    • Provoking Roar
    • Siege Breaker
    • Armor of Protection
    • Aether Armor
    • Great Resuscitation
    • Terrible Howl
      
      
17. Can you tell what Shield block rate/Physical defense/Crit/HP rate level should be enough for great Templar?
    
    PVP
    SB: ?
    PD: ?
    CR: 350-400
    HP: ?
    
    
    PvE Tanking
    SB: 1800
    PD: ?
    CR: > 200
    HP: ?
    
    It's said that high shield block can also be usefull in PVP, because of lack of Accuracy by enemies - probably you will block lots of attacks. - This information need to be verified, applies to endgame.
    
    
18. Does evasion work for magic?
    
    There are no proofs that Evasion would work against magic damage. The only ability that can counter it is Magic Resistance. And putting MR manastones for Templar would be waste of space.
    
    
19. How does shield blocking work?
    
    First, you need to know that shield doesn't increase armor by itself, it only gives you chance to block, and therefore reduce amount of damaged you would be dealt instead. We are talking about two values here: damage reduction and shield block chance.
    
    Shield block rating describes your chance to block and is checked against opponent's accuracy. The bigger SBR you have and the less ACC opponent has, the bigger chance is to block attack.
    
    

    "(...)to get a % of the shield block rating u have to see your block rating and the accuracy (the rangers have almost 1900) of the opponent, if u have more block rating than ur oponent accuracy, u will block more..." ~Budske
    

    
    
    There are theoretical speculations how block chance mechanic work:
    
    Block % = (Block (X - Accuracy Y)/10
    
    If Block is 1000 while opponent's Accuracy is 800 -> (1000 - 800)/10 = 20% chance to parry.
    
    
    Then there is damage reduction, that depends on quality of shield (see below).
    
    Shield base damage reduction:
    White/Green/Blue/Orange
    30%/35%/40%/45%
    
    It means that if you manage to get Shield Block event, you will block 30-45% of damage (without other bonuses); in other words you will be hit for 60 instead 100 damage when using blue quality shield. And you need to remember that shield only blocks melee and arrow damage, not magic one.
    
20. ... ?

I've used parts of other players' posts to expand some of these answers.

Useful links:
http://www.aionsource.com/forum/clas...tml#post484369
Abyss Templar PVP Gear
+crit VS +ap theorycrafting

[AthorKatir]

nice faq, im waiting for more

[Spoilyou]

very nice.

One more Question : How does templar do in Arial PVP ( Abyss PVP)??

[Zariya]

Very nice FAQ, I have a cleric atm, and was considering a change to templar. This was quite helpful. Rep boost!

[Evanduril]

Arial PVP? Did you mean Aerial?

Anyone would like to add some input about 11. and 12. question? Can't find much about it.

[Aryan]

A good attempt at a FAQ. I would however recommend reading this:

http://www.aionsource.com/forum/clas...tml#post484369

You'll find that the Armor of Empyrean Lord I - Skills - Aion functions as a heal and a regen. Additionally a new stigma has been added in 1.5 that is essentially just a big *** heal for 2k HP. So see 1.5 patch notes as well

EDIT: On point 16, I'm not sure of the recommended amount of Shield Defense. But its mandatory to go for 400 crit rating and then distribute your remaining stats as you wish. Once again, I think the guide I posted should clarify quite a bit for you

[Ezekil]

Nice Thread. Thanks for the info!

[Mr.Kaeron]

Was a tanker in wow, will be a tanker in Aion :X

[Evanduril]

Originally Posted by Aryan

Once again, I think the guide I posted should clarify quite a bit for you

Yes, i read it before, but probably forgot some details. I'll read it again and update FAQ if necessary.

Originally Posted by Aryan

On point 16, I'm not sure of the recommended amount of Shield Defense. But its mandatory to go for 400 crit rating and then distribute your remaining stats as you wish.

Is it mandatory for all Templar's purposes? Even if someone wants to make 100% tanking setup for PvE ?

FAQ updated.

[Daximus]

Well done...thanks!

[Leucient]

Thanks a lot for the info, nice to have it in one location.

~Leucient

[Spoilyou]

Originally Posted by Evanduril

Arial PVP? Did you mean Aerial?

Anyone would like to add some input about 11. and 12. question? Can't find much about it.

ya thats what i mean lol.

i dont think templar has CC ability ( beside the pulling skill)

Templar has many shield stuns skill ,but it is all close range skills.

[Arkedge]

Well written FAQ, thanks

[Maytox]

Hey, Great FAQ! I do have a question though...
When I searched the Stigma Armor Of Balance on Aion Armory, the description was..
"Increases your arstunlike by 1000 for 90 sec.
Gains Stigma."
What is arstunlike?
Is that a typo or some sort of arial move? lol :P

[Inambour]

Increase stun, kb, spiral, aerial etc resistance by 1000 for 1min30.