Ultimate Templar Class Guide For ESO

Welcome to our ESO Templar Class guide! Here you will find a detailed explanation of all Templar class skills, plus how to play the Templar class more effectively! We also have a full list of helpful builds to get you started on your Templar Class journey!

The Templar Class Explained

The theme of the Templar centers around bringing the power of the sun to the battlefield, whether that’s for offense or defense. Templars also excel at both self-healing and group healing, and remain one of the strongest classes in the game since its launch due to their strong healing potential. In PVE groups, Templar healers will often be highly desirable for their strong burst healing and their ability to restore resources to the group, while PVP Templars still remain one of the most difficult classes to defeat due to their strong defensive buffs, constant self-healing, and their ability to cleanse enemy negative effects from themselves and their group.

Templar Class Skill Lines

Templars in The Elder Scrolls Online are Area Of Effect (AOE) specialists who also focus on defense and healing. The Templar skill lines are Aedric Spear, Dawn’s Wrath, and Restoring Light.

Aedric Spear

The Aedric Spear skill line for the Templar Class allows players to strike their foes with holy vengeance using powerful weapons formed of hard light that can deal magic damage, stun enemies, and support allies.

The Aedric skill line for the Templar class includes the following abilities:

Puncturing Strikes – Launch a relentless assault, striking enemies in front of you four times with your Aedric spear. The spear deals 298 Magic Damage to the closest enemy and 114 Magic Damage to all other enemies. Each strike reduces the Movement Speed of the closest enemy by 40% for 1 second. Morphs: Puncturing Sweep, Biting Jabs
Piercing Javelin – Hurl your spear at an enemy with godlike strength, dealing 492 Magic Damage and knocking them back 8 meters. This attack ignores the enemy’s Resistances. Morphs: Aurora Javelin, Binding Javelin
Focused Charge – Charge with your divine lance to impale an enemy, dealing 492 Magic Damage. If the enemy hit is casting, they are interrupted, set Off Balance, and stunned for 3 seconds. Morphs: Explosive Charge, Toppling Charge
Spear Shards – Send your spear into the heavens to bring down a shower of divine wrath, dealing 615 Magic Damage to enemies in the area and an additional 60 Magic Damage every 1 second for 10 seconds. An ally near the spear can activate the Blessed Shards synergy, restoring 3960 Magicka or Stamina, whichever maximum is higher. Morphs: Blazing Spear, Luminous Shards
Sun Shield – Surround yourself with solar rays, granting a damage shield that absorbs up to 2623 damage for 6 seconds. This portion of the ability scales off your Max Health. Nearby enemies take 615 Magic Damage when the shield is activated, and each enemy hit increases the shield’s strength by 4%. Morphs: Blazing Shield, Radiant Ward
ULT: Radial Sweep – Swing your Aedric spear around with holy vengeance, dealing 912 Magic Damage to all nearby enemies and an additional 455 Magic Damage every 2 seconds for 6 seconds. Morphs: Crescent Sweep, Everlasting Sweep

Dawn’s Wrath

The Dawn’s Wrath skill line for the Templar Class allows players to unleash the unyielding power of the sun to bathe their enemies in flame and deal massive damage.

The Dawn’s Wrath skill line for the Templar includes the following abilities:

Sun Fire – Blast an enemy with a charge of radiant heat, dealing 410 Flame Damage, and an additional 820 Flame Damage over 10 seconds. Upon activation you gain Major Prophecy, increasing your Spell Critical rating by 2191. Morphs: Reflective Light, Vampire’s Bane
Solar Flare – Conjure a ball of solar energy to heave at an enemy, dealing 1076 Magic Damage. Also grants you Empower for 5 seconds, increasing the damage of your next Light Attack by 40%. Morphs: Solar Barrage, Dark Flare
Backlash – Summon an expanding beam of pure sunlight to doom an enemy, dealing 410 Magic Damage to them and copying all their damage taken from you for 6 seconds and releasing 20% of it as additional Magic Damage to them. Maximum copied damage: 4774. Morphs: Power Of The Light, Purifying Light
Eclipse – Envelop an enemy in a lightless sphere for 4 seconds, that harms them with growing intensity anytime they use a Direct Damage attack. Limited to one. Their first attack reduces their movement speed by 30% for 4 seconds, their second attack immobilizes them for 3 seconds, and their third attack stuns them for 3 seconds. The effects can activate once every 1 second. Morphs: Living Dark, Unstable Core
Radiant Destruction – Burn an enemy with a ray of holy fire, dealing 894 Magic Damage over 1.8 seconds. Deals up to 480% more damage to enemies below 50% Health. Morphs: Radiant Glory, Radiant Oppression
ULT: Nova – Call down a fragment of the sun, dealing 455 Magic Damage every 1 second for 8 seconds to enemies in the area and afflicting them with Major Maim, reducing their damage done by 30%. An ally near the fragment can activate the Supernova synergy, dealing 1023 Magic Damage to all enemies in the area and stunning them for 2.5 seconds. Morphs: Solar Disturbance, Solar Prison

Restoring Light

The Restoring Light skill line for the Templar Class can be used to restore and protect your allies with the power of the Aedra’s sacred light. Consecrate the ground and turn the tide of battle with spells that cleanse and protect your team from attack.

The Restoring Light skill line for the Templar includes the following abilities:

Rushed Ceremony – Beacon your inner light, healing yourself or a wounded ally in front of you for 1232 Health. Morphs: Breath Of Life, Honor The Dead
Healing Ritual – Focus your spiritual devotion, healing you and nearby allies for 924 Health. Morphs: Hasty Prayer, Ritual Of Rebirth
Restoring Aura – Champion the cause of divine glory to apply Minor Magickasteal to all enemies around you for 20 seconds, causing you and your allies to restore 300 Magicka every 1 second when damaging them. While slotted, you gain Minor Fortitude, Minor Endurance, and Minor Intellect, increasing your Health, Stamina, and Magicka Recovery by 10%. Morphs: Radiant Aura, Repentance
Cleansing Ritual – Exalt in the sacred light of the Aedra, cleansing up to 2 harmful effects from yourself immediately and healing you and nearby allies for 292 every 2 seconds for 12 seconds. Allies in the area can activate the Purify synergy, cleansing all harmful effects from themselves and healing for 741 Health. This ability scales with your highest offensive stats. Morphs: Extended Ritual, Ritual Of Retribution
Rune Focus – Create a rune of celestial protection and gain Major Resolve for 20 seconds, increasing your Physical Resistance and Spell Resistance by 5948. While the rune is active you heal for 312 Health every 1 second, scaling off your Max Health. Standing within the rune increases the healing done by 200%. Morphs: Channeled Focus, Restoring Focus
ULT: Rite Of Passage – Channel the grace of the gods, healing you and nearby allies for 1094 Health every 1 second for 4 seconds. You cannot move while channeling, but you gain immunity to all disabling effects. Morphs: Practiced Incantation, Remembrance

How do you play the Templar Class?

Templars in The Elder Scrolls Online are renowned for their versatility, excelling in damage, healing, and protecting their teammates. Their skill lines—Aedric Spear, Dawn’s Wrath, and Restoring Light—offer a blend of offensive and supportive abilities, allowing players to adapt to various combat situations.

For damage-dealing, Templars utilize a combination of direct attacks and area-of-effect skills. The Aedric Spear skill line provides powerful melee abilities like Puncturing Sweeps, which not only deals great damage but also heals you for a percent of the damage dealt.

Dawn’s Wrath offers some great ranged damage options as well, including Radiant Destruction, which executes low-health enemies with a high damage multiplier. Other skills like Solar Barrage and Power of the Light enhance group damage output by debuffing enemies and providing buffs to allies.

The Templar is well known for having many powerful healing and defensive tools, great for Solo and Group play. Breath of Life provides instant healing to multiple allies, while Cleansing Ritual is one of the best support skills in ESO, thanks to its ability to remove harmful effects from yourself and your group.

Templars are uniquely equipped to switch between roles as needed, making them one of the most flexible classes in ESO. Their skills often serve multiple purposes—dealing damage while healing, or providing defense while enhancing group performance. This adaptability makes them a popular choice for players who enjoy flexibility in their gameplay or the ability to play multiple roles in PVP or PVE content.

What Weapons Are Best For The Templar Class?

The best weapon for a Templar in The Elder Scrolls Online is the Destruction Staff. A Lightning Staff is recommended for AOE-focused builds while an Inferno Staff is recommended for single-target-focused builds.

For a melee or Stamina focused Templar a great option for your Primary Weapon will be either Dual Wield or Two-Handed. Both weapons do great damage while also offering powerful Damage Over Time (DOT) effects and some utility.

What Is The Best Armor For Templar?

The best armor for the Templar class in The Elder Scrolls Online is light armor, which provides bonuses to Critical Chance, Offensive Penetration, Magicka Recovery and Magicka Cost Reduction.

There are some exceptions to this rule, particularly if you prefer melee weapons and stamina-based skills. In this case you will want to prioritize medium armor instead which boosts your Critical Damage, Stamina Recovery and Stamina Cost Reduction.

Tanks as well as players interested in PVP will also want to invest in some solid Heavy Armor sets for the extra protection.

For more information on Armor Types in ESO check out our full guide here.

What Is The Best Race For The Templar Class?

The best race for a Templar in The Elder Scrolls Online is Dark Elf due to their bonus Max Magicka and Max Stamina and increased Weapon and Spell Damage which provides better damage and sustain for all resource types.

It is important to note that sometimes other races can be preferred depending on what particular build you are trying to optimize for. For more details be sure to review our ESO Race Guides for each role.

Check the Best Templar Races For ESO

Is Templar A Good Class In ESO?

Templars are a very powerful and popular class in The Elder Scrolls Online for all types of playstyles. The theme of the Templar Class centers around bringing the power of the Sun to the battlefield with skill lines like Dawns Wrath and Restoring Light. You can think of the Templar class as ESO’s version of a Paladin or Cleric.

Templars excel at both self-healing and group healing, and remain one of the strongest classes in the game since launch due to their strong defenses and passive healing potential. The Templar’s consistency and ease of play, particularly when using skills like Puncturing Sweep also make them a very good class for any beginner getting into ESO for the first time.

Best Templar Class Builds

The Templar Class can be used for many different builds in both PVE and PVP content in The Elder Scrolls Online. The Templar is a fantastic choice for every role in the game, including DPS, Tanking, Healing, and even Solo Gameplay. Here are some great build options for you to explore!

Want more Templar Builds? Check out our dedicated Templar Builds overview page for even more great options!

How To Create Powerful ESO Builds

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